Church of the Transfiguration 4000 E. Castro Valley Blvd., Castro Valley, CA 94552-4908

(510) 538-7941 Fax (510) 538-7983 E-mail: transfig_office@sbcglobal.net Website: www.transfigchurch.com September 4, 2016

Rev. Mario L. Borges, Pastor ● Rev. Terence O’Malley, Parochial Administrator Deacon Martin J. Leach ● Deacon John A. Mignano ● Deacon Timothy L. Moore ● Deacon Burton J. Rigley

LITURGICAL MINISTRY: Eucharistic Ministers, Stephen and Carina Kowalewski Lectors, Barbara Mehan Altar Servers, Clarence Decano Youth Liturgy, Michelle Gilman

FINANCE COUNCIL: Chairman, Mark Zaleski

PARISH ORGANIZATIONS: Catholic Youth Organization (CYO), 60 Plus or Minus Club, Cursillo Group

SAINT VINCENT de PAUL SOCIETY: (510) 274-0830 Serving our community.

SICK & HOMEBOUND MINISTRY: Claudia Paquette, (510) 537-8986

STEWARDSHIP: Chairperson, Ed Coelho, (510) 881-5705 WINGS “Women in God’s Spirit”: Bobbie Blackard,510-581-4149 HALL MANAGER: Pat Ballinger, (510) 537-1502

HALL RENTAL MANAGER: Ann McAusland, 510-239-7941

YOUTH MINISTRY: Alfonso Corona III transfig.oasis@gmail.com PARISH OFFICE: Phone: (510) 538-7941 Fax: (510) 538-7983 Hours: 8:00 a.m. — 4:30 p.m., Monday-Thursday (Closed between 12:00 & 1:00 p.m.) Friday, 9:00a.m. — 12:00 Noon - Saturday & Sunday—Closed Secretary, Gloria Meeker Secretary/Bookkeeper, Phyllis Moore

SCHEDULE OF MASSES Saturdays 4:00 p.m. Sundays 7:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. (Except First Fridays - 9:30 a.m.) Communion Service - Saturdays, 8:00 a.m. CONFESSIONS Saturdays 3:00-3:45 p.m. BAPTISMS: Pre-baptismal class is required. Class is held the second Tuesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. in the Rectory. Please call the Parish Office, (510) 538-7941, to register. MATRIMONY: Six months advance notice required. Please call the parish office. WEDDING COORDINATOR: Mel Speed (510) 909-9334 or melspeed@live.com FUNERALS: Please contact the funeral home of your choice and then the parish office. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: Director, Patrice Ballinger (510) 537-1502 or TransfigCCD@aol.com RCIA: Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults Please call the parish office. MUSIC MINISTRY: Director, Alexander Katsman (510) 538-7941, Ext. 302 or Transfig_Music@sbcglobal.net

Mission Statement: “Transfiguring Our Community Through Faith”

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time September 4, 2016

Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.

— Psalm 90:14

Mass Intentions (September 3-10, 2016) Sat. 4:00p.m. Roberto del Moretto Sun. 7:30a.m. Fr. Vincent Capodanno 9:00a.m. For the People 11:00a.m. Raymond Fernandes Mon. 8:00a.m. Special Intention for Manuel Silva & Family Tues. 8:00a.m. Mary Inasia Silva Wed. 8:00a.m. Anthony Bettencourt Thurs. 8:00a.m. Luiz Capela Fri. 8:00a.m. Dr. Douglas Franklin and Ed & Mary Joaquin Sat. 4:00p.m. John Ferreira

Stewardship Corner The collection total for the weekend of: August 27th & 28th —$7,728.00 (compared to $12,000 average weekly stewardship goal) Thank you for continuing in your stewardship role of providing for the upkeep of our parish community.

We extend a warm welcome to new parishioners. Please pick up a registration form in the vestibule of the church and return it to the Parish Office. This helps us to serve you better.

September Birthdays Happy Birthday to you, May God Bless you.

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, May God Bless you!

Remember Transfiguration in your Will and Living Trust

Transfiguration Catholic Church

Coffee and Donuts Craig & Martha Sihner will be hosting coffee and donuts this Sunday after the 9:00a.m. Mass. Stop by and enjoy the fellowship.

Pancake Breakfast We will not have a Pancake Breakfast in the month of August. We will resume on September 25th.

Dear Parishioners, If you are interested in donating to the refurbishing of the “Our Lady of Lourdes” statue in the Grotto, please pick up an envelope in the back of the church. Be sure to indicate on the “Special Collection” envelope that your donation is for the Grotto Statue. Thank you for your support in keeping our parish grounds beautiful and a welcoming place to worship. Yours in Christ, Fr. Mario Borges

Planting the Seeds of Stewardship We have to care for our own physical health, our mental health and our emotional health.

Come and join the Transfiguration Choir! Experience the inspiring, healing and blessed joy of praising God in song. We have rehearsals once a week. The choir sings Sundays at the 11:00a.m. Mass. Please call Alexander Katsman, Music Ministry Director, (510) 538-7941, ext. 302 or email:

Transfig_Music@sbcglobal.net. Be part of an important ministry, and meet the friendly members of our Transfiguration Choir!

Adult Bible Study There will be no Bible Study on

Monday, September 5th.

Diocesan Priest Retirement Collection This weekend there will be a collection for the Diocesan Priests Retirement Benefits Trust. This is our way of giv-ing back to those priests who enable us to live our Catho-lic faith by helping with their increasing retirement costs. If you need an envelope, use the special collection enve-lopes located in the back of the church. Be sure to indi-cate on the envelope that your donation is for the Dioce-san Priests Retirement.

The Parish Office will be closed on Monday, September 5th

in observance of the Labor Day holiday.

Baptism Class The next Baptism class will be

Tuesday, September 13, 2016. Please call the Parish Office to register.

Deadline for Bulletin The deadline for items in the bulletin is

Monday, 4:30p.m. Thank you for your support!

Credit, Debit, and Electronic Check Offerings If you would like to make your Sunday offering by credit or debit card, or electronic check, please go to our website: transfigchurch.com, and click on the “Donate” tab. From there, click on the “Donate Now” button to be taken to a secure website to complete the setup of your offering.

TODAY’S READINGS First Reading: Wisdom 9:13-18b

Second Reading: Philemon 9-10, 12-17, Psalm 90 Gospel: Luke 14:25-33

The English translation of the Psalm Responses from the Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved. READINGS FOR THE WEEK Monday: 1 Cor 5:1-8; Ps 5:5-7, 12; Lk 6:6-11, or, for Labor Day, any readings from the Mass “For the Blessings of Human Labor,” nos. 907-911 Tuesday: 1 Cor 6:1-11; Ps 149:1b-6a, 9b; Lk 6:12-19 Wednesday: 1 Cor 7:25-31; Ps 45:11-12, 14-17; Lk 6:20-26 Thursday: Mi 5:1-4a or Rom 8:28-30; Ps 13:6; Mt 1:1-16, 18-23 [18-23] Friday: 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22b-27; Ps 84:3-6, 12; Lk 6:39-42 Saturday: 1 Cor 10:14-22; Ps 116:12-13, 17-18; Lk 6:43-49 Sunday: Ex 32:7-11, 13-14; Ps 51:3-4, 12-13, 17, 19; 1 Tm 1:12-17; Lk 15:1-32 [1-10] SAINTS AND SPECIAL OBSERVANCES Sunday: Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Monday: Labor Day Thursday: The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Friday: St. Peter Claver Saturday: Blessed Virgin Mary

Thank you for advertising in our bulletin. We appreciate your support!

Anniversary Mass & Reception at the Cathedral Sunday, October 2, 10:00 a.m.

The Cathedral of Christ the Light, 2121 Harrison St., Oakland

Mimi Streett, 510-267-8392 mstreett@oakdiocese.org Laura Windham, 510-267-8395 lwindham@oakdiocese.org Please join Bishop Michael C. Barber, SJ and the Office of Marriage & Family Life in celebrating your 25+ years of mar-riage. You (and your registered family members) are invited to the regular 10:00 a.m. Cathedral Mass on Sunday, October 2, followed by a reception in your honor. Registered anniversary couples will receive a commemorative certificate and a recep-tion with the Bishop and your (registered) family members. There is a $20 registration fee per couple and $10 for registered adult family members (12+ years). Parking will be available in the Kaiser parking lot across the street. Details and online reg-istration available at: www.oakdiocese.org/anniversary. Look for more information in the August issue of The Catholic Voice, as well as information about a special drawing for a gift certificate. We congratulate you and thank you for your won-derful image of Christ’s love in our world.

Save the Date: First Responders Invited to Blue Mass

Friday, October 14, 10:00a.m. The Cathedral of Christ the Light

2121 Harrison St., Oakland

Fr. Helmut Richter, 925-382-8186, papahelmut@yahoo.com, Fr. Jayson Landeza, 510-917-0125, OPDChaplain@aol.com, Denise Kogler, 510-271-1935, dkogler@ctlcathedral.org, Oakdiocese.org/BlueMass2016 The annual Blue Mass honoring First Responders will take place at The Cathedral of Christ the Light on Friday, October 14 at 10:00 am. All Police, Fire, and other First Responders and their families are invited to attend this interfaith service of Mass, prayers and blessings. Bishop Michael C. Barber, SJ will be the principal celebrant. The public is invited to come and support these public safety officers with prayers for their safety and thanksgiving for their service. The day will include a display of equipment on the Cathedral Plaza and a memorial for those who lost their lives while serving our counties during the past year. A luncheon for the honorees and their families will be served following Mass (reservation required). More details, including the luncheon reservation form and a downloadable flyer, can be found at OakDiocese.org/BlueMass2016. Questions: please contact one of the above police chaplains or Denise Kogler of Cathedral Ministries.

INVITED The Good News is that we have all been invited— invited to the Kingdom, invited to be disciples. It’s a life-changing invitation, and like so many other such invita-tions, it requires a great deal of deliberation and discern-ment. Whether we choose marriage, ordination, single life, or community life, we know the serious planning and consideration that accompany these profound deci-sions. Like the tower-builder in the Gospel, we have weighed both the monetary and emotional cost. We have pondered and planned our lives in the direction to which we believe God has called us. And while we pray for guidance and acceptance of God’s will, we often fail to understand so much. Like Solomon, we turn to God for wisdom and counsel in our life-changing decisions. Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.

Chicken Marsala Dinner Thursday, September 8—6:30 PM

The Castro Valley branch of the Italian Catholic Federation will serve a Chicken Marsala Dinner at Our Lady of Grace Church Hall. All are invit-ed; member business meeting to follow. For res-ervations ($16), call (510) 581-5863 or (510)

582-7242. Deadline for reservations is September 5. Buon appetito!

LETTER FROM POPE FRANCIS THE “JOY OF THE GOSPEL” CONTINUED...

The Church’s Missionary Transformation—#148

Reverence for truth

Certainly, to understand properly the meaning of the cen-tral message of a text we need to relate it to the teaching of the entire Bible as handed on by the Church. This is an important principle of biblical interpretation which recog-nizes that the Holy Spirit has inspired not just a part of the Bible, but the Bible as a whole, and that in some areas people have grown in their understanding of God’s will on the basis of their personal experience. It also prevents erroneous or partial interpretations which would contra-dict other teachings of the same Scriptures. But it does not mean that we can weaken the distinct and specific emphasis of a text which we are called to preach. One of the defects of a tedious and ineffectual preaching is pre-cisely its inability to transmit the intrinsic power of the text which has been proclaimed. Fr. Terry’s Remarks— Many of us recall the saying: ''putting the cart before the horse'', much more forceful in the days before Henry Ford. Well, this is what Pope Fran-cis is telling us not to do when we listen to the Scriptures. Never lose sight of the mighty animals pulling the wagon. When we listen to a Reading of our Scriptures, see it against its glorious background. Never lose sight of the whole picture. Keep in mind and heart the Big Story, of an Almighty God, who from the dust he had created and shaped us in His Own Likeness; an All Loving Creator who never has or will forget us; a Redemptive God who in Jesus Christ gave us divine standing, and by dying on the Cross and Rising from the dead, broke for every one of us the power of sin, conquered death and opened the Gates of Heaven. Yet, when some of us miss Mass for some reason we immediately panic because we think we are in a state of sin. One misstep often involuntary and this same God is going to drop us for eternity. Now that's putting the cart before the horse, that's putting the plow before the buffalo in a big way. This is the result of defi-cient theology, of negligent preaching, of poor instruc-tion, of inattentive listening and little reflection. This is a consequence of many of us neglecting to mature in our faith which we do so well in other areas of our lives. This is the result of all of us failing to subject inherited preju-dices to the light of the Gospel. This is much more than a horse and a cart, or a plow and a buffalo. This is stupidity.