7237 Morrow Road, Agassiz BC V0M 1A2

Email: parish.sapa@rcav.org or st.anthonys@shaw.ca Phone: 604-796-9181 Web: http://stanthonyagassiz.ca/

St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church

Rev. Fr. Steny Mascarenhas OCD

PASTOR steny1ocd@shaw.ca (778-321-8301)

Deacon James Meskas (604-615-5677)

jamiemeskas@gmail.com

PARISH STAFF

Beccie Bokenfohr (Administrative Assistant)

st.anthonys@shaw.ca SUNDAY EUCHARIST

Sunday 09:00 am, 11:00 am

WEEKDAY EUCHARIST

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

and Saturday 09:00 am Tuesday, 7:00 pm

SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION Monday,

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday 8 to 8:40 am,

Tuesday 6:30 pm to 6:55 pm

ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

Every Friday at 09:30 am (Benediction at 10:30 am)

PARISH GROUPS

Parish Finance Council: Karl Dopf 604 302 1988

Parish Pastoral Council: Rick McArthur 604 220 5843

CWL: Joan Postnikoff 604 491 1891

Knights of Columbus: Gerard Gouwenberg, 604 316 9708

Youth Ministry: Adriana Striker, 604 795 0270 PREP:

RCIA: Ginny Lejeune 604 796 9573

Lectors:

Eucharistic Ministers: Cruz Ortiz 604 761 1929

Counters: Wilma Struys 604 796 8901

Sacristy: Patrick Donegan 604 796 0261

Ushers/Greeters: Gerald Struys 604 796 8901

Fundraising committee: Ralph Kaay 604 794 7584

Parish Screening Committee:

Peggy Turner 778 878 0650

Maintenance: Frank Van Scheyndel 604 491 3000

SACRAMENTS: Please contact the Parish Office

Music coordinators

Anna Gouwenberg at 604-796-2341

Ron & Marguerite Rocheleau 604 796 1236 Anthony Pavick 604 860 0202 Janelle Ryan 604 796 1078 Project Advance: Leonne Beebe 604 796 3382

Gerard Gouwenberg, 604 316 9708

Parish Website: http://stanthonyagassiz.ca

We, the Catholic community of St. Anthony of Padua, relying on the wisdom and the grace of God, unite

ourselves to the call for renewal and transformation of our spiritual, social and economic life

5th Sunday of Lent – March 18 2018

Stations of the Cross: Every Sunday in Lent at 10am, in-

between the 9am and 11 am Masses.

Soup and Buns: Every Wednesday in Lent at 6.15 pm (All

free will donations will go towards the Refugee Family)

Lenten Mission: 17th and 18th of March

Confessions: 20th Tuesday at 6pm, Mass @ 7pm

Easter Programme

Palm Sunday: 9am and 11am

Holy Thursday: 7 pm

Good Friday: 3 pm

Stations of the Cross at 10 am (Starts at Anglican Church)

Easter Vigil: 8 pm

Easter Sunday: 9 am and 11 am

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Dear Jack & Ellie “Thank you”

It was a great pleasure for me to work with you.

I won’t be able to replace all the fun and joy we

had along with working. You have served in

this Parish as Eucharistic Ministers, Lectors,

part of the Parish Pastoral Council, Coordinator

of the Fundraising Committee May God bless

you and your family abundantly. You have given me so many

memories to cherish. All the good times and bad times spent with

you in this Parish cannot be forgotten.

I am delighted to tell you Jack and Ellie that I have enjoyed every

moment spent with you in this Parish. I don’t image I can find

such parishioners, friends and Volunteers in any other Parish.

From gathering donations to rounding up helpers, you are one

amazing Church volunteer! The countless hours you put in to

help us organize and run the Fundraising events was an incredibly

generous gift to our Parish community. The positive feedback

we’ve received from those who attended was awesome. Everyone

had a fabulous time with your company, and we met and

exceeded our fundraising goal. The grand success of these events

is due in large part to you and your efforts. On behalf of our

Parish and Pastor, thank you for sharing your energy, talents and

time. We highly appreciate. May God Bless you as you move

from this Parish to another. We all will miss you.

18 March 2018 5th Sunday of Lent – 18 March 2018

Mass Intentions

Sunday

9 am

11am

Bernard Skalicky+, Martha &

Peter Ngugen;

Struys Family+

Monday 9 am Frank Fleiger+

Tuesday 7 pm Rhonda Hemmerling+

Wednesday 9 am Mike Taylor

Thursday 9 am Rhonda Hemmerling+

Friday 8 am Gemilliano & Sandra Cara+

Saturday 9 am Carol Beebe

11 March 2018

Envelopes $884.00

Loose $124.25

Total $1,008.25

.

Up-Coming Events Adoration: First Friday of every month at 9.30am

Divine Mercy Novena: Every Friday 9.30 am.

Confessions: 20th Tuesday at 6pm, Mass @ 7pm

Soup and Buns every Wednesday in Lent at 6.15pm

Stations of the Cross Sundays in between the Masses in Lent

Parish Finance Council meeting 10th April @7.30pm

Parish Pastoral Council Meeting 22 March at 7.30pm

Fundraising committee meeting 3 April @ 7.30pm

Holy Communion for the shut in - may be given at home

upon request. Please contact the parish office.

We remember in prayer all those who are sick, including:

Peggy Turner, Florence Sinclair, Cheryl Yaretz, Fr. Gerry

Guillet, Paul Mckenzie , Ernie Solomon, Louis Hunter, Carol

Beebe, Mike Harrison, Nick Rusnak, Terry Huculak,

Quirinus Corneilius, Stella Hildebrandt, Ken Ferguson, Mike

Joe, Sr. Theresa Clarrizio,SA, Teresa Talbot, Sally Harrison.

We remember in prayer: those who have died: Edward

Charles Roche, George Pavick, Gerd Steller, Rev. Timothy

McCarthy, Philip Redmond, Marcella Baker.

Easter Altar Decoration Flowers

Would you like to honor a loved one by providing the flowers

for Easter? If you wish to, please place them in an envelope

and clearly mark your name and the person(s) you wish to

honor, as well as your envelope number if you wish to have a

tax receipt. Thank you for your generosity!

Dear Rev Fr. Jerry, The words you delivered were

thoughtful, encouraging, and inspiring. They really

helped us to find out how strong our faith is? Thank you

for taking the time to say such powerful words. We

appreciate you for coming down all the way from

Vancouver. I don’t know if you get to hear this often

enough, but your sermon spoke to us personally and

inspired us to make some changes that we know will

improve our faith. Thank you for being a great

Carmelite spiritual leader for the Order and the Church.

We are Praying for you, May God Bless you.

Reflection for 5th Sunday of Lent: Easter is almost upon us.

Even from pre-Christian times it was the season when people

thought of life, fertility and vitality – of rabbits and eggs. But for

us Christians, it says more – not just the annual cycle of life and

vitality but new life beyond. Baptism, too, is about new life, being

reborn, born from above. From its earliest years, the Church

regarded the baptismal font as the womb of the Church. Over the

past month, we have been celebrating Lent, remembering our own

baptism; and this morning, from that baptismal womb, Jannah will

step forth newborn.

New life speaks of new capacity and heightened sensitivity. One

simple instance of that will be that, through her belonging to

family and now to the wider Christian community, Jannah will

learn of her origin from the creating, loving hand of God. She will

realize that, since God is love, the energy that enlivens and holds

her and the whole cosmos in existence is Love. She will know

where she is headed – to life with God, already accessible on earth

and destined to endure into eternity. As today’s First Reading

revealed, God has promised that all could come to know him in the

deepest of personal relationships. Jannah will learn to seek, to find

and to respond to God who has first sought and found her.

Through all this she will find meaning and purpose in her life – all

conspiring to put a fresh spring in her step and sparkle in her eye!

St Paul understood Christian life as our sharing in the life of the

risen Christ, who brings us with him into the very mystery of God.

Yet to share in Christ’s resurrection, we need firstly to share in his

dying. Paul saw both death and resurrection symbolized in

baptism. For him, our stepping down into the water of the font

symbolized Christ’s going down into the tomb and the realm of

death. Stepping up from the font, we rise with Christ to new and

resurrected life. In that dying and rising we are changed forever.

In today’s Gospel Jesus spoke of how the grain of wheat must fall

into the ground and die before it breaks through the soil and grows

over time to abundant, life-giving maturity. The Second Reading

claimed that Jesus became perfect through suffering. His

experience is also ours. We grow from infancy, through the teen

years to adulthood. Each further stage involves dying to the

familiarity and securities of the former one. Realistically, all

growth in life involves surrender to the way of love, trust and

discipline. As we grow in self-knowledge, we move from the

ingenuous obedience of childhood to the free, adult obedience

shown by the adult Jesus to his loving Father. We recognize how

God has written his law in our hearts, implanting it deep within

our being. We recognize that law as the law of genuine human

love. Love costs. Yet it alone makes sense. To the extent that we

resolutely recommit ourselves to that way of love, we become

increasingly Christ-like [or christened].

We live in a culture that has no real confidence in the way of

consistent love; a culture racked by its own violence. We make a

frightening mess of our world. To travel Christ’s lonely way of

love we need support. Today we offer that support to each other

and particularly to young Jannah. That is what Church is about.

And we are the Church!

Lessons on the Mass Lesson 3: The Tabernacle

The most important item in a Catholic Church is the tabernacle

– the noble, beautiful, and secure safe that contains the Holy

Eucharist, which is the very Body and Blood, Soul and

Divinity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who is really,

truly, and substantially present under the appearances of bread

and wine. It is truly the “Holy of Holies.” That’s why, in most

Churches, the tabernacle is placed in the center of the sanctuary

or on the back altar, or at least in a place which is clearly

visible and marked by a vigil light. Pope Benedict XVI wrote:

“The Holy Eucharist is the center of absolutely everything.”

Lenten Soup & Buns on every Wednesday in Lent at

6.15pm:. You are cordially invited to take part in Lenten

soup and Buns program on every Wednesday in Lent. Each

week, there will be a time of reflection & prayer, followed

by Soup & Buns in the hall. All free will donations will go

towards the Refugee Family.

Faith Formation Program: “ FORMED.ORG”

Up-coming is on 21st of March

We are excited to announce that our parish has subscribed to

FORMED.ORG. This is a dynamic new online gateway to the

best teaching videos, audio, and e-books to deepen your

relationship with Christ and His church. This allows every

parishioner to have 24/7 access to the best Catholic content on

any device, including your computer, smartphone and tablet

with internet access. To have access go to

agassizcatholic.formed.org and our Parish code is MHZ9M6

Janelle Ryan and Adriana Striker will be organizing Faith

formation Programs in our Parish. contact Adriana

at 604-795-0270, adriana.striker1@gmail.com Or

Janelle at 604-798-0800, bcjanelleryan@gmail.com

Parish Bowling Fund Raiser The Fund Raising Committee is organizing our annual parish BOWLING Event. This year, it will be held on May 5th Saturday in the evening. It is a Parish family social. I invite all of you to mark your calendar to save this date. It is at Chillibowl Lanes Ltd, Chilliwack, Starts with dinner at 5pm and bowling is at 6pm. The ticket cost for an Adult is $15, and for a child $7.50. All of you are invited.

The CWL will hand out Easter Food Bank Bags on Sunday

March 18th, you are requested to return them by Sunday, March

25th . Your generosity is appreciated.

Would you like to donate some ‘treasures’ for the

garage sale? You may drop them off at the church

any time, or if you need someone to transport them

from your house, please call the parish office, or

Ralph Kaay 604-794-7584 or Twyla 604-220-5843

and we will make arrangements to assist you with

this. We really appreciate your generous support

for this annual fundraiser in our parish, and it is

because of you that it will be a success! Thank You.

Development & Peace Share Lent Collection March 18

During our Lenten journey, when we are called upon to

fast, pray and give alms, D&P – Caritas Canada

encourages all parishes to join us in Pope Francis’ call for

peace on earth through dialogue. The Theme “Together

for Peace” reminds us of the vital role we all play in

supporting, both in solidarity with our voices and in

action with our donations, our local partners in Africa,

Asia, Latin America and the Middle East who are

working tirelessly through dialogue to bridge gaps to

create lasting peace in their different warring

communities. We at D&P–Caritas Canada work in all

these areas to be instruments of peace. Please be generous

in this week's special collection.