Sat., September 8

4 PM … Frank Connelly by his family

Sun., September 9 XXIII Sunday in Ordinary Time

7:30 AM …Carrie Kohler (19th Anniv.) by Armand & Kathy

Carignan

9:30 AM … Katherine Jaskolka by Al & Barbara Heidenreich

5 PM … Our Parish Family

Monday, September 10

12 PM … Mary Kenney Kreider by Margaret-Ann Moran

Tue., September 11

12 PM … Mary Kenney Kreider by Mary Schehl

Wed., September 12

12 PM … Robin Miles by Barbara Miles

Thur., September 13

8:30 AM ... Annette Whitmore by Lisa Ruppel

Fri., September 14

6 PM … Joseph Patti by Margaret-Ann Moran

Sat., September 15

4 PM … Charles Richard by Simone Richard

Sun., September 16 XXIV Sunday in Ordinary Time

7:30 AM …Our Parish Family

9:30 AM … Catechists of Saint Raphael Parish

5 PM … Joseph Patti by Barbara Noga

XXIII in Ordinary Time

Weekend of September 2, 2018 Regular Offertory $3,356.00 Loose Offertory 569.00 Online Offertory Last Wk 695.00 Total Offertory $6,953.00 Assumption of BVM $ 120.00

Stewardship Make up $ 25.00

Food Pantry $ 0.00

********************** Last Year: Wknd of Sep. 3, 2017 Total Offertory $3,847.60

Thank you for your sacrificial gift!

Mon., September 10 7 PM … Food Pantry Tue., September 11 12:45 PM … Parish Nurse Wed. September 12 7 PM … Knitting Group

September 9, 2018

Sanctuary candle The sanctuary candle burns this week for Annette Whitmore by Lisa Ruppel.

READINGS FOR THE WEEK of September 9, 2018 Monday: 1 Cor 5:1-8; Ps 5:5-6, 7, 12; Lk 6:6-11; Tues-day: 1 Cor 6:1-11; Ps 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b; Lk 6:12-19; Wednesday: 1 Cor 7:25-31; Ps 45:11-12, 14-15, 16-17; Lk 6:20-26; Thursday: 1 Cor 8:1b-7, 11-13; Ps 139:1b-3, 13-14ab, 23-24; Lk 6:27-38; Friday: Nm 21:4b-9; Ps 78:1bc-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38; Phil 2:6-11; Jn 3:13-17 Saturday: 1 Cor 10:14-22; Ps 116:12-13, 17-18; Jn 19:25-27 orLk 2:33-35; Sunday: Is 50:5-9a; Ps 116:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9; Jas 2:14-18; Mk 8:27-35

Year B Hymnal #995

Goal: $24,000

Raised: $13,952

Balance: $10,048

We’re past the halfway mark! Please

help us reach our goal in Moving

Lives Forward with the 2018 Catholic

Charities appeal. Envelopes in the

pews and at back of church. Thanks

for your generosity!

Sign up to host Vocation Chalice and Pilgrim Virgin statue Par ishioners and friends of the par-ish are encouraged to sign up for either or

both of these opportunities for two-week intervals beginning in Sep-tember. Please call the office at 623.2604 to make arrangements. This is a great opportunity to devel-op prayer in your home and heart, to honor Mary and to ask God for the gift of new vocations!

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION Bishop Peter A. Libasci of

Manchester invites all couples celebrating 25th, 30th, 35th, 40th,

45th, 50th or beyond Wedding Anniversary (during 2018) to at-

tend a Fall Wedding Anniversary Mass. Couples are encouraged

to invite select family members to share in this joyous occasion

on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2018 at 2 PM at Saint Joseph Cathedral, Manchester.

Please contact the Saint Raphael office by Sept. 18. We need your last names,

first names and mailing address, plus your special anniversary year. By

providing us your name, you will be registered and receive an invitation.

Thanks to all who

donated to our SRP

Food Pantry produce

from your gardens. If

you have extra vege-

tables to harvest,

please drop them off at the rectory next Mon-

day, Sep 10, before 4 PM. Thank you!

Blessing of Back Packs All students are invited to bring their back packs for a special blessing on

Sunday, Sep 16 at the 9:30 AM Mass. Religious Education will resume on the 16th, and we will also welcome back our choir.

Bishop Peter A. Libasci of Manchester cordially invites members of law enforcement, firefighters, EMTs and other

irst responders and their families and communities to a Blue Mass on Sunday, Sep. 30, at 10:30 AM at Saint Jo-

seph’s Cathedral, corner of Lowell & Pine Streets, Manchester. Mass will be followed by a breakfast in the Cathe-

dral Church Hall. Please RSVP by Sep. 24. To reserve tickets for the breakfast, please visit

2018bluemass.eventbrite.com Our pastor , P. Jerome, O.S.B., serves on the planning committee for the event.

Welcome back to our Saint Benedict Academy faculty and students! The SBA community will celebrate a weekly Mass at the parish on Wednesdays at 8:30 AM throughout the school year. Our regular -

ly scheduled noon Mass will still take place on Wednes-days. Anyone who wishes to attend the 8:30 AM Mass on Wednesdays when the students have school, is wel-come to do so. Please remember not to park in the church parking lot during weekdays as the lot doubles as the students’ playground. Thank you!

Congratulations to altar server and parishioner, Skye Podziewski, who is the newly crowned Miss Capital Area’s Outstanding Teen 2019. Skye was

crowned on Aug. 11. She’ll be com-peting for the title of Miss New Hampshire’s Outstanding Teen 2019 in February.

From the Pastor: Fr. Jerome Joseph Day, O.S.B.

Beware claims of ‘enemy of the people,’ the press defends our rights

From the Pastor: Fr. Jerome Joseph Day, O.S.B.

Not by a long shot am I someone who claims the press is “the enemy of the peo-ple.” Such a blatant smear on the Fourth Estate is factually wrong, politically ma-nipulative and socially destructive. Is it pos-sible that sometimes the press will get an element in a story wrong or that journalists will let opinion and bias slip into their writ-ing? Of course. It happens. But reputable outlets of the working press maintain edi-tors and ombudsmen who serve as checks and balances on copy. Reporters are required to support claims with evidence, to cite statistics and examples, to interview sources involved with the story. Back in 1882, Norwegian writer Henrik Ib-sen’s play An Enemy of the People con-cerns a newspaper editor, a doctor and a poli-tician who must wrestle with the discovery that the hot springs under their town and which make it a tourist spa are con-taminated and danger-ous for health. The mayor in-sists on a cover-up. The editor runs away from the story because it will cost him advertising revenue, even though the con-tamination might be deadly. And the doctor is left to stand alone and publicly decry the contamination. Standing up for the truth cost the doctor his position, income and health. Meanwhile, the audience is left to ponder who is the real enemy of the people. Routinely, I ask my journalism students at Saint Anselm to read the play. When mistakes occur in the real world, the mainline press corrects the error as soon as it can be identified and the truth discovered. When printed or broadcast material unfairly paints or positions an institution or individu-al, working journalists and their editors apol-ogize. That cannot be said for a great many politicians, even some at the highest levels. It cannot be said for a vast section of “the me-dia,” which we call social media, which gives everyone with an iPhone or a laptop access to the world-wide web through the internet. In many respects, social media is like the Old Wild West; one enters Face-book, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and simi-lar media platforms at one’s own risk. The proliferation of media platforms and outlets is matched by the rise in the number of cable television stations, most of which operate on a 24/7 schedule. Such “all news” stations are not, in fact, “all news,” some are hardly news, properly speaking, at all. Be-cause such cable networks, systems and sta-tions cannot possibly employ enough report-ers to produce constant news reports about the U.S. or even the entire world, they fill up

their programming with a large number of “news-like” shows that, upon inspection, provide opportunities for scant reporting but much ideological haranguing. This phenomenon is true on both sides of the political aisle, right and left. Ever since the 2016 U.S. presidential cam-paign and the election of Donald Trump as president, the drumbeat of attacks on the press has grown louder and louder, such that some citizens simply do not believe much of anything that is reported. This is, I suggest, by design so that citizens will rely only direct

com-

munication from their particular political favorites. But this pattern of information-gathering is a recipe for demagoguery. The need for objective and impartial reporting of events is necessary, even vital for a de-mocracy. Without it, citizens have no firm basis on which to make the necessary anal-yses, evaluations, judgments and decisions. In my opinion, one of the greatest achieve-ments of the Founders of our republic was the Bill of Rights, particularly the First Amendment, guaranteeing the freedom of worship, speech, free press, assembly and petition. When broad-brush claims of “fake news” and “enemy of the people” are used to distract and deceive the public, I am an-gered. It is telling that Manchester’s Union Leader, one of the most conservative dailies in the U.S., called “Trump’s slander … cal-culated, despicable, disturbing and danger-ous. It comes from a man who regularly dis-torts or disremembers the truth.” When I think of journalists such as Don Bolles of the Arizona Free Press, Danny Pearl of The Wall Street Journal and Jim Foley of Global Post, who gave their lives for sake of reporting news that is truthful, important and necessary, I realize how offensive, fool-ish and dangerous such attacks on the free press are – and how they are insidious at-tacks on us all. What should John and Jane Q. Public do? Nobody needs to become a “news junkie,” but each of us should make an effort to stay abreast of the news in the world, our country,

region, state and com-munity. As Catholics, we ought always recognize that “here we have no lasting city,” and yet, as best we can, we are called to build up in and with the Lord’s grace the Kingdom of God. We need to

know what is afoot and why. We may have objections to one editorial point of view or another, but most local daily newspapers aim to provide comprehensive coverage of the areas where we live. Read-ing a major metropolitan daily, at the front door or on-line, provides a good way to broaden our understanding of the world. For journalism class, I ask students to read The New York Times each day, and I check out The Boston Globe on-line. Often, I will pick up The Wall Street Journal. We can listen to more than one television news broadcast in the course of the week – and we should dis-tinguish carefully between commentary and opinion shows about the news and genuine newscasts. The same is true for whatever radio shows we listen to in the kitchen, in the car or at work. My vote goes to New Hamp-shire Public Radio for consistently accu-rate, engaging and balanced reporting. Often, however, I listen to Christian radio for a more conservative and biblical perspective on issues. Weekly news magazines likewise provide a good overview of news, as do many on-line sources if they are legitimate news sources. I happen to be a fan of the BBC and check it each morning. Whatever kind of journalism citizens choose, it is important to recognize the difference between opinion pieces, iden-tified as such, and factual reporting. P.T. Barnum, the famous 19th Century circus entrepreneur and entertainer, is often associated with the observation that “there’s a sucker born every minute.” While there is no proof he coined the phrase, the point is well taken. When we fail to discover the truth about the world in which we live, when we are unable or unwilling to distinguish political claim, manipulation and deception from truth and the efforts to obtain the truth, we make ourselves willing customers for every bottle of snake oil on the shelf. And every two-bit huckster in town, whatever color his house may be, smacks his lips and smiles. © Rev. Jerome Joseph Day, O.S.B.

Three journalists killed in lving and defending a free press: Don Bolles, 1976; Danny

Pearl, 2002; Jim Foley, 2014