My dear friends,
This first Sunday of Lent gives us the opportunity to look ahead to Easter and the New Life that Jesus offers in order to ask ourselves what ways we need to open ourselves to His Grace so that we can enter into a deeper communion with our Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify us. Our Almsgiving, Fasting and Prayer should assist us in encountering Christ more sincerely and in following the inspirations of the Holy Spirit to avoid evil, love our neighbor and grow in virtue.
As we witness the suffering of our neighbors in Texas in this cold weather, on behalf of IHM parish, a $1,500 donation from our Social Ministry account will be made to the Red Cross. Here is a link if you wish to make further donations: www.redcross.org/donate/donation.html/
Starting in March, we will resume a second collection for the Repair and Maintenance of the parish and discontinue the 50/50 raffle. That will enable all such funds to be restricted to such use. This collection will take place approximately 8 months during the course of each year.
Please consider coming to Confession in the Adoration Chapel Monday evening during Holy Hour from 8:00-8:45pm.
Have a blessed Sunday!
LENT: Prayer – Fasting – Almsgiving
to prepare for Easter
1. Prayerful Devotions in Lent:
- Sacrament of Reconciliation: Mondays 8:00-8:45pm, Saturdays after the 8:30am Mass and from 4:00-5:00pm and by appointment
- Stations of the Cross: Fridays of Lent at 7:15pm
- Adoration: Mondays 8:00-9:00pm and Fridays 9:30-10:30am
- Holy Mass: Sundays: 8:00am, 10:00am & 12noon and Saturday Vigil at 5:30pm, Daily Monday-Friday 6:45am and 9:00am, Saturdays and holidays 8:30am. Kindly pre-register.
- Easter Duty: The time for fulfilling Confession & Receiving Holy Communion extends from February 21 - First Sunday of Lent, to May 30 - Holy Trinity Sunday
2. Lenten Fast and Abstinence:
- During the Season of Lent, the Church urges all the Faithful to reflect a spirit in penance in their daily life through performing acts of fast and abstinence
- ABSTINENCE forbids the eating meat or poultry. Those who have reached the age of 14 or older are obliged to abstain on all Fridays of Lent, including Good Friday. GOOD FRIDAY is a day of Fast and Abstinence
- All Fridays of the year are designated as days of penance during which we are encouraged to practice self-denial out of gratitude for the suffering and death Jesus accepted for us.
3. Almsgiving: Reach Out In Charity – The third part of the Lenten formula is almsgiving. It’s about more than throwing a few extra dollars in the collection plate; it’s about reaching out to others and helping them without question as a way of sharing the experience of God’s unconditional love.
- HOPE COMMUNITY SOUP KITCHEN NEEDS YOUR HELP
- We are looking for more volunteers to cook for the HOPE Community Supper Program. The need is greater than ever. Cooking is done at home and delivered to the Church, it is then picked up and delivered to HOPE Community Services in New Rochelle (www.hopecommunityservices.org).
- Timing: Held every third Friday, and also the occasional 5th Tuesday of the month.
- If cooking is "not your thing" we could use help with shopping for other food items
- Contact: Lynne Richy at (914) 772-8348 to sign up or ask questions.
MASS ATTENDANCE SAFETY PROTOCOLS
As we seek to renew our practices to keep everyone safe, please remember to disinfect when you enter the church and wear masks properly covering your mouth and nose, particularly if you should cough or sneeze. Always feel free to excuse yourself if you need to or if you feel unsafe. Please follow the directions of the ushers since we seek to put groups of 1, 2 or 3 at opposite ends of the same pews alternating with a pew for families of 4, 5 and 6 in the middle of pews. Families of 7, 8, 9 and 10 will normally be situated on the sides of the front of the church or in the Adoration Chapel. We encourage everyone to arrive 5-10 minutes before Mass so as to assist in smoothly seating all. Should one arrive after Mass begins, please enter through the main vestibule area of the church (unless handicap entrance is needed). After Mass, to avoid congregating, please exit by the closest door. Thank you for your attention to these reminders and to your understanding.
SUNDAY, FEB 20/21 MASS SIGNUP
If you missed the Mass Signup that went out in Monday's Flocknote, please use the signup below.
Please note: to simplify Mass Signup for Parishioners who regularly attend a specific Mass each week, we created a Recurring Weekly Mass Signup. If you are already on the Recurring Weekly Mass list, then there is no need to complete a new signup below. If you plan to attend the same Mass weekly, please contact the rectory at 914-723-0276 to be added to the list.
IHM Public Masses Sunday February 21, 2021
Please follow safe distance protocols - Wearing a mask in church is required - Please follow directions from ushers and observe signs about seating - At this time the Archdiocese of NY recommends that Holy Communion be received in the hand. If you are ill or have any symptoms of the Virus, please know that Mass is available online.
IHM Saturday Feb 20, 5:30pm
IHM Sunday Feb 21, 8:00am
IHM Sunday Feb 21, 10:00am
IHM Sunday Feb 21, 12:00pm
THANK YOU FOR ALL MAILED IN AND ONLINE WESHARE DONATIONS!
If you plan to contribute online using WeShare for your recurring IHM contributions, and would like to discontinue receiving mailed envelopes, or if you have any questions or comments about envelopes or WeShare, please use the simple contact form below.
- The College Evenings will take place every other week. The next one will take place on Wednesday, February 24 from 7:30-8:00PM on Zoom. CLICK HERE to sign up, to join the email list or for more information.
- FORMED: 40 Days to Grace and Glory - This Lent, we invite you to journey with Dr. Tim Gray by signing up for Daily Lenten Reflections. Each day you will receive in your inbox a short video which features Dr. Gray commenting on the daily Mass readings, explaining the Scriptures, and providing you with concrete ideas on how to apply them to your Christian life. Available for free on FORMED. FORMED Lent is here - Sign up at formed.org/lent
Thank you for your generous support in last week’s Peter’s Pence Collection! Our contributions will be combined with those from our brothers and sisters around the world to help Pope Francis provide essential relief to people in need. If you missed the collection, it is not too late to give, visit www.usccb.org/nationalcollections, and click on the “How to Give” link on the left. Thank you!
ESTABLISHMENT OF WORLD DAY OF GRANDPARENTS & THE ELDERLY
Pope Francis announced the establishment of a World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly as a reminder of the important role Grandparents play as a link between generations. The day will be celebrated every year on the fourth Sunday of July to coincide with the feast of SS. Joachim and Anne, Jesus’ grandparents. The first celebration of this day will be July 25, 2021. Grandparents are the link between generations, passing on the experience of life and faith to the young.
In Matthew 10:8, Jesus enjoins the apostles, “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.” This has led the Church in every age to undertake the corporal works of mercy with great zeal, especially in times of widespread illness and pandemic. Catholic physicians, nurses and health-care workers, as well as family members, friends, religious and clergy have sought throughout history to care for the afflicted despite great personal risk.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the Church’s work in such a crisis was during the plague that ravaged the Roman Empire in the middle of the third century. It has often been called the Plague of Cyprian, named for the bishop of Carthage who faced the pandemic’s arrival in North Africa around 252 A.D. St. Cyprian mobilized workers and raised funds for the care of those who fell ill and the burial of those who died.
In the 14th century, during outbreaks of the plague known as the Black Death, many monasteries saw their infirmaries filled to capacity, and many monks and nuns fell victim themselves after caring for victims of the pestilence. Beyond the monasteries, mendicant friars with medical training were also called upon to assist the sick. In the Holy Land, Franciscan physicians cared for plague-stricken pilgrims and locals.
The First Session of the Council of Trent was interrupted in 1547 due to a plague outbreak in the city. Over several decades, the epidemic spread throughout the Italian Peninsula. When it arrived in Milan in 1576, the 38-year-old archbishop, St. Charles Borromeo, refused various pleas for him to leave the city. Instead, he led the efforts of the city’s remaining clergy and religious to minister to those afflicted, personally helped to fund St. Gregory’s Hospital, ordered collections to be taken for the victims and made frequent visits to the sick and dying both in the hospital and around the city.
When plague and famine struck Rome in 1591, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a Jesuit seminarian, left his studies to minister to the sick. Fr. Tom Rochford, SJ, has described how Gonzaga “threw himself into caring for the victims of the plague. He begged alms for the sick and physically carried those he found in the streets to a hospital where he washed and fed them and prepared them for the sacraments.” Although his superiors urged him to take precautions, Gonzaga contracted the infection and died that same year, at 23 years of age.
Century after century, Catholics have followed Christ’s mission of serving the sick. In his Apologia Pro Vita Sua, St. John Henry Newman marveled at the priests who bravely ministered to those dying of typhus and cholera in Ireland and England in the 1850s. More than 30 priests fell victim to the outbreak after bringing the sacraments to the bedsides of the dying.
Such courage was also exemplified by the women religious and nurses who readily ministered to the sick in each of these crises. St. Frances Xavier Cabrini wrote of the role of her Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus during an outbreak of yellow fever in New Orleans in the 1890s: “When doctor and priest were forbidden to enter the houses of our conationals for fear of contamination … a sister was always welcome at the bedside of those dying from yellow fever; when assured that the victim’s children would be cared for by the sisters, the victim expired peacefully.”
In 1918, the Spanish Flu ripped through the country and the world. In Philadelphia, especially hard hit, nurses were in short supply due to the First World War. Responding to the need, 2,000 religious sisters, many with little previous training in nursing, worked tirelessly to aid victims of the pandemic. “Dressed in white gowns and gauze masks,” as Kiley Bense described them in a recent New York Times tribute, “the sisters treated patients who represented a cross section of Philadelphia: immigrants from Italy, Ukraine, Poland and China; Black families, Jewish families, and the city’s poorest, its orphans, its homeless and destitute, all in need of care.” Twenty-three sisters would contract and succumb to the virus during their service as nurses.
On Christmas Eve 1985, working with Cardinal John O’Connor, Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity responded to the AIDS/HIV epidemic in New York City by opening a hospice at St. Veronica’s Church in Greenwich Village. The missionary sisters subsequently opened HIV/AIDS hospices and care homes in Baltimore, Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles and numerous international cities. In 1989, ArchCare opened the first long-term care facility for HIV/AIDS patients in New York City.
Today, many Catholic religious, clergy and lay missionaries are serving people around the world suffering from outbreaks of malaria, dengue fever and the effects of malnutrition, armed conflict and natural disasters. During this pandemic, we marvel once again at the tireless and selfless efforts of our brothers and sisters: medical professionals, first responders, chaplains, clergy, religious, pastoral ministers, family members and loved ones, who have come to the aid of the sick and suffering. They have truly heeded the call of Christ in this moment.
Rev. Michael J. S. Bruno, STD
Dean of Seminarians
Professor of Church History
St. Joseph’s Seminary, Yonkers
Archways Magazine | Winter 2021
Please join us on Thursday, February 25, from 5:30-6:30PM for a virtual conversation with Father Michael Bruno, S.T.D., Dean of Seminarians from Saint Joseph’s Seminary, and Sister Virginia Joy, SV, Respect Life Director, about the ways their work and ministry is building up the Church in New York. As you know, both ministries are beneficiaries of the Appeal. Click here to RSVP.
The Cardinal’s Appeal prepares the way for the pastors of tomorrow. In a rapidly changing world, our future priests require exceptional preparation to minister to diverse communities in a digital world. Our seminarians are receiving the theological, liturgical, technological, and administrative skills required to lead the next generation of Catholics. Your gift to the Appeal makes that possible! Visit cardinalsappeal.org to learn more or make a gift!
PRO LIFE CORNER
Now through March 28, you’re invited to join other Christians for 40 DAYS FOR LIFE – 40 days of prayer and fasting for an end to abortion. You’re also invited to stand and peacefully pray for one or more hours in the public right-of-way outside the Planned Parenthood at 175 Tarrytown Road in White Plains and to help spread the word about this important effort to save lives. If you’d like more information – and especially if you’d like to volunteer to help, please visit 40daysforlife.com/whiteplains, or email 40DFL.WP@gmail.com. All are welcome!
For further information, contact Joe McCourt of the IHM Pro-Life Committee (ihmchurch@ihmscarsdale.org).
CARDINAL DOLAN MARKED ASH WEDNESDAY
WITH FOOD DISTRIBUTION & MASS
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, was the principal celebrant at the 12:00 noon Ash Wednesday Mass at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral on February 17. The Cardinal began the day by helping to distribute food at 7:00AM at the Saint Francis of Assisi Breadline.
HOLY NAME SOCIETY (HNS)
ANNUAL RETREAT
HNS chapters of IHM, Annunciation & Our Lady of Fatima will hold their annual Retreat on Saturday, Feb.27 from 9AM until 12:30PM virtually on ZOOM. The theme will be, "The Supremacy of Christ in the Midst of Spiritual Warfare." Msgr. Dermot Brennan, who had served at IHM a number of years ago, will once again be the Retreat guide & main speaker. Bill Winnis will also provide a talk on "Spiritual Warfare." Contact Mr. Damian Wach as soon as possible to participate - (973) 204-3691) or email damian.wach@pgim.com.
The need for your blood type never takes a break. Recipients rely on the generosity of donors like you. Donating blood with us is safe! We have 19 donor centers across New York and New Jersey to make donating as convenient as possible for you. Don’t forget to wear your face mask! Make your appointment today! Use the button below or call (800) 933-2566
Parishioners who attend DAILY MASS, can sign up to receive an email each day for the readings of the day. If you would like to subscribe to the emails for the daily readings, Click HERE
For THIS SUNDAY's Readings, February 20/21, 2021, Click HERE
Please be advised that you can print them out at home or you can use your phone or tablet to follow along with the readings in church or at home.
SUNDAY, February 21, 2021
First Sunday of Lent
5:30PM - Daniel G. Connolly, Sr.
8:00AM - Antonio Barone
8:00AM - Antonio Barone
10:00AM - Paul Curran
12:00PM - The Conforti & di Targiani Families
12:00PM - The Conforti & di Targiani Families
The weekly intention for The People of Immaculate Heart of Mary will be offered privately by the Pastor
MONDAY, February 22, 2021
The Chair of St. Peter the Apostle
6:45AM - John McSpedon
9:00AM - Margaret Mansfield
TUESDAY, February 23, 2021
St. Polycarp
6:45AM - Joseph Flanagan
9:00AM - Viola Daquila
9:00AM - Viola Daquila
WEDNESDAY, February 24, 2021
6:45AM - JoAnn Murphy
9:00AM - Sal Caruso
THURSDAY, February 25, 2021
6:45AM - Nicolaus Herrbold
9:00AM - Margaret Mary Willoughby
FRIDAY, February 26, 2021
6:45AM - Oliver Desclos
9:00AM - Pasquelena Cava
9:00AM - Pasquelena Cava
SATURDAY, February 27, 2021
8:30AM - Elva Troncone
5:30PM - Anita Ranieri Cummingham
Please Remember in Your Prayers
The Sick of Our Parish
Fr. Thomas Lynch
Msgr. Pat Keenan
Sr. Mary Tommasino, S.C
Louis Ranucci
Angela Lifrieri
Laura Hernandez
Nicholas Di Marzo
Anthony Guiliano
Barbara Grossberg
Gina Cocciolillo
Carmine Gagliardi
Elizabeth Sheey
Jason Bergen
Christian Hansen
Biaggio Ferarro
Nancy Herran
For all those suffering with the Virus
The Deceased of Our Parish
Rev. Joseph Francis Bisignano
Emily Carozza
Dolores Short
Julia Kathleen Deegan
All Victims of the Virus
KIDS KORNER
Please see this week's "Kids Korner"
prepared by our bulletin publisher, Bon Venture.
BULLETIN ADVERTISEMENTS
The printing of our Church Bulletin is sponsored by the advertisers on the back pages. Until public masses resume, please check out the advertisements below.
Thank you to our local merchants for
supporting our electronic bulletin!
EMAIL: IHMCHURCH@IHMSCARSDALE.ORG
914-723-0276
