Saturday, June 30

4p.m. Emile Houbre

Sunday July 1

8 a.m. For the People of the Parish

9:30 a.m. Edmond Caron

11 a.m. Mary Sylvia

Mon. July 2 Miguel Inacio Lima

Tues. July 3 Vincent Worden

Wed. July 4 May Vera and Jose Medeiros

Thurs. July 5 Daniel Perry

Fri. July 6 Manuel Amaral, Jr.

Saturday, July 7

4 p.m. John and Mary Medeiros

Sunday, July 8

8 a.m. For the People of the Parish

9:30 a.m. Joseph & Amelia Reis & deceased

11 a.m. Alphonse Spoor

Sanctuary Lamp in Church

Alphonse Spoor

Sanctuary Lamp in Chapel

Albert Bourque

New gifts are needed for the " adult twistees booth"and "children’s twistees booth". Please bring them to the rectory.

Sponsors are needed for our booths.

A one time offering of $200 for a booth will give you advertising for five years. Those who sponsor a booth can put any message on a sign that is placed in front of the booth. This sign will remain with that booth for the next five years.

VOLUNTEERS

to work on the festival weekend are invited to sign up at the church gathering area on the weekend of July 15 and July 22

**ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT on Sunday, July 1 from noon to 5p.m. in the chapel with Holy Hour at 4 p.m.

**UIA HOUSE MEETING at St. James Rectory on Tuesday, July 10 at 7 p.m.

** BINGO APPRECIATION NIGHT

Friday, July 20 @ St. James Rectory

6 p.m. to 9 p.m. for all bingo workers and families

**FEAST OF ST. JAMES: Wednesday, July 25 with special Mass at 7 p.m. followed by fellowship

**Missionary Cooperative Collection on the weekend of September 1 and 2 for the Dominicans of New York.

We have begun our Season of Ordinary Time. There is nothing "ordinary" about this season. The word ordinary indicates that we count the Sundays of this season. This is a very special time of the Church year. The color of the season is green that indicates that this season is a time of letting all the lessons of Easter deepen in us to bring about growth. It is the season that reflects our summer mode: resting in the Lord and appreciating all that the Lord has given to us.

We began with three Feasts that certainly launched us into the season. The Feast of the Holy Trinity (June 10) gave us the focus of our worship each Sunday. The Feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord (June 17) gave us an opportunity to appreciate the essence of our Sunday gathering. The Feast of the Birth of St. John the Baptist (June 24) helped us to see the mission that comes from our worship.

We need to deepen our awareness of mission.

Why are we a parish? Yes, we are not the parish that we were ten or twenty years ago. Those who came to our Parish Meeting to review our Parish Self Study certainly saw that fact presented in the statistics, Mass attendance and the numbers of Baptisms, First Communions and Confirmations. Yes, our capacity to respond is different from ten or twenty years ago. We still can respond.

The Feast of the Holy Trinity teaches us that God to be God is a community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We need to include the people around us to be part of our community. The Body and Blood of the Lord nourishes us for that inclusion. The Birth of John the Baptist teaches us about the reason that we were created to be a parish one hundred and ten years ago.

United Interfaith Action has been helpful in connecting our parish to other congregations in participating in the mission of reaching out to our larger community. In the past years since UIA began the issues of violence in our cities, more outreach to our youth, and recruiting people to vote have been addressed. (We have reported to you all the details of what UIA has accomplished in these areas.)

United Interfaith Action is community based. The projects that UIA sponsors come from the ideas of the people. It is the people who establishes the agenda of UIA.

When the areas of concern are made known by the people on the grass roots level, the community organizers, Ray Gagne and Fernanda De Souza help the members of UIA to organize so that these areas can be studied and resolved.

People gathering together to share their concerns, hopes and questions about the cities in which they live has been the model of community organizing. This is done either in "house meetings" or by people talking "one on one".

I invite you to a house meeting that we are having in our parish in July. (The date of this house meeting is found on the other page of this bulletin.)

Are there new concerns that you have? What about cost of prescriptions for the elderly? What are your feelings about unemployment in our cities? What are your feelings about our young people having to move away because there are no opportunities for them in our cities of New Bedford and Fall River?

Are there other concerns that you have?

This house meeting in the rectory will an opportunity to express your concerns. Other house meetings are being held in New Bedford and Fall River to get a feel of what people are thinking. These concerns will be presented at our next monthly meeting. From this an agenda will be set for the next year.

Although very few parishioners are involved in the day to day operation of UIA, we have had, nevertheless, a fairly good response to our "Action" meetings. The "Action" meeting is the gathering of many hundreds of people to meet with city and officials to get commitments from them on certain concerns. The invited officials know what the questions are that they will be asked. They meet with UIA members before the meeting. The importance of many people coming is to let those who are able to change the situation know that this is what the people want and consider very important.

The next Action meeting will be held in the Fall in New Bedford. I am hoping that St. James will come out in strong numbers.