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Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
I asked A.I. the origin of the word “pastor.” The word “pastor” originates from the Latin word “pastor,” meaning “shepherd.” This term, in turn, comes from the Latin verb “pascere,” which means “to lead to pasture, set to grazing, cause to eat.” In religious contexts, particularly within Christianity, “pastor” is used to describe a clergyman or minister who is a shepherd to a flock or congregation.
It has been my experience, however, that the job often seems more like that of a sheepdog than a shepherd, running around biting at peoples’ heels to try to move this ship of church in the right direction. You hear people use the phrase “herding cats” a lot, but I think it better to popularize “herding sheep.”
It is an interesting reflection: to lead them to pasture, to set them to grazing, and to “cause [them] to eat?” What is the old phrase – you can lead a horse to water...but you can’t make it drink! But that is, apparently, exactly my vocation.
What is the best course of action for Saint Bernadette, how do I place it in front of you, and convince you that you can’t live without it? That there is nothing more important to your life than what Jesus is offering at this and every moment of your life? I would hope that in an unobscured moment of clarity each and every person in our parish would realize that this is True. But how do we renew our hearts to make Saint Bernadette our priority as a community that brings us holiness and life?
This is not something that happens automatically, sadly. It is only inspired by an encounter of the love of God, often in prayer but sometimes in our interactions with others. There is an unconditionality of love that lays bare all our brokenness from bad experiences of love which did more harm than good. It is only actualized by the same interaction when we experience the beauty of others serving us and our service to others. This is the love that saves. This is the love whose absence on the last day will bring about the words of our Savior, reminding us that every time we did not do something out of love for the least of our brothers and sisters, we did not do it for him. It is starkly simple.
In our planning committee meeting for Parish Life Weekend there was some discussion about the use of the word “commitment.” “Commitment card.” “Commitment Sunday.” People are afraid to commit to things today, I was told. There is the pasture... so many possibilities. Please, eat. The alternative is to starve.
I need your help.
We have a great future just about to open up. Think of the possibilities with a new building: we have to plan. We have to dream. So what does a pastor do when he needs help? He forms a committee. There are a lot of jokes out there about committees and death by meetings. But I propose to you the first Church committee had 12 members, suddenly then 11, and then a new 12th was called up. We do human things by calling forth the gifts that God has already placed in our community.
I’m forming a parish advisory board because finally I think we are ready. The pasture is laid out before us. We are led to the water.
Also, I need two other principal committees first. One is a group that will effectively call forth the gifts from the many cultures and language groups that make up our parish family. I’m calling it the Multicultural Ministry Team (how original!). Everyone needs to be represented and have a part and a say in how we dream our future.
Second, I need a Communications Committee. This is particularly an area where you youth and young adult members of our family can shine. I love to tell our kids that I graduated from college before personal computers were invented. They invented the internet the year I was ordained. (They don’t believe me.) So you can see how steep my learning curve is! I make this bulletin, that is about the depth of my tech talents. BUT... YOU can get our good news out there! Think about how quickly bad news fills the world-wide web. Good news can travel just as quickly and will provide people with the hope they need so much. The best news is usually received in person: by word of mouth, share our story and get people excited! It will require commitment...
The Lord be with you.
In his weekly General Audience Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV invited all the faithful to take part in a Day of Prayer and Fasting for Peace in the world on this Friday, August 22, the Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Pope Leo asks for prayer and fasting for all those who suffer due to war, particularly in the Holy Land and Ukraine, and “to implore the Lord to grant peace and justice, and to wipe away the tears of those who suffer because of ongoing armed conflicts.” He added, “May Mary, Queen of Peace, intercede so that peoples may find the path of peace.”
Calling all rising 4th graders who would like to serve at the altar as Altar Servers! Training starts September 8, so contact Jean Corday in the parish office to sign up.
Pick up your blue Saint Lucy Food Drive bags this weekend at Masses, and bring them back for the collection at Masses next weekend, August 23-24. See p. 7 for a list of most needed items.
The Knights of Columbus are hosting a Pancake Breakfast for the parish on Sunday, August 24 following the 7, 9, and 11am Masses to celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year. Proceeds will go to KofC charities.
There will be a Rise Against Hunger planning meeting on Sunday, August 24 in the Bradican Room. Come and see how you can get involved in all the aspects of feeding 250,000+ meals to people who don’t have food today.
Join us for our monthly Taize Prayer Service, Monday, August 18 from 8 - 8:45pm. The perfect, peaceful, prayerful end of the day. Join us as we pray for unity in the world.
Thank you to all who have responded to our request to reduce our parish envelope costs. If you are receiving offertory envelopes but don’t use them or no longer wish to receive them, please contact our parish office so that we can remove that service from your registration file. Remember Second and Special Collections can be done electronically through Faith Direct.
FAITH FORMATION
Living the Liturgical Year:
Happy Sunday! This week on August 22 we celebrate the feast day of the Queenship of Mary. The Queenship of Mary falls on the octave of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to Catholic tradition, as Christ is king of the world and saves the people from their sins, Mary is queen over the earth because of her role in the story of divine redemption, serving as the mother to the Savior.” One delicious way to celebrate the feast day is by creating Coronation parfaits. Instructions can be found here. https://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2013/08/blueberry-peach-parfaits-for-coronation.html.
Children's Liturgy of the Word ~ As the CLOW team preps for the new school year, we are in need of volunteers. If you are interested in supporting this ministry, please reach out to Kathryn Melton at yanezka@gmail.com or Lynn Jones at ljones@stbernpar.org.
Volunteers for 2025-2026 ~ As we prepare to plan for the upcoming Religious Education school year, please discern if you would like to help. We are in need of Lead Catechists and aides. If interested, please contact the Religious Education Office or fill out the Volunteer Form on the website. You will also find the QR Code at the bulletin board.
WOMEN'S MINISTRY
Come and enjoy warm fellowship and great food. No need to RSVP. For more information, please email us at women@stbernpar.org. Monday, August 18, is our next Dinner with Friends at 5pm, at Saratoga Pizzeria, 8050 Rolling Road. We meet for this casual meal on the 1st and the 3rd Monday of every month.
YOUTH MINISTRY
High School Socials begin 26 August!
All high schoolers are invited to join us for Tuesday Socials every Tuesday from 7-8:30pm! Meet in the youth room (in the parish office) for games, ice cream, and a discussion on the faith. Our first Tuesday social of the school year will be Tuesday, August 26. Contact Grace Mee for more information!
All High schoolers are invited for dinner, games, a fellowship on Saturday, September 13. Meet in the Bradican room from 6-8:30pm!
Middle School Youth Ministry begins 2 September
All 6th-8th graders are invited for games, snacks, and fun every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month! Meet in the school gym from 6:45-8pm, beginning Wednesday, September 2.
To learn more about our middle and high school ministries,
please contact Grace Mee, gmee@stbernpar.org
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
Have you ever daydreamed of living your life in reverse? You’d watch the weight of the future retreat as you walked back into the past, living each year in reverse order: growing younger, having family and friends restored to you, erasing mistakes.
There’s something delightful in the dream, however impossible or improper it might be. Indeed, that an adult would entertain the notion of going backward through time suggests the presence of Adam’s fall in our lives, of original sin. We know that hope does disappoint; we’ve seen it happen. The wisdom of age tells us that we have wandered, lost the way, become alienated from some source of renewal and delight. Why not go back?
In the movie “The Passion of the Christ” (2004) a line of Scripture is used out of context and, in that act of artistry, reveals the deepest of truths. Here’s the scene. Mary sees her son Jesus fall under the weight of his cross. She remembers running to her child when he fell. Despite the crowd and his captors, she races to her adult son. Raising his bloodied face from the earth, she offers the greatest of comfort, though it is only the words, “I am here.”
Jesus sees her and, short of breath, responds, “See, Mother, I make all things new.” That’s nothing less than inspired. Why?
Because what we call the Way of the Cross is Christ striding through time, Christ aging in the course of a few hours, Christ trampling toward death, making his way to the farthest reach of human sorrow, of our estrangement from God. If the old world, the one in which you and I were born, was one of sin, of alien-
ation, of aging and of death, Christ walks the way of the cross so as to claim it back for God.
In the mystery of his Incarnation, God the Son comes to die. God takes all that is ugly and old and rotten in this world and draws it into himself. Here death dies. Here the old gives way to the new. Here hope is reborn. This is why Saint John brilliantly records Christ speaking of his passion as his hour of glory.
With equal artistry and genius, Pope St. Leo the Great spoke about the deepest meaning of the Mass, of our very liturgy, when he wrote, “And so what our redeemer made evident (in his presence among us) has passed over into the sacraments (Tr. LXXIV, 2).”
In the Mass, the world is young again. In the liturgy, the Word is spoken with a freshness that does not age. In the Eucharist, bread and wine, given to us centuries long past, become food for our journey together. In his body and his blood, like a woman giving birth, Christ makes all things new.
As we enter into the next few weeks coming up on Parish Life Weekend, I ask that everyone seriously consider how important – and vitally necessary – is the life of our worship and community. Liturgy is work, liturgy is life, and everything we do afterward flows from Jesus in his body given and shared, so that we might give and share ourselves.
Make a commitment to this holy and joyful endeavor of being in communion with God and each other, and dream of how we, as the Saint Bernadette Family, in the middle of such noise and chaos, can become like little children again. Jesus wasn’t speaking figuratively: he tells us what can happen if we become like little children, because to such as these, the kingdom of heaven belongs.
Commit to this vision. The world is watching. Our neighbors are watching. Being a follower of Jesus is not political, or being better than everyone else. It is Jesus in his humility and innocence living in you. If we truly live our joy, faith will become irresistible to everyone we encounter.
The Lord be with you.
Summer is here!
Friday, August 15 is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a holy day of obligation. Here is the Mass schedule: Vigil, August 14, 7:30pm; Masses on Friday at 7, 9, Noon, and a bilingual Mass at 7:30pm. Come and celebrate this beautiful
feast.
Calling all rising 4th graders who would like to serve at the altar as Altar Servers! Training starts September 8, so contact Jean Corday in the parish office to sign up.
Pick up your blue Saint Lucy Food Drive bags next weekend at Masses, and bring them back for the collection at Masses the following weekend, August 23-24. See p. 7 for a list of most needed items.
The Knights of Columbus are hosting a Pancake Breakfast for the parish on Sunday, August 24 following the 7, 9, and 11am Masses to celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of a new school year. Proceeds will go to KofC charities.
There will be a Rise Against Hunger planning meeting on Sunday, August 24 in the Bradican Room. Come and see how you can get involved in all the aspects of feeding 250,000+ meals to people who don’t have food today.
Join us for our monthly Taize Prayer Service, Monday, August 18 from 8 - 8:45pm. The perfect, peaceful, prayerful end of the day. Join us as we pray for unity in the world.
Thank you to all who have responded to our request to reduce our parish envelope costs. If you are receiving offertory envelopes but don’t use them or no longer wish to receive them, please contact our parish office so that we can remove that service from your registration file. Remember Second and Special Collections can be done electronically through Faith Direct.
FAITH FORMATION
Living the Liturgical Year:
On Friday, August 15, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary. It commemorates when Mary, the Mother of God, was assumed into Heaven at the end of her earthly life. It is a Holy Day of Obligation. One way to celebrate the feast day with your children is to create “Heavenly Assumption Parfaits” with blue jello and whip cream. Cooking Instructions can be found here: https://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/2013/08/heavenly-assumption-parfaits.html. If you would rather craft, you can find craft ideas for the Assumption of Mary at Catholic Icing here: https://www.catholicicing.com/assumption-of-mary-are-you-ready-to/.
Children's Liturgy of the Word ~ As the CLOW team preps for the new school year, we are in need of volunteers. If you are interested in supporting this ministry, please reach out to Kathryn Melton at yanezka@gmail.com or Lynn Jones at ljones@stbernpar.org.
Who should register? All currently registered students, including all Confirmation 2025, Confirmation 2026, and students preparing to receive First Eucharist next school year.
Questions about your child's registration? Call the Religious Education Office or contact the staff via email.
Volunteers for 2025-2026 ~ As we prepare to plan for the upcoming Religious Education school year, please discern if you would like to help. We are in need of Lead Catechists and aides. If interested, please contact the Religious Education Office or fill out the Volunteer Form on the website. You will also find the QR Code at the bulletin board.
WOMEN'S MINISTRY
Come and enjoy warm fellowship and great food. No need to RSVP. For more information, please email us at women@stbernpar.org. Our next monthly meeting will be Tuesday, August 12 with Friends at 5pm, at 7pm in the Bradican Room. Summer is travel season: time to explore the world with family and friends. We will hear about recent adventures from several of our members. Come enjoy their stories and get some ideas for your next trip.
YOUTH MINISTRY
High School Socials begin 26 August!
All high schoolers are invited to join us for Tuesday Socials every Tuesday from 7-8:30pm! Meet in the youth room (in the parish office) for games, ice cream, and a discussion on the faith. Our first Tuesday social of the school year will be Tuesday, August 26. Contact Grace Mee for more information!
All High schoolers are invited for dinner, games, a fellowship on Saturday, September 13. Meet in the Bradican room from 6-8:30pm!
Middle School Youth Ministry begins 2 September
All 6th-8th graders are invited for games, snacks, and fun every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month! Meet in the school gym from 6:45-8pm, beginning Wednesday, September 2.
To learn more about our middle and high school ministries,
please contact Grace Mee, gmee@stbernpar.org
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
These weeks of August are time which we are all getting a sense of what the coming year will look like. We have a list of all the things we hope to do this year, as well as a list of all the things we have to do. We must seriously consider if we have the time and spaces to accomplish all of it. There is never enough time and space. Unfortunately, we have to assign priority to the things that are more important. Our young people carry impossible schedules and we often do not put first the things that are most important.
Prioritize now. Intentionally include in your daily schedules quality family time (not just going from one place to another in the car), and time for prayer (again, not just in the car!). Include time spent in community, too, and build your self-awareness not on your individual performance in accomplishing all of your tasks, but learning how we can accompany each other along the way. Write these things with a highlighter on the calendar alongside all the other things that fill your time, and decide to be as conscientious about them as you are with anything else.
Because of the school year and summer vacations, programs in the parish tend to follow the school year, and we are now coming to that crunch time when everything hits at once. We would like to get a head start on getting you involved in real ministry serving God and others, despite that everyone isn’t back until school starts and demands on your time have already made themselves known.
Please, include worship and parish life in your planning. It may well be your and your family’s salvation.
Take this moment to think about what is really important: being a good example for others of Christian values of honesty, kindness, selfless unconditional love, and forgiveness. Prioritize these. Show your children your goodness so that they will desire to be like you. Share your faith freely in everyday, casual words so that faith doesn’t seem like an extracurricular. Saint Paul was known to say, “Put on Christ.” Well, you don’t have to because, in your baptism, you already have. Your mission in the world is to make him visible. The priest and sister Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales simply instruct: “Live Jesus.”
Although the next few weekends are so busy as you come back from travels and summer programs and get acclimated again to parish life, think now about how you would like to be involved here, where you belong. Make your parish your home, and our people your family. Make your beautiful faith sweet and central to your lives again. Rediscover that wonder you may have known as a child: in that space we are open to hear what God wants to say to us. Allow that openness to be the quality of your daily life.
A lot of preparations are underway this week as we prepare for our Parish Life Weekend September 13 and 14. We will be asking you to take an active, intentional role in parish work. We have been confused in the past thinking that all we need to do is join something that will benefit us, like a Bible study or prayer group. I encourage you to consider how you can become the leader that leads that Bible study or prayer group. Not something that will benefit you, but what you can do to benefit others. Live Jesus.
Imagine what community we could be. That is the first step. I will ask you to make a concrete commitment in this opportunity to take responsibility for the life of faith that we enjoy as a community, a life of faith that needs to deepen and broaden outside our immediate circles. I ask you to begin thinking about how you would be able to share your gifts – certainly your talents to build up our community – but also gifts of time and treasure. It is the hallmark of a Christian believer, to give freely of yourself in such a way that when people encounter you, they encounter Jesus.
Don’t be doubtful about your ability to do this. It is too easy to think you are not enough. God made each and every one of us enough, to accomplish our own small miracles of loaves and fishes to feed a multitude. It is not you who accomplish this, but Christ who lives in you. Live Jesus!
The Lord be with you.
Summer is here!
Set sail on the S.S. American for a hilarious romp on the high seas with Anything Goes! Featuring unforgettable tunes, this classic Golden Age musical guarantees a night of delightful entertainment. Get ready for laughter, romance, and fantastic tap-dancing sailors! Performances are Thursday, July 31 thru Saturday, August 2 with performances each evening at 7pm. There is also a matinee performance on Saturday, August 2 at 1pm. Tickets go on sale July 15 (online) and will be available after all Masses on July 16-17 and 23-24 at a discounted price. All performances are at Bishop Ireton High School. Tickets are valid for any one performance.
FAITH FORMATION
Living the Liturgical Year:
Hello August!!! The month of August is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The dedication had been established because of World War II and Pope Pius XII’s devotion to Our Lady of Fatima. He wanted to establish a more universal devotion to Our Lady’s Heart so he established the Feast of the Immaculate Heart on August 22. It is now the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. You can create an Immaculate Heart Rosary Craft, instructions found here: https://www.catholicicing.com/sacred-and-immaculate-heart-rosaries-a-fun-catholic-craft/.
Children's Liturgy of the Word ~ As the CLOW team preps for the new school year, we are in need of volunteers. If you are interested in supporting this ministry, please reach out to Kathryn Melton at yanezka@gmail.com or Lynn Jones at ljones@stbernpar.org.
Who should register? All currently registered students, including all Confirmation 2025, Confirmation 2026, and students preparing to receive First Eucharist next school year.
Questions about your child's registration? Call the Religious Education Office or contact the staff via email.
Volunteers for 2025-2026 ~ As we prepare to plan for the upcoming Religious Education school year, please discern if you would like to help. We are in need of Lead Catechists and aides. If interested, please contact the Religious Education Office or fill out the Volunteer Form on the website. You will also find the QR Code at the bulletin board.
WOMEN'S MINISTRY
Come and enjoy warm fellowship and great food. No need to RSVP. For more information, please email us at women@stbernpar.org. Monday, August 4, is our next Dinner with Friends at 5pm, at Saratoga Pizzeria, 8050 Rolling Road. We meet for this casual meal in addition to our normal dinner on the 1st and the 3rd Monday of every month.
Our next monthly meeting will be Tuesday, August 12 with Friends at 5pm, at 7pm in the Bradican Room. Summer is travel season: time to explore the world with family and friends. We will hear about recent adventures from several of our members. Come enjoy their stories and get some ideas for your next trip.
YOUTH MINISTRY
High School End of Summer Social - 5 August
All rising 9th-graduated 12th graders are invited for a bonfire, S'mores, and games on the rectory patio from 7-8:30pm. Contact grace for more information - gmee@stbernpar.org.
To learn more about our middle and high school ministries,
please contact Grace Mee, gmee@stbernpar.org
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
I’m writing this week’s bulletin while still in my second to last day in Taipei, and I have a lot of thoughts. If you are willing to pull back the Buddhist veil of outward appearances (and appearances are very different from our practice of faith!) you begin to see the similarities at the core. Human beings trying their best to be good.
History well will look back on the Venerable Master Chin Kung, whose third anniversary of his death we commemorated this week, as the most influential person/force in the restoration of Chinese religion and culture after its dismantling by Communism. He taught Buddhist teaching (dharma) four hours a day for 62 years, and established multiple international foundations to bring back the identity of Asian people. Like Ezra and Nehemiah restoring the law of Moses to the Hebrew people after the great exile, or modern day efforts to rediscover “Hinduism” after the disastrous English occupation of India, this is historic.
One of the privileges I had this weekend was to observe a 2,000 year-old Confucian Ceremony of Remembrance for their Ancestors which was held at the city convention center. Ritually very different from us (to say the least), it was the ultimate eastern All Souls’ Day.
Confucius, like Master Chin Kung, saw that the wisdom of the ancients was being forgotten over the generations, so he went about all of Asia to record the traditions and philosophy of 5,000 years of sages. None of his writings were original to him, he was the scribe. He understood the way of Heaven and Earth: the character ru, which means “Confucian,“ is a combination of the character ren, which means “human,” and the character xu, which means “requirement,” meaning “the requirement to be born as a human being.”
His thoughts have educated generations of Chinese children and become an essential core of traditional Chinese culture. They will continue to benefit future generations and all humanity.
What is the way that can help people in the world have peaceful minds, love one another and live in harmony, cooperate harmoniously regardless of whether their status is high or low, despite privation or absence of justice?
Confucius said, “Filial piety is the essence of virtue and the source of teaching.” The highest virtue of the ancient emperors was filial piety, which is the root of all virtues and from which comes education. Filial piety here is meant the honor and respect that people have for their parents and ancestors. Once my identity is established, in my self awareness I am also aware of my responsibilities. Education is the foundation of culture and its lifeline.
Therefore, the deep meaning of filial piety is that this universe, with its endless time and infinite space, is one—one entity of life that stands together through good times and bad—and inextricably linked. In this shared body, the love between parents and children is the origin of love that is inherent in each person’s true nature. To carry forward this selfless love and to love all people is, as the ancient Chinese saying goes, “All within the Four Seas are siblings.” By promoting this kind of sibling love, we can achieve harmony in the universe.
This is very consistent with the early Fathers’ understanding of the unity of God’s creation of one Mankind and our Christian doctrine of the Body of Christ.
In the Analects by Confucius is read: “A virtuous and wise person should focus on the root. When the root is established, the Way will grow. Filial piety and fraternal love are the root of benevolence.” This means that a moral person should emphasize the root of everything and start from there.
With the root, people can establish a correct outlook on life. Being filial and respectful to our parents and revering our teachers is the essence of benevolence.
All human beings are facing various serious challenges. If everyone has a grateful heart, does not forget their roots, respects teachers and their teachings, and emulates the virtuous, then society will be stable and the world will be peaceful.
The Lord be with you.
Summer is here!
Please note: due to summer schedules, there will be NO 7AM Mass on Wednesday–Friday July 23–25 and Monday–Tuesday July 28–29.
Registration for Religious Education classes for the 2025-2026 school year have begun. Please visit our link on the parish website.
Thank you to all who have responded to our request to reduce our parish envelope costs. If you are receiving offertory envelopes but don’t use them or no longer wish to receive them, please contact our parish office so that we can remove that service from your registration file. Remember Second and Special Collections can be done electronically through Faith Direct.
You are warmly invited to an informational meeting on Sunday, July 27 after the 9am and 11am Masses in the Bradican Room. Come learn more about our parish-wide Week of Service Project, Rise Against Hunger, and how you and your family can get involved. Contact: Rick Caporali – rcaporali@stbernpar.org.
Set sail on the S.S. American for a hilarious romp on the high seas with Anything Goes! Featuring unforgettable tunes, this classic Golden Age musical guarantees a night of delightful entertainment. Get ready for laughter, romance, and fantastic tap-dancing sailors! Performances are Thursday, July 31 thru Saturday, August 2 with performances each evening at 7pm. There is also a matinee performance on Saturday, August 2 at 1pm. Tickets go on sale July 15 (online) and will be available after all Masses on July 16-17 and 23-24 at a discounted price. All performances are at Bishop Ireton High School. Tickets are valid for any one performance.
FAITH FORMATION
Living the Liturgical Year:
This weekend’s gospel tells us when Jesus had taught his disciples to pray the Our Father and how we should approach God, the Father. Teach your children the meaning of each line of the Our Father by doing different activities like making a heaven collage or “God is with us” pin. You can find instructions here: https://flamecreativekids.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-lords-prayer-crafts-games-and.html
Registration for 2025-2026 ~Registration for Religious Education will close on July 31. Get your children registered now! Continue your child's growth in the faith by signing them up for classes in 2025-26! Our class sessions will be on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, and we will again offer our Special Religious Development class on Saturday mornings for students with special learning needs (SPRED) and our Family Faith Formation classes once a month on Sunday afternoons (for grades K-5) where parents take a larger role in their child's faith formation. Registration information can be found in the Religious Education page of the parish website http://stbernpar.org/religious-education-copy/ or the QR Code in the bulletin boards.
Who should register? All currently registered students, including all Confirmation 2025, Confirmation 2026, and students preparing to receive First Eucharist next school year.
Questions about your child's registration? Call the Religious Education Office or contact the staff via email.
Volunteers for 2025-2026 ~ As we prepare to plan for the upcoming Religious Education school year, please discern if you would like to help. We are in need of Lead Catechists and aides. If interested, please contact the Religious Education Office or fill out the Volunteer Form on the website. You will also find the QR Code at the bulletin board.
WOMEN'S MINISTRY
Come and enjoy warm fellowship and great food. No need to RSVP. For more information, please email us at women@stbernpar.org. Monday, August 4, is our next Dinner with Friends at 5pm, at Saratoga Pizzeria, 8050 Rolling Road. We meet for this casual meal in addition to our normal dinner on the 1st and the 3rd Monday of every month.
Our next monthly meeting will be Tuesday, August 12 with Friends at 5pm, at 7pm in the Bradican Room. Summer is travel season: time to explore the world with family and friends. We will hear about recent adventures from several of our members. Come enjoy their stories and get some ideas for your next trip.
YOUTH MINISTRY
All rising 6th through 8th graders are invited to our last Summer Drop-In! Join us July 30th for fun, games, friends, and of course, ice cream! We will meet from 6:45-8pm in the gym.
High School End of Summer Social - 5 August
All rising 9th-graduated 12th graders are invited for a bonfire, S'mores, and games on the rectory patio from 7-8:30pm. Contact grace for more information - gmee@stbernpar.org.
To learn more about our middle and high school ministries,
please contact Grace Mee, gmee@stbernpar.org
Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,
As you know this weekend, I am in Tainan City, Taiwan at a conference of Pure Land Buddhists. It is called the “Ceremony for the Third Year of Venerable Master Chin Kung’s Nirvana.” Master Chin Kung was a great international leader in interreligious dialogue and, like Pope Francis, found his emphasis in the one human family. Pure Land Buddhism has at its center the figure Amitabha, infinite light, who created a heavenly realm where ordinary people can strive for enlightenment.
My short talk is printed here, to the right, so that you may know what I’m up to this weekend. I’ll take pictures.
But what I’m most thinking about this weekend is that I’m missing the opportunity to personally promote our Summer Theatre Program’s production of “Anything Goes.” Since the end of the school year, 47 youth, 6th grade through rising college freshmen have really worked and shared their talent. Last weekend we had a rehearsal for the understudies and I couldn’t believe the depth of talent in this group of youth who are giving everything to this show. I am grateful to them, and for them and their families who have given most of a summer so that they could create this amazing company. You will be truly amazed at how talented they are, it will feel like a discovery. I hope you will buy tickets for performances next weekend.
I am also grateful to and for the volunteer staff and directors who have worked more than we’ll ever know in this labor of love. They get no salary, except to be able to see talent emerge and grow in these young people, become confidence, and build community by their shared love of the arts.
Special thanks to Bill Molino, Executive Director and Producer; Jess Sannito, Producer; Liz Couchman, Director; Maggie Rabe, Music Director; and Jenny Roegner who choreographed the musical including getting 47 actors (some experienced) to tap dance like a Broadway production. Also to Kathryn Weabley, Assistant Director, Emma Krause and Ally Hamilton, Company Managers, and Josie Smith, Production Intern.
The Lord be with you.