The Parishes of Our Lady of Victory and St. Malachy

Pastor
Father William Marrevee, s.c.j.

Eucharistic Celebrations

St. Malachy - Saturday 7:00 P.M.
Our Lady of Victory - Sunday 9:00 A.M.

Welcome to new parishioners:
We welcome you to our parish! Please introduce yourself after Mass and call the Rectory to register.

THIRTY SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (C) NOVEMBER 07, 2004

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE:
Mass will be Thursday instead of Wednesday for this week only.

REMEMBRANCE CEREMONY:
Sunday, November 7, 2:00 p.m. at the Buckingham Cenotaph, corner Charles and MacLaren Streets.

BAPTISM:
Our Christian communities welcome Emma Brianne,daughter of Melanie-France Knebel and Sean Cronk. May the Lord of Love bless and keep you.

DISCOVERING JESUS CHRIST:  THE PATH TO FREEDOM (3):
It is significant that the diocesan catechetical project document is presented to us as the Church of Gatineau-Hull by our bishop Roger Ebacher in his capacity as chief Pastor of our diocese. He considers it a Pentecost document: That is to say a document that has all the characteristics of the working of the Spirit among us, but also that it is an instrument by means of which the Spirit wants to breathe new life into our Church. Pentecost is not simply an event that happened some 2000 years ago. The hope is that Pentecost happens among us today as we know ourselves sent forth to bear witness to the treasure we hold not for safe keeping but to have our world today live from it.

What treasure? The treasure of God's tenderness, faithfulness, mercy and forgiveness. Our contemporaries will never be convinced of and believe in that tenderness, faithfulness, mercy and forgiveness of God by hearing us talk about it. The only convincing and believable witness to that message is the quality of the life of our parish communities. It is by the way we worship and pray to God, by the way we listen to His Word, by our fellowship and by the way we share with the poor (do you recognize the four poles of parish life in this?) that this message has a chance of being heard and believed in.

In other words, the quality of our Christian life is the issue. That is what we need to be formed in, but it is a formation that is never finished; it goes on and on. And it is so much more extensive and bigger than preparing children or teenagers for a sacrament. Preparation for sacraments on its own does not have a future. Being formed in the Christian life, on the other hand, being formed as disciples of Jesus Christ at all stages of life is an exciting adventure. Does taking that direction scare us? But look at what the Risen Lord was able to accomplish in the dejected and disillusioned disciples on their way to Emmaus. We have the assurance of the same Risen and Living Lord that He will walk with us on the new path we are called to walk on.

The opening message of the Bishop in the document has a fair bit of bite. But it is permeated with even more hope, courage, faith and love.

DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE:  PART OF CHURCH LIFE:
Development and Peace is the official development agency of the Canadian Catholic Church. Each year, in the fall, it tries to alert us to a development and justice issue and it urges us as followers of Christ to take a stand on it, especially in favour of the developing countries.

Under the more general title of Life Before Profit! D & P has focused again on water for this year's campaign. We all know that for life to exist water is an absolute necessity. It is really a sacred gift, an indispensable factor in human activity, a basic factor of food security.

But water is also a limited resource. It now threatens to become a commodity to be controlled by a few. And guess who is most immediately affected by this trend so that access to clean water becomes more and more difficult? Yes, it is the poorer countries in the world. Last Sunday's parish bulletin contained a pamphlet that gives a bit more information on this issue. It was meant as background information for the urgent request to sign the Action Card 2004, which is an appeal to our Government to question the role of the World Bank in making access to clean water so much more difficult, if not impossible, for developing countries.

HOW COMFORTABLE ARE WE WITH THE BIBLE?  LET'S GET TOGETHER ON IT:
Most of us have a Bible in the house. The first part of the News is entirely devoted to Bible readings, and the second part of the Mass is full of references to the Bible as well. And still, to varying degrees, many of us don't know where to go with it. We would like to know more about the Bible or get to know it better, but wonder - sometimes out loud - where to start.

There are so many possible ways of going about it. How about getting together on that and sorting out what may best serve our needs? This coming Monday evening at 7:00 p.m. in the Conference Room. We won't go beyond 8:30 p.m.

PLEASE PRAY for Raymond Kane who died recently. May he rest in the peace of Christ.

O.L.V. WARDENS:
Meeting Wednesday, November 10, 7:00 p.m.

ST. STEPHEN'S AUTUMN TEA & BAKE SALE:
Saturday, November 13, 2:00-4:00 p.m. Adults: $4.50; Children: $1.25. All welcome!

O.L.V. CHRISTMAS TEA:
A convenor is needed for this December 4th event. Interested? Please call Evelyn at 986-2477.

Weekly Receipts	O.L.V.	St. Malachy
Regular	$915	$212	THANK YOU!

Rectory	490 Charles Street Gatineau, Québec J8L 2K5
Telephone	(819) 986-3763
Secretary	Monday and Thursday 1:00-4:00 p.m.