A sincere welcome to those who are new among us. We hope you find a warm and welcoming faith-home with us. Please introduce yourself after Mass and call the Rectory to register.

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT (A) DECEMBER 5th, 2004

SANCTUARY LAMP - O.L.V. :
November 28 - December 11 for the intentions of Veronica Smith.

SANCTUARY LAMP - ST. MALACHY:
December 4-17 for the intentions of Virginia Roos.

LIONS CLUB ANNUAL TELETHON:
At the November 23rd meeting, the Transformation Committee decided to get involved in our community during the Christmas season. What better way to get involved than to participate in the annual Lions Club Telethon! We encourage parishioners of OLV and St. Malachy to participate in the telethon, which takes place at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Sunday, December 5, and is broadcast on our local TV station, channel 22. If you cannot participate on Sunday and you still want to make a donation, we have made arrangements with the Lions Club to collect your donations in our regular collections. You can place your donation (cash or cheque made out to the Lions Club) in a white sealed envelope with the words "Lions Club" and deposit it in our regular weekly collections during the month of December. If you wish a tax receipt from the Lions Club, please include your name and address so that a receipt can be returned to you.

Did you know what the Lions Club objectives are for the telethon? The funds collected assist in the:

• distribution of over 200 Christmas baskets to the needy
• distribution of gifts to all residents of senior homes, both public and private at Christmas time
• distribution of small gifts to all patients in the hospital at Christmas time
• distribution of food baskets for special needs during the year
• support to the local soup kitchen, La Table de Bethlehem
• support to the local food bank
• support to the local school breakfast program (both elementary and secondary)

Give generously to this very worthy cause.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF MARY:
Mary is one of the principal Advent figures. We honour her and let ourselves be inspired by her so that she may teach us to become Advent people.

We'll do so by means of some reflections on Mary interspersed with some Marian hymns from our Hymnal. That service will start at 7:00 p.m. and will take about 40 minutes. Wednesday, 7:00 p.m.

Please note: Mass this week is Tuesday, 9:00 a.m.

ADVENT PENITENTIAL/RECONCILIATION SERVICE:
Sunday, December 19, 7:00 P.M. There are several ways of preparing for Christmas: observing the Advent season is a uniquely Christian way of doing so. As we get closer to Christmas we may also want to do so in the form of the Advent Penitential/Reconciliation Service. That service has to do with acknowledging before God our need for the purpose for which Jesus came: to give us new life, to set us free from our captivities, to forgive us our sinfulness. That is the basic orientation of the communal Penitential/Reconciliation Service to be held Sunday, December 19. This communal service includes the so-called general absolution.

The communal celebration mentioned above does not exclude the possibility or desirability of wanting to celebrate the same saving mystery in a more personal and individual way in individual confession. The one does not cancel out the other; and that goes both ways.

Some specific time slots are set aside for that in the hope that everyone can be accommodated who wants to celebrate God's Forgiveness in individual confession.

WE HAVE BEGUN THE ADVENT SEASON:
As Church we are not in a hurry to get to Christmas. In fact, we want to prepare for it well. We do that by means of the Advent season. That is tough, but necessary. If we want to maintain the Christian meaning of Christmas, then we need to reflect on what Christ came for in the first place and for which he still needs to come: for the realization of God's dream for our world: The healing and renewal of a broken and wounded world. Advent has a lot to do with getting in touch with that dream of God and with making that dream our own.

There are some Advent features that may help us observe the spirit of Advent:

• make use of the Question of the Week which is based on the Scripture readings of our Sunday Mass.
• the weekly Sunday bulletin includes short reflections for each day of Advent based on the daily Scripture readings.
• the music we use at Church in Advent is different from the rest of the year, but it is also different from the Christmas carols we hear all around us. Can one or the other line be used at home to accompany our Advent reflections.

IN SEARCH OF WARDENS FOR O.L.V. AND ST. MALACHY:
Wardens are the men and women parishioners who look after the financial and administrative affairs of parish life. In the Province of Quebec each parish must have a Fabrique (six wardens elected by the parishioners) which has a president appointed by the bishop. Activities and decision making powers are governed by the Fabrique Act. Monthly Fabrique meetings take about 2 hours. Wardens do not have to do all the work, but are responsible for having it done.

O.L.V. WARDENS:
Meeting, Thursday, December 9, 7:00 p.m. , in O.L.V. Rectory.

LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS!
Volunteers are needed to look after Fellowship (Coffee & Cake) on the first Sunday of each month at O.L.V. If we can get enough volunteers, each person would be responsible for Fellowship only once a year. For info. please call Babe at 986-6900.

Weekly Receipts	O.L.V.	St. Malachy
Regular	$715	$322	THANK YOU!
Fuel	$500	$195