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.

TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME OCTOBER 2nd, 2005

"IT USED TO BE SO MUCH SIMPLER" - REGISTRATION FOR FIRST COMMUNION, CONFIRMATION:
That is a tough one to handle these days. It is not that long ago that parents and the parish expected the school to get our children ready for first communion, first confession, confirmation. In most cases, the school would have a program ready in designated grades that would prepare the children for the various sacraments. That is all gone now. Now what do we do? Over the past few years, parishes have devised and worked with various "programs" to prepare the children with some involvement of the parents. No one has the magic formula on that one. To be honest, the results have been rather disappointing. And it is hard to put your finger on one single issue.

One of the elements that strikes me is the distance between many parents (not all) and the official church people when it comes to expectations. For many parents (not all) the above mentioned sacraments are the sort of things that you "must have had" to be a Catholic. It is much along the lines of "been there, done that". In some instances, there is quite a fuss when some parents discover that there will be some preparation sessions in which they are expected to participate.

Everything else that the children or the parents are involved in seems to have priority when it comes to setting up a schedule for the sessions. It is a real struggle.

There are other elements as well that make me and others wonder how long we can continue this approach. Is an "isolated" preparation for this or that sacrament really the way to go?

It is interesting to see that in the preface to the document Discovering Jesus Christ: the Path to Freedom our bishop urges us to move from the preparation to sacraments approach, towards formation to the Christian life. Indeed, the Christian life is so much bigger than the isolated sacraments; it is also more important. Sacraments do not have much to stand on if they are not embedded and rooted in the always evolving Christian life.But if they are really embedded in the Christian life, then the sacraments become beautiful.

So there is much wisdom in the bishop's promptings but how do we make that move?

All this is a long introduction to let you know that if you want your children "to make their First Communion" or "to do their Confirmation", please let us know. Depending on the response we get we can determine how we proceed this year.

BAPTISM IN JESUS' NAME: (2)
If we want to get the full significance of Baptism, then it would be best to start with the baptism of adults. In that case, we could not simply deal with the Rite of Baptism itself. Instead, we would need to start with the often long jopurney that prompts an adult to request from the Church to be Baptized. In our context and at this time we do not yet have many of this sort. That is why in the following reflection we focus on the Baptism of infants requested by parents . The celebration of Baptism is still most frequent for children. (Continued next week).

NEXT WEEKEND THANKSGIVING - FOOD FOR THE BASKETS:
At Mass we bring up the bread and wine to be transformed by the Holy Spirit to become our food and drink for our Christian Living. That is "a significant gesture. How about adding to this food for those who have a hard time making ends meet? That also brings a an important "practical" dimension to our celebration of the Eucharist. We want to include in our Eucharist those in need. We can do this by bringing some canned and/or dry food to Church, put them in the baskets at the entrance of the church, and as the Bread and Wine are presented for mass, we also brig food for the hungry. It makes our Eucharist even more real.

FOCUS GROUP FOR THE ENGLISH SPEAKING POPULATION ON HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES:
The Papineau Health and Social Services Centre(CSSSP) and the Outaouais Health and Social Services Network for the English Speaking Population (OHSSN) value your opinion and invite you to participate in a focus group at the CLSC Vallee de la Lievre, 578 Maclaren Street East, Gatineau (Buckingham), Tuesday October 4th, 2005. The session will last approximately 90 minutes and refreshments will be served.This is an opportunity to determine the needs of the English Population. See Poster at the entrance of the church for more information.

HARVEST SUPPER:
A harvest supper is planned for Friday October 28th. Tickets will be available before and after mass starting on October 1st. Adults: $12.00,Children (5-12) $6.00, under 5: free. Last date to buy tickets is October 24th. No tickets sold at the door.

ST.ALOYSIUS SPAGHETTI DINNER & DANCE:
October 29th, 6 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. Music by WRD (Country & Western). Dinner served at 6 p.m.. Adults: $12:00, Children 12 and under: $5:00. Music starts at 8 p.m.

Weekly Receipts	O.L.V.	St. Malachy
Regular  Sept. 25th	$ 395	$ 201	THANK YOU!
Fuel	315	167
Needs of the Catholic Church	160