ARE YOU NEW TO OUR PARISH? WELCOME!
Welcome to those who want to make our parish their faith home. You may have come from other places. You may have been “away for a while”. Be assured that we love to have you among us. We would appreciate it very much if you identified yourself at Mass. It would also help if you would take the time to fill out a registration form. The next time you are with us, you may leave it in the collection basket or give it to one of the ushers or to the priest. Thank you and welcome.

THE ADVENT SEASON BEGINS NEXT SUNDAY
The church will look a bit different next Sunday; and the music, prayers and Scripture readings will be of a different tone as well compared to what we have experienced for the last 5-6 months. We are moving out of “Ordinary Time” into the Advent season, the beginning of the Church’s New Year, which is a little different from the calendar year.

But Advent is about more than a change of colour and different music. The church bulletin will include a reflection for each of the four weeks of Advent that tries to capture that “more”. We hope you find time to read these and, even better, to discuss them with family members, neighbours, friends. That is a form of faith formation so readily available, yet so little used.

That sort of discussion could be part of our parish advent experience. That is what our Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) would like to see happen. Instead of keeping Advent neatly locked up in the church-building, Advent is meant to be an important element of our Christian life. And obviously we live most of our Christian life not in a church building, but at home, at work, and other places of activity.

Is it important to observe Advent? If we want to keep Christmas really Christian, then the best thing may be to keep the lid on “Christmassy things” in the next few weeks and observe the Advent season the best we can. Of course, society’s pressure to jump the gun on Christmas is immense. But we can give it a try to keep things in perspective.

Note too that Advent this year is short. The fourth Sunday of Advent is December 22/23, with Christmas Eve the very next day. The schedule of Masses from the 4th Sunday of Advent through to the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God will be published next week.

ADVENT WREATH / CANDLES
It is a very simple thing, but it is a concrete way of being reminded at home that as Christians we are in the Advent season. We put the Advent wreath candles in a prominent place, lighting them as we take a few moments to reflect on the Scripture readings of the day may help. Again, the better we observe Advent the richer our celebration of Christmas may be.

Bring your Advent wreaths with you to Mass in next week for a communal blessing. Advent wreath candles will also be available for sale for all those in need of new ones this year. The lighting hymn and prayer will also be available to take home.

LIONS CLUB ANNUAL TELETHON

The Lions Club annual telethon will be held and broadcast on our local cable station on Sunday, December 2nd 2007 from noon until 9:00 pm. You can place your donation – cash or cheque made out to the Lions Club – in a plain envelope marked Lions Club in front, and add it to any weekend collection up to December 2nd. If you wish a tax receipt from the Lions Club, please ensure that your name and address are included with your donation so that a receipt can be returned to you.

LAST SATURDAY, A BENEFICIAL GET TOGETHER FOR REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE ENGLISH PARISHES IN OUR DIOCESE
Some forty of us got together at Our Lady of the Annunciation Parish in the Hull sector to continue the struggle with the challenge of our Bishop "to move from preparation for sacraments to formation in the Christian life". We used a 7-point grid entitled A few Guidelines for the implementation of A Parochial Catechesis which Luc Aerens from Louvain has devised. The discussion was very beneficial. We hope to be able to implement, ever so slowly, some of our findings.

THE NEW “LIVING WITH CHRIST” SUNDAY MISSALS
How to use them? That is the question which Bishop Raymond Lahey addresses in the missal on pages 528-530.

As a general rule, their use during mass should be very limited. It is not a good practice to follow the presider and the reader in their prayers and readings. Imagine, going to a play where everybody brought a copy of the play and followed the actors.

Of course, that presupposes that the presider and the reader speak their text clearly and audibly. Let us work on that instead of bringing out the missals during Mass. Naturally, for those who have difficulty hearing, it is entirely appropriate to use the Missals. But for the rest of us, let us leave the Missals aside and listen attentively, that makes for better participation, and what we are aiming for.

So why do we have Missals at all? Precisely for the purposes that Bishop Lahey suggests. We encourage that you buy one for ($6.00) and that you use it at home – to prepare for Sunday Mass, or go back over last Sunday’s readings; and what’s more is that you will find a rich selection of prayers (starting on page 533) that can be used for prayer time at home. Lots of use for it!

If you have children, we also have the Sunday Missal for Young Catholics for sale ($6). Organized in a simple way to help kids follow along, there is a section that explains the gestures used every Mass as well as help to understand the readings each week. As the introduction says, “…may the readings and prayers you find in this missal inspire you to live and serve others just as Jesus did.”

PRAYERS AND SYMPATHY
- to the family of Susan Burke (formerly of Mayo) whose funeral took place at St. Malachy this week.

WARDENS - ST. MALACHY
Two wardens will be completing their term this year and we will need replacements for the next term starting in January, 2008. Registration forms are available at the back of the Church or from the wardens. The deadline for nominations is December 1st, 2007. If there are more than two names, we will have an election on December 8th, 2007.

OLV WARDENS NEEDED
Two wardens will be completing their term this year. That means that we will need two new wardens to replace them for the next term starting in January. If you would like to volunteer to help out by becoming a warden call the office to give your name. If you know of any parishioners who might want to be a warden, speak to them about it and have them call the office. The deadline for nominations is December 9th. If there are more than two names we will have an election.

OLV WARDENS - NEXT MEETING
The next OLV Wardens meeting will be on Thursday, December 6th at 7:00 p.m., in the rectory. Please note new date.

CHRISTMAS TEA
Our Christmas Tea will be on Saturday, December 1st. Circle this date on your calendar. This will be a great day to socialize, buy food and gifts for the upcoming Christmas season. Please join us for the fun. Any person/s wising to help at the food table, front door, novelty table and servers for the Christmas tea, please contact Monique Simpson at 819-986-3166.

CHRISTMAS CONCERT
There will be a Christmas Concert performed by The Chanterelle on December 19th at 7:30 p.m, in the parish hall. Admission is $10:00. Proceeds are divided by OLV, St. Malachy and the Chanterelle. Tickets are available before Mass at OLV and St. Malachy, and at the office at 986-3763.

THANK YOU
I avail myself of this opportunity, and I’m sure my thoughts are shared with all parishioners, to thank the folks that devote so much time and energy to make our OLV not only a home for our spiritual needs (Father Gyan does that very nicely), but an opportunity to share”fun time” – just a short example, the Harvest Supper. Thank you so much (Signed Norah Renwick)