St. Thomas Aquinas Church Iglesia Católica Romana

1501 South Atlantic Boulevard Monterey Park, California 91754

Second Sunday of Advent – December 9, 2018 STA Parish Posada

STA is pleased to an-nounce an Advent and Christ-mas Celebration the STA Parish Posada will be held in the school playground on Friday, Dec. 14 from 6 PM to 9 PM. This will be a fun family event, we will have live music, delicious food for sale, piñatas, candies and performances from our First Holy Commun-ion and Confirmation candidates. Admission is free! Furthermore, you will have the oppor-tunity of participating in our Posada raffle, each ticket is $2 and are available for purchase in the religious education and parish office. The prizes are:

1. 12” Nativity scene 2. Frame of Our Lady of Guadalupe 3. Christmas Basket

Christmas Tree Sponsorship

We are asking individuals, families and businesses to sponsor the purchase of a Christmas tree for only $40.00. The names of the sponsors will be displayed on our Christmas trees. Spon-sorship forms are available at

all church entrances. Your generosity in previous years provid-ed a beautifully decorated church environment which added so much joy to all who entered and worshiped in our church. We appreciate your continued support.

Religious Retirement Fund Second Collection

12/8 - 12/9 Aging religious need your help. Senior Catholic sisters, brothers, and religious order priests ministered for years for little to no pay. Their sacrifices now leave their religious com-munities without adequate retirement savings. Your gift to today’s second collection for the Re-tirement Fund for Religious helps to provide medications, nursing care, and more for tens of thousands of elderly religious. Please be gener-ous.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Celebration

Wednesday, December 12

Morning Program: 6 AM Mañanitas and

Rosary—Spanish

Evening Program: 6:30 PM Rosary—Bilingual

7 PM Mass with mariachi and Aztec dancers.

Refreshments following both celebrations.

Come to celebrate with us at STA church the Feast of Our Blessed Mother, our Lady of Guadalupe.

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT DECEMBER 9, 2018

Senior Gathering Wednesday, December 12th

10:30 AM – Parish Hall

Our next senior gathering will be held on December 12th. We will not only celebrate Christmas but also the feast of our Lady of Guadalupe. We will celebrate with a few games of bingo, trivia questions, and a special perfor-mance by our STA School students with sing along Christmas carols. We will finish with a de-licious meal of tamales, chicken, fried rice, veg-etables, and a great selection of delicious des-serts. A $5 donation is appreciated.

Upcoming Advent Penance Services Monday, Dec. 10th—7 PM

St. Luke-Temple City

Thursday, Dec. 13th—7 PM

All Souls-Alhambra

Friday, Dec. 14th—7 PM

San Gabriel Mission– San Gabriel

Monday, Dec. 17th—7 PM Sacred Heart-Altadena

Tuesday, Dec. 18th—7 PM Holy Family—Pasadena

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal-Montebello

Wednesday, Dec. 19th—7 PM St. Thomas Aquinas—MPK

St. Elizabeth—Altadena ABVM & St. Rita– Pasadena

Thursday, Dec. 20th—7 PM

St. Stephen– Monterey Park St. Philip the Apostle– Pasadena

Altar Servers Orientation Saturday, December 15th

10 AM– Church There will be an Orientation for anyone interested in the STA Altar Server Ministry on December 15th at 10 AM in the church. Follow-ing this meeting, there will be a mandatory meeting for all current STA Altar Servers at 10:30 AM to plan for the upcoming Advent and the Christmas seasons. STA Religious Education students are en-couraged to attend to earn community service hour credit. For more information contact Den-nis Rodriguez, altar server ministry coordinator at (323) 313-1332.

STA Advent Schedule A schedule with our Advent activities can be found at our church entrances. Please pick-up a copy and plan on participating at these special events in preparation of the Coming of Our Lord.

Simbang Gabi Mass Saturday, December 22th @ 7:00 PM

The Filipino community of St. Thomas Aquinas invites you to the annual “Simbang Ga-bi” celebration. Simbang Gabi is one of the most popular Filipino traditions in the country. It is the spiritual preparation for Christmas, in commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. The celebration is also seen as a way of requesting blessings from the Lord. Light refreshments will be served in the parish hall following this spe-cial spiritual experience.

2018 Year-End Non-Profit Donation

At this time of the year, many individuals select non-profit organizations to make last mi-nute donations that qualify as a 2018 tax dona-tion. Our parish qualifies as a non-profit organi-zation. We have outstanding operational ex-penses, special projects and ministerial needs which these donations can be applied to. Please consider our parish as a recipient of your valua-ble year-end donation.

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT DECEMBER 9, 2018

Holy Land Pilgrimage Oct 1 to 12, 2019

Have you ever dreamed about going to the Holy Land? Are you interested in a 12 Days Pilgrimage to the Holy Land with Jordan in Oc-tober 2019? Fr. John will be the spiritual direc-tor of this pilgrimage. In the footsteps of our Lord, Jesus Christ, we will visit places of Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection. For example, we will visit Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth; Cana, the village of Jesus’ first miracle; (Here couples may renew their wedding vows.) Ca-pernaum, where Jesus started his ministry; Tabgha, the site where the miracle of the multi-plication of fish and bread took place; Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Jerusalem - Mount of Olives, Upper Room of the Last Supper, Gar-den of Gethsemane, Via Dolorosa (Way of Sor-row), and much more. We will not forget about Lake Galilee and Dead Sea! We will also visit places in Jordan – Mt. Nebo also location of the Tomb of Moses; Am-man, the modern capital city of Jordan; Petra, famous for the rock-cut architecture and water conduit system; Jerash, known as the “Pompeii of the East”. When? Oct 1 to Oct 12, 2019. Cost: $3,700 (including airfare, hotel, meals and transportation) plus $200 for gratuities. Space is limited – 24. In preparation for this trip, we plan to form a group so we can encourage each other to do exercises, to study the Bible, and to save money. Do you want to be part of this group to become physically, spiritually, and financially ready for this pilgrimage? You can get more general pilgrimage in-formation at website nativitypilgrimage.com. We will have a presentation to provide details of our pilgrimage package including itinerary and other information on Jan. 13 2019. If you are interested, please contact Agnes Yu at (562) 761-3055 or email agnes.yu@verizon.net

School News For the November Virtue of “Honesty”, we would like to recognize the following stu-dents who have worked hard day in and day out to demonstrate this virtue:

TK-Nicole Chavarria Kinder-Melania De Dios 1st Grade-Patricia Laurent 2nd Grade-Jordan Perez 3rd Grade-Aiden Cortez 4th Grade- Kayla Cheung 5th Grade-whole class 6th Grade-Alan Retana 7th Grade-Mary Gill 8th Grade-Emily Viramontes

Christmas Celebration

Join Us!

Please join STA school for our Christmas Celebration on Thursday, December 20 begin-ning at 5 PM on the school yard. We will have food for sale, sweet treats, ornament decorat-ing, and pictures with Santa. From 6 PM—7:30 PM everyone will be in the church to listen to all STA students as they perform Christmas Carols. At 7:30 PM student council will be lighting our STA Christmas tree outside by the flagpole. This is sure to be a wonderful evening and we would love to share it with all our parishioners!

In Appreciation…

Our 8th Grade class would like to thank all our Parishioners who supported their food sale on Dec.2. They raised $1,356, which will go toward their Washington D.C. trip.

KEEP IN PRAYER

• Daniel Ramirez • Esther Ramirez • Desiree Ramos • Jean Rashoff • Raygan Reid • Jessie Marie Reyes • Andrew Rivera • Armendo Rivera • Jose Rivera • Edgar Robles • Rose Marie Robles • Lydia Robles • Gerry Rodriguez • Mary Rodriguez • Gabriel Roque • Urista Roque • Joey Salgado • Betty Sanchez • Eduardo Sanchez • Elizabeth Sanchez • Elpidia Santillan • Celia Sells • Mariann Scott • Lisa Sesti • Michael Shaw • Mary Tafaya • Gary Tahara • Scotty Tamkin • Manuel Tapia • Irene Taylor • Beatriz Terminal • George Tommy • Beatriz Torres • Juanita Trejo • Antonio Ureno • Frankie Uribe • Al Valdez • Lorenzo Valdez

MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2018 5:30 PM In memory of Refugio Sanchez and Paulina Castaneda by Leroy Cisneros For the peace and health of Haiboh Wang by Agnes Yu

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2018 8:00 AM In memory of Francis Busque by Busque family For Francisca Salazar’s birthday by James Salazar

11:30 AM In memory of David Garcia by Lupe Garcia

1:30 PM For all STA Parishioners

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2018 8:00 AM For the peace and well-being of Ai Min Lau

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018 8:00 AM For the peace and well-being of Ai Min Lau

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2018 8:00 AM For the peace and well-being of Ai Min Lau SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2018 8:00 AM For the peace and well-being of Ai Min Lau

Sunday, December 9th 9 AM– Confirmation– Hall 9 AM– FHC– School Clrms 10 AM– RCIA-Dining rm. 11 AM–Ch. Choir-Dining rm. 11 AM– Chn. Rel. Ed-Clrms 11 AM– RCIA– Hall Mtg rm. 11 AM– Chinese Bible– CL3 4 PM– Fantasy Folk Dance-Hall Monday, December 10th 6:30 PM–Finance Council- Dining rm. 7:30 PM– Chinese Reading Club-Hall mtg. rm.

Tuesday, December 11th 7:30 PM– Ping Pong– Hall

Wednesday, December 12th 10 AM-Seniors Group-Hall 7 PM-Youth Legion of Mary-Hall Mtg Rm. 7 PM– Folk Dance-Hall 7 PM–Eng. Bible Study-Church 7:30 PM– RCIA– Dining Rm.

Thursday, December 13th 7 PM-Legion of Mary Curia-Hall mtg. rm. 7 PM-Spn. Bible Study-Church 7 PM– Ping Pong– Hall

Friday, December 14th 5:30 PM-Girl Scouts– Hall 6 PM–Las Posadas-Sch. Play-group & Canopy area 7 PM–Fountain Bible class-Copy rm. 7:30 PM-Chn. Fellowship-Hall mtg rm. 8 PM– Agape– Dining rm.

Saturday, December 15th 9 AM-CCA Retreat-Hall 9 AM– Cantonese Legion of Mary-Parish Hall 9:30 AM– Tutoring– CL kinder 9:45 AM-Mandarin Legion of Mary– Dining Rm. 10 AM– Altar Servers Mtg-Church

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT DECEMBER 9, 2018

READ & REFLECT ON THE SCRIPTURES

DECEMBER 9— DECEMBER 16

Sunday: Bar 5:1-9; Ps 126:1-6; Phil 1:4-6, 8-11; Lk 3:1-6 Monday: Is 35:1-10; Ps 85:9-14; Lk 5:17-26 Tuesday: Is 40:1-11; Ps 96:1-3, 10ac, 11-13; Mt 18:12-14 Wednesday: Zec 2:14-17 or Rv11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; Jdt 13:18bcde, 19; Lk 1:26-38 or Lk 1:39-47, or any readings from the Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary, nos. 707-712 Thursday: Is 41:13-20; Ps 145:1, 9- 13ab; Mt 11:11-15 Friday: Is 48:17-19; Ps 1:1-4, 6; Mt 11:16-19 Saturday: Sir 48:1-4, 9-11; Ps 80: 2ac, 3b, 15-16, 8-19; Mt 17:9a, 10-13 Sunday: Zep 3:14-18a; Is 12:2-6; Phil 4:4-7; Lk 3:10-18

Parish Information

Parish Office: (323) 264-4447

Chinese Ministry Office: (323) 264-4448 General Email: sta91754@gmail.com Parish Website: STAMPK.ORG Fax: (323) 264-2524 Hall Rental: (323) 264-4447 ext. 102

Parish Staff

Fr. John Kyebasuuta—Pastor stapastor@gmail.com Ext. 108

Fr. Peter Wei Cao—Associate Pastor sta.assocpastor@gmail.com Ext. 106

Lorraine Melendez—General Manager stamanager1@gmail.com Ext. 103

Linda Almaguer—Parish Secretary sta91754@gmail.com Ext. 102

Sherry Hsu—Chinese Ministry Staff stachinese@gmail.com Ext. 104

Jessie Wang—Chinese Ministry Staff stachinese@gmail.com Ext. 105

Safeguard The Children Esther Hwang (323) 264-4447

School Information

School Office: (323) 261-6583

Stefanie Lutero – Principal Email: SLutero@stampkschool.org

General Email: info@stampkschool.org Website: stampkschool.org

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT DECEMBER 9, 2018

Religious Education Information

Office: (323) 264-1338

Sr. Rocio Nieto – DRE

Email: stareligioused@gmail.com

WEEKLY COLLECTIONS

Weekly Expenses: $7,500.00 Avg. Weekly Online Donation: $500.00

12/1-12/2 Offertory: $6,652.00 Variance: -($348.00)

School 2nd Collection: $1,102.00

Faith Direct: membership.faithdirect.net/CA779

SAFEGUARD THE CHILDREN Practice situational awareness as part of

your holiday travel plans

At Christmastime, families come together to spend this blessed season surrounded by their loved ones, and for many families, this in-volves some travel. Parents with young children who are hitting the roads or the airways should be practicing situational awareness to ensure their children’s safety. Situational awareness means staying alert and knowing what’s going on around you. Keep an eye out for suspicious activity, and know where your family members are at all times. Don’t allow yourself to become distracted by your phone or other electronics—it only takes a minute for a child to disappear from your eyesight. For more holiday travel tips, visithttp://www.catholic.org/travel/story.php?id=65521.

Mass Schedule

Saturday Vigil 5:30 PM (English)

Sunday 8:00 AM (English) 9:30 AM (Chinese) 11:30 AM (English) 1:30 PM (Spanish)

Monday 7:00 PM (Chinese) Tuesday 8:00 AM (English) Wednesday 8:00 AM (Chinese) Thursday 8:00 AM (English) Friday 8:00 AM (English) **1st Friday ONLY 7:00 PM**

Saturday 8:00 AM (English) Reconciliation Saturday at 4:00 PM