24252 El Toro Road, Laguna Woods, CA 92637 (949) 837-1090; FAX (949) 837-9510; www.st-nicholaschurch.org

School of Religious Education: (949) 837-7676

Our Parish Mission Statement St. Nicholas Parish is a Catholic community, celebrating our faith

through the Sacraments, Liturgy, Prayer and Service. We strive to nurture family life and to create one body out of many in the Lord.

We share the Good News with people of all ages, cultures and faith backgrounds.

BAPTISM Fourth Sunday of the month at 2:00PM. Arrangements must be made a month in advance. Parents must attend two preparation sessions.

MARRIAGE Arrangements must begin at least six months in advance with a priest of the parish.

ANOINTING OF THE SICK Call Parish Office in an emergency. Special Service celebrated in fall/spring as announced.

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS At the death of a family member, please call the Parish Office at your earliest convenience to plan for the Mass of Christian Burial.

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION DAY 24-hour adoration begins the second Wednesday of the month at the 9:00AM Mass.

DEVOTIONS & BENEDICTION Wednesday evenings at 7:00PM; Vietnamese—2nd Wednesday of the month at 8PM. Recitation of the Holy Rosary and Benediction.

CLERGY

Parish Administrator Rev. George P. Blais Parochial Vicar Rev. Raphael Nguyen Parochial Vicar Rev. Quyen Truong Visiting Priest Rev. Msgr. John Campbell Visiting Priest Rev. Gerald Walker Visiting Priest Rev. Brendan Hankins Deacon Wayne Thompson Deacon Chau Tran Deacon Gerardo De Santos

MASS SCHEDULE Saturday Vigil: 4:00PM, 7:00PM in Spanish Sunday: 7:30AM, 9:00AM, 10:45AM, 12:30PM, and 5:00PM in Vietnamese. Monday through Friday: 7:00AM and 9:00AM Saturday: 9AM

Filipino Mass: 5:30PM, First Saturdays, October-June. Holy Days: 4PM Vigil, 7AM, 9AM, 12PM, 6PM and 7:30PM in Vietnamese

RECONCILIATION (Confession) Saturday: 9:45AM to 10:15AM and 3:00PM to 3:45PM or by appointment.

Parish Office Hours: Sunday: 8:30 AM—1:30 PM Monday through Friday: 9 AM—12 Noon; 1 PM — 4:30 PM; 6 PM - 8 PM

Saturday: 9 AM—12 Noon

St. Nicholas Parish

December 18, 2016 Fourth Sunday of Advent

Stewardship of Treasure

2016 2015 52-Weekly Required Budget

Dec. 11 & Immaculate Conception $30,509.37 $25,330.39 $22,987 Religious Retirement $ 8,027.72 $ 9,656.55

SUMMONED BY GOD As Christmas draws near, Advent’s scriptures lure us into a world of dreams, signs, wonders, and the miracle of the virgin birth. Too often we allow the great stories of our faith, the ones that are most familiar, simply to wash over us. Today’s Gospel account of the events leading up to the birth of the Lord reads like a present-day soap opera. Yet Joseph’s courage, even in the midst of what must have been an incredibly confusing time, provides a model for us. Each week, we are summoned by God to embrace the way of goodness and truth through the proclamation of God’s holy word. Like Joseph, we are called to do as the Lord commands us. As we stand at the threshold of Christmas, let us have the courage to be open to whatever it is that the Lord will require of us as we celebrate the miracle of Bethlehem. Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.

For parishioner and visitor convenience, extra Christmas Offering envelopes will be available in the pews for Christmas donations.

SIMBANG GABI

on Sunday, December 18th at 6:30PM in the Church at St. Nicholas Parish. A reception will follow in the Parish Center. Simbang Gabi is a Filipino Catholic tradition celebrated as an Advent Novena Mass to prepare for the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone is invited!

Are you called to be a Sister?

Single, Catholic women between the ages of 18 and 38 are invited to experience a taste of the life of a cloistered

Dominican nun. Contact Sr. Joseph Marie, O.P., Vocation Directress, at vocations@nunsmenlo.org, or visit their website at http://nunsmenlo.org/discernment-days/ to learn more and to register for one of their “Come and See Days,” to be held at Corpus Christi Monastery, 215 Oak Grove Ave., Menlo Park,

on Saturday, January 21, 2017, Saturday, July 15, 2017, or Saturday, October 21, 2017. The event is free and all meals

are provided. Space is limited and fills-up fast!

Homeless Persons’ Interfaith Memorial Service

Join us for the first Memorial Service in Orange County for our brothers and sisters who perished on the streets.

Wednesday, December 21, at 7PM in the Arboretum at Christ Cathedral, 13280 Chapman Ave., Garden Grove.

Please join us as we honor and acknowledge their lives as part of the human family. For online registration, as well as to

provide the name of someone you know who has lost their life on the streets in Orange County, go to: http://bit.ly/2eVIafb.

RSVP: Esther Ramirez, 714-282-6001 or eramirez@rcbo.org.

The Knights of Columbus & The American Red Cross

invite you to a Community Blood Drive on Thursday, January 19—7:45am to 7:45pm St. Nicholas Church in the Parish Center

To schedule appointments: Rod—949-831-0208

Walk-ins also welcome or make an appointment for faster service!

Council 10590

Don’t Throw That Card Away!!

A heartfelt request to send your used Christmas, Easter and other cards to:

St. Jude’s Ranch for Children, St. Jude Road, Boulder City, Nevada 89008

They recycle your old cards for income!

December 18, 2016 Fourth Sunday of Advent

Monday: 7AM Feliza Marquez (d) 9AM Dolores Guerrero (d) Tuesday: 7AM Patrick Brady (d) 9AM Raul and Rosita del la Barra (d) Wednesday: 7AM Marianne Schnek (d) 9AM Clarice Matheson (d) Thursday: 7 AM Herbert H. Holden, M.D. (d) 9AM Ron Matejka (d) Friday: 7 AM Soledad Valdez Reyes (d) 9AM Gloria Baroni (d) Saturday: 9AM Richard Hawksby (d) 4PM Beatrice V. Mikos (d) 6PM For the Parish 8PM Vietnamese Mass—In the Church 8PM Spanish Mass—In the Parish Center 10:30PM Msgr. Lawrence Gibson (d) Sunday: 7:30AM Thelma Toribio (d) 9:00AM Pedro Madrid (d) 10:45AM Jean Adams (d) 12:30PM Rosa Bohom (d)

Parish Calendar This Week

MONDAY Sewing Group, Small Hall, 8AM Spanish RCIA, Room C, 6PM Spanish Rosary, Church, 6:30PM TUESDAY Youth Christmas Pageant Rehearsal, Church, 6PM St. Nicholas Chorale, Small Hall, 7:15PM WEDNESDAY St. Vincent de Paul Group, Room A, 6PM Knights of Columbus, Parish Center, 6PM Devotions and Benediction, Church, 7PM Hispanic Choir, Room C, 7PM Filipino Choir, Small Hall, 7PM THURSDAY Faith Alive, Room A, 10AM Hispanic Council, Room C, 6:30PM RCIA, Room 201-Parish Center, 7PM St. Nicholas Choir, Small Hall, 7:15PM Teen/Family Choir, Church Choir Loft, 7:30PM FRIDAY Divine Mercy, St. Faustina Study, Room C, 1:45PM Hispanic Bible Study, Small Hall, 7PM SATURDAY The Christmas Eve Mass Schedule is on the back page of the bulletin. SUNDAY The Christmas Day Mass Schedule is on the back page of the bulletin. Library is closed till January.

TODAY’S READINGS

First Reading: Isaiah 7:10-14 You will be given this sign: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.

Psalm 24: Let the Lord enter ; he is king of glory.

Second Reading: Romans 1:1-7 God has called us to belong to Jesus Christ.

Gospel: Matthew 1:18-24 The son born of Mary shall be called Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. He shall be Emmanuel, “God is with us.”

We Remember

Betty Torres and Frank Nece who entered their new and eternal life in Christ.

Grant to all our dearly departed, eternal rest, O Lord, and may your light shine on them forever.

Christmas Flower Dedications

We will be accepting donations of Poinsettias (preferably red) in memory of your loved ones to help decorate the Church and the Parish Center for Christmas. Please bring the Poinsettias to the Parish Office by Wednesday, December 21st.

The SRE and Parish Offices will be closed on Monday, December 26th

for the Christmas Holiday. The St. Nicholas Priests and Staff

wish all of our parishioners a very joyful and blessed Christmas!

December 18, 2016 Fourth Sunday of Advent

School of Religious Education

Check us out on Facebook!

Bible Study— will resume again in January. (NOTE: If you have missed a Confirmation I or II Class, you may attend a Bible Study to make up for your absence.)

Teen/Family Choir will be Christmas Caroling THIS Sunday, Dec. 18th. Please meet in the parking lot (by the Parish Office) at 12:30PM. We will carpool to the retirement home that we are visiting.

YOU ARE INVITED: The School of Religious Education will be presenting a re-enactment of the Christmas Nativity on Christmas Eve, Saturday, December 24th, at 3:30PM, preceding the 4PM Teen/Family Mass. We invite you and your loved ones to come and experience this wonderful presentation. We are thankful to the members of the Youth Group and Confirmation Classes who take part in this annual event!

All SRE Classes (elementary, junior high and Confirmation I & II) will be on Christmas break from

Dec. 19 through Jan. 9. A 2017 class schedule will be mailed during the break; please watch the bulletin and your

mail. Remember the SRE Family Mass on Saturday, Dec. 24th. The Christmas Pageant will begin

at 3:30pm and Mass at 4pm.

May your family and loved ones be blessed with the love and peace that is Christmas!

HELP WANTED! More volunteers are needed to help in the cleaning of the Church. We meet every other Tuesday after the 9AM Mass.

Call: Phoebe at 949-855-9263.

After the SRE Students read the story of St. Nicholas, they experienced his generosity when the teachers opened the

classroom doors and discovered these gifts— stockings filled with goodies!

The SRE First Grade Students enjoy the gifts that St. Nicholas (Santa) left them!

SRE Students and family members visit with Santa Claus at Coffee & Donuts on Sunday, December 11th.

SRE Students met with Santa Claus at Coffee & Donuts on Sunday, December 11th.

Fr. Quyen visited Coffee & Donuts in the Parish Center and tried to convince Santa Claus that he was VERY GOOD this year!

Congratulations to the following SRE Students for writing first place essays in the Knights of Columbus Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest: “The Importance of Religious Freedom.” John Kobe Vergara and Daniel C. Cruz

December 18, 2016 Fourth Sunday of Advent

Area Advent Penance Services

Monday, December 19 at 7PM at Santiago de Compostela Tuesday, December 20 at 7PM at San Francisco Solano

Wednesday, December 21 at 7PM at St. Kilian

PARISH OFFICE STAFF

Parish Liturgical Secretary: Cate Wolski Business Manager: Irma Contreras Receptionist/Records: Karen Falagrady Ministry to Sick & Homebound: Barbara Price Director, Youth Ministry: Gwen Wieser Director, Religious Education: Gwen Wieser SRE Secretary/Admin Assistant: Alfonso Lopez Music Ministry: Emett Loera Plant Supervisor: Steve Burton

SCHOOL OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: (949) 837-7676 VIETNAMESE MINISTRIES: (949) 837-1090, Ext. 116 Sr. Maria Loan Tran, LHC: (949) 837-1090, Ext 137

PLEASE NOTE: Bulletin Articles Deadlines!

Due to the holidays, the Bulletin publishing company has required that our bulletin information be submitted much earlier

than normal. If you have an article you need in the bulletin, please note the following deadline:

Bulletin Date Articles due to the Parish Office

January 1st December 19th by 9AM

Any articles submitted past due dates will not be published!

Library Hours: The library is open today, Sunday, Dec. 18th, from 8:45am to 12:45pm and will then be closed till January.

We are located in Room C—behind the Parish Office. Freebie cart with books, DVDs, rosaries, etc.

Merry Christmas to all our Parishioners at St. Nicholas!

OneLife LA Walk—SAVE the Date!

The St. Nicholas Knights of Columbus will have a bus for the OneLife LA Walk for Life on Saturday, January 21, 2017.

Contact: William White—949-859-6203. Plan to join thousands of people from dioceses throughout

Southern California to walk one mile to promote the beauty and dignity of every human life

from conception to natural death. There will be speakers, vendors selling food, entertainment —

bring a blanket to sit on (no chairs allowed)!

TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION By now, the first Christmas carols are heard in the home, but usually not yet in church. What is a “carol” anyway? Originally, a carol was any kind of communal song sung at a festival such as a harvest. By the thirteenth century or so, carols were associated with household celebrations. “Carol” comes from the Old French carula, meaning a circular dance. Carols weren’t for church, since the language of liturgy was Latin and the carols were in the common language. Their characteristic sound comes from medieval chord patterns, and they often have strong refrains for everyone to sing. Even in the churches of the Reformation, carols didn’t make it into church services until the 1870s or so, since there was a preference for psalms. Anglicans resisted popular carols; most of our beloved carols came via the Methodists, an offshoot of the Church of England. The Catholic Church generally didn’t admit carols to liturgy either, but we didn’t make laws against them. We are told that the beloved carol “Silent Night” comes from Catholic Austria and a harried parish music director. Joseph Mohr, the priest of St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, had written the words in 1816, but offered them to his music director, Franz Gruber, when the church’s organ broke. Mohr asked him to write a melody that could be played on guitar as a prelude to Mass. Gruber finished the tune just hours before midnight Mass in 1818. The people were shocked to hear a guitar in church, but were charmed by the sweet lullaby. The church was swept away by a flood in the 1990s and the village later relocated, but the townspeople have set up the “Silent Night Memorial Chapel” at the site. Today the carol is in print in some three hundred languages. How wonderful that the pipe organ broke on that night! —Rev. James Field, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.

The Hispanic group celebrated the “Mananitas” of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12th. Thank you to all who came!

Sacrament of Reconciliation here at St. Nicholas Wednesday, December 21st at 9:45AM Saturday, December 24th at 9:45AM

Christmas/New Year’s Mass Schedule

Saturday, December 24th—Christmas Eve Daily Mass at 9AM

Solemnity of the vigil of the Nativity of the Lord:

4:00PM, (English), SRE Family Mass with Teen/Family Choir Note: 3:30PM Christmas Pageant and Christmas Carols.

6PM, (English), with St. Nicholas Parish Choir and String Quartet (Prelude at 5:40PM)

8PM, Vietnamese Mass in the Church 8PM, Spanish Mass in the Parish Center

10:30PM, with St. Nicholas Chorale and oboe & flute (Prelude at 10:10PM)

Sunday, December 25th—Christmas Day 7:30AM, with Cantor and Piano 9:00AM, with Cantor and Organ

10:45AM, with St. Nicholas Chorale 12:30PM, with Cantor and Organ

5:00PM, Vietnamese Mass

Monday, December 26th—Day after Christmas Regular Weekday Mass Schedule: 7AM and 9AM

Saturday, December 31st—New Year’s Eve Regular Schedule of Masses: 9AM, 4PM and 7PM (Spanish)

Sunday, January 1st—New Year’s Day Solemnity of Mary, Holy Mother of God

Regular Sunday Mass Schedule: 7:30AM, 9:00AM, 10:45AM, 12:30PM and 5:00PM (Vietnamese)

If possible, please carpool to alleviate parking and traffic problems at holiday Masses.