St. Bede Church 509 South Dallas Avenue

Pittsburgh PA 15208

Mother of Good Counsel Church 7705 Bennett Street Pittsburgh PA 15208

St. James Church 718 Franklin Avenue Wilkinsburg PA 15221

The Catholic Community of the East End of Pittsburgh

Mass Schedule

Saturday Vigil 4:00 pm St. James Sunday 9:00 am Mother of Good Counsel 11:00 am St. Bede

Monday - Saturday 9:00 am St. Bede

Mass is also available on Facebook and YouTube.

Novenas 9:30 am St. Bede

Monday: Miraculous Medal Perpetual Novena Wednesday: Mother of Perpetual Help Novena

Confession & Eucharistic Adoration

Saturday 9:30 - 10:30 am St. Bede

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is available by appointment.

St. Bede Church is open daily 8:00 am - 12:00 pm.

Baptisms, Weddings, and Funerals by appointment only.

Our churches are accessible.

Parish Office 509 South Dallas Avenue

Pittsburgh, PA 15208

parishoffice@stmarymagpgh.org Phone:412.661.7222 Fax: 412.661.9337

“With God All Things Are Possible!”

Website: saintmarymagdalenepgh.org @smmppgh St. Mary Magdalene Parish PGH

September 6, 2020 Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Safe Environment Compliance Anyone who volunteers in the parish or school is re-quired by the diocese to be compliant with all Safe Envi-ronment clearances.

Please contact Melissa Viator at 412.661.7222 or mviator@stmaymagpgh.org

with questions or for assistance.

Protection of God’s Children Report suspected child abuse

At the 24-Hour Child Abuse Hotline: 800.932.0313 If a child is in imminent danger, call 911

Parish Office 412.661.7222

Pastoral Staff Rev. Thomas J. Burke, Pastor tburke@diopitt.org Rev. David Taylor, Senior Parochial Vicar dtaylor@diopitt.org Rev. C. Matthew Hawkins, Parochial Vicar

mhawkins@diopitt.org

In Residence Rev. James Adeoye jamesadeoye@yahoo.com Rev. Augustine Temu temuago@yahoo.com

Office Staff Frank Grande businessmanager@stmarymagpgh.org Terri Price parishoffice@stmarymagpgh.org

Religious Education Teresa Maynor tmaynor@stmarymagpgh.org

Music Ministries Jennifer Gorske, Director of Music Ministries

412.370.2638; jgorske@stmarymagpgh.org Gerard Rohlf 412.657.7570; grohlf@stmarymagpgh.org

Safe Environment Melissa Viator mviator@stmarymagpgh.org

Social Ministry & Community Outreach Anne Scheuermann 412.241.1309;

ascheuermann@stmarymagpgh.org

Holy Rosary Food Bank Veronica Synder 412.731.4195

Media & Communications Cathy Raffaele craffaele@stmarymagpgh.org Glennen Lloyd parishnewsletter@stmarymagpgh.org Bulletin bulletin@stmarymagpgh.org

Housekeeping/Maintenance Paul Denk, Ray Krivanek, Michael Natalia, Annette Shunk

Principals Sr. Thea Bowman Catholic Academy: Ms. Stephanie Michael

412.242.3515; info@stbca.net; sistertheabowman.org St. Bede School: Sr. Daniela Bronka 412.661.9425;

info@saintbedeschool.com; saintbedeschool.com

Bulletin Announcements are due on Monday at 9 am for next week’s bulletin.

Larger announcements must be submitted a week prior to the Monday deadline.

bulletin@stmarymagpgh.org

Stewardship

Offertory

August 30 $6,238.00

PSP 2020 Goal $153,393.00 Received $94,653.00

New Parishioners Welcome! To register,

please call or email the parish office. Registration forms

are also available on the welcome page of our website:

saintmarymagdalenepgh.org

Advisory Councils

Parish Pastoral Council Finance Council

Patricia Albacete Linda Atkins

Lois Campbell Denise Charron-Prochownik

Anne Kovalan-Santoni Peter Lahoda

Teresa Maynor Joan Price

Janice Reed Dante Romito Eric Setzler

Geloria White

Martin Albacete David Aleva

Christopher Benec Linda Burke

Michael Myers Michael Polite

Judy Prata Bill Rawlings Mara Sullivan Victor Thorpe

Minutes Parish Pastoral Council and Finance Council meeting minutes are on our website.

If you wish a paper copy of the minutes, please con-tact the Parish Office at 412.661.7222.

The councils will resume monthly meetings in Sep-tember.

Online Giving We invite you to consider online

giving through Faith Direct

To sign up at Faith Direct, for regular contributions or for a one time gift, visit faithdirect.net and use church code PA994. Enrollment forms are available at all our churches and Parish Office.

For online giving information, see the homepage of our website: saintmarymagdalenepgh.org or call Frank Grande at 412.661.7222.

Mass Intentions September 5 - 13

Saturday Vigil Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

4 pm Bill Guy (Patty Manilla) BURKE

9 am Darlene Bender Benton (Paul-Martin Bender) HAWKINS SUNDAY

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

First Reading: Ezekiel 33:7-9 Second Reading: Romans 13:8-10 Gospel: Matthew 18:15-20

11 am Libby Regan (Deb McMahon) TAYLOR

MONDAY Weekday 9 am Ruth Robinson (Rose Pascal) HAWKINS

TUESDAY Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

9 am Ruth Milbert (Marge Mimless) TAYLOR

WEDNESDAY Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest 9 am William Graves (Marcella Hart) TEMU

THURSDAY Weekday 9 am Matilda O’Brien (Wyatt Family) HAWKINS

FRIDAY Weekday 9 am Lois Petrarca (St. Bede Faculty & Staff) TAYLOR

SATURDAY Weekday 9 am The Tumiel Family (Eva Tumiel-Kozak) ADEOYE

Saturday Vigil Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

4 pm John Evans (The Evans Family) HAWKINS

SUNDAY TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

First Reading: Sirach 27:30-28:7 Second Reading: Romans 14:7-9 Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35

9 am Amric G. Hodges, MD and Marcus Hodges

(Allen R. Hodges, MD) ADEOYE

11 am William Graves (Mary Rose Gallagher) TAYLOR

As a Faith Community, we pray for all who request prayers.

Gail Britanik, Amy Corpuz, Br. Kevin Dalmasse, Eva Jackson, Mary Lou Laird,

Patricia Marino, Dee Pryor, Mary Reidell, Emily Reiling, Marion Reynoso, James & Rose Smith,

Arlene Trichtinger, and Janet Wennersten

We pray for those who request prayers for any reason. We also pray for those affected by the coro-navirus, COVID-19: those who are ill; healthcare and essential workers; religious and government leaders; and everyone impacted in any way.

If you, a family member, or friend would like to be on our prayer list, please call Cathy at the parish office or email craffaele@stmarymagpgh.org.

The names are also published on the website.

Barbara Bauknight and

Jane Kozimer

Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen

Gathering on Zoom Every Sunday at 2 pm Join parishioners for a time of reflection,

listening, and perhaps sharing your perspective.

September 6 Matthew 18:15-20

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

September 13 Matthew 20:1-16a

Forgive one another from your heart.

The link to the Zoom gathering is sent by email

and is in the calendar on our website:

saintmarymagdalenepgh.org/calendar

Radio Program, with Fr. Tom Burke as host, highlights elemen-tary and secondary

schools; colleges; youth ministry programs; and more, and is broadcast every other Sunday morning on KDKA-AM.

Fr. Tom’s next program is on September 13.

See the homepage of our website, for the link to pod-casts of the programs: saintmarymagdalenepgh.org.

Prepare for November Elections Are you registered to vote? Do you want to vote by mail? You can find out about both – registering and/or requesting an absentee/mail-in ballot by going to alleghenyvotes.com. For assistance, call 412.350.4500. Copies of both forms will also be available in the back of our churches. Act now to make sure you will be able to vote in the November 3rd elections.

Our Parish Pantries have requested large cans of soup and packages of dried soup mix during September. Please bring donations to one of the churches. If you bring them to the Parish Office, 509 S. Dallas Avenue in Point Breeze, it is preferred that they be brought between 10 am and 5 pm, Monday through Friday. If not, they can be left on the front or back porch.

Thank you for your continued support.

Thanks to All who participated in letter writing

last weekend. It is not too late. The topic is US membership in the World Health Organization and letters are addressed to the two PA U.S. Senators.

The letters are posted on the St. Mary Magdalene Parish website. Please download, personalize if you want, print out and mail as soon as you can.

Thanks for participating in this important monthly ac-tion for a more peaceful, healthy and just world.

saintmarymagdalenepgh.org/letter-writing

The Annual Labor Day Mass will be at

St. Paul Cathedral on Monday, September 7, at 8:15 am.

Positions Available at St. Benedict the Moor Parish

Part Time Media Relations Coordinator This position entails overseeing the Audio Visual (AV) Ministry, maintaining our website and all social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube), creating weekly bul-letins, and sending email correspondence to parish-ioners.

Director of Music If you or someone you know would like to apply for the position, please email re-sume to Fr. Tom Burke.

Contact Fr. Burke regarding these positions: tburke@diopitt.org

Welcome Back

Students, Teachers, Staff St. Bede School, Sister Thea Bowman Catholic Academy, St. Benedict the Moor School

God of wisdom and might,

we praise you for the wonder of our being,

for mind, body and spirit.

Be with our children as they begin

a new school year.

Bless them and their teachers and staff.

Give them strength and grace,

wisdom and knowledge,

as they search for understanding and peace.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

Pastor’s Note

Forgive!

This weekend we celebrate the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. All of the readings this week-end call us to self-examination for we are sinners in need of our own conversion and are called to be prophets.

In the first reading from the Prophet Ezekiel, God reminds Ezekiel that he has the great re-sponsibility of serving as a watchman over the people. It seems unlikely that the people will turn away from idola-try, but Ezekiel still continues sounding the alarm of con-version.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus instructs his disciples on how to deal with a serious sinner within the community. During Jesus’ time, community discipline was an im-portant issue for the early Christians. Disputes and con-flicts should be handled within the Christian community. Conflict should not be ignored. We should take steps to address conflict and seek a path to reconciliation. The love of God, self and neighbor forms the core of who we are and what we do as Christians.

Let us seek reconciliation with anyone who sins against us. Each day offers an opportunity to realize more deeply God’s love for us, giving us another chance to turn away from sin and embrace the light of God.

As we begin a new school year and return back to our busy fall schedules (even with new routines due to the Covid-19 pandemic), let us reconcile ourselves with God and with others to get a fresh clean start.

This coming Friday, September 11, marks the 19th Anni-

versary of the terroristic attacks on the United States at the Word Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and in Shanksville, Somerset County. We pray for all those who perished on this horrific day and seek unity and peace in our country and our world. God Bless America!

Forgive!

School Bells The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh

will reopen schools for the 2020-2021 school year for Ele-mentary School Students on this coming Tuesday, Sep-tember 8. (The Catholic High Schools reopened last week.) St. Bede, Sister Thea Bowman Catholic Academy and St. Benedict the Moor Schools will all follow the Covid-19 health and safety reopening protocols. All three of our schools will offer in person or distance learning, and hybrid plans will be put in place to offer a quality Catholic Education for our children. Best wishes for a great, safe school year!

Religious Education We welcome back our

Director, Teresa Maynor, and her volunteers and stu-dents for our 2020-2021 Religious Education Program which will begin next Sunday, September 13 online.

After looking at the amount of work it would take to clean and sanitize the classrooms and restrooms after each

session, it was decided to move our instruction of our Re-ligious Education Classes on line for the first nine weeks via Zoom.

Looking Ahead

Confirmation will be held on Sunday September 27 and October 11 at 2pm at St. Bede Church.

Century Club Dinner Please note that that Century Club Dinner that was scheduled for September 20, has been cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Members will be contacted regarding a credit towards next year’s dues.

Parish Census All registered parishioners should

have received a “Census Letter” in the mail a few weeks ago. Please look over the card with your information, make any necessary changes, and mail back in the en-closed envelope . We appreciate your full participation as we update our files.

Every Catholic needs a place to call home. If you are at-tending Mass at St. Mary Magdalene Parish on a regular basis and not officially registered, please pick up a regis-tration form in the back of our three churches, contact Terri Price at the parish office at 412.661.7222 ext. 0, or download the form from our website, saintmarymagdalenepgh.org/welcome

Vacation 2020 Please note that I am currently on

my annual vacation this week through next Sunday, September 20. Please hold emails and phone calls until I return to the office, Monday, September 21.

Congratulations to Carmelo Eloy Connors

who is being baptized this weekend.

Welcome A special welcome to Edward, Sandra,

Matthew and Marin Best who recently registered at St. Mary Magdalene Parish.

Something to Think About… The only way to have a friend is to be one.

With God, All Things Are Possible!

Fr. Tom Burke, Pastor

tburke@diopitt.org

Fr. Matthew Hawkins

Greg Erlandson, director and editor-in-chief of Catholic News Service, recently pointed out the challenges and opportunities facing the Catho-lic Church in the 21

st Century. The

first challenge is also an opportuni-ty: we live in restless times. These are times when people are seeking deeper meaning in their lives and

more authentic relationships within their families and communities. In this environment, the Church has an op-portunity to engage an “unhappy and endlessly restless world” and present the proposition that the authenticity and meaning that we are all looking for is found in Jesus Christ.

The second challenge is that the Catholic laity will be the ones who will assume a greater role in what Cardinal Daniel DiNardo calls this “new ecclesial season.” The laity are the ones with the experience, the technical skills and the direct contact with all aspects of society to trans-form the culture that we live in, making it less cold, indif-ferent, and bureaucratic. The laity are the “boots on the ground” of the Catholic Church. They can humanize the culture of schools and of the workplace so that people will no longer be treated as though they are mere objects. This challenge is also an opportunity.

The third challenge is one of educating the Christian faith-ful, so that they can go out and transform the world around them, and catechize their households. Adult Catholic education does not just entail the accumulation of facts, dogma, and doctrine, although these are im-portant. Adult Catholic education must especially provide

the laity with the experience of Catholic spirituality and prayer life in all of its forms and manifestations. This in-cludes meditative reading of scripture, liturgical prayer, contemplative prayer, and other methods the Church has developed and cultivated over the past 2,000 years. This challenge, to deepen the spiritual life among the laity, is yet another opportunity.

Lay ecclesial movements will be especially potent forces for adult Catholic formation and education in the 21

st cen-

tury. These lay movements teach by example. They teach by encounter and experience. We have no short-age of textbooks and videos that provide information about the Christian life, and this is useful but it only scratches the surface. We have to go deeper. The cat-echesis we need to prepare the laity to humanize the cul-ture so that our society will increasingly respect life and the dignity of the human person requires immersion in a community. It also requires teaching by example.

About a half-century ago, a poet and film director said: “If

someone has educated you, then they must have done

so with their being, not with their speaking.” This is still

true today. Education in the life of faith requires a pres-

ence and one’s very being; it requires that one brings

one’s entire being to the encounter. Ecclesial lay organi-

zations are emerging as the vehicles through which

young and older Catholic adults are encountering the

presence of Christ in the sacraments, in sacred scripture,

and in each other through their activities in society.

Fr. David Taylor

One of the major challenges to our faith is the fact that we are ac-countable not only for our own ac-tions but also the actions of others. We all need moral direction and must rely on the help of others. This is all the more important if we are in positions of leadership. We are often unaware of how our ac-tions can influence others. I think

of this often when I am preaching from the pulpit or taking leadership in daily activities. Not only can we influence others, but we can lead them in one direction or another. The prophets were certainly aware of this in the mandate given to them. Helping others to change can be most difficult, especially as we are aware of our own weaknesses.

The Prophet Ezekiel was aware of this We cannot change others if we are unable to make these changes in our own lives. All of us are called to be role models. We also know that we can easily fail in this responsibility. Taking the lead in forgiveness and reconciliation can be most difficult. But it is the moral challenge given to us. We only have so much time in this world and we are called to use it wisely. Prayer and discernment have to show us the way. We pray for our children, parents, and teachers as schools reopen this week. We have done the best we can to make things safe. Let’s be supportive in every way we can. These are difficult times but with God’s help we will overcome.

Reflections