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News and Important Info from St. Paul's: - SAVE THE DATE for St. Paul's Annual Summer Picnic at St. Joe's Park in Joliet. Sunday, August 29 from noon to 9:00pm. Enjoy a great day of food, fellowship and fun! - - - - - St. Paul the Apostle Parish is now taking registration for the Winter 2010 Session of Rainbows. Rainbows is a peer support group for children who have lost a significant person in their life due to death, divorce or separation. There is an adult facilitator for each of the levels. Each level has three to eight children in the group. Levels (primary, intermediate, junior high) will depend on the number of children. Each level must have at least three participants. Click here for the Rainbows 2010 info and form - - Relevant Radio exists to assist the Church in the New Evangelization by providing relevant programming through media platforms to help people bridge the gap between faith and everyday life. Tune in to 930AM on your radio dial in the Diocese of Joliet. To see programming and listen online, please go to: http://www.relevantradio.com - Prayer for Protection of Conscience Rights in Health Care... Father, in Jesus our Lord, we praise and thank you for your most precious gift of human life and for forming us in your divine image. Keep us, the dwelling place of your most Holy Spirit, ever healthy in body and soul. Jesus, Divine Healer, pour your grace upon all those afflicted with illness or disease. Protect from all harm those who are vulnerable due to sickness, suffering, frailty, poverty or age, whether elderly or unborn. Holy Spirit, touch the hearts of all who serve human life in medicine and science, so they will protect the dignity of each person, from conception to natural death, and remain faithful advocates of all entrusted to their care. Grant those who are called to serve as health care providers renewed conviction in their ministry, and increased wisdom to treat the whole person, and not merely the illness. Protect the right of health care providers to serve their patients without being forced to violate their moral and religious convictions. Guard them against discrimination, that they might be free to follow you faithfully while fulfilling their professional duties. Grant our lawmakers the wisdom and courage to uphold conscience rights for those called to the ministry of healing, and help them resist the pressure to become collaborators in the culture of death. Give us strength to be bold and joyful witnesses to the truth that every human life is sacred. In your goodness, guard our freedom to live out our faith and to follow you in all that we do. Father, we ask this in Jesus’ name, through the Holy Spirit. Amen. For more information concerning this major issue, please go to http://www.usccb.org/conscienceprotection/resources.shtml#prayer - Spend some time with Our Lord at Eucharistic
Adoration...8:00 to 10:00am weekdays in the Church!
Help is needed to stay and watch over during this period.
Can you spend a few minutes with Jesus? Please sign-up by
on the podium by the south Church door for a time slot you
can do. -
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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, As you may have read in Christ Is Our Hope magazine, the Diocese of Joliet will begin our observance of a special Year of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday, April 1, with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. This celebration will conclude on June 26, 2011 – the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord. The goal of this celebration is, to borrow the words of Pope John Paul II, to rekindle Eucharistic “amazement and gratitude” in all the people of our local Church – clergy, religious and lay faithful. The Eucharist is the heart and soul of 
our Catholic faith, yet for various reasons we can take it for granted and fail to appreciate the tremendous gift that is offered to us in this sacrament – the very life of the Risen Lord Jesus. We can become like those disciples on the road to Emmaus who walk with the Lord, who converse with him, yet fail to recognize his presence. The purpose of the celebrations and programs to be offered during this Year is to help all in our diocese to deepen our love, understanding and appreciation of the Holy Eucharist and thus inspire a spiritual renewal in all areas of parish life. The motto for the Year of the Eucharist is “Bread of Life – Covenant of Love.” This motto reminds us that as Jesus gives Himself to us in the Eucharist to be our spiritual nourishment, He also draws us into a deeper relationship with Him and with all the members of His mystical body, the Church. In that spirit, all parishioners in our diocese will be joining in a special prayer after Communion at each Mass during this Year, asking our Eucharistic Lord to embrace us individually and as the Church ever more intimately. The patroness of this Year is our Blessed Mother Mary, under her title, “Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.” We will be seeking her intercession as well as that of special patrons each month. A Steering Committee and various subcommittees have been working for many months to plan this Year of the Eucharist, and a listing of these special programs and events can be accessed on the Diocesan website by clicking on the Year of the Eucharist logo. As part of this observance, all parishes are invited to offer some form of Eucharistic devotion on a regular basis during this year. Various parishes and Eucharistic Chapels throughout the diocese have been designated as pilgrimage sites, and we hope to receive permission to grant a plenary indulgence for those who visit and pray at those sanctuaries. Well-known speakers have been invited to offer presentations on the Eucharist in different areas of the diocese. Our Catholic School teachers and Religious Education catechists will be participating in workshops to assist them in teaching about the sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and Penance to our children. Clergy and parish staffs will be participating in programs on the new translation of the Mass texts to help them introduce these revised prayers in our parish liturgies (probably in Advent 2011). All these programs and activities will lead up to our Diocesan Eucharistic Congress on June 26, 2011, at Lewis University in Romeoville. During this celebration, we will have prominent speakers offer presentations on the Eucharist, activities for families and people of all ages and cultures, and conclude with a large celebration of the Eucharist and a Eucharistic Procession. Please be sure to mark your calendars and plan to attend this gathering of our Diocesan Church as we celebrate the source and summit of our Catholic faith – the Holy Eucharist. Be assured of our prayers for you and your parishes during this Year of the Eucharist and please remembers us and all the clergy in your prayers as well. Sincerely in Christ, The Most Rev. J. Peter Sartain, Bishop of Joliet, and The Most Rev. Joseph M. Siegel, Auxiliary Bishop of Joliet.
The Latin Tempus Per Annum ("time throughout the year") is rendered into English as "Ordinary Time." Many sources, online and in print, suggest that Ordinary Time gets its name from the word ordinal, meaning "numbered," since the Sundays of Ordinary Time, as in other seasons, are expressed numerically. However, others suggest the etymology of "Ordinary Time" is related to our word "ordinary" (which itself has a connotation of time and order, derived from the Latin word ordo). Ordinary Time occurs outside of other liturgical time periods, periods in which specific aspects of the mystery of Christ are celebrated. According to The General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, the days of Ordinary Time, especially the Sundays, "are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects." Ordinary Time, depending on the year, runs either 33 or 34 weeks. Basically, Ordinary Time encompasses that part of the Christian year that does not fall within the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, or Easter. The Catholic Church celebrates two periods of the year as Ordinary Time. The first period begins after the Feast Baptism of the Lord (the Sunday after The Epiphany) has ended. Some interpret this to mean that Ordinary Time begins on Sunday night, while others, including The General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, specifically mention the first period of Ordinary Time beginning on the Monday after the Baptism of the Lord. Either way, the point is the same. The next Sunday is still reckoned "The Second Sunday in Ordinary Time," because it is the Sunday of the second week in Ordinary Time. The reckoning can be confusing, and has many asking "what happened to the first Sunday in Ordinary Time?" This first period of Ordinary Time runs until the Tuesday evening before Ash Wednesday. The Second period of Ordinary Time runs from the Monday after Pentecost until Evening Prayer is said the night before Advent begins. This includes Christ the King Sunday, the final Sunday of Ordinary Time. In some denominations, the Sundays of the second period of Ordinary Time are numbered "Sundays After Pentecost." Ordinary time does not need to be "ordinary," and is not meant to mean that somehow we get a break from the Liturgical Year. The opposite is true: Ordinary Time celebrates "the mystery of Christ in all its aspects." Many important liturgical celebrations fall during Ordinary Time, including, Trinity, Corpus Christi, All Saints, the Assumption of Mary, and Christ the King. In addition, the Church continues to celebrate Saints days and other events such as The Octave of Christian Unity. The major feasts, when occurring on a Sunday, trump the regular Ordinary Time Sunday lessons and liturgy. In the American Catholic Church, Corpus Christi is usually transferred to a Sunday, so often there are fewer than the 33 or 34 Sundays labeled "Sundays of Ordinary Time," although these Sundays still fall within Ordinary Time. We also may remember and celebrate the parts of Jesus' life that were ordinary, much like our own lives. The color of green is appropriate because it is the most ordinary color in our natural environment.
God, our Father, created a big and loving family in His Church. Jesus prays that we are one (John 17:21-23), as He and His father in heaven are one. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we wish to invite you to learn more about our family in faith: a Church filled with beauty, miracles, heroes, history, love and peace. Whether you are on a journey into the Catholic Church or returning to the Catholic Church, you have come to a good place. Our goal is to provide you with a very wide array of helpful and thought-provoking resources that will help you understand more clearly the Catholic Church and its teachings. At Catholics Come Home, we promise to always give you the honest truth, with nothing held back. We won't shy away from difficult subjects, nor will we refrain from pointing out the many beautiful, wonderful, and even miraculous aspects of the Catholic Church. For more information, please go to: 
On Tuesday, January 19, 2010, Bishop Joseph Siegel, the new auxilary bishop of the Diocese of Joliet was ordained at the Cathedral of St. Raymond in Joliet. Bishop Siegel will hold the title of auxiliary bishop, meaning he will assist Bishop Sartain in the pastoral administration of the Diocese of Joliet. He will receive the office of teaching, governing and sanctifying as a bishop. He will exercise his ministry in union with the Pope and his fellow bishops throughout the world. An auxiliary bishop is also given a “titular see” since he is not a diocesan bishop. The “titular see” is usually the name of a diocese somewhere in the world that has been suppressed at some time in the past (i.e., absorbed into another diocese.) It is an honorary title given to the Bishop to remember in prayer those who have gone before us. Bishop Siegel's titular diocese will be Pupiana, northern Africa, in modern-day Tunisia, near the ancient city of Carthage.On behalf of the people of St. Paul the Apostle, Congratulations to Bishop Joseph Siegel!
New Words: A Deeper Meaning, but the Same Mass. The Missale Romanum (the Roman Missal), the ritual text for the celebration of the Mass, was first promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as the definitive text of the reformed liturgy of the Second Vatican Council. A second edition followed in 1975. Pope John Paul II issued a revised version of the Missale Romanum during the Jubilee Year 2000. The English translation of the revised Roman Missal is nearing completion, and the Bishops of the United States will vote on the final sections of the text this November. Among other things, the revised edition of the Missale Romanum contains prayers for the observances of recently canonized saints, additional prefaces for the Eucharistic Prayers, additional Votive Masses and Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Intentions, and some updated and revised rubrics (instructions) for the celebration of the Mass. The English translation of the Roman Missal will also include updated translations of existing prayers, including some of the well–known responses and acclamations of the people. This website has been prepared to help you prepare for the transition. As this site continues to be expanded, you will find helpful resources for the faithful, for the clergy, and for parish and diocesan leaders. May this process of the implementation of the revised Roman Missal be a time of deepening, nurturing, and celebrating our faith through our worship and the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy. For more information, please go to: 
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