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E-Mail: bsacrament@sbcglobal.net Web site: http://www.bsacramentchurch.org/

Gratitude Dear friends in Christ,

“Gratitude is foundational to hope. Hope without gratitude is only wishful thinking.”

These words are imprinted into my memory via my spiritual director, Father Gordon Moreland SJ, who manages the House of Prayer Retreat Center on Santiago Canyon Road, Orange, for the priests of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.

Our ability to look back on our life and see and remember those foundational experiences of God’s presence and grace, often in the hard times of life, are also foundational to hope. Because if we can look back and remember that God really was there for us, and we hold on to that memory, we can look ahead in our individual and collectives lives with hope. Because, from our past experience, we believe that God will be there for us in the future. That is hope, not wishful thinking.

As I look back on these twelve months together, I am very grateful to God and to you. As you read this, I will have made my departure from active ministry with you and you will have a wonderful new pastor.

We all come to forks in the road, places where we made decisions about relationships, vocation, a direction to take. I am sure all of us may recollect those forks in the road wistfully thinking, “if only I had done that, things would have been different or better.” I guess I could have said no to the Bishop’s invitation to come to Blessed Sacrament. After all, when the Bishop called me, our family was on an RV trip in New Mexico, relaxing into retirement.

Ignatius Loyola, in his Spiritual Exercises, coached me, in the process of discernment, to take a good look at both sides of a decision. So I practiced one day imagining that I said to the Bishop “Yes, I will go,” and noticed how that set with me. Then a couple of days later, I would imagine “No, I will not go.” Paying attention to the movements within my heart, I found that deciding to come to Blessed Sacrament gave me a sense of peace, joy, love and hope. So I said “Yes.” And I have no regrets. …………Continued on Page 2

THE BETHLEHEM Hebrew for “House of Bread”

January 2014

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I am grateful for the way you have opened yourself to my presence, guided me through the intricacies of liturgy and the history of the congregation. I am grateful for Jeff Green, a wise, gifted, committed Senior Warden. I am grateful for Ashley Nick and Ashley Romero, our parish life-education team. I am grateful for Dr. Sandy Fryling, one of the finest church musicians I have worked with. I am grateful for Marcy Ratcliff and her attention to tasks, calendar, printing and many daily interruptions. We have created a terrific team to serve this parish in this important year of transition.

As you look back in gratitude, the collective of all those events of this past year, I hope you will notice how often the Bishop of Los Angeles has placed this congregation at a high priority. He came to the church just after leaving hospital care for his cancer, to affirm his desire that I come here as pastor. He chose me and your new pastor with care and respect for the congregational culture. His representative, Canon Satorius, has guided Jeff and the Vestry with the process of calling a new rector. He has sent several financial support resources to help the parish, including tightening up our financial records and completing the tasks required for a clean CPA audit of our funds. He sent stewardship resources to help us through our stewardship campaign. There is more I have not listed. But it tells me and you that Bishop Jon is with us as our chief pastor. I understand the reasoning behind Bishop Little’s pastoral care during this complex transition, but I hope that your awareness of the many ways Bishop Jon has delivered resources to you will guide you to transition back to his full pastoral care.

I will never forget the good people of this parish. If someone told me I would come here as interim pastor right after I retired, I could not have imagined that. But here we are, looking back on a great year together, seeing those places where God’s amazing grace has seeped into our parish community. And now you are ready to look to God’s future for you with bold hope. I will be praying you through the days ahead.

Faithfully,

Fr. Brad Karelius

Important Breaking News for Amazon Shoppers

Did you know that if you purchase anything from the Amazon Website you can also provide additional support to Blessed Sacrament by accessing it through Smile.Amazon.com?

Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice.

AmazonSmile is the same Amazon you know. Same products, same prices, same service. Support your charitable organization by starting your shopping at smile.amazon.com.

Just be sure that you identify Blessed Sacrament Church in Placentia, California as your Designated Charity.

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Outreach Committee News

Giving Tree

Thank you for all your generous donations of toy’s and food that we provided for the 2013 Friendly Center Christmas program. Through your efforts we were able to provide over fifty children’s gifts this Christmas. All the parents, children and staff of the Friendly Center Thank You!

2014 Outreach Programs

The first Outreach Meeting of the New Year is scheduled for Saturday January 18th in the Blessed Sacrament Chambers at 9:30 am. If you have an interest in joining the Outreach Committee please come and discuss the projected 2014 programs that are listed below. Anyone having questions or even other suggestions or ideas regarding any of our Outreach Projects are free to call or email:

Ned Bergert at 714-501-3858--- Nhbergert@gmail.com , or Marion Hetherington at 714-528-9907--- CSSquared@SBC.Global.net .

 

Month  Theme  Thought for the Month 

January  Understanding  There is no‐one who understands, no‐one who seeks after God.Romans 3:11 

February  Heart to Heart  A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22 

March  Children  Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward. Psalms 

April  Seeds of Hope  And God said, “Let the earth bring forth…the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth”: 

and it was so.  Genesis 1:11 

May  Mother  Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.  Exodus 20:12 

June  Father  Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.  Exodus 20:12 

July  Freedom  For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.   

Galations 5:13 

August  Learning  Given instruction to a wise man, and he will still be wiser, teach a righteous man, and he will increase his learning.  Proverbs 9:9 

September  Labor of Love  Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, In the sight of God and our Father.  

1 Thessalonians 

October  Be Prepared  Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps alight.  Luke 12:35

November  Thanksgiving  For I was hungered and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in.  Mark 25:35 

December  Giving  Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Ep. 5:20 

 

Please Also Remember, Every Sunday 

A Can a Week to Feed God’s Sheep 

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NEXT BETHLEHEM DEADLINE Sunday, January 20, 2014

It is the bounden duty and service of the people of this parish,

being part of the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church,

to worship God as he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ,

to become saints, and to make disciples of all people.

Additional Outreach and Sharing News

Toolbox Ministry

Like the TV credit card commercial that asks, “What’s in Your Wallet?”, we are asking “What’s In Your Toolbox?” Probably more to the point is – Do you know how to use it? HIS House has continual needs for maintenance, repair, and upgrade. Some projects are bigger than others, but they all need to get done.

Our main man for this task is Bob Hutchinson who has for years contributed uncounted hours and dollars to keep the residence safe and an attractive place to live. He has a (small) core group of dedicated workers who faithfully donate their time and talent to the tasks at hand.

The chores might be as diverse as painting baseboards, changing light fixtures, hanging gutters, painting doors or rooms, changing hardware on cabinets or doors, etc., etc., etc. The list is ever changing and seemingly every growing.

Bob started a program called Toolbox Ministry that meets at the shelter every Thursday morning from 9AM to 12 noon (roughly) to take on the tasks of the week. We sorely need some additional helpers who can apply their talents in ‘fixing things’ at the shelter.

The best way to volunteer is to e-mail Bob at hutch1038@yahoo.com to find out what tasks are scheduled for the week. This will allow you to determine if your talents fit the needs and to come prepared with the right kind of tools and supplies. Bob usually has all the materials readied so all you have to do is show up and dig in.

So – if you know which end of a paintbrush to hold or can hit the nail with the hammer instead of your thumb (most of the time), then we welcome your participation. Please send Hutch an e-mail to be part of this very necessary service at the shelter. The look of gratitude from residents when something ‘new’ is added or something broken is fixed will be payment in full for your efforts.

Blessings,

Allen Sypherd, HIS House Board

Fellowship at the Rectory with Ashley

During December, several parishioners gathered together around the fire to read the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the new year, stay tuned for more fellowship events such as Book Club and Theology on Tap. Contact Ashley Romero with questions or suggestions!

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NEW INTERIM PRIEST CONFIRMED BY THE VESTRY

During a special meeting on Saturday December 14, 2013, the Vestry met with, and confirmed, Father Christopher Potter as our new Interim Priest. Father Christopher will officially begin his tenure as Interim Priest here at Blessed Sacrament Church on January 2, 2014, however he will be a guest preacher on Sunday December 22nd and Sunday December 29th. All Vestry members were very impressed by Father Christopher’s credentials and his appointment was confirmed unanimously.

Father Christopher is a graduate of the University of San Diego with a degree in philosophy/logic and music. He received his Master of Divinity and Master in Liturgical Studies from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota and was originally ordained as a Roman Catholic priest.

He was the Assisting Priest at St. Catherine’s of Alexandria Church in Riverside for 3 years and then worked as the Director of the Neumann Center for the Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino, CA.

Then he left the Catholic Church, earned a law degree, got married and had a child (a special needs child) but unfortunately he was subsequently divorced. Since then, however, he has worked as the director of a residential treatment center, as a counselor in a psychiatric emergency room and as the director of two crisis homes (one for special needs children and one for adults) in Costa Mesa.

He was a long time parishioner at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Riverside (holding positions as Junior and Senior Warden) and was ordained in the Episcopal Church in 2011. Since then he has been working as the Assisting Priest at St. Joseph’s in Buena Park (which is Bishop Ed Little’s old church) and at St. Stephen’s in Whittier.

It appears to all involved in Blessed Sacrament’s operations that Father Christopher Potter has just the right combination of Anglo/Catholic conservatism and music, liturgical, counseling, business administrative and legal skills to assist us through this period of transition until we call a new Rector.

RECTOR SEARCH UPDATE - PARISH PORTFOLIO PUBLISHED The Parish Portfolio is the primary device a church uses to communicate their history, finances, theology, environment, and parish survey results to prospective candidates for Rector. The Blessed Sacrament Church Parish Portfolio has now been published on our church website at:

http://www.blesssac.org/parish-portfolio/ . It has also been posted on the Blessed Sacrament Face book page.

DIOCESAN CONVENTION UPDATE Father Brad, Jeff Green and Morgan & Susan Mullins were our representatives to the 118th Annual Meeting of the convention of the Diocese of Los Angeles. Morgan Mullins very succinctly summarized the convention by stating that the Diocese has decided that “there will be no guns in church and no donuts at coffee hour”. Although resolutions were passed concerning these two issues, there was far more that transpired at convention.

The theme of the convention was “Seeds of Hope” and “serving together in abundant vineyards”. The diocese is embarking on a campaign to feed the hungry. Their hope is that all parishes will develop plans and activities to help feed the hungry; if a church has unused land it is hoped that some type of food gardens can be developed. If a church doesn’t have sufficient property to grow food, it is hoped that they can develop systems to acquire, store and distribute it.

This campaign could be of significant importance to Blessed Sacrament Church because our church is situated on 3.92 acres of land; much of which is very under-utilized. We have also endeavored to have a community garden in the past. Now we will have

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access to professional guidance and resources to develop our property and better serve the local community.

The majority of the convention was dedicated to the mundane approval of budgets, the election of Diocesan officers and electing clergy and lay representatives to the next convention. However a couple of resolutions of note were considered and passed:

It was resolved to take certain actions to fully include people with developmental/intellectual disabilities and their families in the communal life of the church.

It was resolved to take certain actions to reduce gun violence in the United States and to declare all diocesan places of work as “gun free zones”.

It was also resolved that whenever food is served at church functions that the food should be healthy and nutritious.

Another resolution, that was tabled, concerned reducing the eligible age of voting delegates to convention from 16 to 14 so as to incorporate more youth in the life of the church community.

NEW & IMPROVED BLESSED SACRAMENT & CLC WEBSITES The website upgrades for both the Blessed Sacrament Church and Children’s Learning Center websites have been completed and both sites are accessible at their original URL addresses.

The Blessed Sacrament website can be accessed at www.bsacramentchurch.org (or at www.BlessSac.org) and the Children’s Learning Center website can be accessed at www.blessedsacramentclc.com (or at www.PlacentiaPreschool.com).

ANNUAL MEETING The annual meeting has been scheduled for Sunday January 19, 2014 at 1:00 p.m. Usually the primary business of the annual meeting is to elect new Vestry members, however, Bishop Bruno has frozen the current Vestry membership pending the calling of a

new Rector. However, we do still have to elect people to other positions, such as delegates to Diocesan Convention and a Deanery Representative. The 2013 budget and financial analysis will also be presented, as will reports from the various guilds. It is hoped that all parishioners will make an effort to attend.

The Children's Christmas Pageant On December 15, the parish family was reminded of the reason for the season as the children of the parish, (under the quiet tutelage of Ashley Romero… Ed), performed the pageant of our Lord's nativity. Many thanks go to Ashley Nick, Lexie Fryling, and the parents and older teens who helped in the background. We had a great set this year--complete with Roman columns, Dantean skies, and a masterfully constructed papier-maché thurible. Several of the kids even memorized large portions of the scripture, which was wonderful to both see and hear!

One final Important Note of Sincere Thanks

We extend our Sincere Thanks to our Dedicated Outgoing Editor of 17 years, Jay Duffield, who had continued to put together this Newsletter even after moving to a church closer to home. His dedication has kept our Parish informed on all major events throughout that period. Thank you Jay for going above and beyond, and God Bless you and your family in your new parish.

FR. BRAD KARELIUS, INTERIM PRIEST FR. CHRISTOPHER POTTER, INTERIM PRIEST

JEFF GREEN, SENIOR WARDEN BRIAN NICK, JUNIOR WARDEN

MARCY RATCLIFF, OFFICE MANAGER MARION & THEO HETHERINGTON, EDITORS

cssquared@roadrunner.com

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THE BETHLEHEM

THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT 1314 North Angelina Drive Placentia, California 92870-3442

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