ST. MARK’S BOTTINEAU & ST. ANDREW’S WESTHOPE

PARISH OFFICE: (701) 228-3164 RECTORY: (701) 228-5164 stsmanda@utma.com

322 Sinclair St. • Bottineau, ND • 58318 - www.stmark-standrew.org

February 25-26, Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

PARISH STAFF

Fr Michael Hickin, Pastor

Ursula Palmer, Secretary

Cathy Miller, Custodian

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

Valerie Heth, DRE

St. Andrew’s Parish

Ursula Palmer, DRE

St. Mark’s Parish

WEEKEND MASS SCHEDULE

Saturday 5:30 pm, Bottineau

Sunday 9:00 am, Westhope

And 11:00 am, Bottineau

CONFESSIONS

Saturday, 4:30 pm, Bottineau

Sunday, 8:30 am, Westhope

Or by Appointment

OFFICE HOURS

Tue 12:30pm-5:00pm

Wed 9:00am-3:30pm

Thurs 12:30pm-5:00pm

Fri 9:00am-5:00pm

PARISH NEWS AND EVENTS

UPCOMING EVENTS St. Andrew’s— K-6 Religious Ed.— March 5, 12, 26 March 15 @ 5pm First Reconciliation Retreat St. Mark’s— Religious Ed Classes K-6— March 8, 22, 29 March 2—Altar Society meeting, Social Hall 6:30 pm First week of March and every month thereafter —Second collection for parish building fund. March 12—Confirmation/First Eucharist retreat @ Social Hall at 2pm April 2—First Reconciliation retreat and First Reconciliation for our 2nd graders.

STEWARDSHIP MOMENTS “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (material wealth).” – Matthew 6:24

For many people, God and money run “neck and neck” as their first priority. Making money and spending money becomes the center of their life and they actually be-come a slave to money. The solution – become more generous. Giving money to Church and charity frees us from slavery to money and from making money a “god” before God.

Report For February 19, 2017

St Andrew’s: Ad env $ 595 Pl $ 68.25 and Ch $ 0

St Mark’s: Ad env $ 1663 Pl $ 85 and Ch $ 15

Sat, February 25, 5:30 p.m. St. Mark’s

(† Duane Sebelius)

Sun, February 26, 9 a.m. St. Andrew’s

(† Leona Huss)

Sun, 11 a.m. St. Mark’s

(Parishioners)

Tue, February 28, 12 p.m. St. Mark’s

(† Wesley Counts)

Wed, March 1, ASH WEDNESDAY

St. Andrew’s Hospital 2 p.m.

St. Mark’s 5:30 p.m.

(† Leo Wald)

St. Andrew’s 7:30 p.m.

Thurs, March 2, 9 a.m. St. Andrew’s

(† Louise Deschamp)

Fri, March 3, 8 a.m. St. Mark’s

(† Ernest Fontaine)

Sat, March 4, 5:30 p.m. St. Mark’s

(† Duane Sebelius)

Sun, March 5, 9 a.m. St. Andrew’s

(Parishioners)

Sun, 11 a.m. St. Mark’s

(† Darrol Vad)

Home Communion Any St. Mark parishioners desiring

Holy Communion at home, call

Claudia Trebas (228-2339) by

Monday evening to be put

on the list.

To add or remove a name, please

contact Deb Wyman at 245-6538 or the parish office.

PARISHIONERS, FAMILY, AND FRIENDS: Military personnel &

their families, Cindy Volk, Wayne Barbot, Kenadi Zappone, Brid-

get Herpel, Jerry Burns, Glen Brandjord, Eloise Halvorson, Dako-

ta, Lloyd McKeown, Todd Pigeon, Duane Indridson, Arvid Ander-

son, Jim Volk, Ryan Volk, Donna Estenerson, Candice

Fulsebakke, Brenda Marquardt, Marlys Hummel, Tanya Buzzerd,

Sandy Hoffman; a special private intention.

Mass Intention Request

A Mass intention is requested for :

_____________________________________________

From:

_____________________________________________

Suggested offering is $10.00 per Mass intention

The Holy Father’s intentions for the month of March 2017

Please remember the Holy Father Pope Francis' intentions in prayer throughout the month of March:

Support for Persecuted Christians. That persecuted Christians may be supported by the prayers and material help of the whole Church.

St. Mark’s Ministries for March 4-5 DATE EUCHARISTIC MINISTERS READER GIFT BEARERS USHERS GREETERS COUNTERS

Satr. Bread: Vickie Gangl Bobbi Aus /Phyllis Brunelle

Susan Haberman Pat & Rita Lauer Merle Allard / Dennis Lagasse

Alan & Barb Cote

Sun. Bread: Wayne Barbot Priscilla Sturdevant / Kathy McGhan

Jared Nelson Cory & Sussy Bercier

Steve Lorenz / Jeff Beyer

Wayne & Janel Barbot

Helen Christianson /Addie Berg

From the Pastor’s Pen

Lessons abroad. Sounds like Fr. Duane Pribula was well received and fed you well. Always glad to know that you are well taken care of—as you deserve.

My days away were quite nourishing. The first half involved a retreat with Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J., a scientist who specializes in studying meteorites. He also di-rects the Vatican’s Observatory, with telescopes in Italy and Arizona. For a ‘brainiac’, Bro Guy spoke with humor and refreshing confidence about God, science, and religion. They all go together for him, as well they should.

There were 70-80 participants—medical professionals, scientists, school teachers, and other men and women just looking for a breath of fresh air. I was the only priest. It was a great gathering of diverse people, mostly Catholic. One couple was on the verge of leaving the Church. At the end, we sat in a large double-ring circle and whoever want-ed to could share a brief word about a grace they received. This couple acknowledged how Bro Guy’s approach tipped the balance to keep them in the Fold. It probably was not so much what he said as how he said it.

For instance, after speaking about ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy’, topics that went over most people’s heads (yet he had a winning way of having fun with what he knew), he simply said, “Scientists just pay attention to how the Universe works, and they understand that all knowledge is incomplete. He then added, “One person in the Bible understood Jesus better than anyone else. Mary pondered. True questions are not meant to be answered as much as their meant to be pondered.”

Bro Guy encouraged his listeners to find fresh joy in their ignorance, to ask open-ended questions, to grow more comfortable with wonder than in finding all the answers.

What a Guy!

Quick connection to this weekend’s Gospel—don’t worry. Jesus tells us again and again that the Father will make sure we’re taken care of. We need only seek the Kingdom and right-eousness.

Besides flash floods, 60 mph winds, downed Eucaplyptus trees 120 yrs old, live wires down, power outages and evacuation from one inn to another, fetching my bags on a side street in the pouring rain, the 2nd half of the week went swell. Gotta love sunny California!

So, what does it mean to seek the Kingdom and righteousness? Sometimes it’ll mean no more than keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus, follow life’s changes without needing to know in

advance how it’ll work out, and making it home with a smile on your face. Glad to be back.

St. Andrew’s Ministries

DATE EUCHARISTIC

MINISTERS READER GIFT BEARERS ALTAR SERVERS COUNTERS USHERS

Sun. March 5 Nancy Erickson / John Wyman

Nancy Erickson Jim & Kelly Artz Hannah Radzwill / McKenna Flaherty

Roger Heth / Howard Erickson

Jim Artz / Hilary Huss

CALL FOR BIDS—These positions can be bid upon in hole or separate bids.

Lawn Service: St. Mark’s is seeking bids for the Maintenance service of the St. Mark’s and Tar-sus Cemeteries, including, but not limited to mow-ing, trimming and weeding of the grounds. Your equipment is required. Estimated timeframe is from early April to mid to late September. Multiple year contract can be negotiated, and pre-ferred. Call the Parish Office at 228-3164 for ad-ditional detail. Bids accepted until March 20th..

Housekeeping: St Mark’s is seeking help to clean the Church and social hall, one day per week – prior to Saturday; and help to perform housekeeping duties for Father Michael at the Rectory, twice a month. This will be offered as one or two separate positions. Call the Parish Of-fice at 228-3164 for additional detail. Bids accept-ed until March 20th.

Ash Wednesday Masses:

St. Andrew’s Hospital : 2pm

St. Mark’s : 5:30 pm

St. Andrew’s : 7:30 pm

Ready for Lent? “Lent is a new beginning, a path leading to the certain goal of Easter, Christ’s victory over death. This season urgently calls us to conversion. Christians are asked to return to God ‘with all their hearts’ (Joel 2:12), to

refuse to settle for mediocrity and to grow in friendship with the Lord. Jesus is the faithful friend who never abandons us. Even when we sin, he patiently awaits our return; by that patient ex-pectation, he shows us his readiness to forgive.

“Lent is a favourable season for deepening our spiritual life through the means of sanctification offered us by the Church: fasting, prayer and almsgiving. At the basis of everything is the word of God, which during this season we are invited to hear and ponder more deeply.” Pope Francis’ Lenten Message, 2017

Stations of the Cross

Wednesday Evenings 6pm simultane-ously at St. Mark’s and St. Andrew’s

March 8 – Northern Lights Apostles /K-6 March 15 – Knights of Columbus March 22 – Parish Council March 29 – Altar Society

April 5 – Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion April 12 – Northern Lights Apostles / K-6 St. Mark’s soup-suppers on Wednesdays 5pm—6pm will be offered by the group leading Stations of the Cross and the free-will offerings will go to the Northern Lights Apostles.

WORLD DAY OF PRAYER—This year, this ecumenical service will take place at the First Lutheran Church on March 3, 2017 at 2pm.

Each year a different country serves as the writer of the World Day of Prayer and this year the women of the Philippines invite us to con-sider these words: “Am I being unfair to you?”

As we read these words, we are called to confess, to take re-sponsibility, and to answer God’s call for justice.

They also invite us to accept Jesus’ infinite blessing and ex-hort us to receive others into the kingdom of God. Let us walk in faith and prayerful action!

For more information on the World Day of Prayer at the First Lutheran Church, please contact Barb Persson at 228-3451 FELLOWSHIP

THE NORTHERN LIGHTS APOSTLES—Do not

miss the soup-luncheon on February 25 after

Mass. You are all welcome to come and help our

Youth Group with this fundraiser which will help

them attend the next Steubenville Conference in

Rochester, MN., on July 14-16. Let’s be there for

them. Free-will donation.

We are still praying for Rick and Marlys Hummel

who are going through a rough time.

“The Lord is good, a stronghold in a day of distress; He

cares for those who take refuge in Him.” Nahum 1:7

Old Palms—You can bring your old Palms to the Church as soon as possible. Baskets are available at the entrances of both Churches.

Charisms, Saints, & Me. This Lent, Carla Eisen-zimmer will lead a unique study Thurs evenings, 7 pm, in St. Mark’s rectory basement. We will be considering the various charisms in the life of the Church, how they are exemplified in the lives of the Saints, and how they help us discover our own unique gifts as members of God’s family.

We wish a speedy recovery to Sandy Hoffman who had surgery this past week. Prayers go out to you Sandy!

Climate Survey—At their meeting on February 15,

the Parish Council decided to have four members tabu-

late the Climate Surveys. 146 Surveys were submitted.

It will take a while to tabulate all of them, so we appre-

ciate your patience and understanding. A final report

will be presented to the parish as soon as possible.

St. Mark’s Altar Society’s next meeting will be on March 2 @ 6:30 pm at the Parish Hall.~~

We would need some volun-teers to work during funerals at

St. Mark’s. If you are interested, please contact Claudia Trebas @ 228-2339.~~