SaintStephenSF.org | 451 Eucalyptus Dr., San Francisco CA 94132 | Church 681-2444 Fax 681-7843 School 664-8331

St. Stephen Parish

Weekday Mass: 8:00 a.m. Reconciliation: Saturday 3:30 p.m. or by appt. Vigil Mass: (Saturday) 4:30 p.m. | Sunday Mass: 8:00, 9:30, 11:30 a.m. & 6:45 p.m.

August 28, 2016 The Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our Mission Statement We are a Catholic Community that is called by God to follow Jesus Christ. We believe that we are called to worship God together, to lead God's people along the path of hope laid down by Jesus, to share his mes-sage through preaching, through the education and formation of our people, young and old, and through car-ing service and sensitive outreach to those in need Rev. Tony P. LaTorre - Pastor

O n a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the

home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him care-fully. He told a parable to those who had been invit-ed, noticing how they were choosing the plac-es of honor at the table. “When you are invit-ed by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would pro-ceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’ Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table. For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” ... Luke 14:1,7-14

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Luke 14:1,7-14 The common theme of today’s readings is the need for true humility which leads to a generous blessed sharing with the needy. The readings also warn us against all forms of pride and self-glorification. They present humility not only as a virtue but also as a means of opening our hearts, our minds and our hands to the poor, the needy, the disadvantaged and the marginalized people in our society – a personal responsibility for every authentic Christian. The first reading, taken from the book of Sirach, reminds us that if we are hum-ble, we will find favor with God, and others will love us. The second reading, taken from Hebrews, gives another reason for us to be humble. Jesus was hum-

ble, so his followers are expected to be humble, trying to imitate his humility. Paul reminds us that Jesus was lowly, particularly in his suffering and death for our salvation (Heb 2:5-18), so we should be like him in order to be exalted with him at the resurrection of the righteous. Paul also seems to im-ply that we need to follow Christ’s example of humility in our relationships with the less fortunate members of our society. In today’s Gospel, Jesus explains the practical benefits of humility, connect-ing it with the common wisdom about dining etiquette. Jesus advises the guests to go to the lowest place instead of seeking places of honor, so that the host may give them the place they really deserve. Jesus’ words concerning the seating of guests at a wedding banquet should prompt us to honor those whom others ignore, because if we are generous and just in our dealings with those in need, we can be confident of the Lord’s blessings. We need to practice humility in personal and social life: Humility is based on the psychological awareness that everything I have is a gift from God and, therefore, I have no reason to elevate myself above others. On the contrary, I must use these God-given gifts to help others. True humility requires us neither to overestimate nor to underestimate our worth. We must admit the truths that we are sin-ners, that we do not know everything and that we do not always act properly. Nevertheless, we must also recognize that we are made in the image and likeness of God, and that we are called to help build the kingdom of God with our God-given gifts. We are of value, not because of those gifts, but because we are loved by God as His children, redeemed by the precious blood of His son Jesus. The quality of humility that Jesus is talking about also has a sociological dimension. For Jesus is inviting us to asso-ciate with the so-called "lower classes" of the society -- even the outcasts. Jesus invites us to change our social patterns in such a way that we connect with and serve the homeless, the handicapped, the elderly, and the impoverished -- the "street people" of the world with agápe love. We need to remember that we are the invited guests: We celebrate that coming Banquet Feast in Heaven every time we come together for Our Lord's Supper in Holy Mass. We are the (spiritually) poor, crippled, lame, and blind that Christ calls to himself. Our place is assured. Let us accept Jesus’ invitation by actively participating in this Eucharistic celebration. Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk and writer, on receiving Holy Communion, writes that, as he received the Sacrament for the first time, as an adult, he thought to himself: Heaven was entirely mine ... Christ, hidden in the small host, was giving himself for me and to me, and with himself the entire Godhead and Trinity ... Christ was born in me, his new Bethlehem, and sacrificed in me, his new Calvary, and risen in me ... (God) called out to me from his own immense depths [The Seven Story Mountain, (New York: Doubleday Image Books), pp. 273-274).] Thomas Merton sensed the wonder of God's invitation to Communion and re-ceived it joyfully. So should we. Have a blessed and safe week, and thanks for joining us in prayer today, Fr. Tony

Our Liturgical Week

Monday, Aug. 29 8:00 a.m. †Patrick D’Arcy (By: Liam Frost)

Tuesday, Aug. 30 8:00 a.m. †Pat & Patsy Healy (By: John Moylan) Wednesday, Aug. 31 8:00 a.m.

Thursday, Sept. 1

8:00 a.m. †Consolacion Salera (By: Becky Parini)

Friday, Sept. 2 8:00 a.m.

Saturday, Sept. 3 8:00 a.m. 3:30 p.m. Reconciliation 4:30 p.m. †Rick Torres (By: Adele Caunan)

Sunday, Sept. 4 8:00 a.m. 9:30 a.m. Rey & Elvie Ysip Sp. Int. 11:30 a.m. †Elaine Archibald (By: Paula Conway; 50+ Club) 6:45 p.m.

Bold Indicates Mass Intentions

Please pray for the sick and homebound of our community and for all those written in our

book of the sick. May they know the healing touch of Jesus.

Larry Barbiere, Marybeth Barrett, Ruth Cisek, Eden Finn, Carol Dominguez, Al Gragnani,

Emma Hock, Emma Lew, Honora Lowe, Maria Matthews, Juan Pablo Grover-Paez,

Shannon Raggio, Nenita Sangalang, Jovita & Richard Thompson, Dorothy Medlin, Albert Chris Magie, Patricia Sullivan, Ron Stewart

and Robert Xavier.

Second Collection Next Weekend

A second collection will be taken at all masses September 3 and 4 for

St. Stephen Building Maintenance & Repair

TODAY’S READINGS First Reading — Conduct your affairs with humility and God will favor you (Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29).

Psalm — God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor (Psalm 68).

Second Reading — You have approached Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant (Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a).

Gospel — When invited to dine, take the lowest place. Those who humble themselves will be exalted

(Luke 14:1, 7-14).

INFIRMED, ELDERLY, HOMEBOUND The Sacrament of Communion is available to those unable to worship with us in church. Please let us know if you would like a visit from one of our Ex-traordinary Ministers of Communion or the Pastor to make a visit to your home. Also, one should seek the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, if one finds themselves physically, emotionally or advanced in years.

SAINTS AND SPECIAL OBSERVANCES Sunday: Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Monday: The Passion of St. John the Baptist

Friday: First Friday

Saturday: St. Gregory the Great; First Saturday

St Stephen Events Calendar Monday 12:00 p.m. 50+ Club/Hall

Wednesday 6:00 p.m. Back to School Night/Church

Thursday 11:30 p.m. School Athletics BBQ/Hall

Friday 8:00 a.m. School Room Parent Mtg./Hall 7:30 p.m. G.A. Closed Meeting/EC & Conf. Room

Saturday 2:30 p.m. Birthday Event/Hall Sunday 3:30 p.m. WKICU/Church & EC 7:00 p.m. Adult Volleyball/Gym

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time August 28, 2016 You have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God. — Hebrews 12:22a

Faith Formation

Our Faith Formation is looking for a couple volun-teer teachers. Please contact Mary Molly Mullaney in the Parish Office if you are interested or want more info: call (415) 681-2444 x27 or email her at FaithFormation@SaintStephenSF.org

HOSPITALITY MINISTERS for our 9:30 a.m. Mass

Today, Aug. 28 - St. Vincent de Paul Sunday, Sept. 4 - Bob Anthony Team Sunday, Sept. 11 - Vicky Francisco

2016 Archbishop’s Annual Appeal

Please help! We are $60,512 short of meeting our 2016 goal.

$87,387

Altar Society Volunteers Needed

Please consider joining the Altar Society group of volunteers. There are three groups of parishioners that meet every third month to decorate and clean our church. We meet on Fridays after the 8:00 Mass. It only takes about an hour to complete our tasks. We need two or three more people. Would you be willing to be a substitute if we are shorthanded on a particular Friday? Thank you for your willingness to serve our parish community.

If you have any questions, please contact Joan Lee-hane @ 415-564-5318 or joan@leehane.com.

50+ Club Has A Bus Trip Going to:

Cache Creek Wednesday, October 19, 2016.

Price $30.00 per person $20.00 - returned, table play $15.00 returned, game play $5.00 returned, food credit

Check-in 8:30 a.m. (Parish Office) Bus leaves 9:00 a.m. sharp!

We will return to the parish center at approximately 6:00 p.m. No refunds 2 weeks prior to the trip.

Contact: Betty Ganduglia 650 589-0726

Religious Education for 1st to 8th Grade Students

attending non-Catholic Schools will resume on

Monday, September 12, 2016

Children’s Liturgy at our 9:30 a.m. mass will resume on Sunday September 11, 2016.

Celebrate the Canonization of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

August 27 – September 3 (Exhibit) Sunday, September 4, 11:00 am (Mass)

St. Mary’s Cathedral, 1111 Gough St., San Francisco

Blessed Mother Teresa will be canonized in Rome on Sunday, September 4. The Archdiocese of San Francisco will celebrate with Mass at 11:00 am in the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption, Arch-bishop Cordileone presiding.

Day of Prayer for Peace Sept. 9 Patriot Day September 11:

Resources for Liturgy and Prayer

September 9 Day of Prayer for Peace September 11 Patriot Day

Friday, September 9, the Feast of St. Peter Claver, will be a day of Prayer for Peace in our Communi-ties, as requested by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, “to promote peace and healing during this time of great strain on civil society.” Sunday, Sep-tember 11, will be the 15th anniversary of the terror-ist attacks of 2001.

Scriptural Humor “Humility”

Christian Archibald Herter (March 28, 1895 - De-cember 30, 1966) was a United States politician and statesman, governor of Massachusetts, and Secretary of State 1959-1961. When Christian Herter was gov-ernor of Massachusetts, he was running hard for a second term in office. One day, after a busy morning chasing votes (without lunch), he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late afternoon and Herter was fam-ished. As Herter moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his plate and turned to the next person in line. "'Excuse me,” Governor Herter said, “do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?” "'Sorry,” the woman told him. “I'm supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person because you are going to get other food items also from other servers.” "'But I'm starved and I love chicken,” the governor said. "'Sorry,” the woman said again. “Only one to a cus-tomer. “Governor Herter was a modest and unassum-ing man, but he decided that this time he would throw a little weight around. "'Do you know who I am?” he said. “I am the governor of this state!” "'Do you know who I am?” the woman retorted. “I'm the lady in charge of the chicken. Move along, mister.”

Winston Churchill was once asked, " Doesn' t it thrill you to know that every time you make a speech, the hall is packed to overflowing?" "It's quite flattering," replied Sir Winston. "But whenever I feel that way, I always remember that if instead of mak-ing a political speech I were being hanged, the crowd would be twice as big."

This Week’s Quotable Saints Monday, August 29 Martyrdom of John the Baptist “So they came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan to whom you testify, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.’ John answered and said, ‘No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said I am not the Messiah, but that I was sent before him. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease’” (John 3:26-30)

Tuesday, August 30 Saint Jeanne Jugan (Virgin, 1792-1879) Foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor In his homily at the canonization Mass, Pope Bene-dict XVI said: “In the Beatitudes, Jeanne Jugan found the source of the spirit of hospitality and fra-ternal love, founded on unlimited trust in Provi-dence, which illuminated her whole life. This evan-gelical dynamism is continued today across the world in the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Poor, which she founded and which testifies, after her example, to the mercy of God and the compas-sionate love of the Heart of Jesus for the lowliest.”

Saturday, September 3 Saint Gregory the Great Pope and Doctor (540-604) “Perhaps it is not so difficult for a man to part with his possessions, but it is certainly most difficult for him to part with himself. To renounce what one has is a minor thing, but to renounce what one is, that is asking a lot” (St. Gregory, Homilies on the Gospels).

Our Altar Servers

Our special “thanks” to our student Altar Servers who faithfully continue to volunteer their time and talent to our parish. Our Altar Servers for August 15 thru August 21 were:

— Weekday and Weekend Masses —

Isabella Ritchie, Sarah Krauss, Mikel Villamayor, Santino Franco, Vincent Francisco, Elena Gandolfo, Sarah Tuvo, Dory Miller, Erin Scheg, Gino Andrini, Emily Schmitt, Giovanna Franco,

Christopher Bautista, Mateo Guzman and Miguel Guzman.

Thank You!

Save the Date:

Annual Police/Fire Memorial Mass

Sunday, September 11, 10:30 am

St. Monica’s Church, 470 24th Ave., San Francisco

The 69th Annual Police/Fire Memorial Mass will be held on Sunday, September 11 at St. Monica’s Church in San Francisco. All police and fire personnel and their families are invited to attend. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone will celebrate the Mass, with Rev. John Greene preach-ing. Mass will be followed by a reception sponsored by San Francisco Fire Fighters Local 798 and the San Fran-cisco Police Officers Association.

Election Resources for Pastors and Parishes SFArch.org CACatholic.org The archdiocese, California Catholic Conference of Bishops (CCC) and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) provide abundant resources for use in election seasons. An archdiocesan advisory, Political Activity and the Parishes, and the USCCB Political Activity and Lobbying Guidelines for Cath-olics Organizations are available here.

Dinner Honoring Retired Priests and Benefiting the

Priests Retirement Fund Friday, October 28, 11:30 am

St. Mary’s Cathedral, 1111 Gough St., S. F. Office of Development 415-641-5537

or 415-614-5580 /SFArch.org/PFRLunch October 28 is the Sixth Annual Saint John Vianney Luncheon to benefit the Pr iests Retirement Fund of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The Luncheon raises funds to pay for medical expenses not covered by insurance, and assisted living and nursing care for our retired priests. The Luncheon also provides us with the unique opportunity to show our appreciation for their life work and dedication to our Catholic community. Every contribution helps to ensure that our retired priests receive the quality care they de-serve, now and in the future.. You can support the Priests Retirement Fund in two ways. First, you can attend the Luncheon on October 28 at 11:30 am at Saint Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco. To reserve tickets and complete an RSVP card, please visit the Development Department online. Tickets are $125 per person and are partially tax-deductible. You can also support the Retirement Fund through individual donations, either made online or sent by mail to: Archdiocese of San Fran-cisco, Office of Development, Priests Retirement Fund, One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco, CA

Readers & Eucharistic Ministers All Readers & Eucharistic Ministers need to contact their mass scheduler for possible conflicts for next quarter’s schedule (Oct-Dec), by Sept. 4.

First Saturday Mass at Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma

Saturday, September 3, 11:00 am Holy Cross Cemetery, All Saints Chapel,

1500 Mission Rd., Colma

Monica J. Williams 650-757-0752 holycrosscemeteries.com

The monthly First Saturday Mass will be celebrated on September 3 at 11:00 am in the All Saints Chapel at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma. Fr. Cameron Faller, Parochial Vicar at the Church of the Epipha-ny, will be the celebrant. First Saturday Masses are offered for all those in-terred in our Catholic Cemeteries.

All are welcome

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PASTORAL STAFF

Rev. Tony F. LaTorre Pastor ext.25

fathertony@saintstephensf.org

Rev. Michael Strange, PSS Retired - In Residence

Rev. Mr. Rory Desmond

Permanent Deacon

Rhonda Smith Coordinator of Music & Liturgy ext. 32

Mary Molly Mullaney

Faith Formation Coordinator ext.27

Mrs. Sharon McCarthy Allen School Principal

Jim Cook

Parish Manager ext.23

Shay Ingelfinger Event Center Coordinator ext.33

Jan Almeida

Bookkeeper ext.29

ST STEPHEN PARISH 2016-2017

ORGANIZATION/MINISTRY CONTACT PERSON

• Altar Servers Giovanna Hrvatin

• Altar Society Joan Leehane

• Bridge Group Helen Perlite

• Caritas Nellie Hizon

• Church Hospitality Mary Molly Mullaney

• Communion Ministers

• Faith Formation Mary Molly Mullaney

• Fifty Plus Club Helga D’Arcy • Finance Council Laura Birsinger

• Grief Support Clergy

• Lectors

• Liturgy Committee

• Marriage Preparation Clergy

• Men’s Club John Bankovitch

• Music Rhonda Smith • Parish Council Vicky Francisco

• RCIA Mary Molly Mullaney

• St. Stephen Book Club Veronica Wong

• St. Vincent de Paul Julie O’Callaghan

• Ushers Bob Anthony

• Women’s Guild Daniela Franco & Maira Hallinan

Our warmest welcome to all who celebrate with us.

You can sign up or update your information by completing this form & placing it in the collection basket, by mailing it to the Parish Office, by phone at 681-2444 or online at www.saintstephensf.org!

Name ______________________________________ Address ___________________________________

City/Zip _____________________ Phone ________________________ Email _____________________

Our parishioners receive the Archdiocese weekly newspaper “Catholic San Francisco.” I am interested in assisting with the Parish in the following way(s):

• Acolyte/Altar Service • Altar Society • Children’s Liturgy of the Word Choir • Greeter/Usher • Hospitality after Mass/Special Events

• Holy Communion Ministers to the Home-bound

• Lector/Holy Communion Ministers • Music/Choir