Bulletin | Catholic Church Bancroft | Our Lady of Mercy Roman Catholic Church |

Our Lady of Mercy Church St. Anthony of Padua Mission

196 Bridge Street West, P.O. Box 879 27 Victoria Street, P.O. Box 1200

Bancroft, ON, K0L 1C0 Haliburton, ON K0M 1S0

613-332-2954 Reverend Casmir Muobike SMMM, Parish Priest 705-457-3695

Email: olmbancroft@gmail.com Email: stanthonyhal@bellnet.ca

WEBSITES

https://olmbancroft.wixsite.com/ourladyofmercy https://stanthonyhal.wixsite.com/stanthonyofpadua

“LIKE” us on FACEBOOK!

Office Hours: Office Hours:

Tuesday & Thursday from 9:00 pm to 1:00 pm. Tuesdays from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm

Secretaries: Mrs. Kathy Tripp Secretary: Mrs. Catherine Wheeler

Our Lady of Mercy School: 613-332-3300

~ FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER ~

April 20 and 21, 2024

Saturday - Haliburton 4:30 pm Deceased members of the Biagi and Cardarelli Families – Miles, Marina and Reuben Maughan

Sunday - Bancroft 10:00 am Missa Pro Populo – Mass for the People

------------------------------------------------------------

*** PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ROSARY IS PRAYED BEFORE MASS AT 8:30 AM ***

Monday - Bancroft 9:00 am Special Intentions of Bill and Wendy O’Shaughnessy

Tuesday - Bancroft 9:00 am Special Intentions of Steve and Betty O’Shaughnessy

Wednesday - Haliburton

8:30 am Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

9:00 am Rosary

9:30 am Living and Deceased Members of St. Anthony’s

Catholic Women’s League

Thursday - Bancroft FEAST OF ST. MARK

8:30 am Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament

9:00 am Rosary

9:30 am Special Intentions of Bridget Nichols

Friday - Bancroft 9:00 am Special Intentions of Kate Kowalska – Andrew and Marzenna Kruczkowski

------------------------------------------------------------

~ FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER ~

April 27 and 28, 2024

Saturday - Haliburton 4:30 pm Missa Pro Populo – Mass for the People

Sunday - Bancroft 10:00 am Linda van der Bos – McGarry Family

ST. ANTHONY’S MISSION

Sunday Mass Attendance: 29

ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA

SANCTUARY LAMP

For the week commencing

Sunday, Apr. 21st – Apr. 27th:

For all souls in Purgatory.

------------------------------------------------

OUR LADY OF MERCY CHURCH

Sunday Mass Attendance: 80

OUR LADY OF MERCY

SANCTUARY LAMP

For the week commencing

Sunday, Apr. 21st – Apr. 27th:

Special Intentions of the

Dufresne Family.

------------------------------------------------

MARCH FOR LIFE

Thursday, May 9th

We have hired a bus!

If you would like to attend please call the parish office to register.

We will leave for Ottawa at 8:00 am with a stop in Madoc for more passengers as well as picking up people on the way. Please consider joining us for such an important event!

We are looking for donations to offset the costs of the bus. We have $145.00 saved from last year to help allay the costs so any and all donations would be greatly appreciated.

Please see bulletin board for Poster

PRAYERCORNER

Maximillian Sullivan and the Sullivan Family,

Judy, Evan and Gary Wheeler,

Kathy Edwards, Katherine Flowers, Bronia Wijas,

Matt and Kate Flowers, Alverna Ross, Paul Lee,

Peter McEnery, Lori Best, Guillermo, Baby Maurice,

Mary Pearsell, Reuben Maughan, Kelly Hutchings, Samantha Spencer, Ann MacDonald, Hei Family.

-------------------------------------------------

WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS – APRIL 21ST

On the 4th Sunday of Easter, Christians are invited to reflect on the meaning of God’s call and to pray for vocations. Christ, the Good Shepherd, continues to lead His people through His Bishops, Priests and Deacons, and calls many to follow him in this way. Priestly, diaconal and religious vocations should be a constant concern in the hearts of God’s people.

-------------------------------------------------

ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA: St. Anthony’s will be holding it’s first Annual Parish Meeting on Saturday, April 27th, following the 4:30 Mass. ALL Parishioners are encouraged to attend and participate in this event. There is a sign up sheet in the foyer for everyone who will be attending.

The evening will begin with a Potluck supper and following the meal, Council members will present a small report, to give Parishioners an opportunity to understand what is happening behind the scenes and to know what it takes to keep the Parish up and running. Everyone is welcomed and encouraged to ask questions, offer comments or suggestions as to how best to care for St. Anthony’s.

This is a wonderful opportunity to bring all of our parish Community together. We hope that you will consider joining us for this event. Thank you all!

-------------------------------------------------

MOTHER’S DAY AFTERNOON TEA

Saturday, May 11th

12:00 noon – 1:30 pm

High Tea

(Dainty sandwiches, tea scones, pastries)

Exchange of Letters/cards to each other

Our Lady of Mercy Church

Preparing of cards/letters by the students

Wednesday May 8th in the Parish Hall at noon

Lunch and writing materials to be provided.

See bulletin board for poster!

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER: Our Lord Jesus Christ, during his earthly ministry, knew very well how to speak to the people about his person and his mission, using simple and direct words. The images or examples Jesus used in his teachings were taken from the daily lives of the people whom he addressed. Even so, the people did not always immediately grasp the meaning of these images or examples, so Jesus took pains to explain more clearly how the people should apply his teachings to their lives.

In the Gospel text for this Sunday, the image Jesus uses for himself is that of a good shepherd who lovingly tends his flock. Jesus also calls himself the gate by which the sheep come and go from the sheepfold. All of this would have been familiar imagery for the nomadic and pastoral people who listened to Jesus. While few or maybe none who read this are shepherds of sheep, we should easily enough understand the idea being put forth of the importance of a good shepherd and a peaceful sheepfold. To adhere to Jesus without fear or doubt is the basic challenge the Lord presented to his first hearers and to us in this day and age as well.

Jesus contrasts himself as the good shepherd with the thieves who deceive and do not lead the sheep along good paths. Jesus says clearly that what he comes to bring is life, and life to the full. What the thieves bring may look like life, but in fact brings spiritual death. That would include the unbridled pursuit of pleasure, accumulation and hoarding of goods, living for oneself and not for God and others in genuine and humble service; in short, living a life of vice and not of virtue.

Jesus speaks of himself as the leader of God’s flock, the Good Shepherd, walking in front of the sheep, as the way, the truth and the life for all those who are truly seeking to be in God’s sheepfold.

Today, perhaps more than ever, in the face of so much loss of morality and direction in life, where apathy and mistrust abound in the social, political and even religious realms, we need to hear again the strong message of Jesus. The Lord is indeed our Good Shepherd, guiding us in right paths, giving us courage and strength even in our darkest moments, spreading a banquet for us and inviting us to dwell in God’s house forever. If that be the case, then truly we shall not want for anything!

This is the theme of the famous and well-loved psalm 23(22) that begins, “The Lord is my shepherd. There is nothing I shall want.” Another psalm of the Old Testament expresses the same sentiment with the beautiful phrase: “And now, Lord, what is there to wait for; in you rests all my hope” (Psalm 39(38), verse 8). The gentle message of the Lord today is applicable to all, the rich and the poor, the well and the infirm, the young and the old, leaders and followers, saints and sinners. No one is to be excluded from Jesus’ sheepfold and all are lovingly invited to it. The shepherd knows his sheep, Jesus says, and he knows each of us. Nothing is hidden from God’s sight, so we can never pretend to be other that what we are: a flock that has been loved into being. As individuals, endowed with free will, we are capable of straying from the fold and seeking our own will rather than God’s. However, the good shepherd never leaves the flock untended, and is always seeking the return of the stray, finding the lost and the discouraged among the sheep.

Expressed another way, God continually gives grace so that we, the sheep of God’s flock, may truly adhere to the one thing necessary, that is, participation in God’s life, which Jesus came to give us to the full by dying a bitter death yet rising from the dead. “By his wounds you were healed,” says Saint Peter in his First Letter, chapter 2, verse 24. Could there be a richer consolation for our weary hearts? Saint Peter proclaimed this message as well on Pentecost and won many adherents to Christ, recounted in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2. There Saint Peter says, “Let the whole house of Israel know beyond any doubt that God has made both Lord and Messiah this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:14).

Our Good Shepherd knows our needs, shares our experiences, and is in communion with his flock. Because of this, we have confidence that we are never left without the help of a loving and saving God.

As a flock gathers around its shepherd, we are called to assemble in worship with our Good Shepherd, Jesus, who feeds us with the finest wheat, and pours himself out for us. At the Eucharist we truly “taste and see the goodness of the Lord,” as the psalmist expressed it so well in Psalm 34(33):8, when we partake of the Body and Blood of the Lord in Holy Communion. Jesus assures us, “Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51). This is our peace and joy in this Paschaltide!

----------------------------------------------------------------

OUR LADY OF MERCY CHURCH

PARISH FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING

Thursday, April 25th @ 4:00 pm