NEW MASS SCHEDULE

Saturday Vigil: 5 PM Sunday: 7 AM, 8:30 AM, 10 AM & 11:30 AM Weekdays: 8 AM Saturday: 9 AM Holy Days: 7 PM Vigil, 8 AM and 12:05 PM

SACRAMENTS

Reconciliation: Sat. 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM, or by appointment.

Eucharistic Adoration: Tues. 7 PM – 8 PM Baptism: 1st & 3rd Sunday each Month. Pre-Jordan class is required and held on the 3rd Monday of every month. Please call the Parish Office to schedule.

Marriage: Engaged couples must meet with the Pastor at least six months prior to the Wedding.

Anointing of the Sick: Holy Communion for the homebound or Sacrament of the Sick upon request. Anointing in preparation for surgery during or after Masses.

PASTOR:

Rev. Gerald P. Carey

IN RESIDENCE:

Rev. Msgr. Richard Malone

PERMANENT DEACON:

Deacon John Rose

Music Ministry:

Rick West

Office Manager/

Parish Secretary:

RoseAnn Westerfer

Business Manager:

Nicole Giacche

Office Phone: 610-688-1178 Website: olastrafford.org

PARISH OFFICE HOURS

Mon. - Fri.: 8:30 AM - 4 PM

Emergencies Call the Parish Office and press 1.

ASSUMPTION ACADEMY

School Principal: Patricia Welsh 610-688-5277

PREP Office

Sr. Rita Marian Angelilli, IHM 610-688-6590

OLA CONVENT — IHM SISTERS

Phone: 610-688-7889

December 15, 2019 3rd Sunday of Advent

MY OLA MY FAMILY OF FAITH

Roman Catholic Church 35 Old Eagle School Road, Strafford, PA

All gifts for the The OLA Giving Trees must be returned today, Sun., Dec. 15th!

+ Mon., Dec. 16th at 7 PM in the Sacred Heart Chapel, we will hold our Advent Evening of Reflection with Fr. Eric Banecker: “Advent & the Three Comings of Christ”.

OUR LADY OF THE ASSUMPTION PARISH www.olastrafford.org

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Masses for the Week

5:00 - William Nicola by Chris & Joanne Bouvier

Sunday, December 15, 2019

3rd Sunday in Advent 7:00 - For the People of the Parish 8:30 - Arthur, Sr. & Mary Calvo by Their Children 10:00 - Maryellen Nerz-Stormes by OLA Choir 11:30 - Domenico & Filomena Falcone by Son, Tony & Yolanda Falcone

Monday - Dec. 16, 2019 8:00 - Mariella Boni by her Momma & Michael Maiese

Tuesday - Dec. 17, 2019 8:00 - Darlene Rubbo Richter by Aunt Shirley & Uncle Fran Pietrini

Wednesday - Dec. 18, 2019 8:00 - Special Birthday Intentions of Genoeffa Trosini by The DiMartini Family

Thursday - Dec. 19, 2019 8:00 - Frances Donato, 6th Anniv. by Son, Michael & Edward Donato

Friday - Dec. 20, 2019 8:00 - Patricia Hyland by Maryann Lutz

Saturday - Dec. 21, 2019 9:00 - Lidia Pelusi by Genoeffa Trosini 5:00 - Vincenzo, Caterina & Nick Abbonizio by Ann Abbonizio

Sunday, December 22, 2019 3rd Sunday in Advent

7:00 - For the People of the Parish 8:30 - Maryellen Nerz-Stormes by Margaret Nicola 10:00 - Rose & Tony D’Innocenzo by Son, Peter, Donna & Family 11:30 - Fred Marcantonio by Hank & Laura Jansen

Sanctuary Lamp is burning

For: Frances Donato, 6th Anniv. From: Dec. 13, 2019 to Dec. 19, 2019 By: Son, Michael & Edward

Prayer Intentions

Please pray for the sick and disabled members of our parish family: Nicole LaMonaca, Ed Drill, Anthony Ciarlone, Elsa Marsili, Josephine Sorrentino, Connie DiDario, Logan Schweiter, Margaret Cox, Victor Newton, William Vallejo, Msgr. Jim McDonough, Carole Pullo, Louise McKeown, Gloria Biondi, Taylor Boileau, Dan, Angie, Nick & Kelly Sciarratta, Barbara Pupek, Charlotte Krutsick, Catherine Harmer, Eileen Piombino, John Becker, Janet Fleming, Holly Weaver, Agatha & Carol Annino, Bob Iatesta, Marge Morrow, Louise Fehn, Gabe Yervelli, Msgr. Marino, Milena Trosini, Alison Colodonato, Sean Mahoney, Baby Flynn, Joanne Gill, Yolanda Price, Zaira Silveri, Dottie Cappelli, Russell Demanczyk, Dominic Toscani, Fran Neary, William Vare, Jessica Rineer, Veronica Kelly, Carolyn Weber, Arthur Mattmiller, Nello DeFlaviis, Joseph Carver, Gina Pine, Fr. Woodeshick, Ed Rofi, Emma Timperio, Gina Falcone & Anita Moscia.

Please pray for our parishioners serving in the Military: Adam H. Bouvier, Lauren A. Seedor, Rebecca Robbins, Luke Scilovati & Matthew Wilson.

OLA Poor Boxes

The money, collected from our Poor Boxes locat-ed in the Candle Room & in the Vestibule, is used for our Outreach Ministry. Thank you for your support!

Need Help Job Searching? OLA Outreach provides free & confidential guidance to the OLA community on the content of your resume & your interviewing strategy. Send your resume & a brief cover letter explaining your goals, challenges & the best times to contact you to: OLAOUTREACHRE-SUME@gmail.com, OR, if you do not have email, send a print version of your resume & the cover letter to: Our Lady of the Assumption, OLA Outreach - Resume, 35 Old Eagle School Rd.., Wayne, PA 19087. Mark the envelope “CONFIDENTIAL”. Please contact Jim Glasgow at 610-329-5961 & leave a message.

OLA Parish Organizations

Eucharistic Adoration & Benediction: Every Tuesday at 7 PM in Church Missionary Servants of the Holy Love: Every Tuesday at 7 PM in Sacred Heart Chapel Legion of Mary: Every Wednesday at 1 PM in Sacred Heart Chapel Living Bridges Men’s Faith Sharing: Every Friday at 7 AM in Sacred Heart Chapel Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Every Saturday at 9:30 AM in Church Walking With Purpose: Every Wednesday at 7 PM in Assumption Hall Every Sunday at 1 PM in Assumption Hall IHM Companions: Tues., Jan. 14, 2019 at 10 AM in Convent Knights of Columbus: Wed., Jan. 15, 2020 at 7 PM in Sacred Heart Chapel Lay Carmelites: Mon., Jan. 13, 2019 at 6:30 PM in Upper Room

3rd Sunday in Advent December 15, 2019

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Question of the week: Even as I welcome Jesus into my heart, can I be patient for his full flowering? Can I be patient for his flowering in my neighbor and in the world?

PREP

Tomorrow will be the final class before the Christmas Holiday. Our students will gather at Church for a Nativity Pageant led by our Level 1 students. All students should report to school at regular time and will be dismissed at regular time from school.

Parents and parishioners are welcome to join us in church for this joyous celebration for the Birth of the Christ Child!

Important Reminder: Classes for Levels 1 - 6 will return on Jan. 6, 2020! There will be NO CONFIRMATION classes on Jan. 5 or 6, 2020!

For further information regarding PREP, please contact Sr. Rita Marian Angelilli, IHM at 610-688-6590 or rmangelilli@olastrafford.org.

Baby’s Breath in Wayne In need of formula, baby food, bottles, diapers & wipes. Please drop off in the Giving Room.

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ASSUMPTION ACADEMY 2019 News

Advent is a beautiful time of year at Assumption Academy. The children are readying their hearts and minds

for the coming of Jesus on Christmas day.

If you would like to join us on Fri., Dec. 20th for a beautiful

re-enactment of the Christmas gospel story, you are more than welcome.

The children will gather in the Church at 9:30 AM for the annual Advent

Prayer Service. There will be music, prayer and plenty of joy to go around.

What a great way to get in the spirit of the season!

Scholarship Applications for the 2020-2021 school year are being accepted now!

Please do not allow the cost of enrollment at Assumption Academy keep you

from enrolling in our wonderful school.

www.assumptionacademy.weebly.com

OLA Giving Tree

Our Giving Trees are collecting warm winter clothing for the OLA Families & CCD Families of St. Patrick Parish in Norristown.

Return all gifts by Sun., Dec. 15th! Please remove the price tags. Please DO NOT wrap the gifts. This

makes the process of displaying the gifts for the families to come & “shop” for one another much easier. Thank you for your time & effort to help these families. Every year, when we deliver your donations, they are overwhelmed with your generosity. As are we!

Save the Date

St. Blaise Men’s Retreat

Jan. 31—Feb. 2, 2020

Have you ever thought about going on a retreat? If you have, come join us at the St. Blaise/Curran Memorial Men’s weekend retreat at the Malvern Retreat House. Our retreat starts on Fri., 1/31/20 and ends on Sun. morning, 2/02/20. Fr. Charles Zlock will be our retreat master. Taking time to get away from the fast pace of work or school is critical to maintaining your relationship with our Lord. We hope you can join us. Over 25 men from our Parish attend this annual weekend retreat. Mark your calendar now! For more info & registration please call either Anthony Gentile at 610-513-6834 or Nick Santoleri at 215-850-5616.

OUR LADY OF THE ASSUMPTION PARISH www.olastrafford.org

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Stewardship

SUNDAY & OTHER COLLECTIONS** (does not include Electronic Parish Giving)

On 12/01/2019: $ 6,435 11/25/2018: $ 5,606 ** OTHER COLLECTIONS INCLUDE: HOLY DAYS,

CHRISTMAS and EASTER FLOWERS

Electronic Parish Giving Deposited on 12/04/2019: $1,862.50

CUM FISCAL YTD TOTALS AS OF including Electronic Parish Giving

12/4/2019: $ 185,043 11/28/2018: $ 172,292 Note: 2019-2020 fiscal YTD offerings are

+7.4% greater than 2018-2019.

We thank you for your generosity!

My OLA My Family of Faith

Pastor’s Corner

My Dear Parishioners, This coming Monday evening (Dec. 16th)

we welcome Fr. Eric Banecker, Parochial Vicar of St. Pius X in Broomall, PA, to speak to us as part of our yearly Advent Evening of Faith Formation. Fr. Eric is a dynamic and gifted speaker and his topic for that evening will be “The 3 Comings of Christ.” Fr. Eric was most recently featured in the newsletter Catholic Philly regarding Catholics and recent trends associated with Mass attendance. He hopes to incorporate some of these thoughts as part of his presentation. I invite you to attend this wonderful night of reflection in preparation for Christmas. The talk will be at 7 PM in the Sa-cred Heart Chapel.

In light of our upcoming Christmas celebrations, I would like to once again address an issue that was brought to my attention two years ago concerning the 4 PM Christmas Eve Mass. As you know, this Mass is our most crowded. Unfortunately, a problem has arisen because some of our parishioners are requesting “reserved seat-ing” from our ushers (some as many as two pews). What this means however, is that when other people arrive for Mass, and they ask to be seated by the ushers, they are told that there are no seats available for them. Many people are rightly upset because they can obviously see that many open seats available in the church as they are asked to leave.

Therefore, I want to remind everyone that we have since moved away from this idea of “reserving seats” for this Mass because it has caused a lot of upset among many of our parish-ioners as well as visitors. I simply offer this again as another gentle reminder in hopes that our Christmas Eve Mass will run more smoothly and therefore, prayerfully. As a community of believers we have to be both respectful & flexible. So I ask you to remember this if you and your families are planning to attend the 4:00 pm Christ-mas Eve Mass. I thank you for your cooperation in this matter. Finally, I am pleased to provide you with another update on our Annual Parish Appeal. To date, we have received $ 53,530 in contributions and 186 responses out of 910. I thank you once again for your sacrificial giving and may God bless you and your families! Love and prayers, Fr. Carey

Parish Calendar

December

15 10:00 AM - Children’s Liturgy - Sacred Heart Chapel 1:00 PM - Sodality Christmas Luncheon - Assumption Hall 1:00 PM - Walking With Purpose - Upper Room 16 4:45 PM - PREP: Levels 1 - 6 - School 5:15 PM - PREP Level 1 Nativity Pageant - Church 17 7:00 PM - Advent Confessions - Church 7:00 PM - Eucharistic Adoration - Church 7:00 PM - Missionary Servants of Holy Love - Sacred Heart Chapel 18 1:00 PM - Legion of Mary - Sacred Heart Chapel 7:00 PM - Walking With Purpose - Assumption Hall 19 7:15 PM - Choir Practice - Choir Loft 20 7:00 AM - Living Bridges Men’s Faith Sharing - Sacred Heart Chapel 9:30 AM - ASSUMPTION ACADEMY: Christmas Prayer Service 21 9:30 AM - Sodality Devotions - Church

OLA Sodality Christmas Party

The Sodality of Our Lady of the Assumption will hold their annual Christmas Party for members, family and friends immediately following the 11:30 AM Mass on Sunday, Dec. 15th, 1PM to 4 PM in Assumption Hall.

Catholic Young Adults of Chester Co.

Join CYACC at 7:15pm on Wed., Dec. 18th at Sts. Peter & Paul Church in West Chester. Back by popular demand is our Annual Cookie Party! Feel free to make, bake or buy your own cookies for all to share. It's always a great time with cookies, games & fellow-ship. This will be our last event of 2019, You won't want to miss it! For more info, check www.cyacc.org or find us in Facebook/email us at cyacc1@gmail.com