St.

Helen Church
4106 Mountain St.
Beamsville, ON L0R 1B7
Ph: 905-562-7427
Fax: 905-563-0003
Email: office@sthelenscatholic.ca
Opened - October 2, 1938 Est. as a Parish - January 1, 1986
Pastor: Rev. Krzysztof Szczepanik Sunday Masses:
Office Administration: Aggie Agnino Saturday: 5:00pm
Sunday: 9:00am, 11:00am *
*(Children’s Liturgy of the Word)
Office hours:
Tuesday to Friday 9:00am - 3:00pm Weekday Masses:
Closed on Mondays and all Statutory holidays Tuesday: 6:30pm
Wednesday to Friday: 9:00am
Website: www.sthelenscatholic.ca 2nd Friday at Albright: 10:00am
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/sthelenscatholic 3rd Friday at Mennonite: 10:00am

Sacraments Contacts
Catholic Funeral Rites:
Baptism: When a death occurs in your family, Music Ministry:
1st & 3rd Sunday at 1:00 pm. please call the Parish Office and we Anthony van Engelen
Call parish office. will assist you in making the adve1@yahoo.com
necessary liturgical arrangements.
1st Communion & Confirmation Ministry Scheduling & RFM:
Contact the Parish Office. Chronic Care Facilities: Rachel Reid ~ ministryschedul-
Pastoral visits are made monthly. ing@sthelenscatholic.ca
Reconciliation: Reception of Holy Communion is
Every Saturday 4:00pm - 4:30pm or by available to residence. Fundraising Events:
appointment with the priest. office@sthelenscatholic.ca
Homebound:
Marriage: Notify the Parish Office when serious Facility & Grounds Maintenance:
Arrangements six months in advance. illness occurs. When the sick, aged or Craig Luey
Marriage preparation is required. incapacitated are confined to home for craig.luey@gmail.com
an extended time, pastoral visit can be
RCIA & RCIC: arranged. Catholic Women's League:
Contact the Parish Office. Colleen Drake ~ contact parish office

Anointing of the Sick: Schools Knights of Columbus:

Please let us know when someone has St. Mark School Marcel VanRuyven
a serious or prolonged illness or is to Principal: Steven Ward mgvanruijven@gmail.com
have surgery. This sacrament
celebrates the healing of mind and St. Edward School SVDP:
body and the forgiveness of sins. Principal: Carla Bianco Lorraine Martin ~ contact parish office

Kindly complete the following and place in the collection basket.

Envelopes will be on the round table in the foyer the following weekend.
☐ New Parishioner* ☐ Change of address ☐ Moving
Name________________________ Phone_________________ E-mail___________________
Address______________________________________________ City_____________________
☐ I would like to use offertory envelopes* Postal Code______________
 Holy Family of Jesus, Mary & Joseph - Year A
Sunday December 29, 2019
Mass Intentions
 December 31 - January 5, 2020
As we gather, let us remember and pray for . . .
st
Tues. ~ ………………………………………… Dec. 31
9:00 am + Libero Palmieri
(by Maria & Piera Palmieri)
Wed. ~ ..Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.. Jan. 1st
10:00 am For the People of St. Helen Parish
Thurs. ~
9:00 am
……..St. Basil the Great & ………..... Jan. 2nd
……Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops..….
………Doctors of the Church…...…...
+ Dave Jameson (by Kaye Brandel)
Fri. ~ ……….Holy Name of Jesus…….…… Jan. 3rd
9:00 am + Bev Brown (by Nati & Zeni)
Sat. ~ ………………………………………… Jan. 4th
5:00 pm For the People of St. Helen Parish
Sun. ~ ……………The Epiphany...………… Jan. 5 th
9:00 am Intn’s of Sally Culp (by Shirley Brunet)
11:00 am + Dale Beaulieu
(by Tony & Michelle Mackey)
CATHEDRAL APPEAL UPDATE
It has now been six months since we launched our
Cathedral Appeal, and as of October 31, 2019, our
appeal has raised $594,304.46 in cash donations and
$119,052.67 in pledges. This brings our total raised to
$713,357.13 or 59% of our $1,200,000 goal. Thank
you for your generosity. Visit us on the web at
www.saintcd.com/appeal or pick up a brochure and
pledge form from your parish office should you wish to
participate. May God bless you!
A PRAYER WITH SONG OF TAIZE
January 4, March 21, June 20
2:00 - 2:30 p.m. Introduction and Song Practice,
2:30 - 3:30 pm. Prayer
Monastery of Mount Carmel, 7020 Stanley Avenue,
Niagara Falls, 905-356-4113 or Contact Eunji Kim -
eunji@fountaintree.ca All are welcome!
BINGO GIFT CERTIFICATES FOR PURCHASE
Purchase a St. Helen Bingo Gift Certificate, only
$20.00 for Thursday Bingo (at the Legion) or $25.00
for Friday Bingo (Angelina Prokich Great Hall).
Certificates available at the Bingos or the parish office.
CWL NEWS
Ladies, please join us for the Installation of CWL
Officers on Tuesday, January 7th after the 6:30
p.m. Mass. It would be nice to see as many
members out as possible. After we will have a very
brief meeting and a social hour after in the church hall.
This week, the Sanctuary Lamp burns in
memory of:
+ RITA CURRIE
The Sanctuary Lamp burns to remind us of Christ’s
presence in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar.
If you wish to sponsor the sanctuary lamp for one
week, the stipend is $35.00
our parish prayer
Jesus, open our hearts, enabling us to embrace
your teachings and to love one another. Holy
Spirit, lift us and lead us, deepening our desire to
serve God through serving each other. Amen.
MARRIAGE CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to our newlywed couple
ARIANA AGNINO
&
ANTHONY VETERE.
May God bless you as you begin this life
journey together!
FIRST FRIDAY ADORATION
FRIDAY JANUARY 3RD
9:30 AM TO 12:00 NOON
You are invited to come and spend a holy
hour with Jesus.
THANK YOU
As our last bulletin for this year is published, I wish to
extend my gratitude to all parishioners at St. Helen for
your generosity of time, treasure and talents towards
this parish community. Its greatly appreciated and I am
very thankful for your dedication. Thank you also for
your thoughtful Christmas wishes, cards and gifts and
making me feel like a member of this parish family.
May the season of Christmas be filled with kindness,
love and peace and New Year bring to all of us much
needed blessing on our day to day endeavours.
With love & prayer, Father Chris
OUR CONDOLENCES
Our condolences and prayers are
extended to the family and friends who
mourn the loss of:
ORLANDO SICILIANO
STEPHANIE ANN RUISS
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon him.
OFFICE HOURS
The office will be closed this week until January 2nd.
 The Holy Family
Those who respect the Lord honour their parents. (Sirach
3)
Family life in the Lord. (Colossians 3)
Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt.
(Matthew 2)
Today’s Feast of the
Holy Family calls us to
re-discover and celebrate
our own families as
harbors of forgiveness
and understanding and
safe places of
unconditional love,
welcome and acceptance.
The Holy Family is a model for our families as we
confront the many tensions and crises that threaten the
stability, peace and unity that are the joys of being a
family.
Matthew’s Gospel of Mary and Joseph’s escape to
Egypt has been lived by countless families in every
place and time. Today’s Feast of the Holy Family
confronts us with the struggle of many families to
escape the brutality and cruelty of the Herods of our
time, seeking a new life in whatever Egypt they can
find – and God’s call to us, as their brothers and sisters,
to make a place for them where they will find safety,
justice and dignity as God’s own.
Matthew’s Gospel of the Holy Family’s fleeing the
murderous wrath of Herod portends what is to come:
the Christmas crib is overshadowed by the cross of
Holy Week, that this holy birth is the beginning of our
rebirth in the resurrection.
ENTERING INTO AND CELEBRATING
THE CHRISTMAS SEASON
Christmas is not the end of Advent. It is a real season
of the Church year. We usually miss it because the
consumer society that some of us live in has nothing to
offer us, except for days to return gifts. Too often,
within days after Christmas day, the decorations are
down and it is over.
This year, let's try to really celebrate Christmas and
the days that follow. Let's enter a new Season, which
has its own spirit and desires and graces.
Special Feasts begin the season and we continue the
story, so that we enter more deeply into the story of
Jesus' coming to be one with our life, but also that we
might enter more deeply into how Jesus comes this year
to bless each of us.
Asking for the Grace We Desire
Sometimes we come up to Christmas eve and
Christmas day, as well as the days after, with little or no
time for formal prayer at all. Every moment, it seems,
is filled with some preparation, some tradition, having
people over to our house or going to others'
homes. Even those of us who are home bound or those
of us who might be alone these days sometimes have
difficulty “getting to” the heart of the Gift offered us
these days.
This year, let's ask for the grace or graces we
desire. We may have many desires swirling around
inside, or we may feel so fragmented that we don't
know what we desire. Here are some examples that
may help you find words to name your desires:
• Lord, let me experience your coming into my heart
today.
• Lord, I want to embrace the gift of peace you are
offering me.
• Please, Lord, slow me down.
• Forgive me my impatience, my judgements, my
jealousies, my greed and any way I make strained
relationships even worse.
• Help me be sensitive to the needs, struggles, pain of
others today.
• Give me the courage to offer gestures of peace and
love and reconciliation, where they are needed today.
• Help me chew the message of your coming today:
into poverty, to enter my own experience, to be
truly with me.
• Prepare my heart today, O Lord, that I may be open
to the graces you offer, particularly in the struggles, the
dryness, the sadness and the conflict.
• Only you know how serious this illness is, my
Lord. With the grace of your coming this Christmas,
prepare my soul to begin to surrender to you, that I
might live in this world more and more with my heart
set on the banquet you have prepared for me, when you
come to bring me home to you for ever.
• Lord, I so want to be a source of light and peace for
my family and friends. Keep me centered on the mercy
and peace you offer me, that I may love them with great
joy and tenderness.
• Lord, you know my heart, with all its mystery and
complexity. Please let me know my desires, let me
know what I need, let me humbly ask you for your
graces these precious days ahead. (Creighton Online
Ministries)
A New Year’s Prayer for You
May GOD make 2020 happy for you!
Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain,
But by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes;
Not by making your path easy,
But by making you sturdy to travel any path;
Not by taking hardships from you,
But by taking fear from your heart;
Not by granting you unbroken sunshine,
But by keeping your face bright,
even in the shadows;
Not by making your life always pleasant,
But by showing you when people and their
causes need you most,
And by making you anxious to be there to help.
GOD’s love, peace, hope and joy to you for the
year ahead.
In JESUS’ Name, Amen.