WELCOME!!

You come to this Church not as a stranger, but as a friend: a friend of God and our parish community. Please let us know how we can serve you.

Mission Statement
Nourished by the Word, strengthened by the Eucharist, guided by the Spirit, we the People of the Holy Family Parish, in union with the whole People of God, will strive toward the uncondiƽonal love and service of all people.

CELEBRATING OUR 169TH YEAR
HOLY FAMILY PARISHΐΐFOUNDED 2007
MERGER OF
ST. JOSEPH'S [1852 - 2007]

Parish Office Hours:
Monday.Thursday: 9:00 AM.3:00pm and Friday: 9:00am.Noon

Daily Mass: Mon.Ï Fri. 8:00am Sat. Vigil: 5:00pm Sunday: 8:00am and 10:30am

Eucharistic Adoration: Every Friday 8:30am.6:00pm in the Chapel

Confessions: Saturday 4.4:30pm in Sacristy

Faith Formation: Sunday: 9:15.10:15am

Baptismal Preparation Classes: are conducted for parents individually. Call the Parish office to register. Baptisms are scheduled with the Pastor, during or after weekend Masses or at a time mutually agreed upon.

Care of the Sick: Please call the Parish Office to have Communion taken to the sick/ homebound. Notify us of those desiring the Sacrament of Anointing

Joining Our Parish: New members are warmly welcomed. Make an appointment to register with the Pastor or secretary by phoning the Parish Office.

RCIA: Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults program for those who wish to become Catholic or learn more about our faith. Christian Initiation of Youth program also available. Contact the Parish Office.

Marriages: Engaged couples are to make wedding arrangements at least six months in advance. When you wish to set a date, please call Farther Dick. Pre.marriage sessions are required.

REMINDER:
Please be mindful of the Presence of Jesus at 1st Saturday Adoration in Church. Conversation should be minimal and respectful of our Lord’s Presence.

Feast of the Ascension . Thurs. May 26th . Holyday of Obligation. Mass times are in the Mass Intention box. We have the ability to walk with joyful hope! Jesus, during his earthly ministry, pointed the way to God’s kingdom. What is finally understood about God’s kingdom is that it is filled with the glory of Christ! We are all in the process of being emptied into and becoming one with Christ. We are new creations, clothed in Christ, made in God’s very image and likeness, and on this incredible journey of glory. The Ascension allows us to see this truth about ourselves and it enlightens our hearts. Christ who was most perfectly, vividly, and brilliantly transfigured before the very eyes of the disciples will be our destiny. Seeing only imperfectly now, we will see perfectly then. We will bask in the brilliance of understanding and truth. Christ is our destiny and our hope. Alleluia!

Armed Forces Day is celebrated today, the third Saturday in May. It is the day Americans celebrate their military. Armed Forces Day is the proper day to honor all of the men and women currently serving as well as those who have served and sacrificed to defend our freedom.

A message from our Pastor

Dear Parishioners & Friends,

For Father Peter Karalus, it all began with a vocation planted in his heart by Jesus and also by his parents Rose & Daniel Karalus. As his seminary education advanced, he was appointed to Holy Family Parish for a summer assignment, then his year as a deacon, and then for a year as a newly ordained priest. He brought such life to our parish, appreciated so much for his creativity, his ministry to youth, his taking parishioners to World Youth Day in Paris, and so much more. He was ordained a priest on May 18, 1997 and has been involved in so many ministries throughout these 25 years, among them the merging of parishes. Now he serves as Vicar General, Bishop Mike’s right hand man. We meet at so many different meetings and he exudes the enthusiasm of a pied piper and a knowledgeable, approachable, caring, and dedicated priest of the Church. It was great concelebrating with him at his anniversary Mass at St. John Paul II Parish in Lakeview last Sunday, along with 25 other priests, deacons, friends and former parishioners. God bless you, Peter, with great ministry in the years ahead.

Father Dick

Vocation Blurb: Sometimes guys think “I could never get up and preach in front of everybody, I wouldn’t know what to say.” But today Jesus tells us “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything.” God will give you the words. Step into the unknown! Contact Fr. Dave Baker at 716.847.5535 or visit buffalovocations.org.

From Bishop Michael Fisher, the Month of May:

We still have important Listening Sessions for Phase 1 of our Diocesan Synod! Please see below for a listing of sessions and check the Diocesan website for details. www.buffalodiocese.org/synod

Our Synod process continues! And there are some excellent opportunities for your voice to be heard about your hopes and your concerns about the future of our Church. Our Listening Sessions for Phase 1 of our Diocesan Synod will conclude at the end of May, but there are still plenty of valuable opportunities for you be heard. Here are some of the Sessions remaining:

May 23rd at 6:30 at St. Vincent de Paul open to everyone
May 24th at 5:30 at the Catholic Center downtown open to everyone
Mat 25th at 6:30 at Holy Cross for the Hispanic community
May 26th at 5:30 at Our Lady of Hope for the African community
May 31st at 7:00 at St. Leo the Great for those affected by divorce
June 1st at 6:30 at Our Lady of Hope for the Asian community
June 2nd at 6:30 at St. Joseph University for the LGBTQ community

Please check the Diocesan website for more details at www.buffalodiocese.org. And remember that Phase 2 will include all Parish Families of the Diocese.

To watch Mass via Livestream click on the image below.

PLEASE NOTE: Recorded Masses are now available on our parish YouTube channel. These Masses may be edited due to copyright restrictions. They can be accessed by going to YouTube.com and typing Holy Family Parish Albion NY in the search bar. Right now the image is a blue circle with an H in the center. If there are accessing issues, please send an email to holfampar@yahoo.com.

THE CATHOLIC FAITH, ON DEMAND

You can sign up at Formed.org. Log onto www.formed.org and set up an account under Holy Family Parish. Click sign up/I belong to a parish/14411. In the box for selecting parish (Holy Family Parish) give your name and email.

WeShare -

Interested in online giving? It is safe, simple and convenient. If you have questions or would like to sign up for onlinegiving please call Liturgical Publications at 800-950-9952 or click Here.

MASS INTENTIONS
Now would be a good time to consider a Mass Intention for a loved one. We have many Masses available for booking at this time. Those wishing to honor a loved one during the celebration of Mass, living or deceased, or for prayerful remembrance of anniversaries, birthdays, and other special intentions, may request a Mass Intention. If you are interested please contact the Parish Office for a Mass Request form. A $15.00 stipend for each Mass should accompany your request.

Use this form to ask for a Mass Intention!

SANCTUARY LAMP INTENTIONS

May 15 . May 28, 2022
for Our Daughters by Mom & Dad
May 22 . June 4, 2022
for Joseph & Shirley Zambito
by Daughter, Annette
May 29 . June 11, 2022
IMO Grzywacz & Wilkins Families
by Edgar & Helen Wilkins

The practice of requesting a Sanctuary Light Candle to be offered for loved ones, living or deceased, is a beautiful and wonderful part of our Catholic tradition. You may request to have one of the Sanctuary Lamps lit by calling the Parish Office. Like our Mass Requests, the donation to light a Candle is $15. These candles burn for 14 days.

For your convenience

Our 10:30 Mass can be streamed at anytime in the McCabe Room. Please be sure to contact the office ahead of time so the equipment can be set up.

An elevator and nearby rest room make this an option for those who wish to attend Mass but have difficulty getting into the church.

Rather than miss Mass because of active little ones, parents may wish to bring their youngsters to the Resource Room where they can share in the service with them without the constraints of a pew. There is room to move around and a library of children's bible stories for them to enjoy.

All are welcome. Please suggest this to family and friends who may be looking for an opportunity, even temporarily, to attend Mass at Holy Family.

Please pray for all our loved ones who have journeyed into the hands of the God: THE 10 VICTIMS OF THE BUFFALO SHOOTING

PLEASE PRAY FOR:

David Albanese, Gary Armida, Ron Ayrault, Bob Blackburn, Greg Blodgett, Nicholas Bloom, Ann Boe, Amy Bowers, Carolyn Budynski, Michael Brune, Alexandria Renee Bush, Chris Cioffi, Justin Cooper, Mary Coveney, Ryan Cunningham, Fran D’Agostino, Dr. Dominic DeVicenzo, Laura Dibley, Brittany Dodd, Nancy Donahue, Barbara A. Dunham, Paul Fancher, Patty Foote, Brian Froman, Leah Gaddis, Robert Gadsby, Rita Galbreath, Joyce Gehl, Betty Geiger, Margaret Golden, Maryann Hildreth, Steve Karas, Sue Kirsch, Gloria Kuhn, Herman Lorenz, Debbie Magliocco, Mark & Susan Mazzatti, Janice McMullen, John McNall, Gert Metz, Jacoby Miller, Kevin Miller, Marian Moore, David Nayman, Byron Neal, Gloria Neilans, Elizabeth Aldaco Novak, Tom O’Hearn, Rita Lang Owens, Isabelle Parvis, Alan Penna, Kim Peltz, Mary Ann Peterson, Carol and Fred Pilon, Linda Rebadowd, Danielle Ries, Carol Riviere, Roberta, Wendy Sanders, Bill Sargent, Carolyn Sisson, Gary Spitz, John Stirk, Mark Swindon, Lynn Tomasino, Betty Tower, Sue Toke, Lisa Vergiza, Maureen Watt, Pat Weber, Chris Wing, and Nancy Zambito.

What's Happening

Mon. May 30 - Memorial Day MassΔSt. Joe’s Cemetery - 9AM
Mon. May 30 - Oﬃce Closed for Memorial Day
Sun. June 5 - Chicken BBQ at St. Mary’s Club, 11:30AM -2 PM
Wed. June 8 - Catholic Daughters - 7 PM Lyceum

REMINDER
Please come and join us every 1st Saturday of the Month to honor our Blessed Mother and her Son in Adoration by saying the Rosary at 4pm

1st Eucharist Rehearsal . June 4th at 10:30 AM in Church
Sacraments . 1st. Penance . June 4th at 9 AM in Church
1st Eucharist . June 12th at 10:30 AM Mass

May Crowning , Sunday May 8th May is the month of Mary and the beautiful tradition of May Crowning which reflects the beauty of the 5th Glorious Mystery of the Holy Rosary which it evokes. Honoring Our Lady, Queen of Heaven & Earth, honors her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ Who first crowned her as His Queen.

CATHOLIC DAUGHTERS NEWS: PLEASE NOTE CHANGE; There will be a regular meeting and ELECTIONS, May 18th, 7p.m. in the Lyceum. Plan on attending. A May Luncheon is planned for May 21st. You will be receiving a call. Seating is limited. Call for reservations.

LADIES OF CHARITY
Once again this year, The Ladies of Charity are awarding Scholarships to graduating Seniors attending area schools, and belonging to Holy Family Parish. The following awards include: Louise McGuire Award . $200- to an individual pursuing a degree in the Medical field. The Ladies of Charity $200. Award to an individual with high academic achievement and community service. The Applications are available in the Parish Office. Deadline is June 14th.

Hands for Hope is doing a laundry soap drive for those in need. There are laundry baskets at the Church entrances for your donations.

Thanks to all those who supported the Cutting Board Raffle. Your generous donations totaling $560.00 will be donated to the Dnipro Ukrainian Cultural Center in Buffalo, NY. The Ukrainian American Freedom Foundation (UAFF) is an IRS recognized 501(c)(3) non.profit charity. UAFF has partnered with the PayPal Giving Fund to accept online donations to provide Humanitarian and Medical Aid to War Victims in Ukraine. Our check will support these efforts.

LAWN FETE NEWS
PLEASE JOIN US ˁ Volunteers are needed for our annual
Parish Lawn Fete…...PLEASE JOIN US AT OUR NEXT PLANNING
MEETING Wed. JUNE 15 @ 6:30 PM. Together we can make this
year’s event bigger and better than ever. Students can earn
community service hours helping with these events.

VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED!!!

Holy Family’s Annual Lawn Sale June

10-11, Strawberry Festival Weekend
Donations of clean, re-saleable items may be left in the school hallway beginning May 2nd. Please call the Parish Office if you can volunteer to assist us with this year’s sale or if you
have donations to be picked up.
We are also in need of furniture items in good condition for the sale.
NO CLOTHING, TV’S OR TV STANDS, computers/
printers, piano/organ, encyclopedias/old books, artificial
Christmas trees & non-working small appliances.

SALE DATES: Friday, 6/10 9 AM.5 PM &
Saturday, 6/11 9 AM .3 PM

Hot Dogs and Burgers available the days of sale on Church
Grounds. PLEASE call the office if you can assist with
cooking/serving hots and burgers.

WEIDNERS CHICKEN BBQ

Volunteers are Needed to sell tickets after weekend
Masses and assist with the BBQ Sun. June 5th.

SAVE THE DATE: The Holy Family Parish

Annual Chicken BBQ is scheduled for:
DATE: Sunday, June 5th
PLACE: St Mary’s Club,
538 Moore St., Albion
TIME: 11:30am . 2:00PM
PRE.SALE TICKETS ONLY . $13.00
DRIVE THRU ONLY

Tickets available after Masses or at Parish Office. Call Office to volunteer.

The Holy Souls In Purgatory – Our Allies In The Afterlife

by Kristen Van Uden

The word Purgatory comes from the Greek root πῦρ (“pur”) which means both “fire” and “pure.”

This is a fitting description, as the fires of Purgatory, rather than destroying like the fires of Hell, instead purify. Purgatory is where we expiate for the pain due to mortal sins that have been forgiven through the sacrament of Confession, and unrepented venial sins. Much like a scar left on the body after a wound has healed, the pain due to sin remains long after the sin has been forgiven. In this life, we are given the graces to shorten our time due in Purgatory by prayer, fasting, undertaking penance, frequenting the sacraments, wearing the scapular, and making use of indulgences.

While Purgatory is a place of suffering, it is actually a beautiful example of Divine mercy. It is a metaphysical impossibility for anything even slightly impure to enter the presence of God.

St. Catherine of Genoa explains: “If God’s goodness would not temper justice with mercy, satisfying it with the most precious Blood of Jesus Christ, even a single sin would merit a thousand hells.” How merciful is God that He allows us to expiate for our sins through the purifying fires of Purgatory, rather than an almost assured, and deserved, damnation.

Servant of God Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo explains in his definitive guide The Afterlife: Purgatory and Heaven Explained that, despite their pain, the souls in Purgatory possess of a joy inexplicable by earthly standards. He describes Purgatory as “a contest of love,” in which the soul is moved ever-upward by its intense love for God and desire to be united with Him.

And these souls have every reason to be happy! The souls in Purgatory are confirmed in grace. This means that their salvation is guaranteed – they are incapable of sin or error, and they are no longer at any risk of damnation. They know they will see God face-to-face one day, and they therefore embrace their suffering as the necessary means by which to attain the beatific vision.

There is an interesting story from the life of St. Stanislaus, Bishop of Krakow. In 1070, he raised from the dead a man named Peter Miles, who had been dead three years and whose body had decomposed to a skeleton. Given the option to be brought back to earthly life or return to Purgatory, Miles heartily chose Purgatory rather than risk sin and hell here on earth.

While the souls suffer joyfully, it is important to remember that they cannot help themselves get to Heaven more quickly. The Holy Souls need our help! Sometimes, God allows souls to manifest on earth in order to request prayers. The most common request is for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Any small prayer, penance, indulgence, or offering of suffering that we take on behalf of the Holy Souls can greatly accelerate their journey through Purgatory toward Heaven.

This confirmation in grace and certainty of salvation means that the Holy Souls are consumed with a pure love for God and the Church. St. Catherine of Bologna claimed that she gained more favors by praying for the intercession of souls in Purgatory than she gained from the saints in Heaven themselves!

As members of the Church Militant, we have it within our power to gain for a soul currently suffering in Purgatory the most sublime moment of entrance into eternal happiness. Take this description from Don Dolindo as a clarion call to devote yourself to the Holy Souls:

“Coming to the end of its purification, it hurls itself toward God, at His loving invitation, in its utmost gratitude for the pain suffered, more than a sick man could ever have for the pain inflicted on him by a surgeon.”

—

Note: The above quotes and examples are all taken from Fr. Dolindo Ruotolo’s The Afterlife: Purgatory and Heaven Explained, first written in 1959 and now available as a reprint from Sophia Institute Press. Sophia has also just published Fr. Martin Jugie’s classic treatise The Truth About Purgatory and the Means to Avoid It.

What Every Catholic Needs To Know About The Early Heresies

by Dr. Jim Papandrea

Anyone who wants to go deeper into their Christian faith will eventually come around to seeing the importance of the early Church, and those early Christian bishops, theologians, and catechists we call the Church fathers. When we say, “the early Church,” we’re talking about the time from the beginning, up until the 5th century – that is up until some time in the mid-to-late 400s. This is the primary time period that I am privileged to study and teach in my position as a Professor of Church History and Historical Theology. And you can’t study this important time period in the life of the Church without serious attention to those attempts at understanding the person of Jesus Christ and the Christian faith which turned out to be incorrect – those teachings and movements that we refer to as the heresies. And so here are a few things that every Catholic needs to know about heresies in the early Church.

Heresies In The Early Church

1) Heresy was often a well-meaning, but misguided, over-emphasis on one truth to the point of denying another important truth. For example, the heresy known as adoptionism (and its later version, Arianism) was a sincere attempt to protect monotheism. The adoptionists and Arians knew that there could be only one God, but they failed to understand the doctrine of the Trinity, and so they concluded that they could not believe in the divinity of Christ. They said, in effect, that God is one because Jesus is not God. And so they emphasized Jesus’ humanity to the point of denying his divinity. Other heresies, called docetism and gnosticism, started with the idea that Jesus was divine, but then they could not see how the Divine could come to live a real human life, and so they refused to believe that “the Word became flesh,” and they emphasized his divinity, but denied his true humanity.

2) The heresies forced the Church to clarify doctrine, especially by writing the Nicene Creed. By preaching incorrect interpretations of the Person of Christ, the heretics forced the early Church to clarify the true doctrines. In fact, we can already see this going on in the New Testament. For example, both Saints Paul and John confronted the heresy of early docetism in their letters. Defending the real humanity of Jesus, St. John wrote, “every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the fleshbelongs to God, and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist…” (I John 4:2-3, emphasis mine). At the other extreme, when adoptionism evolved into the Arian heresy, the Church fathers responded by gathering in the first ecumenical (worldwide) council the Church, the Council of Nicaea, in the year AD 325. There, the first version of the Nicene Creed was written, which emphasized the divinity of Christ against the Arian heresy by affirming that Jesus Christ, the Son, is consubstantial with the Father (see my YouTube video on the meaning of “consubstantial”). Later, the Creed was finished at the second ecumenical Council of Constantinople in the year AD 381, when they added the clarifications on the Holy Spirit. The result of these corrections of heresy is our Nicene Creed, which is an authoritative summary of correct doctrine.

3) Heresy always has implications for salvation. If one is tempted to ask why it was such a big deal, and why the Church couldn’t just let everyone believe whatever they wanted to, the answer is that all heresy contradicts revealed truth, which is meant to lead us to salvation. In other words, all heresy leads people away from salvation because by teaching incorrect doctrine, people are encouraged to put their faith in a false god and a false christ. For example, if the adoptionists and Arians were right, and Jesus is human only, and not divine, then salvation is not by divine intervention, but rather by human effort. This is because, if Jesus Christ was a mere human, he first would have had to save himself through his own perfect obedience to God, and then the only way he could be a “savior” for us is by setting an example. We would then have to follow his example, and become perfectly obedient to God in order to save ourselves – but the Church fathers concluded that this would leave us hopeless. On the other extreme, if the docetics and gnostics were right, and Jesus Christ is divine only, but not human, then he might be able to be a Savior in some cosmic sense, but he could not save us, because he would not be one of us. Divine justice demands that the debt of sin that is owed by humanity, must be paid by humanity, and so it requires someone of human nature to pay for the sins of humanity. In other words, Jesus had to be one of us to represent us on the cross. Therefore our very salvation requires that Jesus Christ be both divine and human. Just one or the other will not do it.

4) Finally, there is nothing new under the sun. It’s important to understand that the early heresies never really went away. They were corrected, and they were dealt with, but they keep popping up again and again throughout history, and they still exist today. Adoptionism and Arianism, the heresies that diminish or deny the divinity of Jesus, are still around in the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Unitarian Universalists, Extreme Liberation Theology, and to a certain extent in the Mormons and Rastafarians. Docetism, and it’s later evolution gnosticism, are still around in Christian Science, the New Age movement & the occult (think crystals and tarot cards), Scientology, and to a certain extent in some aspects of Mormonism and in some Pentecostal groups. I’m not suggesting we all become heresy hunters, but we do need to be clear that correct doctrine matters, and it is not the case that all beliefs lead to salvation.

Holy Family Roman Catholic Parish