LAST CALL….RESERVATIONS ARE CLOSING: Join us for our CHAPTERS WOMEN’S MINISTRY FIELD TRIP TO: THE CATHEDRAL OF OUR LADY OF THE ANGELS on Saturday, July 14th from 9 am – 3 pm. We will leave bright and early from Corpus Christi on a deluxe motorcoach equipped with air-conditioning, restrooms, reclining seats, dvd players and a P.A. system. We will be taken on a docent-led walking tour, which provides a detailed introduction to the art, history, and architecture of the beautiful Cathedral and Grounds. After our tour, we will enjoy a gourmet-boxed lunch on the Grand Plaza, which provides an inviting setting enveloped by gardens, fountains and sculptures. Following lunch, you will have some free time to explore the grounds and browse the many treasures in the Cathedral Store. The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels is truly a sight to behold and will be an experience you won’t want to miss! The cost is only $65.00 per person for this all day excursion! Sign- ups will be after mass the weekends of June 16 & 17 and 23 & 24. Deadline to register in June 24th. Contact Jackie Kleinhammes at 837-4441 or jkleinhammes@cox.net for more information.
La Famiglia is gathering….have you made your reservations?
On TWO Summer South County Saturday nights, Saturday, July 21st and August 18th, the famiglia of Corpus Christi will gather alfresco on our lawn to fill the evening with food, beverage, song and dance. In July and August our parish will again gather as Tuscan villagers have gathered for centuries, to celebrate the familial bonds that weave us together. ‘La Cena’ is the communal meal of Summer celebration, of taking pleasure in each other’s company, of languorous conversations accompanied by ample food, wine, beverage, song and dance. ‘La Cena’ is all about our famiglia sharing table space, passing bowls of pasta and sizzling platters of sausage, breaking bread with one another and sharing famiglia stories along with favorite appetizers and desserts. Commencing immediately following the 5:00 p.m. Mass, the July 21st and August 18th ‘La Cenas’ will feature a full evening focused on the leisurely meal and those who gather to enjoy it. While a movie will be available for the bambinos downstairs, there will not be any organized activities for children…they are welcome to romp and improvise their play as village children are known to do. ‘La Cena’ participants are asked to bring their own appetizers with which to make new friends (please note: there is no kitchen space or refrigeration available!) as well as a dessert for sharing…and bragging! Wine and summer cocktails will be available for purchase, participants are encouraged to bring their own favorite beverage/vino with which to quench summer thirsts. Replacing previous Summer events,, our ‘La Cena’ evenings are our primary parish fund-raising events benefiting the Building Fund. Mindful of tight budgets, ‘La Cena’ is a modest $25 per adult (15 and up), $15 for children (10-14) and only $10 for bambinos (2-9), infants under 2 are free. To ensure adequate table space on our lawn, please complete this Reservation Form and return to the Parish Offices.
Oh my…..our cry room, lunch benches and outdoor areas may be getting heavily used this month…..
The month of July may be a little bit more rambunctious during Mass than you are accustomed to because…..our Good Shepherd/Little Lambs-Child Care Ministry is taking the WHOLE MONTH of JULY OFF to clean, reboot, retrain, refocus, RECRUIT and re-establish the Ministry as a Co-Op effort. When it resumes in August, Cathy Allard and Betina hope to have a FRESH CREW of volunteers all fingerprinted/safe-environment cleared and trained with a new and fresh focus. Thus, during July, you will see a recruitment booth where you parents can offer your services and start the process of becoming a Good Shepherd Team member. You are welcome to offer your services and talents but please remember that your offer of service may be accepted by Cathy and Betina as they best see how, to use your suggested talents or perhaps urge you to be of assistance in another manner. A new and more unified presentation effort for each weekend, duplicated by the teachers/volunteers at each Mass will be implemented as well as a more focused check-in/registration process. Inappropriate behavior by the children will no longer be tolerated (hitting, calling the volunteers or other children names, etc. etc.), parents will necessarily have to accept a transponder so they may be summoned to retrieve their erring or ill child. Childcare will now have a shut-off time for dropping off your child…thus, if you are arriving late for Mass…your child will not be received into Good Shepherd as they will have a program already underway that is not conducive to continual interruptions. Your help and patience with these revisions is needed and encouraged…we want your children to have a wonderful experience while also being safe and loved. Please make contact with Cathy or Betina if you wish to offer your assistance: betinapang@corpuschristialisoviejo.org; Cathy Allard-949 389-9209.
By the by….since people have asked, the mailing address for Santa Clara de Asis is 22005 Avenida de la Paz, Yorba Linda, CA 92887 and their phone number is 714-970-7885 – E-mail: fredkbailey@scdayl.org
Happy 4thof July! May God bless the United States of America! (Please note that the Parish offices will be closed on Wednesday, July4th)
While transitions are happening all around us, the continuing financial support of Corpus Christi is of critical importance…As you recall, and presumably Fr. Tim will emphasize the same approach, I (we) are not suggesting an arm or a leg in sacrificial giving…nor are we suggesting the traditional ‘tithe’ or ‘tenth-1/10’ measure as referenced in Scripture. We have always promoted Corpus Christi’s reliance on each person’s ownership of ‘The First Hour’ as a manner of financially supporting the parish in a prayerful manner. Based on a supposed 40-hour work-week, ‘The First Hour’ encourages every working/employed person to prayerfully dedicate ‘The First Hour’ of each work-week to God. Be it sitting down and reviewing office e-mails, getting the school kids in their desks or loading the truck with equipment or supplies, ‘The First Hour’ becomes a prayer of THANKS to God for being employed. In the same way we say grace before a meal, ‘The First Hour’ is our grace of gratitude for the week to come. The financial compensation which each person receives from this ‘First Hour’ then becomes the standard by which each employed person financially supports Corpus Christi. 1/40th of each week for Corpus Christi….the rest for individual responsibilities and personal pursuits.
If a majority of our family members embrace the ‘The First Hour’, Corpus Christi will be financially sound and thriving and our family members themselves will benefit from the pride/grace of responsible stewardship. Failure to embrace this manner of financial stewardship will keep us at our financial status quo: having to beg for people to support our youth, risk loosing staff members to better paying parishes, never be able to afford an additional Priest nor expand our Mass schedule, risk losing valuable records and data because we cannot replace overtaxed and outdated technology, be stingy in thanking our volunteers and decline offering beneficial parish programs because we cannot afford them. With this first major transition in leadership, might this be a perfect opportunity to sit down and consider whether the manner by which you support Corpus Christi is commensurate with the value to which you direct the rest of your financial resources (money)? Thanks. FKB
Thank you….thank you….thank you.
And so a page is turned and what began with a first Mass in January of 1998 comes to a close with a much LARGER Mass, no longer in an elementary school, but on the lawn of what will one day be a brilliant and welcoming permanent Church. These weeks and months of transition have been times of opportunity for us to discern the movement of the Holy Spirit in our midst. By all standards, as much as the decision for transition may have been perplexing, it has been handled by those entrusted in executing it, with great respect and acknowledgement of what Corpus Christi has become. Throughout these Spring (and now Summer) weeks, we have had the luxury of time by which to acknowledge that our comfortable patterns were about to be unsettled. I truly trust and believe the grace of God is within these changes, forcing us to evaluate our priorities, push us to rededicate ourselves to the foundational truths of faith and take a hard look at how we have grown…and how we might continue to grow in new and more diverse ways. While I have quite clearly spoken of my own emotional tumult in this transition, that does not imply that the grace of God is not within it. You will recall that I have frequently spoken in homilies of how tumult and unsettledness are usually sure signs of the presence of the Holy Spirit. In this ‘turning of the page’ I am immersed in waves of memories/images of all that we have experienced. Masses in the park, having to straddle the actual physical line between school property and public city property so as not to violate assorted codes and laws. The steel storage shed in which all the fixings for Mass were stored. The FIRST time we moved the altar to the middle of the room and we started facing each other rather than attending Mass like a theater show. The BIG move to 6-A Liberty when EVERYONE pitched in to help. The outdoor events at 6-A Liberty…especially when Scotty
Eisenbart took flight on a windy day because he hung on to the parachute canopy a little too long. The humor and laughter, the sadness and tears, we have had our share of both but the scales seem to be tilted more towards laughter and love than sadness and regret. I have seen kids become teens and teens become adults….you have seen me grow gray with more chins than when I arrived…and how can we forget the ‘size 46’ pant-sticker story and others like it that continue to keep me in check. As much as my memory is filled with rich images, so my heart can also see you eventually gathering, no longer on a lawn, but walking within a gleaming structure of glass, wood and stone, filled with light and a MOST-suitable home in which to celebrate Eucharist. I see your children and grandchildren dropping flowers in the stream that will flow through our courtyard and I see a Rose Garden that continues to welcome all within its tranquil repose. My heart is full, my memories secure, my bags are packed and Helen has moved out of the Rectory for her new quarters in Yorba Linda (she does indeed love to shop!!) And how do I bring these 15 years among you to a close? First and foremost by saying THANK YOU for your trust and willingness to open your heart to the Holy Spirit and become the BODY AND BLOOD of JESUS. Thank you for your kindness and patience with me, for allowing me to shepherd among you. As of today, no more farewells, no more ‘first transition’; with tomorrow we each start saying HELLO…you to Fr. Tim and he to you, me to Santa Clara and they to me. All will be well…all will be well, and if you start to doubt or fear, remember, YOU ARE, and ALWAYS WILL BE, LOVED…and eventually, with the grace of God, all WILL be well. With love and affection, good night. See you in the morning. FKB
