In her reflection for the Season of Creation, Eleanor Rabnett shares:

“It has been twenty years since the Twin Towers were attacked and collapsed. In the days that followed many of the helpers were there because the Lord had opened their hearts just as Isaiah speaks of – they went into rescue and save those when both the 1st and the 2nd tower were attacked and then crumbled. This past Wednesday – they announced that they have identified the remains of two of those people who responded to hope. Today we are being asked to follow their lead with the cascading sufferings of today’s world from war, from the warming and thawing of our polar areas, flooding and drought, and raging wildfires that are devastating every corner of our life and the life of our planet. We are being called to healing and rebuilding – of our homes and our lives, our lands and our oceans and the very air and atmosphere that nourishes and protects us all. Healing, rebuilding is the result and power of love.”

Read the complete reflection here: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Parish History with Bill Collins & Terry Byrne

How did St. Joe’s, in an era when Cursillo and Waupoos were thriving and with Fr. Fred Magee as Pastor, transform from a church with a middle class air about it into one with a very keen interest in the poor.

Liturgical Resources

Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – September 12 2021 – Liturgy of the Word for use at home

READINGS FOR THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – 2021

READINGS FOR CHILDREN – 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2021

Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time 2021 – Prayers of the Faithful

2021-Season of Creation-Short-Guide

Mission Prayer

Parish Update

Thank you and Update from the Refugee Outreach Committee

The Refugee Outreach Committee are expecting the arrival of a family of 4: 2 parents with 9 and 6 year old boys, this Monday Sept. 13. Thanks to the parishioners who answered last week’s requests.  A motel has been arranged, for their required 14 day quarantine, before they move into more permanent housing which is being confirmed.

Gently used furniture and household items continue to be needed, especially a bunk bed and toys appropriate for the boys which could be used during their quarantine. Contact John Weir for more information : jhnwr99@yahoo.ca 613-220-1811 Thank You for your continued support.

Happy Birthday, Simone!

Long-time parishioner Simone Maingot celebrates her 90th birthday this coming week. Happy Birthday, Simone, and best wishes from your St. Joe’s community!

University Mass resumes Sunday, September 12, 2021 at 7 p.m.

University Mass begins Sunday, September 12, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. Fr. Jim will be presiding and Eleanor Rabnett will offer the reflection. We’re excited to see you again, and to meet new students, young adults and anyone seeking to join our liturgy. As the semester unfolds, we plan to host opportunities for students and young adults to gather outside of Mass as well – to build community and friendships and to reflect on questions of faith. If you know of others seeking a Catholic faith community this fall, please feel free to invite them to our Sunday evening liturgy. All are welcome.

Season of Creation Week Two – Advocacy

The 2021 Season of Creation’s theme – A Home for All?: Renewing the Oikos of God – is in alignment with a global call to recognise that “the Earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.”
The year 2021 is a “super year” for daring action to be taken on the dual crises of climate and biodiversity collapse, plus the global health pandemic, that have gripped our Common Home. International negotiations on biodiversity and climate change are taking place at two United Nation Conference of Parties (COP) meetings. COP15, from October 11-24, 2021, is on the Convention on Biodiversity where the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework will be negotiated in light of the global community failing to reach the targets on biodiversity management set ten years ago. COP26 on climate change takes place from November 1-12, 2021 where new national commitments to tackle the climate crises under the Paris Agreement are due to be delivered. The grave crises these COP processes are intended to address are deeply and integrally connected, and so are their solutions.

This moment in time is a kairos moment for all Christians to rise up in unanimity to support audacious targets to save our common home. Here are some joint actions that have been proposed that would allow Christian Churches to support global advocacy efforts for just and ambitious outcomes on biodiversity and climate next year.

1. Join a global advocacy campaign –

• Join the campaign to ‘Pray and Act for Climate Justice’ in the run up to COP26 (Home page – Global Prayer and Action Chain for Climate Justice (prayandact4climate.org). This campaign brings together people of faith to act and pray for climate justice.
• Join the Catholic petition (Home – Healthy Planet, Healthy People Petition (thecatholicpetition.org) on the climate crisis and biodiversity leading up to both COP15 Biodiversity Summit and COP26 Climate Summit.

2. Engage locally

• Local decision makers, such as mayors, councillors, church leaders, Members of Parliaments and others, may be involved in making decisions affecting climate and biodiversity. You can influence decisions locally and globally by speaking to local and national decision makers about these issues.

3. Join a mobilization

• Young people and their supporters from all generations are coming together in global strikes known as Fridays for the Future. Public mobilisation sends a strong message to decision makers that change is needed. Visit Fridays for the Future (https://fridaysforfuture.org) or Laudato Si’ Generation, the movement of young (laudatosigeneration.org), for more information on the strikes.

4. Encourage institutions to divest

• Despite the climate and ecological crisis caused by burning fossil fuels, many institutions are continuing to invest their money in fossil fuel production. Join a campaign for institutions to divest their finances from fossil fuels, and invest in renewable energy instead: Operation Noah’s Bright Now campaign (Home – Bright Now), and Big Shift Global campaign (The Big Shift Global).

Reflecting on the Sunday Readings – September 12 – Oikologie: Wisdom from Our Home Planet

(Isaiah 50:5-9; James 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35)

• Oikos is also the root word for ‘ecology’, the science of relationships of organisms (including us) to each other and their surroundings.
• Accompanying our faith must come good works and keeping of our relationships in good order. If faith goes unaccompanied by good works, it will die.
• Disciples are called to lovingly respond (take up your cross and follow Jesus).

Practical ideas regarding water – Aim for a 2-minute shower; refrigerate a jug of water instead of running the tap until the water gets cold; when washing the dishes, use a rinse bucket just like when camping; change to low flush toilets or don’t flush every time.

Pope Francis calls us “to use” water rather than consume water. Valuing water means to be more responsible in the protection and use of this element which is so fundamental. And remember how food security is linked to water quality:

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2021-03/pope-world-water-day-waste-pollution-solidarity-poor.html

Mark your calendars – Walk/Bike to Church Sunday – October 2-3.  Get in shape, get together with family and friends and come to mass by walking or biking!  Or take transit.  You will reduce your carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions in the spirit of Laudato Si’.  Then keep up this practice as often as you can.

Vocation Reflection: “I Came To Bring Fire To The Earth”
By Margot Lavoie – Oblate Associate

“James tells us with some “in your face” facts about our faith and about our behaviour, as Disciples of Christ. We are all of the same Body of Christ, rich or poor, pleasant or unpleasant, wearing clean clothes or dirty rags, fragrant or smelly… we are all part of the Body of Christ; all deserve to be treated with dignity and love. Yes, it is necessary to pray, to pray for the needy; but are we ready to give of ourselves, to give up some of our “precious time” for our brothers and sisters, do we carry in our hearts Christ’s fire of love and deliver this compassion and warmth especially for those who are shunned by, or invisible to most of society, and for those who are seldom addressed by their name.”

Read the reflection here (published on Friday September 10): https://omilacombe.ca/become-an-oblate/

Season of Creation – Outdoor Mass

The Kateri Ministry and the Saint Basil’s Parish invite you to celebrate the Season of Creation at an outdoor Mass, followed by an “eco lunch”, Sat., Sept. 25, 11:00 a.m. on the Kateri land, 5642 Ferry Road, Fitzroy Harbour. Bring your own chair and cup. Please call the St. Basil’s Parish office at 613-729-5149 if interested in attending. (Rain date: Oct. 2).