Twenty-seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

News and Notes: I have been asked to preside at the 11AM Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Monday October 5.  This Mass will precede the viewing of the relics of St. Maria Goretti, one of our Collaborative patronesses.  All members of our Catholic Community in Lynnfield are invited to attend.  St. Maria was a pious, devout Italian girl who was killed by an assailant that was attempting to rape her in 1902. In canonizing St. Maria as a martyr for the faith, the Church extols her not only for the chastity she preserved unto death, but for the forgiveness she extended to the very man who took her life.  As a model of purity and mercy, St. Maria is certainly a saint for our times.   Thanks to Donna Hegan for arranging bus transportation to and from the Cathedral on that day.  The latest 2015 Catholic Appeal update (as of September22) reveals that 216 OLA parishioners have pledged $55,368, which is just $144 shy of their goal; and 109 SMG parishioners have pledged $26,325 which is only $1,753 short of their goal.  Many thanks to all the donors who have contributed to this annual drive to provide funds for over 50 central ministries offered by the Catholic Church in Eastern Massachusetts!  If you have not done so already, pledge cards are available at the entrances of the Church, or you can visit our website and click on the Catholic Appeal icon to help put us over the top.  Once again, if a parish in the Archdiocese exceeds its fair share assessment in the Catholic Appeal, it will receive back 60% of the money raised over and above that figure.  In the next few weeks, you will be hearing more about the stewardship our parishes need in order to undertake daily operations and address some much needed Capital Improvement projects, especially those involving our church buildings.  Thanks to Mary Doorley, a staff member of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center in Braintree and a Lynnfield resident, for her leadership in this noble endeavor.  Blessings to all of you in the week ahead!