13 June 2021 Bulletin
Click to read the 13 June 2021 Bulletin!
19 June: Feast of Saint Romuald
19 June: Feast of Saint Romuald. St. Romuald was born in Ravenna, Italy, to a noble family. No one could have imagined that a descendent of the Dukes of Onesti would have left his stately home for the most absolute austerity, entering history as a great reformer of the Benedictine Order and as Founder of the Congregation of Monk Hermits of Camaldolese, an Order that has given the Church two great Pontiffs, Pius VII and Gregory XVI, as well as a whole array of blesseds and saints. Yet from his youth, Romuald had been attracted to the consecrated life. He sought silence and sacrifice. A turning point in Romuald’s life was when his father killed a relative in a duel at which Romuald was forced to be present. He then fled to the monastery of St. Apollinaris and did penance and fasting for forty days, assuming responsibility for the sins of his father and begging for forgiveness. He prayed and wept almost without ceasing. So was the purity of his heart, and sincerity of repentance, that he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and his faith deepened. He eventually became a monk at the Abby, later becoming Abbot. Romuald went on to found several monasteries throughout Italy, but he longed for an even more austere life than that of the Benedictines. He founded an order of hermits known as the Camaldolese monks (an Italian branch of the Benedictine Order). Romuald’s was one of the strictest orders for men in the West. Members lived isolated in small huts, observing strict silence and perpetual fasting, constantly praying or doing manual labor. The Life of St Romuald notes that the saint was totally enraptured by silence and solitude with God: “Contemplation of God enraptured him so forcefully that, almost blinded by tears and burning with an indescribable fire of love for God, he would cry out, `Dear Jesus, peace of my heart, ineffable desire, sweetness and gentleness of the angels and saints…’” St. Romuald brought many sinners, particularly those of rank and power, back to God. He died in 1027, having lived a life of prayer and rigorous penance. He had never used a bed and had found countless ways to practice severe penances, such as wearing a shirt of hair and eating only gruel. 15 years later, his pupil, St. Peter Damian, wrote in his biography: “His greatness lies in the rigorous and austere character of his interpretation of monastic life-an approach that was quite singular and unique. In the deepest recesses of his being, Romuald was an ascetic, a monk …He reminds us of the stolid figures inhabiting the Eastern deserts, men who by most rigorous mortification and severest self-inflicted penances gave a wanton world a living example of recollection and contemplation. Their very lives constituted the most powerful sermon.” Saint Romuald’s body was buried at the monastery in Paranzo. Three decades later, his incorrupt body was transferred to Fabriano in 1481. Many miracles have been reported at his tomb in the Cathedral of Fabriano. The Order he founded continues to operate today, with five congregations. The most austere of those, the hermits, continue to live like St. Romuald—strict adherence to silence and prayer for the reparation of the sins of mankind.
“Destroy yourself and live only in God.” – Saint Romuald
Ideas for celebrating this feast at home:
- In honor of the place (Tuscany) where St. Romuald founded an order of hermits, make a Tuscan White Bean & Garlic Soup for dinner tonight (recipe here). Perhaps give up dessert as a small penance, in honor of this saint who is known for living a life full of penance.
- Read more about St. Romuald here.
- Spend some time reading the Psalms in silence like St. Romuald. When we pray, St. Romuald said that our bodies, hearts, souls, and minds should be focused solely on God: “Better to pray one psalm with devotion and compunction than a hundred with distraction.”
- Write or print out your favorite passage from Psalms. Tape it on your bathroom mirror, in your car, or someplace you’ll see it every day to ponder and meditate upon.
(sources: catholicculture.org; excerpts from The Church’s Year of Grace by Pius Parsch)
Altar Relics
Altar Relics
The relics on our altars on solemn occasions and in our altar:
High Altar:
Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother
Cecilia
Francis of Assisi
Mother Teresa
Lawrence
Sebastian
Altar of Sacrifice:
Bl FX Seelos
Therese of Lisieux
Peter
Augustine
Inside Altar:
Linus
Callistus
Pius X
St Elizabeth Ann Seton
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6 June 2021 Bulletin
Click to read this weekend’s bulletin: 6 June 2021 Bulletin
Policy: Active Parishioner Status (updated June 2021)
Active Parishioner Status and Letters of Good Standing
In order to be considered an active parishioner of Prince of Peace, you must do the following for at least six months:
- Register in the parish with the registration form found online or in the narthex
- Assist at Mass at Prince of Peace at least 75% of all Sundays and Holy Days.
- Contribute financially and by being an active part of parish life
- Use the envelope system to track attendance, even if your financial contribution is by electronic means, if you are ever going to need a letter of good standing. In the future, if an electronic means of check in is provided, that suffices for Mass attendance tracking.
A letter of good standing from Prince of Peace indicates that the records of the parish indicate fulfillment of all requirements for active parishioner status for at least six months. A letter of good standing is necessary for the following:
- to have a baby baptized in any Catholic church
- to serve as a godparent at baptism or sponsor at confirmation in any Catholic church
- to get married in any Catholic church
- to receive the active parishioner discount at Prince of Peace Catholic School
Active members are marked inactive in the rolls of the parish:
- if requested
- if after six months there is no trackable giving or envelope usage
All Catholics aged 18 or older should register under their own name with the parish they consider their spiritual home. Catholics over the age of 18 who consider Prince of Peace their spiritual home, but are under their parents’ care and are away at school, military or civil service, should register in the parish and indicate that fact for our records.
Sick, homebound, or shut-in parishioners who are unable to fulfill the requirements for active parishioner status will not be marked inactive if they or their families communicate to the parish that they wish to remain active.
Inactive parishioners who may not qualify for a letter of good standing may always receive the sacraments of Holy Communion, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, as well as receive ecclesiastical funerals and burials. They will not be allowed to receive the sacraments of Baptism or Matrimony, serve as a godparent for Baptism or Confirmation, or receive the parishioner discount in the school, until six months of active parishioner status has been demonstrated.
These policies are almost universal in the United States, where they are a local means of applying certain dispositions of canon law to protect the integrity of the sacramental order. They are part of the ecclesiastical discipline of the Church which expects adult Catholics to be mature and active members of their parish family, indicating a minimum level of practice to receive the sacraments.
Please remember that the letter of good standing is not issued based on any particular priest’s recollection of your Mass attendance; it is based on 75% Mass attendance each Sunday using the envelope system and recorded by the parish. Some people give weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, or even yearly. The letter of good standing is based, not on the frequency or amount of giving (although that should reflect a mature understanding of biblical principles of stewardship), but on Mass attendance. Now that more and more people are using electronic forms of giving, there has to be a way to track weekly Mass attendance. Right now, the only way to do this is by the use of envelopes.
If you give electronically, you may drop your offertory envelope with a 0-online giving note in the offertory basket when you come. If you forget your envelope, there are some available on the credenzas in the narthex. We have a subcommittee of the parish staff looking into the possibility of electronic forms of check-in for Sunday Mass attendance; when we decide on a platform for that, this policy will be updated and the faithful notified.
Sometimes people have specific individual or family situations that mean that one or more four requirements for active parishioner status is not possible or unduly burdensome. If you communicate in a general way to the parish office the reason for that situation, we can notate our records to that effect, so that you will not be rendered inactive if you wish to remain active.
If you change your address, email address, or phone number, please notify the parish as soon as possible. If you move away from the parish, then please do so as well.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation with these policies. They are not there to make life burdensome. Instead, they are part of that ecclesiastical discipline which is a sign of true communion of heart and mind with your local Church and a maturity of faith measured, not in terms of minimalism, but authentic Catholic practice
Policy updated as of June 2022.
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