HOLY ROSARY CHURCH
Washington, DC

Serving Italians and all Catholics on the move in the Greater Washington DC Area since 1913

Bulletin
Sunday, 29 July 2007
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK

July 29, 2007 – Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
9:00 Annunziata Ruzzi
10:30 Rocco & Maria Mirabile
12:00 Maria Filippa Rinaldi
Monday, July 30, 2007 – Weekday
12:05 Barbara Thomsen
Tuesday, July 31, 2007 – Ignatius of Loyola
12:05 Henry & Caterina Iannacci
Wednesday, August 1, 2007 –
12:05 Henry & Caterina Iannacci
Thursday, August 2 2007 –
12:05 Edward Horstkamp
Friday, August 3, 2007 – Weekday
12:05 Theresa L. Pizza
Saturday, August 4, 2007 –
No Mass
August 5, 2007 – Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
9:00 Pompa Rocco
10:30 Paul Richard Davoli
12:00 Angela Maria Smith

The collection for July 22 was $1,928.00
The second collection for the Church in Latin America was $553.00

LECTORS THIS SUNDAY
9:00 Willie Meaux
10:30 Adriano Romano and Enzo Brunitto
12:00 Alex LoBianco

DICIASSETTESIMA DOMENICA DEL TEMPO ORDINARIO
Nel Vangelo di oggi Gesù ci insegna a pregare con perseveranza e coraggio. La preghiera è il tempo che dedichiamo più esplicitamnte a Dio. Questo tempo. però, è utile all’intera nostra vita: è per cambiare noi stessi e per trasformare il modo in cui viviamo. Chi prega non fugge dal mondo; al contrario, vi entra più profondamente per trasfigurarlo sin dalle sue radici.


SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches us to pray with persistence and boldness. The best reason why we should pray is that God wants to answer our prayers. If human parents naturally want to give good gifts to their children, how much more does God want to give us good gifts? And God wants to give us the best gift of all, the Holy Spirit.
 

"I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." - Lk 11:9-10

REBUILDING CHRIST’S CHURCH

Now that the interior of Holy Rosary Church has been completely restored to its original splendor, the words of Jesus to Francis of Assisi come to mind: “Go and rebuild my Church, which you see is falling into ruins.” Only later did Francis understand what Jesus really meant: Go and rebuild my Church spiritually.

Looking at the usual half-fullness of our Church on Sunday, I don’t totally blame people for their lack of faith or the “overarching power of secularization and relativism.” Nor is the dismal picture painted by various surveys describing Catholics as divided, no longer believing many Church teachings, angry and hurt by the sexual abuse scandals and the closing of parishes and having little confidence in their religious leaders, completely accurate.

People today are still Catholic but on their own terms. In this period of transition, the arts of listening and persuasion may have more power than the old, absolute authoritarianism on the part of many churchmen.

It is important to keep our focus on “the deep-down things”: on the lordship of Jesus, on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, on the unfailing, unconditional love of God for us and our love for others and on the simple beauties of nature.
In order to keep such focus we need to “sit still,” to make time, to pray – as T. S. Eliot ends his poem “Ash Wednesday”: “Teach us to care and not to care/ teach us to sit still/ even among these rocks.”

Among our rocks, wrote Martin Pable (America,2, 4710, 2007), we may find “the divisions in the church, the lack of dialogue, the clash of egos, the insistence of adherence to rules over sound pastoral judgment and the direction of resources to rebuild the physical rather than the spiritual church.

But even among these rocks, we must learn to care and not to care. So we must stop trying to please everybody, stop being paralyzed by fear of criticism, stop caring about who gets credit and focus only on getting the job done. And with genuine passion and even joy, we continue to give our best efforts, even when they appear fruitless. We detach ourselves from results, and ask only if we are being faithful to the Gospel vision that Jesus left us.

St. Paul had another way of putting this. “My prayer for you,” he wrote to the Philippians, “is that your love may more and more abound so that you may learn to value the things that really matter.”

SPONSORS for the restoration of the interior of our Church are still needed for refurbishing two bronze evangelists in the main pulpit, for two outdoor chandeliers, for the Altar Servers sacristy, for the new marble ambo and for the new Reconciliation room. Details are found in today’s Bulletin insert.

BUS TRIP TO THE SIGHT & SOUND THEATER in Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Friday, Nov. 23, 2007. It departs from Holy Rosary Church at 9:30 am and returns at 6:00 pm. $75/adult, $54/teen (13-18 yrs old), $42/child (12 & under). Rates cover your ticket(s) to see “The Miracle of Christmas” play, the cost of bus fare, and driver’s gratuity. Deadline for reservations: Oct. 23, 2007. Cash or checks payable to Holy Rosary Church. For further information and reservations, contact: Sergio or Maria Fresco at 301-262-3150 or abruzzo_sicilia@hotmail.com or our Parish Office. Come and relax after the Thanksgiving holiday and prepare for the upcoming Christmas Season!

JOIN AZZURRI DC & HOLY ROSARY CHURCH on our outing on August 9, 2007 to see DC United vs. LA Galaxy featuring David Beckham. Soccer Tickets are still available at $35 each. Make checks payable to Holy Rosary Church. You may call the Rectory at 202.638.0165 or go to our site http://www.italiansoccer.us/brochureforms.html

SI CERCANO ANORA SOSTENETORI per le diverse fasi del restauro dell’interno della nostra chiesa: Evangelisti in bronzo del pulpito, luci esterne della chiesa, la sacrestia dei chiericchi, il nuovo luogo per la Riconciliazione. Per dettagli vedere l’inserto nell bollettino di oggi.

GITA IN PULMAN a Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Venerdi’, 23 novembre 2007. Partenza dalla Chiesa del S.Rosario alle 9:30 e ritorno alle ore 18. $75/adulti, $54/teen (13-18 anni), $42/bambini (12 & sotto) e include il bigletto per vedere il teatro “Il Miracolo di Natale,” il biglietto del pulman e la mancia all’autista. Prenotazioni entro il 23 ottobre. Pagare in contanti o con assegni la Chiesa del S. Rosario. Per ulteriori informatzioni, chiamare Sergio o Maria Fresco a 302-282-3150 (abruzzo_sicilia@hotmail.com) oppurre l’Ufficio Parrocchiale.  Questa gita sarà un meritato riposo dopo “Thanksgiving” e una immediata preparazione alla stazione natalizia.

TUTTI SONO INVITATI alla partita di calico tra DC United vs. LA Galaxy con David Beckham. Bigletti sono ancora disponibli a $35, pagabili a Holy Rosary Church. Chiamate l’ufficio parrochiale o visitate il sito
http://www.italiansoccer.us/brochureforms.html

ITALIAN AMERICAN GOLF TOURNAMENT

The 34TH Annual Italian American Golf Tournament, sponsored by the Lido Civic Club of Washington, will be held this year on Monday, September 17, 2007 at Falls Road Golf Course in Potomac, Maryland.
Registration including coffee, donuts and free driving range use will begin at 8:00 AM with a scheduled 9:00 am tee off time.

All are invited to play – this year we hope to attract more women golfers. Remember, you do not have to be a “great” golfer to participate, since each foursome plays a ‘best ball’ format. All players receive a logo golf shirt and other goodies -- plus prizes awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, longest drives, closest to the pin, over 80 raffle prizes, snack at the turn, and a full lunch buffet including Lasagna and Italian sausages. Last year the 50/50 prize was $750 to the winner!

All of the proceeds from the Golf Tournament benefit the Lido Civic Club’s scholarship and charity accounts and the Casa Italiana Cultural Center in Washington, DC.

Golfers should contact the Tournament Committee Member Tony Falcone at 301.422.2393.
Holy Rosary volunteers to help at registration should contact Gino Marinucci at 301.942.2266.