The parishioners of the Good Shepherd Catholic Community celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany at the Union Springs Firehouse Jan 5.
Glenn Gaston / Special to The Citizen
The Rev. Richard Shatzel lets Jared Wilmot smell frankincense as Tom Stiadle looks on during the St. Michael's Church Feast of the Epiphany.
The Rev. Richard Shatzel lets Jared Wilmot smell frankincense as Tom Stiadle looks on during the St. Michael's Church Feast of the Epiphany.
The special service took the place of the regular Mass at St. Michael's Church in Union Springs. The other three churches in this cluster are St. Patrick's in Aurora, Our Lady of the Lake in King Ferry and St. Patrick's in Moravia.
The service and dinner were organized by the members of the St. Michael's Church planning committee, Mary Kula, Tim Quill, Joan and Tim Parsnick, Claire Lehtonen and Debbie Patrick.
“We're a four church cluster,” Mary Kula explained, “and we wanted to bring everybody together.”
The community is planning other special events for 2008, one at each of the other churches. On May 4 there will be a spring party at St. Patrick's in Moravia, on Aug. 10 there will be summer picnic at St. Patrick's in Aurora and on Oct. 26 there will be a Harvest supper at Our Lady of the Lake in King Ferry.
As a social outreach project, donations of personal care items were collected, which will be given to the homeless shelter that operates out of Holy Family Church in Auburn.
A 50/50 raffle was also conducted, with the proceeds going to the shelter.
The hall was decorated for the Christmas season. Rows of folding tables were covered with red tablecloths and set for the dinner that would follow the service. A separate table set up in front with a white tablecloth served as the altar. John Callahan led the hymns and provided the musical accompaniment on his Fender acoustic guitar. The Rev. Richard Shatzel, who has only been the pastor of Good Shepherd since last July, was the presider for the Mass.
Shatzel processed toward the front of the hall at the beginning of the service as the parishioners sang “O Come All Ye Faithful.” Since the Feast of the Epiphany commemorates the visit of the three wise men to the birth place of Jesus, Shatzel used that symbolism to welcome his people to church.
“Like the wise men, we have come to worship the Lord together,” he said, “and like the wise men, let us be guided by the light of our faith.”
Epiphany, which falls on Jan. 6, comes from an ancient Greek word that means an appearance or a manifestation. This day is also called “Twelfth Day,” because it is the twelfth day after Christmas. Some churches have chosen this day to remember the baptism of Jesus, but the most important event is the birth of Jesus in human form.
Catholic Masses include readings of Bible passages from the Old Testament, the New Testament and one of the Gospels. After the Gospel reading, Shatzel invited the children in attendance to come forward to help him convey the message of his homily, or sermon. He selected three to represent the three wise men, another to represent King Herod and the rest to represent the scribes and Pharisees.
“These three groups are the three different reactions to Christ coming into the world,” Shatzel said. “Herod didn't like the fact that a new king had been born; the scribes and Pharisees knew that Christ had been born, but they did not want to acknowledge him; and the wise men traveled a very long way to see the Lord and bring gifts to him, even though they weren't even Jewish.”
For more information about the Good Shepherd Catholic Community, contact the church office at St. Patrick's in Aurora at 364-7197.
The service and dinner were organized by the members of the St. Michael's Church planning committee, Mary Kula, Tim Quill, Joan and Tim Parsnick, Claire Lehtonen and Debbie Patrick.
“We're a four church cluster,” Mary Kula explained, “and we wanted to bring everybody together.”
The community is planning other special events for 2008, one at each of the other churches. On May 4 there will be a spring party at St. Patrick's in Moravia, on Aug. 10 there will be summer picnic at St. Patrick's in Aurora and on Oct. 26 there will be a Harvest supper at Our Lady of the Lake in King Ferry.
As a social outreach project, donations of personal care items were collected, which will be given to the homeless shelter that operates out of Holy Family Church in Auburn.
A 50/50 raffle was also conducted, with the proceeds going to the shelter.
The hall was decorated for the Christmas season. Rows of folding tables were covered with red tablecloths and set for the dinner that would follow the service. A separate table set up in front with a white tablecloth served as the altar. John Callahan led the hymns and provided the musical accompaniment on his Fender acoustic guitar. The Rev. Richard Shatzel, who has only been the pastor of Good Shepherd since last July, was the presider for the Mass.
Shatzel processed toward the front of the hall at the beginning of the service as the parishioners sang “O Come All Ye Faithful.” Since the Feast of the Epiphany commemorates the visit of the three wise men to the birth place of Jesus, Shatzel used that symbolism to welcome his people to church.
“Like the wise men, we have come to worship the Lord together,” he said, “and like the wise men, let us be guided by the light of our faith.”
Epiphany, which falls on Jan. 6, comes from an ancient Greek word that means an appearance or a manifestation. This day is also called “Twelfth Day,” because it is the twelfth day after Christmas. Some churches have chosen this day to remember the baptism of Jesus, but the most important event is the birth of Jesus in human form.
Catholic Masses include readings of Bible passages from the Old Testament, the New Testament and one of the Gospels. After the Gospel reading, Shatzel invited the children in attendance to come forward to help him convey the message of his homily, or sermon. He selected three to represent the three wise men, another to represent King Herod and the rest to represent the scribes and Pharisees.
“These three groups are the three different reactions to Christ coming into the world,” Shatzel said. “Herod didn't like the fact that a new king had been born; the scribes and Pharisees knew that Christ had been born, but they did not want to acknowledge him; and the wise men traveled a very long way to see the Lord and bring gifts to him, even though they weren't even Jewish.”
For more information about the Good Shepherd Catholic Community, contact the church office at St. Patrick's in Aurora at 364-7197.
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