See the attached document (pdf) with a listing of current Capital District YMCA employment opportunities. There are three openings in Schenectady, one in Southern Saratoga County, and one in East Greenbush, and one in Guilderland.
Schenectady Daily Gazette Features our Parish as a Welcoming Community
Thank you to Mr. Bill Buell and the Schenectady Daily Gazette for the great article on our parish. Click on the photo below to see the article.
July/August 2014 Newsletter – What’s Happening Tomorrow…?
July 1st and our newsletter is here on-time once again. It is just before midnight, so we barely made it.
July offers us the opportunity to think of the days of relaxation ahead and how Jesus fits in with those days. Summer is also filled with many Solemnities, Feasts, and Commemorations of particular importance. Read all about them. We consider our response to a neighborhood tragedy and pray for our youth and graduates. We invite you to remain in the Lord this summer, right here in Schenectady, and wherever you travel. You may view and download a copy right here — July/August 2014 Newsletter.
Orchard Park Summer Program Kick-Off
Free Cook-Out and Co-Ed Basketball Sign-Ups for all Schenectady K-8 Kids & Families on Saturday, July 5th 11 A.M. – 1:30 P.M. at Orchard Park. For more information, please contact Oron Tucker, President, Schenectady Basketball Club, Inc. at 518-878-6177
Coaches will be available for the Basketball Clinic & Scrimmage (First game night: Monday, July 9th at 4 p.m.)
Directions to Orchard Park: Crane St. to Third Ave., right on Orchard St., take first right down driveway across from the Fire Station #3 parking lot.
“2BA†Orchard Park volunteer: Contact Sharron-Linn Schmidt, Pres., Mont Pleasant Neighborhood Association, 518-393-2116 or by E-mail.
Reflection for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2014
Jesus is our
hope and way of life
If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God.
This past Friday, at 1am, police were called to our neighborhood. 28-year old Angel Carrion was dead. Killed by a gunshot wound to the chest.
If you read the various news stories you will see different views of what happened. Time Warner News talks about loud parties at the residence, all night partying, mysterious middle-aged figures in black cars, children in the midst of adults doing adult things. Police there all the time. They paint a picture of broken families, broken lives.
WTEN shows a different side of the story. Angel was a father of three, a friend, someone who was brother to those who weren’t even his family. Angel’s childhood friend Jorge said, “He was a good friend. He was a good father. He helped out the community. Nobody is perfect in this world, but he didn’t deserve this.†Other neighbors noted their worry for the children who live here. One neighbor said: “For the kids, it’s going to be scary for them, too, knowing there’s a shooting right up the road.â€
We began this year dedicating it to the theme of family. In my annual report I said: “…we do not just come to church to have our needs met. No family exists just to serve one or a few members. The same for the Church – our family of faith is about all its members and our relationship with the head of the family – Jesus. We belong to His family. Our family of faith does not exist to just meet individual needs. We exist to meet the needs of our fellow family members and a world that badly needs to know Jesus.â€
Angel and his family, this neighborhood, its children are part of that world that needs to know Jesus. They know Him through us. In us they should see faith in Jesus’ saving power. In us they should see the joy that comes from a life that takes all the good we, and men like Angel do, to the next level through unity with Jesus. Jesus died for all. To free all from sin. As Angel’s friend Jorge said, “Nobody is perfect in this world.†In all of our imperfection the world has to know that Jesus is there for us, to save us, to raise us up. He is in this neighborhood, calling us to reject sin and grab His promises – life without end even in tragedy.
In Jesus we are bound together – parishioners, Angel, his family, this neighborhood – a bond so strong that no sin, even murder, even tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword can harm us. In this bond, in the life we have in Jesus, let us offer hope to our neighborhood and all who so need Him Who is our hope and new way of life.
June 2014 Newsletter – Led by the Spirit, Called by God
June 1st and our newsletter is here on-time. June offers us the opportunity to specially recognize our being filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and to respond to those gifts in very special ways (do you have a vocation?). This month we particularly honor our dads and our spiritual fathers. We invite you to stand and recognize the Spirit’s call to faith and to join in growing in faith, worship, and service right here in Schenectady. You may view and download a copy right here — June 2014 Newsletter.
Invocation at Schenectady County Human Rights Commission Breakfast
Our friends at the Schenectady County Human Rights Commission invited Deacon Jim to deliver the invocation at its 31st Annual Awards breakfast on Friday, May 23rd. Deacon Jim offered the following prayer:
Lord, You have called all of us to a path of freedom and justice; a restoration of relationships and the recognition of each person’s human dignity.
Enter into our hearts and minds and enflame our souls to see in each person another self. Grant that we may look past outward appearance to the essential relationships that prevail in Your kingdom. Help us to be more human. Restore and reconcile all relationships and enable us to take up our calling to restore a global human community, a single family fashioned in Your image.
Help us today to recognize and bless all those who have labored so diligently to establish a new equality of participation in our community and across the globe. Bless the work of all who labor to end the sources of human conflict — race, class, wealth, gender, servitude, forced labor, wage theft, military opposition, indebtedness, imprisonment, coercion, despair, anxiety, self-centeredness, alienation, anxiety, greed, separation, prejudice, and injustice— so that we may rise above our baser selves. Fashion us into images of Your Divinity and justice.
Finally grant us a freedom that surpasses personal autonomy and help us to recognize our continuing dependence on You as our Creator and Your call to see each other as another self through lives committed to knowing, loving and serving You and each other. Amen
Stella & Dot Trunk Show and Wine Tasting Party this Sunday, May 4th
This Sunday, May 4th we are hosting a Tasting party by WineShop At Home starting at 10:30am.
Stella & Dot gives every woman the means to style her own life through irresistible jewelry, accessories, and bags. This is a great way to find something for Mother’s Day.
WineShop At Home provides a tasting of limited production, artisan wines handcrafted by award winning winemakers in Napa Valley. These wines are not sold in stores or in any other winery tasting room. They are utterly exclusive. Best quality wines at the best price.
Join us for Holy Week and Easter in Schenectady
Please come and join us during Holy Week and Easter. Jesus looks forward to our company during Holy Week as we commemorate His passion and death for us. Having stood by Him through these trials we hold unto the promise that we will rise again with Him.
The schedule below notes all services for Passiontide, Holy Week, and Easter. Please remember that Holy Week is a week of fasting.
- 4/13 – Palm Sunday: Blessing and Distribution of Palms. Service of Worship and Holy Communion, 9:30am
- 4/15 – Holy Tuesday: Clergy Conference and Holy Mass of Chrism, St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr Cathedral, Scranton
- 4/17 – Maundy Thursday: Holy Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Reposition of the Blessed Sacrament, 7pm
- 4/18 – Good Friday: Good Friday Cross-walk at 10am. Church opens at noon for private devotions. Services at 1pm (Stations), 2pm (Lamentations), and 3pm (Opening of the Tomb), Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified at 7pm
- 4/19 – Holy Saturday: Holy Saturday Liturgies – Blessing of new fire, holy water, renewal of baptismal promises, blessing of Easter baskets and food, 4pm
- 4/20 – Solemnity of the Resurrection (Easter): Procession and Solemn High Holy Mass, 8am, Service at 10:30 Free Lunch on Sunday/Easter Breakfast 10:30am
Join us and other Mont Pleasant Churches for a Good Friday Cross-walk
The Churches of Mont Pleasant in Schenectady are holding a Good Friday Cross-walk on Friday, April 18th starting at 10am. There will be a brief (approx. 15 minute) message or prayer at each church, with a theatrical performance by “The Living Gospel Experience†and refreshments at the conclusion of the Cross-walk.
- 10am Begin at Holy Name of Jesus National Catholic Church, 1040 Pearl St., Deacon Jim Konicki;
- 10:35am New Creation in Christ Ministry, 1073 Howard St., Rev. Eloy Binnon;
- 10:55am Global Prophetic Worship and Healing Ministries, 859 Crane St., Rev. Paul Mangroo;
- 11:25am St. Adalbert Roman Catholic Church, 550 Lansing St., Deacon Joe Cechnicki;
- 12pm (Noon), The Bridge Christian Church, 735 Crane St., Rev. James H. Bookhout.