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From the Pastor: St. Jude, All Saints, All Souls
This weekend in the Traditional Calendar, Sunday is the feast of Christ the King. This important feast won’t be found on the New Calendar until November 24. The New Christ the King (which falls on the last Sunday of the liturgical year) used to be the date upon which the Bishop of St. Petersburg bestowed the St. Jude the Apostle Award. But a few years ago he switched the award ceremony to the TLM date of Christ the King, which is always the last Sunday of October. You might remember that we used to have a Eucharistic Procession after the Mass of Christ the King until the change came. But it is too difficult for me to have a procession and still have time to get to the award ceremony to accompany those from our parish who are to receive the award, so we had to cancel the processions. The first year of the change they didn’t inform us in time to cancel the procession and I missed getting to the cathedral on time. For the sake of anyone new to the diocese, this annual award is given to one person (or a married couple, for the two are one flesh) in each parish. There are always people who do exceptional things in the parishes without getting much recognition for the hard work they put into their ministries or activities—except, perhaps, negative recognition from those who didn’t do the work complaining that it wasn’t done the way they wanted it done! Each year the pastor has to make a difficult decision to nominate someone, although many “someones” may truly deserve to receive the award. This year I am happy to announce that Richard and Deborah Owens are going to receive the St. Jude Award Medal from Bishop Parkes. Both of them are involved in too many activities to list, including the Catholic Enrichment weeks to the Troops of St. George, Knights of Columbus, Sunday coffee and donuts, Holy League, and many other things. Please congratulate them and offer a prayer of thanks for all they do! The actual Feast Day for St. Jude the Apostle (our diocesan Patron Saint, in case you didn’t realize his significance) is October 28 on both the old and new calendars. We celebrate his feast day along with that of another Apostle, St. Simon. Because he is our Patron, we are able to celebrate (according to the rubrics of the TLM) an “external solemnity” for him on either the preceding or the following Sunday for the sake of the Faithful who are unable to attend on the actual feast day. So next Sunday the External Solemnity of Sts. Simon and Jude will take the place of the Resumed 4th Sunday after Epiphany, although that feast will get its own commemoration, that is, we will include the Collect, Secret, and Post Communion prayers of that Sunday Mass after those of the two Apostles. The “Resumed” Masses are extremely difficult to follow in the hand missals and I don’t have enough space here to even explain what they are, let alone how to follow them, so just be glad that you have one fewer to be lost at this year! The end of this week also, lest you forget, contains a Holy Day of Obligation. Friday, November 1, is the day we show our respect and admiration on the feast day dedicated to All Saints. It is one of the few remaining days upon which it is obligatory to attend Mass outside of Sundays. The following day, Saturday, November 2, is the Commemoration of All Souls. While not a day of obligation, it is one of the most beloved and well-attended Masses regardless of which day it falls. I expect that the 8:00 am Mass will be packed! The Adult Catechism class that I normally teach after Adoration on Saturday mornings has been canceled so that we can have our annual Soul Cakes & Cider Celebration at that time. Due to the chaos caused by the hurricanes this year, we currently have only about half a dozen lists of souls to be prayed for at that Mass (and for the rest of the month), but it is not too late to get yours in! Also, remember that the whole month of November is dedicated to the Holy Souls, and the Church offers an octave of Plenary Indulgences to kick off these special thirty days of prayer for the souls in Purgatory. Each day from November 1 through November 8 (inclusive) those who visit a cemetery and pray, even if only mentally, for the departed can receive—to be applied to the Poor Souls—a Plenary Indulgence, that is, the complete remission of all temporal punishment due to previously forgiven sin. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domini, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. (Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual Light shine upon them. May they rest in peace.) Lastly, our Mass Book (for intentions for 2025) will be opening soon. Once again, with the larger number of parishioners clamoring for Masses (as it should be!) we are dropping the number of Masses each family can request to 5 (five). The Mass stipend donation, according to the diocesan standards revised a dozen or so years ago, is $20 per Mass. Watch for the official announcement. The book fills up within days. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: In The Aftermath
I wrote my last article as Hurricane Milton approached. I sent it to be published several hours before we lost electricity but didn’t know if it would ever be printed. I spent the night of the storm sleeping in a recliner downstairs since it was cooler there than upstairs. It was also a place where I could hear the storm winds howling just outside the windows lining the room. At some point in the tempest, the sound of the carport being destroyed caught my attention enough to wake me up. I got up and tried to see what was happening but it was too dark to see anything, even though it was only a dozen or so feet away. The morning light would show that half of the aluminum top had folded back onto the other half of the roof. Through the grace of God and His angels, the two cars parked under the remaining now-double-roofed section were virtually unscathed. There were tree limbs down throughout the property. The avocado trees didn’t fare too well. Same with the Jackfruit tree. We gave away all of the avocados to the people in Epiphany Arms. There were also a couple of jackfruit that hadn’t been clandestinely taken from the tree (yes, people stole our jackfruit just before they got ripe—we never harvested a single one ourselves. I almost put up a sign saying, “Eve stole some of God’s fruit and look at the results!”) so they were sent next door as well. The back section of the parking lot was flooded up through the third row of parking spots and the water continued about halfway down the driveway toward the rectory. (During Hurricane Irma in 2017 the water reached the handicapped parking spots, so this was not quite so bad, except that this time it took days, not hours, to recede!) The carport outside the social hall kitchen was scattered in pieces from the back of the building to the front along with pieces of what later proved to be the roof of the storage shed next to it. I moved enough of the tree limbs out of the way that cars could enter the parking lot. Anders sang the 6:30 am Mass for the two of us and five people were present for the 8:00 am Mass that morning. The people who were here for morning Masses helped move a lot of the debris out of the way so that people could safely enter the church, for which I am extremely grateful. Later, the Troops of St. George arrived and took care of the majority of the heavy labor. They, along with the Knights of Columbus and other men are still assisting widows and shut-ins in clearing fallen trees at their houses and doing all sorts of repairs as needed whenever we get word that a parishioner needs help. What a blessing! Our staff has also been outstanding, helping coordinate relief efforts and checking on everyone we could think of who might live alone or need extra assistance. It was only late Thursday morning (October 17) that our phones and internet finally came back, so all the phoning and messaging was being done via cell phones, making everything just that much more difficult. I am also edified by the contributions of cash and gift cards made by a number of our parishioners to be given to other parishioners in need. It is humbling for anyone to have to ask for assistance but so far we have been able to meet the needs of which we have been made aware. In the unread bulletin from last week, I wrote that two out-of-state pastors had inquired as to our needs, offering assistance from their own parish women’s clubs and Knights. May God bless their generosity even though we have not needed to take advantage of it! If you or someone you know still needs help but have hesitated to ask, please reach out to us. Help is at hand. During all of the hustle and bustle, we received our first list of names to be prayed for on All Souls Day. What? Already? Yes, already! Although the hurricane prep and cleanup from two hurricanes have occupied our minds, time, and energy these past weeks and the “normal” stuff like making prayer lists for the souls in Purgatory have taken a back seat, it is still good timing for this feast. After all, we have seen or heard of so many people who perished in Helene and, in lower numbers, thanks be to God, in Milton, it reminds us that we must all die sometime of something and we must always be prepared spiritually to meet our Maker. Let us, who survived, remember to pray for all of those who didn’t make it through as well as remembering our family and friends who have passed away over the years. Bring a long list. Time is short! There will be only one more Sunday before All Souls Day by the time this October 20 bulletin is published. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Hurricane Milton
With hurricane Helene’s damage still in our faces hurricane Milton roared ashore. I wrote about my Aunt Irma stopping by to try to analyze the last hurricane, acting like it was a science project or a game. After seeing all of the devastation left behind, she learned her lesson without needing a truckload of equipment to tell her anything. As soon as the news showed Milton to be a category 5 hurricane, she called to tell me that she would be monitoring it from Kansas. I am writing this on Wednesday afternoon, while the rain is still not too heavy and the winds not too strong. A lot will change in just a few hours. I expected to have to squeeze in time at the priest convocation to write this but it has been canceled. Some of my family evacuated to Alabama. Others went to South Carolina. My brother-in-law is staying with my mother. My dad is staying with me. Many parishioners have checked in to tell me that they are in safe places. A friend in Ohio offered to take in anybody who needed a place to evacuate to. A priest who was supposed to come here this weekend to celebrate Mass had his plans change. He was bringing his mother to Florida to take a short vacation on Anna Maria Beach and was going to hear confessions and celebrate Mass here before heading out to the island. Of course, Helene made that impossible, so he instead had been looking for a place in Jacksonville to take his mother instead. Milton made even that sensible solution not a good solution, either! The ever-joyful Carmelite Sister Immaculata was also supposed to come visit us this weekend. Fortunately, she was able to cancel her plans in time. She will make it down later when it is safe. A priest from Ohio called and asked me to let him know if anyone here needed financial support due to damages beyond what they could handle. His Women’s Club is offering to raise money to help, so if any of you need it, please let me know. Many other priests from around the country have contacted me offering prayers as they hear about the hurricane. Evidently coverage is extensive not only in Florida but far away as well. As I got to this particular place writing this article, another priest, this one from Michigan, also reached out to offer direct help if anyone needs it! Amazing! As I continue writing I keep getting further information regarding the storm. It is now moving faster. It is now moving more northward. But the 5:00 update shows the expected track bringing it ashore still a bit south of us, maybe hitting Bradenton/Sarasota instead of straight up Tampa Bay. That should keep our storm surge a good bit lower. But only time will tell. As for me, I am still praying it away. Winds are currently about 20 mph and the rain is coming in a little more consistently but still not too heavy. My brother-in-law is keeping a good watch on the Hillsborough river which is a few blocks downhill from my mom’s house. Currently it is about 3 feet from cresting. Even if it moves up another 10 we expect that mom’s house will be fine. But they can come to the rectory if we have misjudged it. On the other hand, if something happens to the rectory, we can move over to her house, so we all have backup plans. If the electricity stays on, mom’s place will probably have better food! If we can’t cook, my stock of Spam, sardines, and canned chili will probably make the rectory the better diner. Of course, mom may differ on that latter option! At this particular time, the retention ponds between us and Epiphany Arms are full but the water hasn’t yet intruded into our parking lot. No doubt it will soon but it used to flood with every afternoon thunderstorm. It never got up to the church sidewalk or into the rectory so I don’t expect it to tonight, either. Tornadoes have been observed throughout the whole of the southeastern part of Florida. Seeing them on the FDOT cameras has been amazing and is helping to keep me grateful that they are not happening here. After quite an interruption for dinner I am back to say things are looking good. I don’t know if we will get this bulletin published this week so I don’t know if you will ever read it. We still have electricity. Currently (7:13 pm Wednesday) the winds have fallen off for the moment. The worst is still to come but it shouldn’t be too bad. After all, your prayers have been powerful! Thank you each and every one and thank you Blessed Mother! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka DIOCESE OF ST. PETERSBURG Office of the Bishop October 2, 2024 “Our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 124:8). My Dear Brothers and Sisters, All of us are heartbroken by the scenes of destruction in our communities. Even worse, lives have been lost from the effects of Hurricane Helene. The days that followed revealed shocking images of streets, homes, and churches flooded throughout the Diocese of Saint Petersburg. If you have suffered a loss, I am sorry, and you are in my prayers. Longtime residents say they have never experienced this type of flooding. In the Diocese of Saint Petersburg, the communities most affected are situated along the Gulf Coast, Tampa Bay, and our rivers. You have probably seen the images of damage and destruction, but you may not have seen the homes of our priests and religious sisters that have been flooded. These humble servants are striving to minister to their communities while also seeking temporary shelter. The street in front of my St. Petersburg home was flooded and utilities were shut off for a time. Fortunately, I found temporary shelter at the Nazareth House, a summer home for seminarians, and I was joined by priests whose rectories were flooded out. So far, we have determined that 12 of our Catholic schools and Early Childhood Centers have sustained damage to their buildings or properties. Two are significant. 18 Catholic churches or their properties have been damaged by wind or water. Pinellas Hope and Tampa Hope, our Catholic Charities homeless shelters, experienced damage, flooding, and power outages, and the residents were displaced. Some of our Catholic Charities affordable housing units were also flooded. The reports are still coming in and we continue to assess the damage. So many of our brothers and sisters in Christ have lost everything. While we pick up the pieces of the broken lives in our midst, we also turn to our Lord and trust in Him. We are alive and have much to be grateful for: the many blessings He continues to bestow upon us. We thank God for the gift of life and the gift of a new day to love and serve one another. We are grateful for those parish teams who had minimal damage and are now stepping forward to help lead cleanup events in their neighborhoods, opening their doors to serve as shelters, or providing comfort to those who are grieving. If you feel led to share a blessing with others, I invite you to give to our Diocesan Disaster Relief Fund. Since 2017, the fund has provided nearly $2 million for disaster recovery efforts. Now we will help our local communities in need. Please visit dosp.org to make a donation. Thank you for your generosity and may God bless you! Sincerely yours in Christ Most Reverend Gregory L. Parkes Bishop of Saint Petersburg |
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