Dear members and friends of the Sodality of Charity,
Our next Sodality meeting will be on Saturday, November 18. We will start to prepare for the annual Saint Lucia procession. That will take place on Gaudete Sunday, December 17, just one week before Christmas.
I said Mass for the Sodality members on October 3, on the feast of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. That was also the birthday of our former school teacher, Miss Sharon Patton, who died in 2018. She was a wonderful soul, a great teacher, and a good friend. A teacher can have an enormous effect in the life of a child. I once read about an event in the life of an American Catholic politician Al Smith of New York City. Before he had to drop out of Saint James parish school, because he needed to support his widowed mother, Smith’s teacher had him read Thomas Hood’s poem Song of the Shirt. That made a deep impact in the boy, and he swore that he would dedicate his life to relieving the sufferings of the poor city folk. Smith did rise in significant political positions in New York City, eventually becoming the governor of New York State in 1923. But all throughout his political career, he never forgot the needs of the poor and the oppressed workingmen and -women, and he was universally loved in the city, especially among the Irish. Smith ran for President in 1928, losing to Herbert Hoover, but he was too good for the presidency in any case.
Mark in your calendars our Sodality Christmas party. It will be on Saturday, January 13, 2024, the Octave day of Epiphany. Advent is really a time of preparation for Christmas, and the true Christmas season lasts until Purification, February 2. We are also planning the Sodality’s first field trip for February. Details will follow later on.
On October 29, Christ the King, the parish had the annual All Saints procession and party. You can see some photos of the day in our October newsletter. November 1, the feast of All Saints, is also First Wednesday, dedicated to the Sodality’s patron St. Joseph, so come to Mass and do a little devotion to St. Joseph. November 2 is All Souls’ Day, and SGG has Masses throughout the day, at which you can do an act of charity for poor souls by praying for their release from Purgatory. I put on my website and in the Oblate Sisters’ newsletter the Litany for the Faithful Departed in Latin and English, a good devotion to pray daily in November. On Sunday, November 5, the parish has a cemetery Rosary Procession at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, where Miss Patton is buried. And Thursday, November 16, is the feast of St. Gertrude the Great.
I hope to see all of you at our monthly meeting and in the many great parish activities and devotions in November.
Yours in Christ and Mary,
