Bulletin for the week of January 16, 2011

Mission Intention for January

That the riches of the created world may be preserved, valued, and made available as God’s precious gift to all.

STATEMENT OF GIVING FOR INCOME TAXES: If you wish to receive a statement of your financial contributions to St. James Church for 2010, please indicate this on your Sunday offering envelope so that we can assure confidentiality.

RIGHT TO LIFE MARCH THIS WEEKEND: The March starts at the Newman Center at 90 Broad Street at 1:30 P.M. on Sunday, the 16th. The march goes to St. John's Church for the program..Bishop LaValley is the speaker.

MARCH OF LIFE PILGRIMAGE: On Sunday, January 23rd a bus will depart from St. Peter’s Church, Plattsburgh for Washington for those who wish to participate in the annual March for Life. Please contact Mrs. Karen Smith for more information at 518-566-6229.

WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY: We are celebrating 103 years of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity January 18-25. These days have been set aside each year so that Christians the world over may share the prayer of Jesus That they may all be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me (John 17:21). Promoting Christian unity is an ecumenical movement among Christians to pray for unity among all Christians. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity started with an eight-day liturgical prayer in 1908 at Graymoor, Garrison, New York, with a small group of Franciscans in the Episcopal Church. Prayers for each day of the Octave can be found on http://www.geii.org Let us continue to pray for Christian Unity so that one day “all will be one”.

MARRIAGE TIP: If time and expense were no barrier, what would your dream romantic encounter with your spouse look like? Fantasize together.. Find more Marriage Rx at www.foryourmarriage.org.

CATHOLIC TEACHING ON THE DIGNITY OF LIFE: In order to protect nature, it is not enough to intervene with economic incentives or deterrents. The decisive issue is the overall moral tenor of society. If there is a lack of respect for the right to life and to a natural death, if human conception, gestation and birth are made artificial, if human embryos are sacrificed to research, the conscience of society ends up losing the concept of human ecology and, along with it, that of environmental ecology. It is contradictory to insist that future generations respect the natural environment when our educational systems and laws do not help them to respect themselves.

~ Pope Benedict XVI, Charity in Truth

FLU PRECAUTIONS: The Diocese of Ogdensburg has received some inquiries about precautions in church settings against influenza and concerning the recent hepatitis incident at a Long Island parish at Christmas. As in the past, Bishop LaValley is asking all parishes of the diocese to adopt the following precautionary measures:

Parishioners should not share the sign of peace if feeling ill.

It is recommended that parishioners receive Communion in the hand. Communion on the tongue presents hygienic problems during the flu season.