EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

After the 8AM Mass on Fridays in the chapel

ROSARY

7:00 PM Fatima Prayer Group on Monday

After the 6:45 AM and 8 AM Masses Monday thru Friday and after the 8 AM Mass on Saturday.

Moms and children’s Rosary group every Friday from 10AM to 11:30AM.  Call MaryAnn at 922-3461 before you come for the first time.

Adult Volunteers:  Cindy Reis,  Linda DeSantis

Designate a gift to Saint Antoninus Church in your will and give witness to your faith. 

FROM OUR PASTOR

Dear Parishioners,

Over the week-end of February 1-3, our parish will celebrate the Forty Hours devotion.  According to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, "the most common explanation for the choice of 40 hours is that it signifies the approximate number of hours that our Lord's body lay in the tomb between His death and His resurrection on the third day...Supplication usually formed the dominant theme of the Forty Hours, as the Church sought divine protection from material, political, and spiritual calamities." Although the devotion as such probably began in the Middle Ages, the idea of gathering for supplication is very ancient, as we can see in the words of St. Ignatius of Antioch, a bishop and martyr of the second century: "Try to gather together more frequently to give thanks to God and to praise him.  For when you come together frequently, Satan's powers are undermined, and the destruction that he threatens is done away with in the unanimity of your faith.  Nothing is better than peace, in which all warfare between heaven and earth is brought to an end."  The supplication I invite you to make this Forty Hours is in reparation for offenses against the Third Commandment, specifically, Sunday Mass attendance. To miss Mass on Sunday, deliberately, is to commit a mortal sin. To receive Holy Communion in such a state is both a mortal sin and a sacrilege. That is why I am urging all of our parishioners to make reparation for such offenses.  Satan's greatest weapon is making us think that mortal sin isn't really that bad after all.  What we need to do is to expose the lie and to proclaim the truth: God commands worship and the Church states that the bare minimum is Sunday Mass attendance.  May this year's Forty Hours Devotion lead us to a deeper reverence for the glory and majesty of God, a greater fidelity to Sunday Mass attendance, and the wider conversion of our hearts. Please be sure to sign up for a time slot for adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.

                                 --Rev. Christopher R. Armstrong

40 HOURS AND ADORATION will begin on Friday, February 1, after the 8:00a.m. Mass that morning and will go until 10:00p.m.on Saturday, February 2^nd.  The closing of 40 hours will take place at the end of the 11:30 Mass on February 3^rd, with a procession and benediction.  Incense will be used both on Friday morning and at end of the 11:30 Mass that weekend.  Please sign up for one or more 30 minutes slots.  The sign-up sheet is in the greeting room of the church.

Biggs and Kroger Gift Cards are on sale in the church elevator hallway after all weekend Masses, and at the rectory, M-F from 8AM to 3 PM. 2008 Entertainment and Zone Books will be sold until January 14^th.

THE ST. ANTONINUS WAYS & MEANS COMMISSION 16^TH RUNNING OF THE NITE AT THE RACES AND MONTE CARLO

will be in the undercroft on Saturday, February 16.  Doors open at 7PM.  Post Time is 8PM.  Hors d’oeuvres, snacks, refreshments served all evening.  $15 admission fee at the door.   If you cannot come to this event, you can still join the fun by buying a horse and Split the Pot tickets. Mail form with your check to 1500 Linneman Road, 45238, Attn; Nite at the Races. 

     A Choice Raffle will be part of this entertaining evening and your assistance is needed.  We are looking for donations of gifts or cash (used to purchase gifts).  No item is too small or large!  Please call Mary Hirlinger at 347-0142, Julie Scott at 922-3015 or Leslie Keller at 922-7772.

St. Antoninus Tuition Assistance Program donation request:  The Tuition Assistance Program is supported by parishioners to help fellow parishioners pay their tuition.  TAP is also supported by funds from PTO.  Tuition assistance is provided 3 times a year to school families that are having financial hardship. This is different from “Parish School Support” or the School Endowment in that the TAP donation directly pays the families’ current year school tuition bills.  Please pray for its success.

Tuition Assistance Applications are available for families having financial hardship this current 07-08 school year.  In-parish school families with children in grades 1-8 may apply to offset part of their tuition.  Applications must be received in the school or parish office by Thursday January 31, 2008.  Awards will be made in early February.

FROM OUR PRINCIPAL, MR. JACK COREY

Dear Parishioners,

      Welcome to Catholic Schools Week.  Today we will have our Open House after the 11:30 Mass.  All are invited even if your children are no longer in grade school.  Our school belongs to the parish.  Participating in this week’s event at school is one way we can celebrate Catholic Schools Week.  Here are a few more:

• Write a letter to your parish priest, thanking him for supporting the Catholic school that is preparing your children for a bright future.

• Write a letter to your representatives in the U.S. Congress and state legislature to let them know why Catholic education is important to you and your community.

• Write a thank-you note to that special teacher from your own Catholic school days who had a significant impact on your life or one of your children’s teachers.

• If you can, ask the librarian if the school needs books on certain subjects or for particular grade levels.

• Set aside time for family prayer for all those who contribute to the success of your children’s school, including students, teachers, staff and volunteers.  Add a prayer for vocations to continue the Catholic education tradition in your community and throughout the country.

God bless all of you for your support over the years.  Your contribution  helps make St. Antoninus a great place for our students to get a Catholic education.

YOUTH CLUB meeting will be on Sunday, January 27, after the 11:30AM Mass with lunch.   YMCA Lock-In on February 22, from 9PM to 1 AM. Call Julie Heil for permission slips and details at 922-3848.

PTO MEETING will be on Thursday, February 7, in the undercroft at 7PM.  Refreshments provided.  All parishioners are invited to attend.

SETON HIGH SCHOOL is sponsoring a Troops Collection Drive during Catholic Schools Week.  Please drop off the items at the main office of Seton High School on Monday, January 28, thru Thursday, January 31, from 8AM to 3PM.  For a list of items see www.setoncincinnati.org.  Cash donations will be accepted to help pay the shipping cost.

A NOTE FROM OUR

SEMINARIAN INTERN,

MR. DAVID ENDRES

This week St. Antoninus joins more than 8,000 Catholic Schools nationwide to observe Catholic School Week using the theme, “Catholic Schools:  Light The Way.”  As someone who has been continuously enrolled in Catholic schools from 1986 to the present, I can attest to the value of Catholic education!  I am very impressed with our parish school and enjoy the opportunity to drop by the classrooms and spend lunch and recess with the students (I have become an expert at kickball, thanks to the first graders!).  I am grateful for the sacrifices that our parents and parishioners make for our school and am thankful for the dedication of the administration, teachers, and staff.  Ours is a Catholic school of which we can rightly be proud.

THE SPRING SHOW which stars the students in Kindergarten, 5^th, 6^th and 8^th grades, will be on Thursday, April 10.  We are looking for volunteers who would like to share their time and/or talents to make our show a success.  Call Mrs. Milano at 922-2500 or Milano@saintantoninus.org

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY

     In this Sunday’s Gospel, we find that Jesus “…proclaimed the good news of the kingdom, and cured the people of every disease and illness.” 

     This month, through your gifts of $2,814, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul was able to proclaim the good news of the kingdom to the poor, by assisting 10 families with rent, food, utility bills and real estate taxes.

ADULT SOCIAL GROUP

Friday, February 1, Steering Committee meeting at 1 PM in the Holy Family Room.

Monday, February 11, Communion Service and lunch starting at 12:30 PM.  $9.00 per person.  A presentation by Eldermount.  Reservations due by February 6. Drop envelope marked “Adult Social Group” at rectory or in the collection basket.

HOLY SPIRIT PRAYER GROUP

     How do you deal with suffering?  Our Holy Father tells us that it is a valuable tool when offered to God for the redemption of sin and the salvation of souls.  Accepted in this way it brings untold blessings and graces.  Fay Brinck recently experienced this and will share her witness on Tuesday night.  At some time in our lives we will, all thru periods of sorrow or suffering.  It’s called “picking up your cross”.  When we offer it to Jesus in a spirit of love He replies with unexpected peace and blessings.  God is love.  In chapel at 7:30 PM.