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If you would like to remember a deceased friend or loved one on All Souls Day, we a have special card available at the reception desk for an offering of $5.00 each.

You can also purchase a card and choose your own donation amount online here: https://stfrancisnyc.org/product/all-souls-day-card/

The cover of the card features a photo of the Angel of Redemption from the Sorrowful Mother Shrine.

The inside message reads:

A Spiritual Gift in Loving Memory of

____________________

will share in a special remembrance in the prayers and Masses
celebrated by the Franciscan Friars at the Church of St. Francis of Assisi on All Souls Day.

The Church of St. Francis of Assisi will observe Columbus Day on

Monday, October 14th with one Mass 11:30 AM.
There will be no confessions.

The church offices will be closed for the day, including the St. Francis Adult Education Center.

Below is a table comparing September 2018 collections to our current September 2019 collections.

As you can see our collections have gone down and we are not making our budget.

We need everyone to do their part to keep St. Francis on firm financial ground.  The best way to use this is to make your offering using our online giving system.

You can sign up for online giving HERE.

We ask all of our members and visitors to offer the equivalent of ONE HOUR of their weekly salary per week to support the mission of the church.  This comes to a tithe of 2.5%

Thank you to all of you who are already doing your part.

A very strong corrupting factor in cultures throughout history is the presence of racism. We just have to take a quick look through history to see its destructive power. In 2018 the US Bishops’ Conference responded to the power of racism by writing and publishing a pastoral letter against this “persistent form of evil”: Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love. The letter opens with the Scripture from St. John that says: “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are.” The letter continues to address: What Is racism?

Racism arises when – either consciously or unconsciously – a person holds that his or her own race or ethnicity is superior and therefore judges persons of other races or ethnicities as inferior and unworthy of equal regard. When this conviction or attitude leads individuals or groups to exclude, ridicule, mistreat, or unjustly discriminate against persons on the basis of their race or ethnicity, it is sinful. Racist acts are sinful because they violate justice. They reveal a failure to acknowledge the human dignity of persons offended. To recognize them as the neighbors Christ calls us to love (Mt. 22,39).

The Gospel today is about Jesus curing ten lepers. What a horrible disease and what a horrible life for those who had it. You have to admire these lepers for encountering Jesus and for Jesus paying attention to them and eventually curing them. Lepers were not allowed to make contact with people outside the leper colony. They must have been shocked when they realized they were cured, so shocked that all but one went back to thank Jesus. Even in our day to day life, we take things for granted and may not pause to give thanks to God for minor or major miracles. They do happen. What was the last miracle that you experienced?

This week we begin a series of excerpts from the United States Bishops’ Letter: Open Wide Our Hearts on racism. Racism is a destructive and powerful force, and their Pastoral Letter has much to say about this evil. There is some racism in each person and to recognize it gives a person the opportunity to chose a different course in life and to embrace more strongly and fervently the val- ues of Jesus. As a church we need to stress that we are all “children of God” and that we are “sisters and brothers in Christ” and temples of the Holy Spirit. I hope that the weekly excerpts will help us lessen the power of this evil.

Our 175th Commemorative Journal is a great testament to the long history of St. Francis Church. The Journal contains history and photographs and much to enjoy. Copies are available at the reception desk of the Parish House.

-Fr. Andrew Reitz, O.F.M.