SUNDAY, JULY 30
8:00am   Mass (Cantor & Organ)
  9:30am  Mass (Choral)
11:00am  Mass (Contemporary)
  6:15pm  Mass (No Music)
MONDAY, JULY 31
  8:30am  Word/Eucharist
TUESDAY, AUGUST 1
  8:30am  Mass
  2:00pm  Script/Comm (New Brighton CC)
  2:00pm  Mass (Pres. Homes of Roseville)
WEDESDAY, AUGUST 2
  8:30am  Word/Eucharist
  9:00am  Quilter's Group (Rectory)
THURSDAY, AUGUST 3
  8:30am  Mass
  9:00am  Monthly Prayer Vigil (Chapel)
10:15am Script/Comm (Innsbruck)
  2:00pm  Script/Comm (St. Anthony CC)
  2:15pm  Mass (Trevilla--New Brighton)
FRIDAY, AUGUST 4
  8:30am  Mass
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5
  4:30pm Mass (Cantor & Organ)
SUNDAY, AUGUST 6
  8:00am  Mass (Cantor & Organ)
  9:30am  Mass (Cantor & Organ)
11:00am  Mass (Cantor & Organ)
  6:15pm  Mass (No Music)

Connections&
July 30, 2000
17th Sunday of the Year

  • "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?"
  -- Roman lectionary:  John 6:1-15
  • When they saw Jesus walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost.  But immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid."       -- Episcopal lectionary: Mark 6: 45-52
A cabbie's 'loaves and fishes'

Thirty years ago, Om Dutta Sharma and his wife Krishna came to New York City from their native India to make a new life for themselves.  After a series of menial jobs, Mr. Sharma went to work as a cab driver.  Seven years later, he and Krishna had saved enough money to buy his own cab medallion.  No longer obligated to give half his fare money to a fleet owner, he soon saw his income triple.
     But what to do with all of this new wealth?  Raised a devout Hindu, the Sharmas place little value on earthly possessions.  So, they decided to share their good fortune with the village they left behind.  In 1997, they returned to their native village of Doobher Hishanpur and, with $3,000 (a king's ransom in India), they opened the first school for girls in the village -- housed in the brick house where Mr. Sharma was raised.  The Ram Kali School for Girls, with almost 200 students in grades one through five, is named for Mr. Sharma's mother.
     In New York, the Sharmas are struggling immigrants.  But in their Indian village -- a place without even a telephone -- their incomes, modest by American standards, make them philanthropists.  "I'm worthless in New York," says Mr. Sharma, "but [in India] I am everything."
    Om and Krishna continue to live very frugally in Queens.  With his salary as a cab driver and hers as an oncology nurse, they continue to provide the school's funding, as well as the financing for other projects for the village, including a medical and dental clinic.  Plus they are putting their two sons through St. John's University.
     What keeps the Sharmas going?  "When we die, this material world is not going with us.  What will be with us are the good deeds we leave behind."
[The New York Times, Sunday, January 23, 2000; People Magazine, November 15, 1999.]
CONNECTION: Like the boy's offering of his lunch to Jesus in today's Gospel, the Sharmas have managed to create something wonderful with their own small loaves and fishes.  Today's Gospel and the story of the Sharma family are both "blessings" that teach us that, by giving what little we may possess, we can create community from estrangement, hope from despair, life from barrenness if we embrace the selfless, joyful, giving spirit of the Jesus of the Eucharist.<

In the next few weeks you should  start seeing the building coming out of the ground!  All of the demolition work has been completed, and over 16,000 cubic yards of dirt have been removed to create a very large hole for  the basement of the new  building.       
                           This week footings for the new building should be finished and  they will begin laying block for not only the outside walls of the building, but also the interior walls.
     The electrical contractor has also been very busy. A new electrical service for the new building, church and rectory has been completed.  As you come into the west entrance of the church you can see the new transformer.  At a later date, a brick wall will be constructed to hide the transformer.  In addition, because of the demolition work in the school, the electrical service for the school had to be moved to another room.  This has been a three week project that should be completed this week.
     Part of the roof in the school had to be reinforced to handle the additional snow load with the new building being at a higher elevation and being connected to the school.  This work should be completed this week.  Because of the demolition work in the school, emergency exits on the first floor and in the cafeteria will have to be constructed.  All of this work will be finished by the end of August and should not cause interruption to the start of the school year.
If you have any questions relating to the construction process please feel free to contact Bob Mike at the parish office.

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