November 22, 2015
Christ the King
We celebrate the climax of the Liturgical
Year—the Feast of Christ the King. We see
Jesus in today’s Gospel—on trial before
Pilate—asserting He is not a political king, but
the eternal King. The Book of Daniel and the
Book of Revelation both present Jesus coming
to us as “the Son of Man”, coming on the
clouds of heaven. We renew our commitment
of living faith and love to Jesus, Our King. To
serve Him is to reign with Him.
ANNUAL THANKSGIVING MASS
LET GIVE THANKS
TO THE LORD OUR GOD!
We gather as one family of faith to thank the
Lord who is the source of all blessings! Join us
for Thanksgiving Mass at 9:00am on November
26th here at St. Helena’s. Thanksgiving bread
will be blessed and handed out at the end of
Mass, courtesy of the Knights of Columbus.
Please bring an offering of a canned food item
for our Outreach Program.
On Tuesday evening, November 24th, at
7:30pm we gather with our friends and
neighbors in our Ecumenical Service of
Thanksgiving. Come to Hillcrest-Bellefonte
Methodist Church, 400 Hillcrest Avenue in
Hillcrest. There will be a collection of canned
goods that benefit our Outreach Food Closet.
If you or a family member are in the hospital
and would like to be visited please call the
Rectory, 302-764-0325.
GIVING TREE 2015
PLEASE RETURN GIFTS BY 12/5 & 6 to the
church at the Blessed Mother’s Altar. Please be
sure to securely attach the Angel Tag to the
present. Timing is CRITICAL as gifts must be
inventoried and any missing gifts need to be
purchased before delivery on DECEMBER 20.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY.
FAITH, FAMILY & FUN!
Please help us pack Care Packages for
College Students TODAY, Sunday, 11/22
after the 9am Mass and after the 11am Mass in
the front of the church. Please return your
completed rosary to one of the bags located at
each of the exits by TODAY. These rosaries
are needed for the Care Packages. If you
would like to contribute supplies, you may
send an email to Hullinger@mac.com.
Information Nights for the Deacon Formation
Program will be held on January 12, 2016 at
Church of the Holy Child, 2500 Naamans
Road, Wilmington, Delaware 19810 in the
Parish Activities Center from 7:00 to 8:30pm.
And on January 14, 2016 at Holy Cross Church,
631 South State Street, Dover, Delaware, 19901
in the Early Learning Center, 2nd Floor. Please
call the Office for Deacons, 302-573-2390 to
register. Wives of interested married men are
encouraged to attend the meeting.
BULLETIN DEADLINES
12/6 Bulletin Due: 11/30
12/13 Bulletin Due: 12/7
Please note the following EARLY Deadlines:
12/20 Bulletin Due: 12/9
12/27 Bulletin Due: 12/15
1/3/2016 Bulletin Due: 12/18
Bulletin info needs to be submitted by Noon
on the dates listed. Call 764-0325 Ext. 106 for
any questions.
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PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY
The next meeting will be on December 9th
ONLY. There will NOT be a meeting on 11/25
or 12/23 due to the Thanksgiving and
Christmas holidays. We begin with the chaplet
of Mercy and during October, the month of the
Rosary, we also say the Rosary. We knit,
crochet and teach how to make rosaries. We
provide free materials for these activities. You
can also make these items at home. Our prayer
shawls are blessed and bring comfort to those
in need. Info is in the front of Church. Call
Carmela, 762-9057.
BINGO: Doors open at 5:30pm with Bingo
beginning at 7pm, every Thursday evening.
Bingo is open to the public. You must be 18
years of age in order to play. Call 764-0325 Ext.
106 for questions. Door prizes, food, drinks &
snacks! Can You Help With Bingo? We have a
great group of people who volunteer some of
their time each month at Bingo. If you are
looking for a way to volunteer to help the
parish, consider helping out once or twice a
month. For info, call 764-0325 Ext. 106.
The Columbiettes are ordinary women
reaching out to help those less fortunate and to
address the religious needs of our Church and
community & are committed to preserving
family life and to work with their Brother
Knights to promote faith and unity. For info,
call Judy Wilbank, 792-0641.
GRIEF MEETINGS: Grief can be a long,
lonely journey. Join others who are traveling
this path. Share or just listen as we sort
through emotions and find some solutions. We
will follow the guidelines in the book “A New
Day”. The fee for the series with the book is
$20.00. Fall sessions began on Monday,
October 5th from 7 to 8:30pm in St. Helena
Convent. Enter the door facing the Church. Sr.
Dorothy Prettyman and Eileen Denis are
facilitators. Call Eileen, 764-0915.
Saturday, November 21
5:00pm(SR) Dorothy Fry
Sunday, November 22
7:00am(SR) Deceased Members of the
Lutcavage and Blaska Families
9:00am(WK)People of the Parish
11:00am(SR)All Souls Remembrance
Monday, November 23
7:00am(WR)All Souls Remembrance
9:00am(SR) Alexis Ann DeFrancesco
Tuesday, November 24
7:00am(WR)All Souls Remembrance
9:00am(SR) Betty and Vicki Barone
Wednesday, November 25
7:00am(WR)All Souls Remembrance
9:00am(SR) Deceased Members of the
Russell and Sullivan Families
Thursday, November 26-Thanksgiving Day
NO 7:00am Mass Today
9:00am(SR)All Souls Remembrance
Friday, November 27
NO 7:00am Mass Today
9:00am(SR) All Souls Remembrance
Saturday, November 28
9:00am(SR) All Souls Remembrance
5:00pm(SR) Albert Minuti
Sunday, November 29
7:00am(SR) Thomas and Therese Lawless
9:00am(SR) People of the Parish
11:00am(SR)All Souls Remembrance
ALTAR SERVER SCHEDULE
Thursday, November 26-Thanksgiving Day
9:00am – William, Margaret
Saturday, November 28-1st Sunday of Advent
5:00pm – Gavin
Sunday, November 29
7:00am - Joyce
9:00am – Nate, Grace
11:00am – Molly, Maria
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TIS THE SEASON –BASEBALL SEASON?!?
PARISH SOCIAL MINISTRY
Through St. Helena’s special Phillies ticket
pre-sale, you can get a Christmas present for
the phanatics in your life and raise money for
the Social Ministry Program at the same time.
St. Helena’s has reserved rows 3 through 8
in Section 310 for the game against the LA
Dodgers on Thursday, August 18, 2016 at 7pm.
Tickets can be purchased for only $20 per seat
and best of all $10 will be donated to the
Social Ministry for every ticket purchased!
Our 2014 sale raised $1500 for the parish, so
join us next summer for a good cause and a
great time.
To reserve tickets, send an email to
JimClark@verizon.net with your name, phone
number or email address and the number of
tickets you would like. Let Jim know before
12/18/15 if you’re giving tickets as a gift, and
he can even provide a certificate to give on
Christmas morning!
“Human Trafficking in Delaware”
This is the topic that will be presented by Janet
Lafferty at Silverside Church on December 3rd
at 7:00pm. Janet Lafferty is a Social Justice
Educator and a volunteer in St. Helena’s Parish
Social Ministry Office.
WEEKLY CALENDAR
Sunday, November 22
2nd Collection: Campaign for Human
Development
11:00am Child. Liturgy of the Word-Church
12:15pm Reconciliation Meeting-Masci Hall
2:00pm Thanksgiving Food Distributed
7:00pm High School Youth-Religious Ed
Monday, November 23
5:30pm Youth Choir-Church
6:30pm Religious Ed Family Thanksgiving
Prayer Service-Church
Tuesday, November 24
7:30pm Ecumenical Thanksgiving Prayer
Service-Hillcrest/Bellefonte Methodist Church
Thursday, November 26-Thanksgiving Day
NO 7am MASS TODAY
9:00am – Thanksgiving Day Mass-Church
Rectory Closed
Friday, November 27
NO 7:00am MASS TODAY
Rectory Closed
St. Helena’s Parishioners are walking in the
footsteps of Jesus! Everyone has reached out
with kindness and compassion to the 27
families who received food for Thanksgiving.
Food was also provided by Shipley Manor,
Delaware Legal Office, and a donation of $168
was given by the parish Religious Education
Catechists.
BELLEVUE STATE PARK
MUSIC IN THE MANSION
Joe Louden and Alyssa Schultheis
December 6, 2015
A family friendly concert of Christmas Music
Tickets are $10. Call 761-6963 or in person any
day until December 3rd, 4pm, at Bellevue State
Park Office. Cost is $12 at the door on the day
of concert.
Family Concert with John Flynn
January 31, 2016
Light refreshments will be served.
Tickets are $7 for adults in advance; $5 for
those under 12 years, or visit the park office
until 4pm on January 28th. Cost is $9/adults;
$7/those under 12 years at the door.
Help the Diocesan Vocations Guild support
and encourage vocations to the priesthood,
religious life and the diaconate. The Guild is
raffling off a beautiful woodcut of The Good
Shepherd by Sister Mary Grace Thul, OP at
their annual Christmas Dinner for priests and
seminarians on January 10, 2016. Info about the
raffle and about the Guild is available at
cdow.org/dvg.
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Reflection for the Solemnity of Christ the King
by Rev. Leonard N. Peterson
A mirror can at times be comforting or cruel,
but it never lies. That’s why we don’t always
want to look into one. That’s not true for the
little four year old girl who admires herself in a
brand new party dress. Then there’s the tall
teen-age boy, marred a bit with acne, who
looks hopefully and is counting on his prom
tux to shield his embarrassment. Or the young
bride who glows before the mirror on her
special day wearing that most special gown
and veil. Or the middle-aged man who notices
now the changes in his physique that shout out
for a diet alteration and more exercise. Or the
elderly lady who accepts what she sees and is
content with what it implies.
While He was here on earth among us, Jesus
was a type of mirror to the foils and fumbles of
the human condition. He often told stories that
mirrored the everyday lives of His listeners,
and how they too often played games with the
truth. Because the Scriptures are timeless, they
describe us as well. So it’s natural to apply to
ourselves the moral in those mirrors.
In the tension-filled scene given us today of
Jesus encountering Pilate on a Friday morning
long ago, against the background of a
boisterous crowd outside, the vacillating
Roman comes across as the weakling. So often,
when Jesus met an antagonist, He mirrored
back the other person’s true self. How
uncomfortable that must have made them.
Pilate kept washing his hands as a result.
Perhaps that is why Christ the King is a
forbidding title for a lot of people, especially
those who were lukewarm or sporadic
believers. Being the very Truth itself, Jesus
reflected back to them the full truth of their
lifestyles. All these centuries later, the modern
versions of this group know who He claimed
to be. They know they have to decide about
Him one way or the other.
Even believers can be annoyed at Christ the
King for occasionally challenging their moral
decisions. How dare this King invade their
privacy and demand loyalty without
reservations! They despise the mirror also.
But happily there are those good souls like you
who have no problem serving Christ the King
because you don’t think He interferes with
your freedom. You believe He guarantees it.
He rules your hearts. The nearest crucifix is
your icon of proof.
When you and I look into the faith mirror,
hopefully we see at least some resemblance to
our King, despite our acute awareness of our
sins. We know we were created in His image
and likeness. Aren’t you glad that our faith
makes for a beautiful reflection?
First Reading: Daniel 7:13-14
The “Son of man” in this vision originally was
a symbol of “the holy ones” living in a
theocratic kingdom. Over time it became a
term for the actual messianic king. His rule
would be one of justice and peace and live
forever.
Second Reading: Revelation 1: 5-8
The resurrection of Jesus is equivalent to His
installation as the universal king. All those
who hear and obey Him are priests; that is,
mediators between God and the rest of men.
Gospel: John 18:33b-37
In this dramatic exchange between Himself
and Pilate, Jesus acknowledges that His
kingdom is no threat to the Roman governor.
Yet we know that Pilate missed a chance to pay
attention to the voice of Truth itself.
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