Remembering...One of the most powerful forms of prayer is that of remembering...We remember good times, the hard times, our friends, relatives and those we meet on the way. This meeting of souls creates a profound resonance between us. The Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate humbly place before God our prayers for all those, living and deceased whose names are entered in Our Book of Remembrances. These names are like a golden thread that unites us in a mutual relationship with each other and with God, Whom we believe will give a happy ending to our life story. Our Prayer Ministry if offered in the form of beautifully designed cards which you can find in the vestibule of the church. The cards are free for taking. When you use the card, an offering is enclosed along with the name(s) you wish to be entered in our Book of Remembrances which is kept at the Guardian Angel Home in the Mary Immaculate Chapel where the sisters gather daily for Mass and Prayers.

Last Sunday you contributed $7,681.00 to your parish. Sincere thanks for your continued generosity.

Thursday, November 18, at 6:00 p.m., we will have our annual Thanksgiving Dinner in the school gym. A delicious meal will be served by Billy's Catering from Lockport. We will be entertained by the "Vintage Vocals." A wonderful evening is promised and the cost is only $10.00 for members and $15.00 for guests. If you wish, you may bring your own liquid refreshments. Please bring non-perishable foods suitable for the Thanksgiving baskets. Cash donations are also welcome. Let us share our blessings with the less fortunate!!! Make reservations by November 15 with Pete Valek at 715-1528 or place in an envelope marked "Young at Heart Dinner" and drop in the collection basket. All seniors 55+ are welcome. Dues $5.00 yearly.

Do you think you might have a vocation to be a Sister? You are invited to a weekend retreat for single women to discern if God is calling you to Religious Life. Learn about Religious Life with time to reflect and share with others who are searching. Friday night to Sunday noon, November 19, 20 and 21. Given by the Sisters of the Holy Cross at St. Mary's at Notre Dame. 574-284-5653

A prime-time television special that airs nationally on Wednesday, November 10, (10 p.m. ET/PT) on Hallmark Channel.

Documentary follows troop ship Dorchester: 900 soldiers torpedoed off Greenland in 1943 without enough life jackets to save all. A true story of courageous World War II Christian and Jewish clergy who made the ultimate sacrifice so others could live.

Edmund F. Gordon, Director for Religious Education at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware has developed an educational discussion guide for "The Four Chaplains: Sacrifice at Sea." Visit http://www.thefourchaplains.com/ to access the study guide along with photos, the trailer, and more.

Can you help? The Center for Correctional Concern is in great need of Paperback books. If you have any novels, mysteries, westerns, science fiction, biographies or adventure and would like to donate them, please contact Sister Juanita Ujcik or Sister Rosemary Huzl at 740-5631. They will be happy to make arrangements to pick them up.

This holiday grief program is for all bereaved hospice family members, adults and children ages 5 and above. All families in the community who have suffered a loss are invited to attend.

The holidays are a time for families to reminisce. Joliet Hospice wants to companion you through your grief and explore positive alternatives for coping with memories, feelings, and activities associated with the holiday season.

There is no charge for this program.

For more information or to register, please call: Mary Ann Burns, MSW, Bereavement Coordinator, at 815-740-4104.

On Friday, November 12, Sister Marian Voelker, a Joliet Franciscan, will give a part 2 presentation on the History and Ministries of her Community over the past 137 years. The first presentation was most informative and interesting.

Holy Name Society invites you to their Fall Card and Bunco Party on Sunday, November 14, at 1:30 p.m. in the parish gym. Doors open at 12:30. Admission is $2.00 at the door. Prizes, Raffles and Free Refreshments. 725-9805.

All Christians agree that we won't be sinning in Heaven. Sin and final glorification are utterly incompatible. Therefore between the sinfulness of this life and the glories of heaven, we must be made pure. Between death and glory there is a purification, thus the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned." The concept of an after-death purification from sin and the consequences of sin is also stated in the New Testament in passages such as 1 Cor. 3:11-15 and Mat. 5:26.

The doctrine of Purgatory or the final purification, has been part of the faith since before the time of Christ. The Jews already believed it before the coming of the Messiah, as revealed in the Old Testament as well as in other pre-Christian Jewish works, such as one which records that Adam will be in mourning "Until the day of dispensing punishments in the last years, when I will turn his sorrow into joy". (The Life of Adam and Eve 46-7). Orthodox Jews to this day believe in the final purification, and for eleven months after the death of a loved one, they pray a prayer called the Mourner's Kaddish for their loved one's purification.

Jews, Catholics, and the Eastern Orthodox have always historically proclaimed the reality of the final purification. It was not until the sixteenth century that anyone denied this doctrine. Purgatory has been part of the Christian faith from the very beginning. It is still part of our Faith to this very day.

While the Catholic Church does not have an elaborate doctrine of Purgatory worked out, there are three essential components to this Doctrine: a purification after death exists, it involves some kind of pain, and the purification can be assisted by the prayers and offerings by the living to God. Other ideas, such that Purgatory is a particular place" in the after life or that it takes time to accomplish, are speculation. As St. Ambrose said in the fifth century concerning our departed loved ones: "We have loved them in life, let us not forget them in death, until at last by our prayers we bring them to the gates of heaven itself."

NB) The above reflection on the Poor Souls and Purgatory was taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

God Bless!
Father Jim

We express our sympathy and promise of prayers to Sandy Borgra and her family on the death of her husband and their father, Bob. May he rest in peace.

Please note meeting November 10, 2004, meeting cancelled