Friday Flash
April 30, 2021
I PRESENT TO YOU THE LATEST ST. ANDREW THE APOSTLE “GOOD NEWS” SUMMER EDITION!
Happy and blessed Easter Season to you all! Welcome to this Summer Edition of our celebrated
Newsletter. As usual, since its inception, our diligent Editors and brilliant writers have done an excellent
job. Much gratitude goes to them and to our Stewardship Council for initiating this form of
communication with our parish three years ago.
It is now an over repeated reality that the pandemic has challenged us and how we do things in ways
we never envisaged a little over a year ago. This includes how we do ministry in general and express the
fundamental tenets of our faith in particular, here in our own Parish. One of the areas we were
challenged to re-evaluate and re-articulate during this pandemic is our five year Strategic pastoral Plan,
paying particular attention to our four strategic goals. The fourth goal in this strategy is improving
(Internal) Communication.
As you may recall, one of the earliest casualties of the pandemic was our weekly printed bulletin which
was the main conduit for communicating details of events and important issues to our parishioners. As a
result, we had to creatively initiate a robust communication plan which included a revamped weekly
Friday Flash, Candid Monday Video Messages and Live-streaming of some of our weekly and weekend
Masses. It was in such an atmosphere that our Newsletter initiated by our foresighted Stewardship
Council came in handy to, not only supplement our communication efforts, but also provide articles on
very topical issues ranging from moral, doctrinal and pastoral challenges faced by our Church. It also
provided me, your pastor, with the opportunity to publish for you my Annual State of the Parish.
In this Summer edition, you will have the opportunity to enjoy articles on “The Year of St. Joseph”
declared by Pope Francis on December 8, 2020 ending on December 8, 2021, another one, on one of our
key staff members, Barb Lishko. Some others on our Lenten and Palm Sunday activities this past Season.
Also included in this edition is a corner on our Knights of Columbus and an article on abortion, which is
no doubt, a sensitive moral issue our Church takes seriously. While an article on an issue such as
abortion may not cover in depth, the teaching and stand of the Catholic Church, I hope it at least
provokes some honest and informed discussion on the topic among us. We hope to continue including
discussions and teachings of the Church on such eminent moral issues in future articles. To read this in
detail, please refer to the link at the end of this article.
Before I close, I want to turn to two more important matters.
First, if you recall, about six months ago, in a bid to gauge more accurately the pulse of our parish and its
concrete needs during this pandemic, I reached out to you to take a survey on a range of issues. The
overwhelming positive response to that survey helped us to design and implement strategies that
helped us gradually open our Church and return to public worship in a safe manner. Now that more and
more of our Church is being opened for many more activities, I would like to come to you with another
survey in order to determine what we should or should not do in order to serve you better. I therefore,
kindly ask you participate in this particular survey as actively as you did in the first one. This survey will
go out on Friday May 7th , next week. Please, participate!
Finally, as I promised, here is another excerpt from Bishop Olmsted’s wonderful Apostolic Exhortation
Veneremur Cernui on the Eucharist. In the first two paragraphs, Bishop Olmsted shares with us how
from early childhood he came to know of Jesus as truly present in the Eucharist through his parents and
his pastor. And how that faith in the real presence has been tested over the years as he wrote:
3. Of course, that faith in the Eucharist has been tested many times over the
years. As a seminarian in Tours, France, for example, during two months of
intensive French language study, some classmates learning of my practice of
daily Mass accosted me, sneering with venom, “You really believe Jesus is
present in that piece of bread?” Shocked by their hate-filled tone, I could say
nothing for what seemed like eternity; but after probably less than a minute, I
managed to stammer, “Yes… I do.” That shocking and embarrassing moment, to
my surprise, led ever so gradually to new gratitude for the gift of the Eucharistic
faith and a deeper conviction about daily Mass and Eucharistic adoration. It also
taught me to expect my faith in our Eucharistic Savior to face scorn and
contradiction.
The next two paragraphs say:
4. I invite you in this Exhortation to “put out into the deep” (Lk 5:4). Whether your
faith in the Eucharist is strong or weak, whether you consider the Church your
Home or you have recently decided to disassociate, or even if you have no faith at
all, my sincere hope is that a true “Eucharistic amazement” will be ignited within
you.
5. The People of Israel faced many obstacles, challenges, and sufferings as they
crossed the desert and entered the Promised Land. But God had assured them of
His presence and guidance on their arduous sojourn. In the Ark of the Covenant,
they recognized the presence of God. Into battles and in dangerous lands,
wherever the Israelites went, the Ark went with them because it assured them that
God would be with them to fight their battles, to care for them and protect them.
For this reason, the Ark became a powerful and enduring image of God’s
presence.
For more details on this Apostolic Exhortation, I refer you to our St. Andrew website.
St. Andrew, I love you!
- Fr. Robert
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Our new Summer Edition of Good News is out now!
Click the banner above or the link: http://stndrw.cc/goodnewssummer2021
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Public Masses are now offered with limited capacity and strict social distancing protocols
Monday - Saturday | 8:30am
Wednesday | 6:30pm
Saturday | 5:00pm
Sunday | 7:00am, 10:00am, 2:00pm
Daily Mass on Tuesday and Thursday, as well as Sunday Masses at 10:00am and 2:00pm are also streamed on Facebook
We are in great need of your continued support. Please consider making a gift to support continued ministry at Saint Andrew the Apostle. Please visit Faith Direct: https://membership.faithdirect.net/AZ973 or click the banner above.
Thank you for your Generosity!
3450 W. Ray Rd. Chandler, AZ 85226 | 480-899-1990 church@standrewchandler.com
Upcoming Mass Intentions
April 30
8:30am | +Patricia and Jake Thurman
May 1
8:30am | Jim and Andrea Dade
5:00pm | +Lois Smith
May 2
7:00am | +Teri Scheidt
10:00am | +Luis and Josephina Acosta
2:00pm | Kal and Marianne Shallal
May 3
8:30am | +Joan Johnson
May 4
8:30am | CU Nguyen
May 5
8:30am | +John Baez
6:30pm | +Sharon Laban
May 6
8:30am | +Marion Freel
May 7
8:30am | +Giuseppe and Acunta Filosa