CANCELED FOR TONIGHT: UPDATED

Tut tut, looks like snow!

Just to be safe, we'll cancel tonight's Guided Tour of the Gospel of Mark, and pick up next Wednesday night at 7. Don't worry, we'll still cover the whole Gospel. If you want to read ahead, check out chapters 1-3! You can read them online, even: http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=197533668

The W, our grade 8-12 youth group, is CANCELLED. Watch this space or the Facebook page for the latest, up-to-the-minute information!

The Light IS On For You (reconciliation from 6:30-8:00) in the chapel, because our priests can get there without having to step out in the storm. So if you're feeling sinful and brave, you can stop by. But please, be safe.

Our updated Facilities Calendar

February 25, 2012 Medjugorje Message

Our Lady appeared to the visionary Marija and delivered the following message:

"Dear children! At this time, in a special way I call you: 'pray with the heart'. Little children, you speak much and pray little. Read and meditate on Sacred Scripture, and may the words written in it be life for you. I encourage and love you, so that in God you may find your peace and the joy of living. Thank you for having responded to my call."

For information on this message, please contact Vincent DeGeorge at VINSALINC@COMCAST.NET

This weekend's Mass schedule

This weekend's Masses:
Saturday, 2/25 4:00PM- Fr. Mark Barr
Sunday, 2/26 7:00AM- Fr. James Canniff
Sunday, 2/26 9:00AM- Fr. Joseph Keville
Sunday, 2/26 11:00AM- Fr. Mark Barr
Sunday, 2/26 5:00PM- Fr. Richard Bakker and Deacon Mark Rumley

Your first Lenten Bookmark

...after our homepage, of course!!!

This Lent we'll be posting links to great resources all across the internet, as well as reminders of all the special Lenten programming being offered here at IC. We want to help you make this Lent a season of spiritual growth and deepening faith. To start off, we offer this intriguing site of short movie clips, one a day for Lent. The story will be revealed a bit more each day, but even while we wait the site provides reflections that help us think and wonder our way through the story, and through the season of Lent. Check it out here!

Join us for a Healthy Ash Wednesday!

Join us for Ash Wednesday Masses at 6:30AM (Fr. Mark Barr), 9:00AM (Fr. Richard Bakker), and 7:00PM (Fr. Joe Keville), or a service with ashes at 3:00 PM (Deacon Mark Rumley).

(Got two minutes? You can learn a lot about Ash Wednesday here!)


AND, our Social Club is sponsoring a FREE health fair in the parish hall starting at 9:30AM. over 20 vendors will be present, which means lots of great information and FREE STUFF for you. Come on down, and bring the kids.

Pastoral Planning Survey Information

As you may have heard, the Archdiocese of Boston has proposed a pastoral plan for all its parishes, grouping individual parishes together in collaboratives that will ultimately work under the direction of one pastor (possibly with parochial vicar/s), one staff, one parish council and one finance council. Our proposed collaborative combines us with Sacred Hearts and St. Joseph Parishes in Malden. As it stands, the plan calls for no current pastors to continue on as the pastor in a new collaborative - all current pastors, it is expected, will be moved to new church assignments. The combined parish groupings are designed to meet some practical minimums: an average of 1,600 people at Mass each weekend, and an average income of $500,000.00 a year. As it stands, Immaculate Conception Parish falls just short of those minimums.

The Archdiocese says that the plans are meant to address the decreasing numbers of priests (the current number of pastors, over three hundred, will be rearranged into 127 Pastoral Service Teams led by a pastor for each), the unnecessary redundancy of services and staff and, in hopes of helping weaker parishes survive while building up all the parishes, to be better able to evangelize to all people.

As you can imagine there is a lot to this plan and much to discuss. We are told that at this point, the plan is purely at the proposal stage, which means that things may change significantly before anything definite happens. The Archdiocesan Planning Committee has asked for feedback on the plan, and we will be holding a “town hall” meeting to gather people’s feedback and opinions, sometime in March or April. In the meantime, they have posted a survey on their website for anyone who is interested. You can feel free to
be honest with your feedback and make
specific suggestions!

Even while Fr. Mehm is away on his sabbatical in Rome, he is aware of what is proposed, and our work is to get the word out and the feedback in.

You can read more about the proposals at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning website:
www.planning2012.com. I hope everyone at I.C. will fill out the survey at the site sometime between now and the end of April – it can be found there, under the “2012 Consultation” tab. Look for “SURVEY for Pastoral Planning Consultation” under the videos on that page.
Thanks, as always, for your willingness to
consider the future thoughtfully and prayerfully. Please feel free to contact me (or any other staff member) with any questions you have!

- Margo (pf@icmalden.com)

Our Pastor in Rome

In this week's general audience with the Pope, you can see our own Pastor, Fr. Mehm in attendance. Watch here to see him (and his fellow priests studying at the Theological Renewal Course through the Institute of Continuing Theological Education at the Pontifical North American College.
General Audience

Congratulations to Lillian!!

We are so proud of our own Lillian O'Donnell, who is honored for collecting used cell phones to support women in need. Thanks to you, too, who have donated your old phones!

Parishioner Lillian O’Donnell of the Immaculate Conception church of Malden has collected more than 2,000 no-longer-used cell phones to donate to Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine program in the past ten years. HopeLine recycles used cell phones, batteries and accessories in any condition and uses the funds generated to donate phones, airtime and funding to domestic violence agencies throughout the United States. O’Donnell accepts phone donations at the parish year-round with a dedicated push for contributions during the Lenten Season. Pictured here (left to right) are Mike Murphy, public relations manager for Verizon Wireless New England and O’Donnell.

February 1, 2012, 1000 Club Drawing

Congratulations!!
$1,000 942 Mr. & Mrs. John Lanni, Malden

100 575 Marie Napoli, Malden

100 702 Ann Madigan, Malden

50 333 Flora Thompson, Reading

50 394 Lois Brenton, Medford

50 517 Rosemary Sullivan, Medford

50 614 Linda Keefe, Cambridge

50 195 Bob Griffin, Cambridge

50 410 Bruna Noe, Medford

50 836 Beverly Garrant, Chicopee

50 517 Rosemary Sullivan, Medford

50 379 Rita Maguire, Somerville

50 504 Kathy McLaughlin, Stoneham

25 036 Elaine & George Wolusky, Medford

25 261 Francis Fitzgerald, Everett

25 614 Linda Keefe, Cambridge

25 403 Charles Keefe, Cambridge

25 060 Grace Schaffer, Medford

25 231 Phyllis Derosiers, Brighton

25 530 Stella & Jerry Guarino, Woburn

25 607 Joyce Smith, Medford

Door Prizes

Kevin Sullivan, Medford Violet Hudson, Malden

This weekend's Mass schedule

This weekend's Masses 2/11-12/12:

4:00 PM Mass Saturday- Fr. Mark Barr

7:00 PM Mass Sunday- Fr. Mark Barr

9:00 AM Mass Sunday- Fr. Richard Bakker

11:00 AM Mass Sunday- Fr. James Canniff

5:00 PM Sunday- Fr. Mark Barr

Lenten Mission in Malden/Medford Parishes

Please save the dates for our Collaborative Lenten Mission this Lent! On Tuesday nights at 7:00 PM during Lent we will gather at different parishes in Malden and Medford to hear speakers, pray together and enjoy fellowship across parish boundaries. The topic this year is the Initiation Sacraments, and the schedule is as follows:

2/28 Each parish hosts the first night of the Mission - Baptism

3/6 St Francis, Medford - Confirmation

3/13 St Joseph, Medford – Eucharist

3/20 Immaculate Conception, Malden – Emmaus

3/27 Sacred Hearts, Malden– Reconciliation Service

Receptions will follow each evening's gathering. We hope you'll join us!

IC Activities Calendar- come pray with us!

Mass Celebrants this weekend:

4:00 PM Mass Saturday- Fr. Mark Barr

7:00 PM Mass Sunday- Fr. Richard Bakker

9:00 AM Mass Sunday- Fr. James Canniff with Deacon Mark Rumley

11:00 AM Mass Sunday- Fr. Joseph Keville

5:00 PM Sunday- Fr. Joseph Keville

See you at Mass!

It's Souper Bowl Sunday!!

This weekend at all the Masses, our wonderful young people will be collecting donations (financial and food-al!) for the Souper Bowl of Caring! This nationwide collection has been happening in churches since 1990. It's unique in that the money collected in a church stays local- no funds are sent to the SBOC organization. Instead, groups and churches choose a local organization and donate what they collect to them. No middle-man!

Our Youth Ministry has been participating in the SBOC for at least 10 years, and each year they proudly support I.C.'s Helping Hands ministry, which helps the Bread of Life soup kitchen here in Malden. Please give what you can! One dollar makes a difference!