Bulletins

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September 9

Carlo Acutis Parish Weekly Newsletter - Sept. 9

Rejoice and leap for joy!
Your reward will be great in heaven.

Hello Everyone, hope you had a great holiday weekend ... !

Parish Mission & Mass - Thanks to all who came and helped celebrate the First Anniversary of Carlo Acuti's Canonization, St. Francis and St. Claire, it was a great celebration. See below for a pic of two just in case you were having some "FOMO", or "Fear of Missing Out".

Parish Oktoberfest - Our annual Parish Oktoberfest is just a few weeks ago on Saturday, September 26th, from 2-9 pm at St. Hedwig, and we hope you'll attend. BUT, we also need your HELP to make this event a success. Please see below for more information on how to volunteer.

The Feast of St. Peter Clavier - Today the Church in the United States celebrates the Feast of St. Peter Claiver. See below for more information on his vital work with enslaved people in the Colonies of the New World. Fun Fact ... he was Canonized by Pope Loe XIII (as you know the current Pope is Leo XIV).

Online Book of Intentions -Did you know? Every Sunday during the Universal Prayer, we include the intentions submitted through our "Online Book of Intentions". It’s a beautiful way we support one another in prayer.

Parish Forms on the Website - Need to submit a form or request? Many of our parish forms are available online! https://www.carloacutisparish.org/parish-forms.html

Mass Times and Devotional Schedule - For the complete schedule of Masses and Devotions, please visit our parish website.

God Bless—see you in church, and don’t forget to bring a friend!

The Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
~ September 13, 2026

God’s mercy toward us has no limit, and Jesus calls us to extend that same mercy to one another. Forgiveness may not erase the hurt, but it frees us from allowing resentment to rule our hearts.

Our Annual Parish Oktoberfest is almost here!

Join us on Saturday, September 26, from 2-9 pm at St. Hedwig for another great parish celebration.

Last year was a lot of fun, and we hope to make this year’s Oktoberfest even better—but we need your help! Please consider volunteering with setup, cooking, serving food and beverages, ticket sales, children’s games, or cleanup.

Click the graphic above to sign up.

Saint Peter Claver
Saint of the Day for September 9

(June 26, 1581 – September 8, 1654)

Saint Peter Claver’s Story

A native of Spain, young Jesuit Saint Peter Claver left his homeland forever in 1610 to be a missionary in the colonies of the New World. He sailed into Cartagena, a rich port city washed by the Caribbean. He was ordained there in 1615.

By this time the slave trade had been established in the Americas for nearly 100 years, and Cartagena was a chief center for it. Ten thousand slaves poured into the port each year after crossing the Atlantic from West Africa under conditions so foul and inhuman that an estimated one-third of the passengers died in transit. Although the practice of slave-trading was condemned by Pope Paul III and later labeled “supreme villainy” by Pope Pius IX, it continued to flourish.

Saint Peter Claver’s predecessor, Jesuit Father Alfonso de Sandoval, had devoted himself to the service of the slaves for 40 years before Claver arrived to continue his work, declaring himself “the slave of the Negroes forever.”

As soon as a slave ship entered the port, Peter Claver moved into its infested hold to minister to the ill-treated and exhausted passengers. After the slaves were herded out of the ship like chained animals and shut up in nearby yards to be gazed at by the crowds, Claver plunged in among them with medicines, food, bread, brandy, lemons, and tobacco. With the help of interpreters he gave basic instructions and assured his brothers and sisters of their human dignity and God’s love. During the 40 years of his ministry, Claver instructed and baptized an estimated 300,000 slaves.

Saint Peter Claver’s apostolate extended beyond his care for slaves. He became a moral force, indeed, the apostle of Cartagena. He preached in the city square, gave missions to sailors and traders as well as country missions, during which he avoided, when possible, the hospitality of the planters and owners and lodged in the slave quarters instead.

After four years of sickness, which forced the saint to remain inactive and largely neglected, Saint Peter Claver died on September 8, 1654. The city magistrates, who had previously frowned at his solicitude for the black outcasts, ordered that he should be buried at public expense and with great pomp.

Peter Claver was canonized in 1888, and Pope Leo XIII declared him the worldwide patron of missionary work among black slaves.

Reflection

The Holy Spirit’s might and power are manifested in the striking decisions and bold actions of Peter Claver. A decision to leave one’s homeland never to return reveals a gigantic act of will difficult for us to imagine. Peter’s determination to serve forever the most abused, rejected, and lowly of all people is stunningly heroic. When we measure our lives against such a man’s, we become aware of our own barely used potential and of our need to open ourselves more to the jolting power of Jesus’ Spirit.

Saint Peter Claver is the Patron Saint of:

African Diaspora
African Missions
Colombia
Interracial Justice

Online Book of Intentions

Praying for each other's intentions is an important part of our parish life. If you would like the parish to pray for your intention, please write the intention in a sentence or two in this Online "Book of Intentions." These intentions will be remembered in our intercessions at our Sunday masses. Click HERE

Please pray for the Sick of our Parish

Jose Ramon Diaz, Linda Klickmann, Armando Camacho Patino, Deacon Daniel Cabrera, Meg Fiorenza, Rose M. Martin, Juan B. Gonzalez, Jose V. Sanchez, Marcos Torres, Frank McMahon, Maria Mendizabal, Helen Jendricks, Ben Leo, Sergio Torres, Genaro Cortes, Antonio Alcantara, Ryan Krug, Fr. Paul Reicher.