Archbishop Naumann has named Fr. Gerardo Arano-Ponce (Fr. Jerry) as the pastor of Queen of the Holy Rosary - Wea Parish effective July 1, 2021.  Fr. Jerry was ordained in 2003 and has served as an associate pastor at the Church of the Nativity, the Pastor of the Catholic parishes in Mound City, Osawatomie and La Cygne; the pastor of St. Agnes Parish, Roeland Park and pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe parish in Topeka.  Fr. Jerry was on a priestly sabbatacle for six months until January 2021 and since then has been helping administer the sacraments at Holy Spirit Parish in Overland Park.

Fr. Gary Pennings, current pastor at Wea, will be appointed as pastor of the Church of the Ascension in Overland Park effective July 1st.  Fr. Gary also ceases being the Vicar General/Moderator of the Curia for the Archdiocese on that date, but will continue to serve as Co-director of the Permanent Diaconate Program. 

Please join Fr. Gary in welcoming Fr. Jerry to Wea.  Fr. Gary asks that you pray for him as he departs from Wea and pray for Fr. Jerry as he begins his ministry as shepherd here.  

The 2021 Knights of Columbus Garage Sale will be held on June 12-13.

The proceeds go towards the Don Rooney Memorial Scholarship Fund. We are looking for volunteers including students, whose volunteer time will count towards service hours.

There are several volunteer opportunities for this event and many hands make the work lighter.

If you would like more information on volunteer opportunities, please call Troy Schumaker at 316-371-0415 or email: tschumaker2002@yahoo.com, or click on this volunteer sign-up link. 

Thank you for your assistance.

The U.S. House just passed H.R. 5, "The Equality Act". 
The Act purports to protect people experiencing same-sex attraction or gender discordance from discrimination. But instead, the bill represents the imposition by Congress of novel and divisive viewpoints regarding “gender” on individuals and organizations. 

Tragically, this Act can also be construed to include an abortion mandate, a violation of precious rights to life and conscience. 
Rather than affirm human dignity in ways that meaningfully exceed existing practical protections, the Equality Act would discriminate against people of faith. It would also inflict numerous legal and social harms on Americans of any faith or none.

There are some forces behind this Act that are attempting to redefine any religious expression in support of traditional morality as “discrimination” and push those who hold such views to the outskirts of polite society. 

READ LETTER FROM U.S. BISHOPS

EQUALITY ACT Q & A

The Act poses a serious threat to religous liberty.  Contact your U.S. senators now and urge then to oppose this act in the senate.  

CONTACT SENATORS:

Marshall, Roger - (R - KS)
B33 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510
(202) 224-4774
Contact: www.marshall.senate.gov

Moran, Jerry - (R - KS)
521 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510
(202) 224-6521
Contact: www.moran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-jerry

The rosary is prayed in the church as well as livestreamed Monday - Friday, at 7:30AM.  

The rosary will also be prayed/livestreamed approximately one half hour before the Saturday morning 8AM Mass and before the Sunday morning 8:30AM Mass.

You can pray along from home by watching the livestreaming of this event HERE. 

What can the Ministry of Care do for you or your loved one?

*Grief support *Transportation *Visits to shut-ins at home or in a facility *Holy Communion brought to you *Meal support in time of crisis *Respite relief for caregivers *Other assistance as needed

If you or someone you know could benefit from these services, please contact Marian Seuferling at (913) 980-5276 or marianseuferling@gmail.com. 

Totus Tuus is a Catholic summer youth program dedicated to sharing the Gospel and promoting the Catholic faith through evangelization, catechesis, Christian witness, and Eucharistic worship. 

This week-long program assists parents and parishes in evangelizing and catechizing their youth by supplementing the work they are already doing.

Similar to a “Vacation Bible School," the Totus Tuus week is filled with faith, fun, and friendship. There are messy games and crazy skits, and mass, adoration, confession, and catechesis. Our college-age teachers provide an authentic witness to the students. 


Registration

June 14-18, Elementary (9am-3pm) Registration required! Click here.

June 13-17, J-High & High School (7-9pm) No registration required; simply show up.

Effective on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), June 4-5th, Archbishop Naumann will lift the dispensation from the obligation for Catholics in the Archdiocese to observe the precept of the Church to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. Last year when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the Archbishop dispensed Catholics in this Archdiocse from this precept out of concern for public health and to show good will to public officials who wanted public gatherings restricted to decrease the spread of the virus. However, now that the most vulnerable have had the opportunity to be vaccinated and the country is moving closer to herd immunity, Catholics will be expected to return to church on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.

Further, the Archdiocese announced on Wednesday, May 12th, that all diocesan safety protocols relating to COVID are rescinded. Pastors should be aware of guidelines in their particular county or municipality and develop parish guidelines as appropriate, given the demographics of their respective congregations as well as their own personal health situation. Likewise, there are no longer any diocesan Covid-19 guidelines for music ministry in the Archdiocese. Here at QHR-Wea, holy water fonts have been restored and reserved distanced seating has ended. Seating for all Masses has returned to normal. 

No mask mandate exists in Miami County but parishioners are encouraged to follow CDC guidelines. Altar servers and Communion ministers will continue to wear masks while ministering. The procession with the gifts will be restored, but restoration of the sign of peace and Communion from the cup are delayed until a future date.

We will continue to broadcast the Masses on FM 101.9 for those that feel safer listening to Mass in the car. Anyone wanting Communion brought to their car should inform an usher before Mass begins. The 8:30AM Sunday Mass will continue to be live-streamed for those who are homebound, but watching Mass does not fulfill the obligation to participate in Mass in person. 

Those who suffer from underlying health concerns or compromised immunity or who have genuinely serious concerns about the risk of contracting the coronavirus are not bound by the obligation to attend Mass. No one is expected to attend Mass in person when you are sick.

The Value Them Both (VTB) Amendment would amend the Bill of Rights in the Kansas Constitution to state that there is no constitutional right to abortion, and reserving to the people the ability to regulate abortion through the elected members of the legislature of the state of Kansas.  The impetus for this amendment was an April 26, 2019, ruling by the Kansas Supreme Court that took power from Kansas voters and found—created, really—a nearly unlimited “right to abortion” in our 1859 State Constitution.   

This court decision effectively made any legislative effort to limit, condition or in any way regulate abortion in Kansas subject to being declared unconstitutional.  The VTB Amendment aims to give the citizens of Kansas, through their elected representatives, the power to make laws concerning how abortions are handled in Kansas.  It gives the people the power to make this determination rather than leaving it in the hands of a few court justices.    

Kansas Legislators have approved the amendment to be placed on the ballot in August of 2022.  Amending the Kansas Constitution is a two-step process.  Both chambers of the Legislature must pass the measure by “supermajority” margins of 2/3’s of the membership (which they have now done).  Then, the measure is placed on a statewide ballot for a vote of all Kansans.  The measure at that point needs a simple majority to be adopted.

National pro-abortion forces will undoubtedly pour millions of dollars into advertising campaigns in an effort to prevent the amendment from passing.  Catholics faithful to the teaching of the Church on the dignity of life in the womb should do all they can to support, promote and vote for passage of this amendment.  This struggle between pro-life and pro-abortion (so called, pro-choice) advocates is a clash between the Culture of Life and a Culture of Death.  Now is the time for faithful Catholics to step up and be more pro-life than ever. 

This is not simply a political issue, but a moral one.  Since 1973, over 62,000,000 human lives have been extinguished through elective abortions in the United States.  What will children studying history one hundred years from now say about this generation?  Will they look back on us as we look back on those who in the 1800's thought it was somehow morally justifiable to own slaves?  We they look back and say, "What were they thinking?  How could they have embraced such a grave evil?"  Abortion, of course, is not the only pro-life issue, but it is the preeminent one.  Other rights have no meaning, if the right to life is denied.  Let us open our hearts to God's grace and the truth about the dignity of life in the womb.

For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Eph 6:12


For more information go to:
https://www.kansasamendment.com/   
or 
https://www.kansascatholic.org/report/