St.

Anthony Shrine
& Ministry Center
100 Arch Street, Boston, MA 02110
Telephone: 617-542-6440 Prayer Request Line: 617-553-4100 The Good Word: 617-542-0502

VISIT US ONLINE AT: www.stanthonyshrine.org

The Nativity Scene at St. Peter's Square

Friday, December 25th Friday, January 1st

Welcome to our St. Anthony Shrine Community. All are welcome here. No one is excluded. Please take this bulletin
home with you as well as the many brochures in our lobby that advertise the programs and services of the Shrine.
Information is also available on our website: www.stanthonyshrine.org
Thank you for being with us today.

Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord

December 25, 2015

From the Gospel of Luke, 2: 8-12

In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their
flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone
around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; for
behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David
there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a
baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

Christmas brings together amazing imagery: an expectant mother, a star-filled sky, a baby who brings joy and
hope and promise. Is there anything that more evokes the emotion of wonder than this celebration? The Friars
and Staff of St. Anthony Shrine wish you and your families a joyous celebration of Christmas.

The highlight of the Advent season at the Shrine was the amazing concert given by the Arch Street Band on the
evening of Monday, December 21. It was a truly prayerful and joyous event! Our thanks to all of the m embers
of the band, especially its director, Mark Emery, for that incredible performance.

As we head into the new year, its worth noting we are beginning to make some progress in recovering from
our recent financial difficulties. As you may know, for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015, expenses exceeded
revenues by about $1 million. The first six months of the current fiscal year is looking quite a bit better.
Through December 22, we have revenue of $2.8 million and expenses of $2.1 million. Typically the spring
months are more financially challenging than the fall months. Two of the big unusual expenses that we have
coming up: a complete overhaul of the main public elevator (around $80,000) and the purchase of a block of
cemetery plots for our Lazarus program (around $35,000). Our annual budgeted expenses are about $3.5
million, so we need to raise, on average, about $10,000 every day of the year. If you have any questions,
tconway@stanthonyshrine.org is my email address.

Finally, we friars want to express a big thank to all of you who so believe in the mission of this great landmark
church in Boston. Your financial support, prayers, and encouragement mean so much to the friars and staff
here. May the entrance of God into the world as a baby continue to inspire us all to live the Gospel!
Fr. Thomas Conway, OFM
Executive Director

Loving Mercy: Pope Francis Year of Prayer for Mercy

We invite you to a series of special prayer services here at the Shrine on

Fridays in the 1 st floor church from 12:10pm to 12:25pm.

A 14-week program presented by:

Fr. Eric Carpine, Br. Tony LoGalbo, Br. Chris Coccia, and Br. John Aherne.

Discover the richness of God's mercy through the Corporal and Spiritual works
of mercy. This prayer service is for you, please feel free to attend.

Please see the full schedule b elow and save the dates!

Friday, December 11: ALL
Friday, December 18: Br. Tony
Friday, January 8: Br. Chris
Friday, January 15: Br. John
Friday, January 22: Fr. Eric
Friday, January 29: Br. Tony
Friday, February 5: Br. Chris

No services during
Lent through Easter February
10 March 27, 2016.

Friday, April 1: Br. John

Friday, April 8: Fr. Eric
Friday, April 15: Br. Tony
Friday, April 22: Br. Chris
Friday, April 29: Br. John
Friday, May 6: Fr. Eric
Friday, May 13: Br. Tony

CHRISTMAS MASS SCHEDULE 2015

Christmas Eve Vigil Masses: Thursday, December 24

4:00 PM, 4:15 PM (1st Floor Church), 5:30 PM, and 10:00 PM

Christmas Day Masses: Friday, December 25

6:00 AM, 7:30 AM, 9:00 AM, 10:00 AM, 11:15 AM, 12:30 PM

Music Masses with The Arch Street Band.

The Shrine closes at 2:00 PM on Christmas Day.

There are no confessions on Christmas Day.

Could God be calling YOU to become a Franciscan friar?

During this Christmas season, as we thank God for
the many gifts in our lives, please remember to pray
for the men in our postulant program and for those
who are considering a vocation with the Franciscans.
Our postulants are spending one year with the Franciscan friar community in Silver Spring, Md., and
participating in various aspects of the friars life and
work, serving as lesser brothers and following in
the footsteps of our founder, St. Francis of Assisi.
Holy Name Province is the largest of seven provinces in the United States that belong to the Order
of Friars Minor. Our Catholic priests and brothers
serve in colleges, parishes, urban ministry centers
and a wide variety of social ministries, as well as in
overseas missions.
For information about how to become a Franciscan,
visit BeAFranciscan.org, or contact our vocation ministry team at 646-473-0265 or vocation@hnp.org.

Jim Bernard
New York

Crawford Bennett
Florida

Nick Carbuto
New York

Steve Kuehn
Maryland

Adolfo Navarro
Costa Rica, Florida

Mitchell Ortiz
Texas

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

FRANCISCAN VOCATION MINISTRY t HOLY NAME PROVINCE

A great big THANK YOU for purchasing our Christmas Arch Street Band CD's. Thank you for the many
folks who have been purchasing our Christmas Novena of Masses cards for friends and loved ones. We
certainly appreciate your support of our Arch Street Ministries in this way.
Gratefully,
All the Friars

5:15 p.m. Weekday Mass

The Shrine has Mass at 5:15pm Monday through Friday. The Wednesday 5:15pm continues in Spanish as usual.

St. Anthony Shrine

Confession Schedule
Weekday Confessions:
10 AM 2 PM, 4 PM 5:30 PM
Wednesday Additional Confessions:
6:30 AM 8 AM
Saturday Confessions: 10 AM 4 PM
Sunday Confessions: 1:30 PM 3 PM
Holy Day Confession Schedule: Follows schedule above.
Legal Holiday Confession Schedule: 8:30 AM 10 AM

Mass Schedule
Saturday Mass: 12 PM
Saturday Vigil Masses:
4 PM (4:15 PM 1st Fl. Church), 5:30 PM
Sunday Masses:
6 AM, 7:30 AM, 9 AM, 10 AM , 11:15 AM ,
12:00 PM (Spanish Mass-1st Fl. Church),
12:30 PM , 4 PM , 5:30 PM
Weekday Masses:
6 AM, 7 AM, 11:45 AM, 12:30 PM, 5:15 PM
Additional Wednesday Mass: 10 AM
(Please note: The 5:15 PM Mass on Wednesday is in Spanish. )
Holy Day Mass Schedule:
Vigil: 4:15 PM, 5:15 PM
Holy Day: 6 AM, 7 AM, 8 AM, 11:45 AM, 12:30 PM, 4:15 PM, 5:15 PM
Legal Holiday Mass Schedule:
8 AM, 10 AM ( Music Masses)

St. Anthony Shrine.

Phone: 617-542-6440
Web: www.stanthonyshrine.org
Address: 100 Arch Street, Boston, MA 02110

Schedule for
The Solemnity of Mary &
New Year's Day
Vigil Masses
Thursday
Dec 31, 2015
4:15 PM & 5:15 PM
Masses
Friday
January 1, 2016
8 AM & 10 AM
*No Confessions.
*St. Anthony Shrine closes at 11AM.

How Charitable IRA Rollovers Work

ALERT: IRA Charitable Rollover Now Permanent

Under federal legislation signed on Dec. 18, 2015 you can use your Individual Retirement Account (IRA)
to make a gift to your favorite charitable institutions, such as St. Anthony Shrine.
Individuals age 70 and older can now instruct their IRA administrators to make a distribution directly
to St. Anthony Shrine and exclude the amount of the gift from their gross income for federal tax purposes.

By making an IRA charitable rollover, you can:

Satisfy your required minimum distribution

Avoid federal and, in many cases, state income taxes

Provide critical support to the sacramental and outreach ministries of the Shrine

Maximize your 2015 charitable gift and create an immediate and tangible impact at the
Shrine.
Already made an IRA rollover in 2015? Your gift will be covered by this legislation.

To be eligible:

You must be 70 years of age or older at time of distribution

Total charitable gifts cannot not exceed $100,000 per taxpayer each year

Transfers from traditional and Roth IRAs must be made directly from the account administrator to the
Shrine.

To make a gift

Contact your IRA administrator to request that a charitable distribution be transferred to St.
Anthony Shrine.

To ensure gifts are properly recognized and recorded, instruct your IRA administrator to indicate
the donors name on the check and specify that the gift is an IRA charitable distribution.

Send your check to:

St. Anthony Shrine
Maryanne Rooney-Hegan
Development Office
100 Arch Street
Boston, MA 02110
St. Anthony Shrine Tax ID: 04-2119394
Note: The IRA charitable rollover is federal law; state and local law may not provide the same benefits.

Christmas 2015
Out of the depths of eternity, moving through the silence of
Gods mystery, a Divine gesture went forth across an
unfathomable chasm into the realm of space and time. It
reached into the stillness of a young girls life. There it would
overshadow her with the Holy Spirit, this Mary of Nazareth.
And with that eternal gesture would come a whisper and a
Word; a Word spoken previously but only to prophets. But this
exchange would be different. No longer would that Word come
merely issuing hints and clues. This time it bore a message
more direct yet breathing an atmosphere uncovering the
humility of God. Not with Divine thunder did it resonate but
with an almost shy request: Mary, will you be the mother of my
Son? And she, with a great sense of faith that translates into
the depths of surrender answered, Be it done to me according
to your Word.
From that moment something extraordinary happened. The
Word spoken to her did not lose its power, did not slip into the
darkness where other people and events become forgotten. It
became shockingly real and concrete. No one had ever listened
like this. The living Word of God became alive in a totally new
way. It became housed and nourished with the confines of a
mothers love and saturated by her faith. Her yes had set in
motion something never grasped before. The Word of God,
ever heard but never seen, would become visible. Born a man,
he would challenge the world with the power he would exhibit,
but also with his equally shocking amount of ordinariness. He
would stretch the human mind to reach out to the mystery of
Divine humility that could stoop so low as to become human.
Even to become a baby.
Fr. Emeric Meier, OFM

St. Anthony Shrine & Ministry Center

REGULAR EVENTS

Monday
A.A. 12 Step Meeting/12 Traditions Meeting (closed) 5:45 p.m.

Tuesday
Seniors Craft Group 10:30 a.m.
A.A. Discussion Meeting (Open Meeting) Noon

Wednesday
Remembrance Day for Deceased (3rd Wed.) All Masses
Anointing of the Sick - Mass (2nd Wed.) 11:45 a.m.
Womens Spiritual Refl. Group (2nd & 4th Wed) 12:30 p.m.
Grupo Hispano de Oracion 4:00 p.m.
Mass in Spanish 5:15 p.m.
A.A. Discussion Meeting (Closed Meeting) 5:45 p.m.
Bread on The Common (2nd & 4th Wed.) 5:45 p.m.

Thursday
S.L.A.A Meeting Noon
Rosary Prayer Group 12:30 p.m.
Mens Spirituality Group (2nd and 4th Thurs.*) 5:00 p.m.
*Please note: I n December the Mens Spirituality will meet on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays.

A.A Big Book Meeting 5:45 p.m.

Saturday
Secular Franciscans Formation (2nd Sat.) 10:30 a.m.
Centering Prayer Group (1st & 4th Sat.) Noon
Vietnamese Secular Franciscans (2nd Sat.) 1:00 p.m.
Secular Franciscans Fraternity Meeting (2nd Sat.) 1:00 p.m.

Sunday
Emmaus Ministry Prayer/Discussion (1st Sun.) 11:00 a.m.
20s/30s Young Adults Bible Study (2nd & 4th Sun.) 11:00 a.m.
Healing Service (2nd Sun.) 1:30 p.m.
Hispanic Secular Franciscans (1st Sun.) 3:00 p.m.

Mass and Confession schedules can be found online at

www.stanthonyshrine.org and on cards in the first floor lobby.

Are you feeling the call to be a

Eucharistic Minister?
Do you feel called by the Spirit to
proclaim the Word of God?

Here at St. Anthony Shrine, after Easter, we expect to

begin training new lay ministers as Lectors or
Eucharistic Ministers. In particular, we have a need for
Eucharistic Ministers at the following Masses: Monday
5:15PM, Saturday 4PM, and Sunday at 6, 7:30 and 9 AM
and 5:30PM. Especially if you could serve at those times,
wed love to hear from you.
Send an email to: Fred Brown at
fbrown@stanthonyshrine.org

Tonys Travelers FOXWOODS Casino Trip!

Sunday, January 31, 2016
8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Price: $20 per person
Includes roundtrip bus to/from the Shrine;
plus $10 meal voucher and $10 credit for bets.
Limited seats available get your registration in early!
For more information please see the flier in lobby for details.
Contact Fr. Barry Langley, OFM at: 617-542-6440 ext. 241

UPCOMING EVENTS
Bible Study: Sunday, Dec 27th

from 11am 12 noon, in the 2nd

floor classroom.

A New Year with God

7 Weeks to a More Fulfilling Spiritual Life

Start the new year right with this 7-week course offered by
Br. Tony LoGalbo, OFM.
Tuesdays beginning January 12th (through February 23rd)
12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. in the 2nd Floor Classroom
Register at the Front Desk or via email: tlogalbo@stanthonyshrine.org

Register at the Front Desk or via email

SENIORS PROGRAM
January Calendar
Wednesdays
10:00 am Mass
10:30 am Light exercise/stretching
11:00 am Activity or Presentation
12:00 Noon Lunch

Second Collection December 26 & 27

The 2nd collection on December 26 & 27 will go to support the

Shrines Building Maintenance and Repair.

Emmaus Ministry
Upcoming Spiritual Retreats at St. Anthony Shrine

One-day Retreat
Saturday, February 13

One-hour Brown Bag Retreats (12:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m.)

Tuesday, February 23: How did I go on after this tragedy?
Monday, March 14: Where is my child?

For more information: www.emfgp.org

Dec 30th New Years Traditions & Resolutions

Jan 6th BINGO!
Jan 13th Presentation by Br. Daniel Murray, OFM
Jan 20th Team Trivia
Jan 27th Virtual Cruise Across the Atlantic, with
Fr. Barry Langley, OFM

Only a Few Remain Available!

MEMORIAL CANDLES Honor your deceased
Loved One with this wonderful, loving tribute.
Your beautiful white beeswax candle at the
Shrine will burn brightly, steadfastly, and
continuously 24/7 for an entire year. For more
information, see the Front Desk or call Diane at
617-542-8057.