PARISH NEWS
December 23, 2021

MASS & CONFESSION TIMES
No Reservations Required

NEW SCHEDULE
Ministers of the Mass
All ministers, including lectors, extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, altar servers, ushers, greeters and sacristans, have been scheduled through our web-based program Ministry Scheduler with new assignments for the months of January, February and March. To view the new schedule, please tab the button below.

MINISTERS' SPECIAL SCHEDULE
 December 24-25  |  December 31-January 1
A special schedule for the Holy Masses on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the Solemnity of Mary - Mother of God have been created and posted in the Ministry Scheduler online system. For the special schedule, tab the button below.

PLEASE SUPPORT CORPUS CHRISTI
Offertory and Online Giving
Please take time to become an online giver. It is safe, secure and easy. You can setup a weekly or monthly recurring payment, or make a one-time contribution. Your continued support of Corpus Christi is urgently needed and gratefully received during these difficult times. To become an online giver, please click on the OSV Online Giving logo below.

1st ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY
Parish Hall  |  January 2 at 12:00 PM
Corpus Christi’s First Annual Christmas Party will be held in the Parish Hall building on Sunday, January 2, after the 11:00 a.m. Mass. Parishioners of all ages are welcome to attend. Delicious catered food and beverages will be provided. If you are interested in attending and/or volunteering at the Corpus Christi Christmas Party, please tab below to complete the brief form(s). We look forward to seeing you there.

HAVE YOU EVER REGISTERED?
If you have never registered as a parishioner, please take time to fill out the Corpus Christi Registration Form through the Parish website by clicking the button below. Also, if you need to update your personal information, take a moment to complete the Family Information form below so we can have all the necessary information regarding you and your family. Corpus Christi keeps parishioners’ information confidential in a secure database.

SOLEMNITY OF MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD
On January 1, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, our Lady's greatest title. Although New Year's Day is not celebrated by the Church, this day has been observed as a Holy Day of obligation since early times due to this feast - the octave of Christmas. However, since this observance falls on a Saturday, the precept to attend Mass is abrogated. (December 25 is always Holy Days of Obligation, no matter on what day of the week they fall.)

Friday Vigil Mass
December 31
5:00 p.m. in English
7:00 p.m. in Spanish

Saturday Mass
January 1
8:00 a.m. in English
11:0 a.m. in English

A plenary indulgence may be gained by reciting or singing the hymn Veno Creator Spiritus on the first day of the year. This hymn is traditionally sung for beginnings of things, calling on the Holy Spirit before endeavoring something new.

CHRISTMAS FLOWER DONATIONS
​Corpus Christi is extremely grateful for the many donors who supported the Christmas Poinsettia Flowers - through the remembrances of loved ones, living and deceased. Together in prayer, let us remember in our daily prayers the faithful community listed below.

IN HONOR OF
Alberta & Bill McCormick, Donald Sluyter, Joseph & Stella Large, Jacobus & Opal Huizer
given by Mr. & Mrs. Lynn Large
Francisco Villagomez, Martin Martinez, Lucia Lopez, Nicolas Martinez
given by Mr. & Mrs. Trinidad Martinez
Clarence & Josephine Benson
given by Harold & Mary Jane Murphy
Olivia Shelly, Ed & Gloria Shelly, John & Jeannine Reed
given by Mr. & Mrs. Christopher Shelly
Helen T. Smith
given by Mr. Edward Smith
John and Doroth Olsen, Ed & Jacqueline Bigbie
given by Dr. & Mrs. Robert Bigbie
Ms. Cathleen Grave Deperalta
given by Cathleen Grave Deperalta
​Ray DeShazo, Joe Gross, Melvin Gross, Ruth Weisenberger
given by Mrs. Carol DeShazo
Ronald J. Franciskovich, Jerilynn Franciskovich, Michael & Virginia Franciskovich, Bernie & Margaret Ruettiger
given by Mr. Kurt Franciskovich
Mrs. Mary Gavin
given by Mary Gavin
Mrs. Marie Guy
given by Marie Guy
Father Frederick Masad, Father Robert Sayer
given by Mr. & Mrs. Todd Hill
Genowefa Kocinski, Jerzy Kocinski
given by Mr. and Mrs. Andrezej Nowakowski
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Potash
given by Mr. & Mrs. Richard Potash
Rohrlack Family
given by Mrs. Susan Rohrlack
The Wesolowski Family, The Karas Family, Marie McBride
​given by Mr. & Mrs. Bernard Wesolowski
Mr. & Mrs. Roger Rucker
given by Mr. & Mrs. Roger Rucker
Mr. & Mrs. Michael Russ
given by Mr. & Mrs. Michael Russ

IS GOD CALLING YOU?
Men's Discernment Weekend Retreat  |  January 7-9
The Office of Vocations invites single, Catholic men, ages 18-49, to join us in exploring a priestly vocation at a Men’s Discernment Weekend Retreat on January 7th through the 9th. The weekend will be full of prayer, discussions, fraternity and fellowship with other discerners. Our goal is for men to find more clarity on where God is leading them and to actively pursue His will in their lives. The retreat will be led by me and our diocesan seminarians. It will be held at Heart Ridge Retreat and Cultural Center in Sunset, Greenville Deanery. The cost is $25 and scholarships are available. To register, please contact the Office of Vocations at vocations@charlestondiocese.org.

A MINISTRY LIKE NO OTHER
Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist
Corpus Christi is in need of Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist to minister Holy Communion to the sick and shut-ins in Corpus Christi. This ministry is the next level for those of you that are ready for something more in your spiritual journey. Along with the many home bound parishioners that can’t attend Mass to receive the Holy Eucharist, ministers are needed to visit facilities that have to be ministered weekly by different teams of Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist. The current rotation for each team presently is every three weeks. Our goal is to achieve a four week rotation for all facilities. We also have a need for Extraordinary Ministers to visit parishioners in their homes. This individual Minister would visit the same person weekly. This visit can be any day of the week as you and the parishioner would agree on the best time for both of you. If interested and/or for more information, please click on the button below and complete a brief form.

TORNADO VICTIM RELIEF
Bishop Robert Guglielmone has authorized and encourage each parish to take up a second collection to assist those affected by the tornado systems in the Midwest. The collection may take place between now and the feast of the Epiphany (January 6). While we mourn those who have lost their lives in this natural disaster, we must also join in prayer and action as a Catholic community. Let us show our faith by sharing what we can. To make an online donation, please click on the button below.

FROM FATHER JOSEPH
A Christmas Message

IN NEED OF ADORERS
Eucharistic Adoration  |  Wednesdays from 1:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Let us not self-deprive ourselves from adoring Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament, a natural consequence of our faith in the real substantial presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Like Mary, who kept the words of our Lord in her heart and meditated on them day and night, let us reflect on her greatest treasure and the fitting homage to give to it by adoring Christ every Wednesday for one half an hour or for one full hour. Let us stop by to simply converse with Him, present really and truly a few feet away from the pews, as the doors of the church will continue to open every Wednesday – after the conclusion of the 12:15 p.m. Mass until midnight – so we can come close to our Lord in the Eucharist, Who should receive the adoration, the reverence that is given exclusively to God.

SECOND CORINTHIANS
Bible Study  |  January 11 and January 13
Bible Study will resume on Tuesday, January 11, at 7:30 pm (repeated on Thursday, January 13, at 9:30 a.m.) in the Parish Hall building. We will begin with First Corinthians, Lesson 8, in both the evening and the morning classes. Lesson 9 of First Corinthians will be the following week. We will then begin the 6-week Second Corinthians program that will complete both lessons. We should finish Corinthians study the week of March 1. For more detail information, please click on the button below.

RELIGIOUS ED AND SACRAMENTAL PREPARATION
All Religious Education classes as well as all Sacramental Preparation programs such as First Holy Communion, Confirmation and RCIA will return to instruction as listed below.

ASSISTANCE MINISTRY NEEDS YOUR HELP
Non-Perishable Shelf-Stable Supplies
The Corpus Christi Assistance Ministry is in need of your generous donations to our pantry. The Ministry is always in need of non-perishable food products and toiletry items, in particular dry cereal, pancake mix, breakfast bars, soups, instant potatoes, jelly, fruit, toilet paper, paper towels, toothpaste and toothbrushes, shampoo, and laundry detergent. Thank you for your kindness!

POPE FRANCIS PRAYER INTENTION
Month of December
Every month, the Holy Father asks for our prayers for a specific intention. Let us join him with millions of other people worldwide in praying for his monthly intention.

​CATECHISTS
Let us pray for the catechists, summoned to announce the Word of God: may they be its witnesses, with courage and creativity and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

NEW YEAR'S FAMILY RETREAT
Heart Ridge Retreat Center | December 31 - January 2
Do you want a great way to welcome the New Year with your family? Come to the New Year’s Family Retreat at Heart Ridge Retreat Center in Sunset, South Carolina. The event offers flexible times to attend and many lodging options. There will be time for games, prayer, discussion groups with peers, presentations, family activities, crafts, hikes, lots of free time to explore the area, and Mass to celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. Come with your family to make new friends and begin the New Year renewed in your commitment to God and to each other. For more information, tab on the button below.

PROUDLY PRO-LIFE WEEKEND
Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch
Proudly Pro-Life Weekend is taking place on January 7-8 with featured speaker Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. The sole question before SCOTUS is whether abortion can be outlawed before “viability” and the decision could have wide ramifications for every state’s ability to protect unborn children at the earliest states of life.

​WEEKEND EVENTS
Proudly Pro-Life Dinner with Atty. Gen. Lynn Fitch is on January 7, 2022, from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Seawell’s (1125 Rosewood Drive) in Columbia. Your space at dinner must be reserved. Cost is $45. Please click on the image below for reservations.
Stand Up for Life March and Rally is on January 8. Line-up begins at 11:00 a.m. at the University of South Carolina - Russell House on Greene Street. March begins at 11:30 a.m. and the rally begins at noon. Please visit www.sclife.org/proudly-pro-life-weekend for more information and/or to register.

A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU
Christmas is at its heart a feast and a day where we try to appreciate again the initiative of God. So much of our lives are shaped around the initiatives that we take – what we strive to do, what we want to achieve. But Christmas is actually about God’s initiative. God’s initiative from the very beginning in creating this world. God’s initiative in giving this world its astonishing beauty. And God’s initiative working through that long history of salvation, until His eternal Word takes on flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary and enters into our reality in the stable in Bethlehem.

So in front of this initiative of God, we first of all should be still. We should be full of wonder and awe as so many of the Christmas carols and songs remind us. On this day, we should take such joy that the Lord bothers about us, that He reaches out to us. That He does not, as it were, stay at His eternal distance, but actually embraces our reality and each one of us.

While Christmas Day is an enormously busy day, one full of bustle and excitement, it is so important and so worthwhile to try and give it a silent heart, a quiet heart. Because it is from that quiet appreciation of God’s love for us that our real joy and our real celebration will flow like an enormous river.

On behalf of Father Joseph, Father Gustavo, Father Mike and the Parish Office, we really want to wish you a very, very happy Christmas with a happiness that comes from that source as we respond to the initiative of God who first comes to us. May the thousands of Christmas lights lead us to the one light from which they flow, the one great light, the light of God made visible in the birth of this Child, Jesus. When we set ourselves close to Him, may His light shine in and through us too. As He is the pathway we are to follow, may the light of Christ shine in our actions so that all may see and come to the joy and delight at the heart of this great Feast!