Dear Fellow Parishioners:

Thank you for your warm and cheerful welcome to Father Bruce and me. It has been reassuring and hopeful during this transition. Father Bruce enjoys an excellent reputation among the priests of our Archdiocese. It will be a pleasure to work with him and to learn from him.

Jesus teaches us that the great commandment is to love God and one's neighbor as oneself. In last week's parable of the Good Samaritan we learned the depth of neighborly love. In today's Martha and Mary story we are taught how to love God and how to welcome the presence of God in our lives.

This story is often reduced to picking sides in a domestic quarrel. Others suggest that it explains the separation of the contemplative and active life. The scene is far richer than that. It is not an issue of either/or but rather both/and. Jesus was a man of prayer and action. The great commandment calls us to lives of service and charity, to the ministry of hospitality. We prepare through prayer which opens our hearts to listen and to learn how to live, how to love, how to serve, how to be a disciple.

Our readings challenge us to take inventory of our busy lives and find a balance of prayer and activity that frees us to receive Jesus in His many faces.

Pease join us this Tuesday, July 20th at 7p.m. in the Convent Chapel.

Our book selection is "The Testament" by John Grisham. The San Mateo County Library System has over 40 copies. Very reasonably priced used copiers appear on Amazon.com and other web sites.

We will continue our adult computer classes on Saturday mornings beginning October 2nd. We will have a six-week session in the Fall and another in the Spring. If interested, please, call the Rectory and put your name on the registration list. Spaces are limited to the number of computers in the St. Robert's School Computer Lab. More details will be given closer to the first class.

GOD IS THE AUTHOR OF LIFE

What exactly is the Church's Teaching on Euthanasia and End-of-Life Issues? How can we protect ourselves and our loved ones in a society that tells us we have a "right to die" with dignity?

We have available for our parishioners a Catholic version of an Advance Health Care Directive that can be incorporated into your medical and estate planning. An explanatory brochure is also available called

"Important Information About the Advance Health Care Directive"

In Pope John Paul II's World Day of Peace Message - "Respect for Human Rights: The Secret of True Peace", He said:

"A genuine culture of life, just as it guarantees to the unborn the right to come into the world, in the same way protects the newly born, especially girls, from the crime of infanticide. Equally it assures the handicapped that they can fully develop their capacities and ensures adequate care for the sick and the elderly."

The Church Is Open

St. Robert's is open from before the 6:30 am Mass until 5pm. As you're going from work or school or are on your way to the park, why not come in and thank the Lord for the gift of life and the beauty of these days?

One of the more complicated decisions we need to make as the party conventions begin is who to vote for. The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops has an excellent pamphlet entitled, "The Challenge of Faithful Citizenship." In it, we read, "A Catholic moral framework does not easily fit the ideologies of "right" or "left," nor the platforms of any party. Our values are often not "politically correct." Believers are called to be a community of conscience within the larger society and to test public life by the values of Scripture and the principles of Catholic social teaching. Our responsibility is to measure all candidates, policies, parties, and platforms by how they protect or undermine the life, dignity, and rights of the human person, whether they protect the poor and vulnerable and advance the common good. Jesus called us to `love one another.' Our Lord's example and words demand care for the `least of these' from each of us. Yet they also require action on a broader scale. Faithful citizenship is about more than elections. It requires ongoing participation in the continuing political and legislative process."

The rectory receives at least 2 calls a day from people in need of food.
Because of this our food supply is at an all time low.
WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!

Listed are a few of the food stuffs that we are running low on: jams and jellies, canned vegetables, cereal and oatmeal, peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, juices, packaged cookies, condiments, canned meats and tuna. We are also collecting Scrip for MOLLYSTONE, ALBERTSON'S, LUNARDI'S & SAFEWAY.