Labor Day has passed and as we begin another school year, with its responsibilities, stresses and hardships let us recall the encouraging words spoken by our new Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI in his inauguration homily:

“ …...And now, at this moment, weak servant of God that I am, I must assume this enormous task, which truly exceeds all human capacity….I do not have to carry it alone. All the Saints of God are there to protect me, sustain me and carry me. And our prayers, my dear friends, your indulgences, your love, your faith and hope will accompany me...Yes, the Church is alive, and the Church is young. And she holds within herself the future of the world and therefore shows each of us the way to the future.”

Just as Pope Benedict XVI is relying on prayer to see him through his arduous responsibility of governing the entire Holy Catholic church, we, too, must rely on the prayers and support of the Communion of saints to see us through whatever God asks of us during this coming year. We must place our trust and faith in the prayers already gone before us, and in the prayers of all our friends and parishioners. We cannot make it alone. We must pray constantly for each other.

Prayer is a powerful gift and we should not neglect to use it. Pray always and pray all ways. God bless each of you.

Saint Robert’s Church Library

Spiritual Reading will be available at St. Robert's after the Masses on Sundays. Please, take a few minutes either before or after Mass and check out a book or two that interest you. You may keep the books until you have read them. We have some books on the Library cart but we have many more in the Library/Reconciliation room.

As of September 5th we have received $21,304.43 in sales commission and $980.22 in tips. The total is $22,284.65. The amount does not include either 49er game. We received $4,208.66 for our work at the 49er training camp.

Classes for Children Grades 6th, 7th and 8th begin on Tuesday, October 4th from 6:45 to 8 pm. in Hennessy Hall.

Confirmation classes for 9th graders begins on Tuesday, September 13th at 6:45 pm. to 8 p.m. in Hennessy Hall.

Confirmation classes for 10th graders started on Sunday, August 28th.

Interested in Becoming a Catholic?
Or finding out more about our Faith?
Adults in need of Baptisms, First Communion, or Confirmation?

Open House
September 15th—7 p.m.
Convent Chapel
Please bring a Friend

VALLOMBROSA
250 Oak Grove, Menlo Park, CA 94025
(650) 325-5614 ext. 14

Weekend Retreat
September 30– October 2nd
Rev. David Pettingill

“Mary Model for the Day”
October 8th
Pamela Bjorklund

SAN DAMIANO
P.O. Box 767, Danville, CA 94526
(925) 837-9141

Mid-Life and Beyond Retreat
September 27th-29th
Finding Ourselves Again
Rusty Shaughnessy, OFM

I Still Do, Marriage with A Warm Heart
October 14th-16th
Carol Kaplan, MFT and Barry Brunsman, OFM

FESTIVAL DINNER SHOW
"Frank and Friends"
Saturday, September 24th

Join us for a delicious roasted chicken dinner and entertainment by our own Frank Sandner and friends with their renditions of favorite Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin tunes.

BARBECUE AND FOOD BOOTHS –The Food and BBQ is still in need of help on Friday night between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., Saturday night between 7 p.m. until 11 pm. And anytime on Sunday afternoon from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. If you can help, please call us as soon as possible at (650) 588-1927.

It has come to our attention that we did not receive all of the sign-up forms or Emails that were sent to us. We do not have an explanation for this. For those of you who might have returned your form or sent us an Email and have not yet been contacted, please call us as soon as possible so that we can schedule you for the hours that you wanted.

Thank you for your patience and attention to this matter and we apologize for any inconvenience that this might have causes. We are looking forward to seeing all of you at the festival.

FESTIVAL RAFFLE TICKETS: The students at our parish school are having a contest to see which grade can sell the most Festival Raffle tickets.

There's still time to help your favorite class win one of the above prizes. So, turn in your raffle ticket stubs and please remember write on the outside of the envelope which grade you want to get credit for your book of tickets. If you need more tickets, or if you would like to volunteer for the festival raffle booth, you can contact Barbara Balestieri.

As a Parish Community

We continue to ask each week that parishioners pray for the chronically ill of our parish. If you have a friend or loved one in need of our parish prayers please call the Rectory at 589-2800.

The Fourth Anniversary

I’m sure you remember what you were doing four years ago today as the horrendous pictures were shown on television of the planes crashing into the twin towers in New York. It was so foreign to our experience, it was difficult to believe it was really happening on our shores, instead of in England or Ireland or some Middle Eastern country. It was a new escalation of politically-motivated violence which destroyed our sense of invincibility that nothing that terrible could ever happen here.

Four years have passed. We have heard every possible detail about the suicide bombers, about the clues which were never pieced together due to lack of communication and turf wars. Al-Queda has become a common term, though the hunt for Osama bin Laden seems to have faded from memory. In Afghanistan, desperately poor (made moreso by 10 years of ineffective sanctions) and nearly destroyed by our bombs, instability and fear still rein with the exception of Kabul perhaps. The tenuous link between Al-Queda and Saddam Hussein has been disproved and the weapons of mass destruction accusation discredited. Hopefully, most of us have come to understand that the Islamic terrorists are to Islam as Jim Jones and his cohorts are to Christianity. The Department of Homeland Security exposed its strengths and weaknesses in its efforts for Katrina’s victims. The reality of police, fire and other public safety entities being unable to communicate with each other during 911 was repeated throughout the New Orleans area.

So where are we now? Obviously, there will be a major review of all aspects of the response to the hurricane. The numbers of those killed, the poorest and most vulnerable, raises the question: as a country, where is our sense of community? No doubt, many unknown acts of bravery and compassion took place throughout the South. But why were so many nursing home residents found dead? Wouldn’t everyone in the neighborhood realize that they couldn’t have gotten out on their own? What is the relationship between the tens of billions of dollars being spent daily in Iraq and the descent into misery experienced by more and more Americans? What is the relationship between “old boy” networks of politicians and their cronies, pork barrel allocations and the lack of money to repair century-old dikes and dams which everyone knew could and would break if a major storm hit? If the area had included more well-to-do residents instead of 30% very poor people, would their legislators’ demands have been heeded?