When I was a teenager, I worked as a paper boy with the Pittsburgh Press and Post-Gazette and also as a cashier at Brownsville Road Foodland in Carrick.  I was still involved with Boy Scouts but started to face peer pressure from my friends to quit because being a Scout as a teenager wasn’t the “cool thing to do.”  When I reached the Rank of Life Scout (one below the highest Rank of Eagle Scout) I was tempted to quit and just go with what my friends were doing.
 
But my parents and one of the Scout Leaders, Tom Hipkiss, encouraged and challenged me to not give up. I remember them saying “Tommy, don’t quit, just hang in there!”.  I did listen and on my fifteenth birthday, November 24, 1985, I achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, the first in Troop 614 from St. Norbert in Overbrook.  After graduating from Clarion University and first working at Triangle Tech as Admissions Counselor, I then became a District Executive with the Greater Pittsburgh Council for the Boy Scouts of America before entering the Seminary.
 
This weekend we celebrate the Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The readings focus on being persistent and not giving up. In the First Reading from Exodus, we read how the people of Israel are engaged in a battle with the evil King Amalek. Through Moses and Joshua and their persistence, God grants them victory. In the Gospel of Luke we read the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow. Jesus teaches us that God alone grants justice and vindicates the oppressed, and reminds us to pray always without becoming weary.
 
The gift of faith allows us to trust that God will provide for us not just answer our prayer. The key is to continue to pray and God will handle the rest. As we continue to move closer to merging our three parishes into one, let us keep moving forward and having…Faith!  
Safe Environment/Sacramental Coordinator It gives me great pleasure to appoint Melissa Viator as our new parish Safe Environment/ Sacramental Coordinator effective November 1. Melissa will be the main contact for volunteers at St. Bede Parish and School, St. Charles Lwanga and St. James and record and maintain all the sacramental records. Special thanks to Judy Myers, Georlia White and Cathy Raffaele for being the Safe Environment Coordinators.
 
All Saints Day is Friday, November 1 ^st. We will have three Masses: 9 am at St. Bede; 9am at St. James (with our students from Sister Thea Bowman Catholic Academy); and 7pm at St. Bede.
 
All Souls Memorial Mass will be held Saturday, November 2 ^nd at 9 am at St. Bede.  Families that have lost a loved one during the past year are invited to attend. Throughout the month of November, we will have a Memorial Board listing the names of all the CCEEP Parishioners who had their funeral Mass held at CCEEP the past year and a Book of Remembrance will once again be in the front of the church near the altar where you can place names of loved ones who have passed on. We will remember them at every daily and Sunday Mass throughout the month of November.
 
Special Memorial Candles are available to purchase for a donation of $5.00. A label of your loved one’s name will be made and placed on a seven-day candle that can be placed in front of the Memorial Board at any of the three campuses. A special flyer is enclosed in this week’s bulletin. Please contact our CCEEP Office Manager, Terri Price, at 412.661.7222 for more information.
 
2020 Mass Intentions: In the next few weeks we will have a special flyer in the bulletin to make reservations for daily and Sunday Masses at all three of our campuses for 2020. Terri Price, our CCEEP Office Manager will be handling the Mass intentions. Stay posted for further information.
 
There are still some 9 am daily Mass intention openings for the remaining 2019 year. If you would like to have a Mass said for your loved ones, please contact Terri Price at 412.661.7222.
 
Congratulations to our Director of Music, Jennifer Gorske, who has completed the Lay Ecclesial Ministry Program for the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
 
Something to Think About…