St. Clare Catholic Church

Another late post:
We had our heritage potluck late this year because Pentecost fell on Memorial Day weekend. Postponed to May 31st, it was highly successful once again and there was plenty of vittles for everyone!
Some even got to take home!

Late post: our school had a friendly competition of can/bottle recycling with Holy Family in SE Portland. St. Clare won! The "prize" was that the principal of the losing school will wear a t-shirt designed by the winners! Here are a few pics of that "award ceremony" held at Holy Family

This was our last week of school for this year. This coming week is going to feel awfully quiet around campus without 230 K-8 students filling the place with their energy. We have lots of great kids and families here at St. Clare. I’ll miss seeing them daily. We had another good school year. Enrollment is high and will be even higher next year. All of our teachers are returning again next year. I’m proud of all the good work that happens in our St. Clare School.

St. Clare Preschool continues throughout the summer so our school building won’t be completely silent, there will be 75-80 little voices giggling, squealing and laughing. There is always lots of joy in the preschool classrooms.

Junque and Jewels Rummage Sale opens for customers on Friday morning. At 8am there will be a long line across our parking lot of excited people waiting to get into the gym for some great bargains. THANK YOU to ALL the volunteers that make it happen. Special thanks for Theresa Duda who leads it all and Claire-Marie Kahn for the great announcements at Mass. Thanks for all your donations that fill up the gym to overflowing. I’ll be doing some good shopping myself, I need some garden tools for my property at Scappoose and miscellaneous other things. I’m sure I’ll find what I need at Junque and Jewels.

Enjoy summer everyone. Let’s keep praying for one another.

–Fr. Don

It has been a busy two weeks for our St. Clare School 8th grade class. A week ago they spent five days in Washington, D.C. and this week was their final week of school, culminating with graduation ceremony Friday evening

The Washington, D.C. trip was a great success. They left early Tuesday morning and returned Saturday evening. In those 5 days they visited colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, the Capitol building, multiple presidential and war memorials, Arlington Nat’l Cemetery, the Smithsonian museums and even attended a Nationals baseball game. It was a packed week, and our students shined! The teachers, principal and chaperones were proud of the student’s behavior and attitude. These are great kids.

This week was their final week of school at St. Clare. Some of these young people started here in our St. Clare Daycare/Preschool when they were infants. Some started here in Kindergarten and others joined our school some other time along the way. This week they hosted the weekly school Mass, we had a prayer service with their parents, a big “Send Off Assembly” with the whole school and finished up with graduation on Friday. There are 26 of them and I will miss them when I don’t see them every morning in the classroom. Again, these are great kids and I am proud of them.

Thank you for your support of our St. Clare School. We have been blessed for over 100 years to have helped prepare hundreds of young people to be smart and faith filled adults.

Let’s keep praying for one another. –Fr. Don

Yesterday at Mass we celebrated the Feast of the Holy Trinity -- I thought I'd share this nice write-up --

"A God Who Affirms, Accompanies, and Saves" (Trinity Sunday)

A house caught fire in the middle of the night. Flames spread quickly through the building. A small child was trapped upstairs, crying for help. Neighbors gathered outside, helplessly watching the fire grow stronger.
Suddenly, a man rushed into the burning house. It was the child's father. Without thinking of his own safety, he entered the flames searching desperately for his son.
At the same time, a firefighter climbed through a window and reached the frightened child. Outside, another rescuer shouted instructions, guiding them toward safety.
Minutes later, the child was brought out alive. Afterward, people argued about who had saved the child. "The father saved him." "No, the firefighter saved him." "No, the one guiding them outside saved him." But the truth is: it was one rescue carried out by three persons, each fully involved, each acting in love.
My dear brothers and sisters, that is a beautiful image of the Holy Trinity. The Father sends. The Son enters our burning world. The Holy Spirit guides, strengthens, and leads us safely home.
G.K. Chesterton once remarked that the Trinity is proof that Christianity was not invented by human beings. If human beings had invented religion, they would have made it simple. But the Trinity breaks all the rules.
It breaks the rules of mathematics: 1 + 1 + 1 is still One.
It breaks the rules of grammar: singular and plural at the same time.
It challenges human philosophy and reason.
And yet, we believe not because we fully understand but because God Himself has revealed it.
The Trinity is not a puzzle to solve but a relationship to enter. Pope Francis beautifully said: "God is not a solitary God. He is a communion of love."
And today the Scriptures reveal to us three beautiful qualities of that divine love.

1. The Trinity is a Relationship of Affirmation
One of the most touching moments in the Gospel occurs at the baptism of Jesus.

The Father looks at His Son and says: "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." What beautiful words!
The Father affirms the Son. He does not compete with Him. He does not overshadow Him. He delights in Him. Likewise, before ascending into heaven, Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit: "The Advocate will come. He will strengthen you and guide you."

The Son affirms the Spirit. He prepares the disciples to welcome Him. Within the Trinity, there is no jealousy, no rivalry, no struggle for power.
Each Person honors the other. Each Person creates space for the other. Each Person rejoices in the mission of the other.
Imagine how our families would change if we learned this divine lesson. Many wounds in families come from the lack of affirmation.
A husband longs to hear, "I am proud of you." A wife longs to hear, "Thank you for all that you do." A child longs to hear, "I believe in you." Parents long to hear, "Thank you."

The Trinity teaches us to affirm rather than criticize, to encourage rather than discourage. When affirmation becomes the language of the family, heaven begins at home.

2. The Trinity is a Relationship of Presence
In the first reading, God reveals Himself to Moses: "A merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity."
God is not distant. He is not indifferent. He is not absent. Like the father in the burning house, God enters our suffering.
The Gospel tells us: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son." God did not save us from a distance. He came close. He entered our broken world. He entered our fears, wounds, disappointments, and even death itself.
Many of us come to Mass carrying hidden struggles. Perhaps there is sickness in the family. Perhaps there is loneliness. Perhaps there is a burden nobody else knows.

The Feast of the Trinity reminds us: God does not stand outside our fire. He enters it. When we cannot carry our cross alone, the Father walks beside us, the Son carries it with us, and the Spirit strengthens us from within.

3. The Trinity is a Relationship of Unity in Diversity*
In today's second reading, St. Paul gives one of the most beautiful blessings in Scripture: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you."
Love. Grace. Fellowship. Three distinct gifts. One divine life.
The Trinity teaches us that unity does not mean sameness. The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father.
They are distinct, yet perfectly united in love.
This is the lesson our world desperately needs.
Families are different. Personalities are different. Generations are different. Some people are quiet. Others are outspoken. Some are emotional. Others are practical.
The problem begins when we try to change everyone into our own image.
A parent once told me: "Father, I want my son to become a doctor, but he never listens to me." I asked his son, "What do you want to become?" He replied, "An artist." Then I told the parent that you are expecting oranges from a mango tree.
The Trinity teaches us another way. The Father allows the Son to be the Son. The Son allows the Spirit to be the Spirit.
Each Person is different, yet deeply loved. Real love accepts before it corrects. Real love appreciates before it evaluates. Real love allows others to become who God created them to be.

My dear friends, the Trinity is not merely a doctrine in a catechism book.
The Trinity is a way of life.
The Father teaches us to affirm.
The Son teaches us to accompany.
The Holy Spirit teaches us to strengthen.

If we live these three qualities, affirmation, presence, and unity in diversity, our homes will begin to reflect the very life of God.

And every time we make the Sign of the Cross, let us remember:
We are not simply mentioning three divine names.
We are placing ourselves inside the embrace of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.*
A God who loves us. A God who walks with us. A God who saves us. Amen.

~ Fr. Rex Jeba

Our St. Clare 8th Grade class has been in the Washington D.C. area this week learning all about our federal government and national history. Years ago our school used to take the 7th and 8th graders to Washington, D.C. and now our principal, Mr. Harris, has resumed that tradition. Their flight left early (6:30am) on Tuesday and they return this weekend and then finish their last week of school before gradua-tion. Besides the students, two teachers and Mr. Harris and parent chaperones and a professional tour guide have been leading the students.

They had a full schedule of activities. They visited all the big sights and learned lots of history. It’s one thing to talk about these things in the classroom but it’s a com-
pletely different experience to see the sights first-hand. Most of the students had never been to Washington, D.C. before. Now, having been there, when they listen to the national news, it means a lot more to them.

This Washington, D.C. trip is just one more way that our St. Clare School is prepar-
ing our students to excel.

This weekend we have our Support-A-Student event. This is an annual fundraiser to provide funds for tuition assistance for our school. It’s expensive to enroll students in our school (approximately $10,000/year) and tuition assistance helps our families a great deal. We usually give out around $100,000 in tuition assistance each year. Your donations to Support-A-Student helps families be able to have their children learn here at St. Clare School. All gifts are generously matched by the Joseph E. Weston Foundation, doubling your impact.

Thank you for helping our parish families and our parish school!

~Fr. Don

the Rosary pictured is NOT the traditional 5-decade version.
There are other Rosaries, too -- like the 7-sorrows version with 7 sections of 7 beads each, and instead of the Mysteries, we recite the Seven Sorrows of our Mother Mary.
Then there is also the Divine Mercy -- where the sequencing is the same, but the prayers are different.
What other Rosaries do you know or pray?