Welcome to Our Parish Website

NOTICE

Office Hours have changed starting Thursday, Dec. 16th. 

New hours are:
Tuesdays 9am to 5 pm

Thursdays 8am to 1pm 

 

NOTICE

Christmas Mass schedule:

Midnight Mass 12am SFX-Clayton

Christmas Day Mass: 8am SFX-Clayton. 10:30am OLOG-Des Moines

 

New Year's Day "Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God" schedule:

8am SFX-Clayton

10:30am OLOG-Des Moines

"Dear friends, by seeking holiness and using the gifts God has giving us to accomplish his will in our lives, we are contributing mightily to that kingdom we all long for, where there will be no more crying or pain or death. Certainly, no abortion. No euthanasia. No assisted suicide. No deep freezing of embryos as though they were merchandise. And no destruction of human life in the name of science." --Cardinal Justin Rigali.

What The Church Teaches About: Abortion

From the Catechism…

“Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person -- among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you” (Jer 1:5; cf Job 10:8-12; Ps 22:10-11). “My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth” (Ps. 139:15). Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable.” -- Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2270-2271

2021 Religious Education Classes

Classes will be starting Wednesday, January 13th, 2021. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, only students in Sacramental classes (1st Holy Communion and Confirmation) will be attending in person at this time. We will send home a workbook for all other grades and each teacher will be following up with your child regularly. Please fill out the online registration form below as soon as possible. Fees are $25 per child or $100/family of 5 or more. Parent handbook and other release forms will be mailed out after receiving the registration forms. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScEft20XfXsj-67A7YwyK0_DqggnOghECsJVRYfPVLtr89Pwg/viewform?embedded=true

PRAYERFULLY CONSIDER DONATING YOUR TIME:  VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR:

CCD TEACHERS    CONFIRMATION TEACHERS

LECTORS        CHURCH CLEANERS

Pledge Goal Report

St. Francis Xavier - Clayton

% of Participation - 9.78%

Number of Families - 317

Parish Goal - $12,200.00

% Goal Pledged - 96.55%

% Goal Paid - 88.68%

Total Pledge - $11,779.00      Total Paid - $10,819.00

Short - $1,381.00

Every human life is precious and irreplaceable gift of almighty God.

Pope Francis stated that: "even the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick, the old, the unborn and the poor, are masterpieces of God's creation, made in his own image, destined to live forever, and deserving of the utmost reverence and respect."

Donum Vitae the "Instruction on Respect for Human Life in Its Origin  and on the Dignity of Procreation" issued on February 22,1987 states: "From the moment of conception, the life of every human being is to be respected in an absolute way because man is the only creature on earth that God has 'wished for himself' and the spiritual soul of each man is `immedediately created' by God; his whole being bears the image of the Creator. Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves 'the creative action of God' and it remains forever in a special relationships with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can, ln any circumstance, claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being."

Every human life is sacred. The teaching of the Church is clear. But so many people, Catholics included, can be so influenced by the 'culture of death' that their minds are clouded to the truth. We need to make it clear to our children and our children's children, that each and every human person, from conception to natural death, sleep to be treated with the the  utmost respect. Fr. John Hardon said that the 20th Century was the most violent of all the eras of the human race. If you look at human history, there have been all sorts of injustices of man toward man. No matter how brutal the ancient world may seem to us, it was nowhere near as destructive as what our world is doing now in the destruction of human life! Let's look at the major issues we face:

Abortion - the direct and purposeful taking of the life of an unborn child - is the most important issue we face in our country and throughout the world. Since 1973, over 55 million babies have been lost in this country alone. How does  this compare to the loss of people due to war in this country? Let's have a look: 

The Civil War 498,332 deaths - World War 1 116,708 deaths - World War 11 407,316 deaths - Korea 25,604 deaths - Vietnam 58,168 deaths. That makes a total of 1,106,128.00 deaths. Abortions are currently at 55 million. That's 64 times as many deaths by abortion than by war!

Saint Theresa of Calcutta: "We must not be surprised when we hear of murders, of killings, or war, of hatred If a mother can kill her own child, what is left but for us to kill each other?" Just in case you think that Catholics are not at fault here, I decided to look at the abortion statistics in relation to religion: 

Protestant: 37.4% of abortions in the USA - Catholic: 31.3% - None: 24.2% - Other: 6.1% - Jewish: 1%

This is a huge issue across the board. We need to be clear about the Church's teaching and why we hold sacred every human life. 
May God the Father, who gave us life itself, help us to do all we can to promote the dignity of human life from conception to natural death! And the graces we need to live our lives in a real Christian way.

Amen

!ATTENTION! REQUIRED TRAINING FOR ALL CHURCH VOLUNTEERS 

 

As required by the Archdiocese, All members of all Ministries of the Church, and All volunteers of the Church are required to Certify in the Abuse    Awareness Training class. This class can  be taken online at https://www.virtusonline.org/virtus/index.cfm? (When completed please provide a copy of your training certificate for the Parish Office) Our church staff can also assist with accessing the program.

Additionally, the class can now also be taken by appointment at the CCD Building during office hours, as a group or individually. Please call the parish office for more details.