8:00 AM For the People

8:00 AM For the People

8:00 AM For the People

8:00 AM For the People

8:00 AM For the People

4:00 PM Walter Hankle – Hankle/Houghtaling Families

John Farrell – Family

Elizabeth Fridley – The Richardson Family

8:00 AM Ralph Finne – Family

Ronald F. Kenney, Jr. – The Zink Family

Nina Halacy – Rich & Jacki Rusin

9:30 AM William Wetzel – Marjorie & Joe Pelcher

Nicholas LaSerra – Ed & Kathy Lilly

Nancy Fink – Husband

Agnes & Jack Flavin - Estate

11:00 AM Karen Zacharevitz - Family

There will be a workshop for new Altar Servers on Saturday, January 26^th at 8:30am in the church. We are especially in need of Altar Servers for 4pm & 11am Mass. For more information, call the office at 674-3818.

The next baptism class will be held on Tuesday, February 5^th at 7:30pm in the community room. Please call the office at 674-3818 to register. Please note that the last scheduled dates for Baptism will be on the weekend of February 3^rd. There are no scheduled Baptisms at St. Henry’s during the Lenten season.

Robert McConnell Mary Ann G. McConnell

Harold & Lorraine Schreiner Jack Schreiner

Catherine Squazzo Peg Squazzo

Roberts-Kaufman Family Anna D. Roberts

Loved Ones The Baker’s & Whitney’s

Margaret Brearton Nicole Pelletier

Sharon Sorell

Lauren Grace McClure Loretta Sandra Josephine Colton

Brock James Remington, Jr. Joshua Paul Whitmore

Nicholas George Tucker

Sat. Sun 1/19 & 1/20, 2008

Isaiah 49: 3, 5-6

1 Corinthians 1: 1-3

John 1: 29-34

1/13 Confirmation Class at St. Henry’s 5:30pm to 7pm

High School & Junior High Faith Formation classes

resume 6:30 to 8pm at Algonquin School

1/15 RCIA in community room at 7pm

Rosary group will meet in chapel area at 7pm

1/16 Men’s Scripture meeting at 7pm in community room

Liturgy Committee meeting at 7pm

1/17 K of C meeting at 7pm in community room

Irish Night Committee meeting at 7pm at the Mulligan’s

1/19 Church Unity Breakfast Church of the Covenant at 9am

1/20 No Faith Formation classes

1/21 No Elementary Faith Formation Classes today only

1/22 RCIA in community room at 7pm

Rosary group will meet in chapel area at 7pm

1/23 Men’s Scripture meeting at 7pm in community room

1/26 Altar Server meeting at 8am in the church

1/27 Teen Liturgy at 11am

Confirmation Class at St. Henry’s 5:30pm to 7pm

Jr High & high school Classes at Algonquin 6:30-8pm

1/29 Rosary group will meet in chapel area at 7pm

1/30 Men’s Scripture meeting at 7pm in community room

Jr. High Classes will meet at Algonquin Middle School from 6:30pm-8:00pm on 1/13,1/27,2/10,3/2,3/9,3/30. On 4/6/08, an additional class will be held for Jr. High students & their parents. This class will be held at St. Henry's from 6:30pm-8:00pm.

Confirmation Classes will meet from 5:30pm-7:00pm at St. Henry's in the community room on the following dates: 1/13,1/27,2/10,3/2 & 3/9. 4/6/08 is a mandatory retreat for all Confirmation students 11:00am-5:00pm at St. Henry's.

Teen Liturgies In addition to attending classes & participating in service projects, students are required to attend the Teen Liturgies. They will take place at the 11:00am Mass on 1/27, 2/10 & 3/2. You will have the opportunity to sign up to participate in the Mass during your Faith Formation class or call the office at 674-3818. Please plan on attending. Refreshments will be served in the community room following Mass.

Next week donations are for Joseph House. They accept any non-perishables but need personal care items. Thank you for your continued generosity.

There will be a meeting of the Irish Night committee on Thursday, January 17^th at 7pm at the home of Pat Mulligan. We cordially invite anyone interested in planning a night of good fun to please plan on attending. For more information and directions, please call Pat at 674-5636.

Holy Spirit School in East Greenbush will be hosting a Kindergarten, Pre-Kindergarten and Nursery "Information Night" on Thursday, January 17^th at 6:30pm in the Library. Registration for Kindergarten, Pre-Kindergarten and Nursery will be Thursday, January 24^th from 3 to 5pm in the Library.

If any parent is interested in enrolling your children in grades 1 to 8, please contact Sister Maureen, Principal for more information at 477-5739.

Register NOW for the Second Semester at Carondelet Music Center, which begins on Tuesday. January 22^nd. Sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Center provides music instruction for private lessons and group classes including piano, guitar, voice, woodwinds, brass, strings and percussion. Specializing in early childhood music and movement, Carondelet Music Center offers Kindermusik classes for the following levels: Village (Birth to 18mos), Our Time (18mos to 3), Imagine That! (31/2 to 5 yrs), and Young child (5 to 7yrs). All lessons and classes are held at St. Joseph’s Provincial House in Latham. Registration deadline: Wednesday, January 16. For more information, call: Dr. Patricia St. John, CSJ, Executive Director: 783-3608.

This program will be offered at the Dominican Retreat & Conference Center on Thursday, January 17^th from 7 to 8:15pm. The ecumenical community of Taize in France was founded as a place that encourages reconciliation and tolerance of all faiths. Their inclusive style of sung prayer is incredibly simple and meditative. Experience Vespers in this spirit of song, scripture and silence. Free will offering is encouraged. For information or reservations, contact the Conference Center at 393-4169.

You are invited to attend the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Breakfast and brief service of prayer. This event is sponsored by the Sand Lake Association of Area Churches. The breakfast will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 19, 2008 at Church of the Covenant. Suggested donation is $10 payable at the door. (After breakfast expenses, the balance will be donated to the REACH and CoNSERNS-U). Call the Church of the Covenant (674-3664) by Wednesday, January 16^th to make reservations.

After more than a year of meetings and discussions, local planning groups (LPGs) for every parish in the Albany Diocese will spend the first half of 2008 creating recommendations for their parishes' futures. Our local planning group (St. Henry’s, St. Mary’s, Nassau, Immaculate Conception, New Lebanon and St. Joseph’s, Stephentown) has received a planning manual from the Diocese to help in making these recommendations. "Status quo is not an option," reads the manual for this phase of the process. All parishes, the manual notes, must come up with recommendations to close, merge or at least link their parishes with others.

Closing needs little explanation and is, sadly an inevitability for some churches in our Diocese.

Merger would mean that two or more parishes become one, sharing assets and liabilities;

Linked parishes would remain separate entities but might still share leadership, staff or programs.

One important criterion for whether a parish remains open is Mass attendance. The formula offered by the diocesan Pastoral Planning Office is this: If the total number of Catholics attending all weekend liturgies at a parish is less than its seating capacity, ending the use of that church must be considered. The need for such changes is due to several factors, including declines in vocations to religious life and active participation in the faith, and Catholic population shifts from cities to suburbs. The manual points out that even suburban parishes are "graying," with fewer active young Catholics replacing aging parishioners.

2007 was a discussion time for our local planning group. The past year has been an opportunity for the local core teams from our respective parishes to engage in dialogue and relationship, building rapport and sharing information. We have tried to keep the parish informed of these discussions by means of frequent bulletin announcements and inserts. In addition, our core team has invited your ideas and welcomed your participation. Topics discussed by our LPG during 2007 included evangelization, prayer and worship, lifelong faith formation, Christian advocacy and service, and growing leadership. Now that parishes have explored how well they're carrying out everything from liturgy to religious education under their current staffing patterns, it's time to make recommendations for change. We have been told that change will be required across the board. Even parishes that have successfully fulfilled the mission of the Church in the Diocese so far can improve their use of staff and resources.

By June 30, all parishes of the Diocese (including St. Henry’s and the other members of our local planning group) are required to have submitted their recommendations to the Diocese. A Pastoral Planning Review Commission appointed by Bishop Howard J. Hubbard will then review the plans and either return them for revision or approve and send them on to the Bishop.

By January 2009, Bishop Hubbard will begin announcing reconfiguration plans. Some parishes may close or merge in 2009, while some may continue working on collaborating with others until, for example, a pastor retires and the final change is made. Implementing all the plans will probably take place over a three- to five-year period.

To share thoughts and concerns with the members of our Core Team contact Cathy Peake, Bob Pasquarelli, Linda Banker, Louise Ryan, Bob Lutringer, or Father John.