This Sunday Christ continues to challenge us by His asking in an even deeper way if we really know what it means to be true Disciples of Christ. Do we really know what the Lord asks of us in our daily lives?
The Gospel has Jesus sending some of His followers ahead to a Samaritan village in order to prepare for a celebration while Jesus has His sights on the long-term goal of reaching Jerusalem. The Samaritans and the Jews did not get along at all. Once in the village, the Samaritans reject Jesus’ disciples. James and John are so upset, so maddened, that they want Jesus to reign down fire upon the village and destroy them. Jesus rebukes John and James and quietly moves on. As I was preparing these readings it reminded me of today’s lack of public discourse, how “at odds” everyone seems to be whether you are talking politics, religion, race or even local soccer games PLEASE CICK TO READ MORE...
"In 2003, the Bishops of the United States, acknowledged that the current immigration system is badly in need of reform and offered a comprehensive set of recommendations for changing U.S. laws and policies to bring about a more humane and just immigration sys-tem in the United States." The Bishops' call for reform addresses Global anti-poverty efforts, expanded opportunities to reunify families, a temporary worker program, broad-based legalization and restoration of due process. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have consistently supported immigration reform.
Please contact your representatives in Washington and ask them to support Comprehensive Immigration Reform that reflects the principles contained in Scripture and Catholic Social Teaching. Visit www.Justiceforimmigrants.org for information on a more humane and Christian approach to immigration reform. Capital switchboard, 202-224-3121.
Sunday, immediately following the 11 am. Mass, a brief Fortnight for Freedom prayer service will be held in the Mary Garden. Religious freedom is being challenged by secular societies all around the world—from horrible acts of violence against Christians in some African nations to state-sponsored suppression in China, to legislative proposals and state/federal court mandates here in our own “Land of Freedom,” religious liberties are under attack: from the president’s health care mandate forcing Catholics and other Christians to provide medicines and medical practices that violate the fundamental tenants of our faith to assaults on the family, human life itself, and the idea of religious education. The most powerful thing we can do is to unite our voices in prayer. Come let your voice be heard! Listen to Christ in last weekend’s Gos-pel…“who do you say that I am?” Is He the Truth? Are His Ways worth our time, our efforts—our souls—to de-fend. Join us in prayer. Immediately following the prayer service join in on a real 4thof July treat for all.
I want to publically express my sincere appreciation to everyone who worked on the Parish’s Giant Tag Sale last weekend—there was a lot of marketing, organizing and setting up of Russell Hall, pricing, and greeting of visitors to make this bi-annual event a success. This year we matched the previous sales record with a whopping $6,152,26. A nice addition to the funds needed to cover our parish’s maintenance expenses.
While there are many individuals I must thank—I want to personally acknowledge and thank Mrs. Ann Leavitt for heading-up the event. Many hours and lots of hard, physical work go into the production of a Giant Tag Sale and Ann spent what I am sure seems like weeks living in Russell Hall to put this together, not to mention the pre-event work of creating flyers and distributing them around town and placing newspaper ads. PLEASE CLICK TO READ MORE...
It is so nice to be getting back into the “swing of things” slowly returning to celebrating Masses and performing baptisms. I have a new outlook on both the “handicapped” and the home-bound. Sitting on the “sidelines” has also given me a fresh outlook on our parish. Before I go any further, I want to first thank the visiting clergy who have been helping me out with the celebration of the Masses. There have been a variety of priests on weekends (Fr. Matera, Fr. Fidelis, Fr. LaPlante, and Fr. Kevin) and for the daily Masses; Fr. David from Holy Family Monastery has been “in residence” here since May 6. I greatly appreciate their willingness to help—coming here is in addition to their al-ready busy schedules. The visiting priests that have come here have made the same comments: PLEASE CLICK TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE...
Joe Sheehy, a Sales Rep from Liturgical Publications, our bulletin Publisher will be with us this coming week contacting current and prospective new advertisers for the back of our weekly bulletin. As you know, it is our advertisers that sponsor and make our bulletin possible with no cost to the Parish.
We thank all those who have renewed their ads as well as our new Sponsor advertisers. Please patronize these generous sponsors and let them know you saw their ad in the bulletin. Any Business Owner interested in advertising in the bulletin can call for ad size availability and rates.
Mr. Sheehy can be reached at 203-231-0727 and he would be happy to assist with any questions you may have about placing an ad.
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WJMJ will be conducting its semi-annual radiothon Thursday, June 13th through Saturday, June 15th and Monday, June 17th to raise operating capital. As an educational, noncommercial radio station we are prohibited from airing commercials, so we must rely on support from our listeners to continue this valuable ministry of evangelization. If you aren’t currently a listen-er to WJMJ, we invite you to tune in. Most areas of the Arch-diocese of Hartford can receive WJMJ at 88.9 FM, in New Haven at 107.1 FM, in Hamden at 93.1 FM, and now streaming live over the internet at WJMJ.org from anywhere. Good radio, great music, with informative news is worth supporting. Add to that the inspiration of faith and we become the area’s most unique radio station worthy of your help and support. If you are interested in volunteering to take pledges, please con-tact us at (203) 758-7367 or visit our web site at WJMJ.org and click on the Volunteer button to sign up. Your time and financial support are greatly appreciated. Tune in and be part of WJMJ – Catholic Radio; Where Faith Meets Life!
You might have noticed that listed in the bulletin, in the Mass Intention announcements, the term Pro Populo as the intention for a particular Mass. The term Pro Populo in Latin means “For the People” and Canon Law, the code of law which governs the Catholic Church, calls for the pastor of a parish to celebrate one Mass each week for the intention of the parishioners. This is an ancient tradition of the Church and of the priesthood, which is required to pray for the people in their charge. The Pro Populo Mass may be celebrated on the weekend or the weekday. The intention for a Pro Populo Mass can be for the “health of parish-ioners” or “for their happy marriages or for struggling marriages,” it may be for “those parishioners who have died or for a deceased family member,” for “their children in need” or for any particular intention. CLICK TO READ MORE...
Does God love me? Does God really take an interest in my individual life? How could He care for me—after all I am a sinner—I have not lived a very Christ-like life? I think it would be safe to assume that most of us have wondered about these questions at some time in our faith journey. We would also be safe in assuming that there are many people in the world who wouldn’t deny God’s existence but find it hard to believe that God can have any personal interest in the likes of them, particularly if over the years they know they’ve drifted from away from God or even denied Him from time-to-time, and above all if they know that they have not lived as they should have lived—perhaps simply being indifferent when it comes to a brother or sister in need. This week-end’s Gospel should give us great confidence in God’s love for us and it does so not just with words but with a concrete example. CLICK TO READ MORE...
The time has come for the U.S. government
to provide the exemptions necessary
so that churches and religious organizations
will not be forced to subsidize
healthcare coverage that goes against
their moral principles.
To voice your opposition to the federal
health care mandate, contact the
White House at: www.whitehouse.gov/
contact or call: 202-456-1111 or 202-456-
1414; or write to: The White House, 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington,
DC 20500. Let the White House know that
the mandate violates the First Amendment,
I wanted to say a word of THANKS to Mary and Ralph Chappano for all their efforts in heading-up the Script Program here at St. Catherine—and to thank all of the volunteers who manned the table after each Mass to sell the cards. Their effort, time and energy are greatly appreciated! CLICK TO READ MORE...
This Sunday we acknowledge our Catholic Identity to its fullest on this Solemnity of the Church: the solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This embodies our Catho-lic Identity to the fullest because the Roman Catholic Church, founded by Christ and given to Peter as the “Rock upon which I will build my church,” holds to what we call the Apostolic na-ture of the Church—and unbroken line of popes from Peter to Francis, upon which the authority of Christ rests. It is by this Apostolic tradition, that we acknowledge the True Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist—the Sacrament of Uni-ty—and which binds our present-day Church to Christ’s founding. CLICK TO READ MORE...
On June 11th Judy Pluta, our director of Youth Ministry, is hosting an event for parents—repeat: an event for parents of teens and young adults—about the challenges our young people face in today’s world—from dealing appropriately with grief, anxiety and depression to body image and fitting in—and things in between. This is a timely discussion due to the recent tragedies in Simsbury—and with the overall stress in our world. A
licensed family therapist will be leading our discussion. We hope parents will attend this dialogue as it is important for all of us to learn and to be involved. CLICK FOR MORE DETAILS...