I am very happy to announce that Manuela Hanshaw has been selected as our parish’s new director of Youth Ministry. Manuela has worked as an assistant to Judy Pluta for two years and has developed a strong working relationship with those teens already involved in our Youth Ministry Program. CLICK TO READ MORE...

Go! Light Your Candle...but first acquaint yourself with the lyrics and our baptismal call and what lies ahead if we say “Yes.” (Click the link for the lyrics to "Go Light Your World")

Mission Team 2017 arrived home safely from our week of service in Dover, Delaware. We felt the prayerful support of the St. Catherine of Siena community all week. Our work sites this year were varied and a departure from the familiar. Some of us worked at The Boys and Girls Club, others were at a women and children’s shelter, the food bank, or the animal rescue zoo. Most of us spent the week outside with home repair projects such as power washing, painting, and home restoration for seniors and the physically challenged of the Dover area. Still others, worked under the hot, humid, Delaware sun on weeding and clean- up projects.

Many people don’t feel they need to go to Confession or at least don’t think they need to go to another person—a priest—to hear their confession. And this isn’t just a “modern” thing or something of our current culture. Oh to be sure, our culture has tried hard—and pretty successfully—to eliminate “guilt” from our human psyche. Guilt is consider at best as old fashioned and at worst—one of those Catholic Institutional things that hold us in our place—a sort of tether on our Free Will, if you will

A wise woman gave me this “Parents’ Prayer” the other day and I thought it might be helpful to some of our parents. I've also received calls about the "Swimmers Prayer" that I read at last weeks Mass so it's included here as well!

Last weekend my homily was inspired by our youth ministry’s current annual theme: Building Peace: what piece will you be? You saw this past weekend, and will see again this weekend, puzzle pieces floating above the sanctuary of the church. These puzzle pieces are inscribed with real life action steps comprised of the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy which are ingrained in both Catholic theology and in Catholic social teaching.

The Roman Catholic Church has seven (7) Sacraments instituted by Jesus Christ Himself, no council or synod nor committee of the Vatican created these Sacraments. Christ created them in Divine Wisdom because He and God the Father determined that we need them in our flawed human condition. The Sacraments provide us with God's grace so that we may journey toward salvation.

In today’s Gospel of Luke we hear the parable of the wealthy man who builds more and bigger barns to store all of his possession—produce of the earth—for himself and yet unbeknownst to him, he will have no more need of these items past that night. Today’s gospel asks us to consider what is of import to us during this life—and for the life to come. We are asked to consider just how we spending our life—what are we collecting and doing with our time on earth—for what are we preparing?

“Eye opening” “Life changing experience” “One of the most impressionable things I have ever done” “One of the best weekends of my life.” These are some of the comments that I received on the bus ride home from the Mission Trip when I asked each teen to describe this years trip in a word or a phrase. Reflecting on the trip, I thought back to some of the worksites we visited - Mederios Center, a day shelter for the homeless;

It might surprise you to know that I was asked to teach a Confirmation two class (the second year of our two-year Confirmation program this year). It meets during the religious education year on Sunday evenings from 7:15 to 8:30 p.m. My class comprises 15 teenagers who will be confirmed this April by Hartford Auxiliary Bishop Christie Macaluso. CLICK TO LEARN MORE...

As we prepare for the academic year ahead with school and religious education classes just around the corner (yikes!), it is timely to have a reminder about the role of godparents and Confirmation sponsors as soon the numbers of baptisms begin to pick-up and our Confirmation program gets ready to begin. CLICK THE TITLE TO READ MORE...

As we wrap-up the "academic year" here at Saint Catherine of Siena, I want to take a few lines to express my thanks to our standing ministries (Religious Education, Youth Ministry, and Music) to personally thank all involved for making our parish so alive with faith and action. For Religious Education: I want to thank Kathi Bonner and all the catechists and aides who pass on the faith to our future Catholics with such devotion and hope. We have, without a doubt, one of the best religious education programs in the area and the testimony to that is the fact that while other programs are shrinking. Ours is growing and attracting more students 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...