Last week, we took up the topic of modesty in our clothing, but today I want to discuss a related issue regarding clothing – what to wear to church? Especially as the weather becomes more summer-like and we are tempted to come straight from the pool to the church, does it matter what clothing I don as I enter the sacred space of St. Jude’s?

I realize that this can be a controversial topic – and many people will say, “It doesn’t matter what I wear, as long as I am there!” But I believe that such an opinion doesn’t appreciate the incarnational aspect of faith or the human person.

Everything we do matters. Everything we do communicates something. Every action of ours is a way in which we interact with the world, form virtue or vice, and incline our hearts towards God or away from Him. There really are no “neutral” choices we make – all of our choices are either making God the center of our life, or putting something else there.

This includes the clothing we wear. If a boyfriend shows up to take his girlfriend on a date and he’s unshaven, wearing a stained tee-shirt and ripped jeans, would she feel loved and valued? What would that communicate about the priorities in this young man’s life?

Ultimately, we don’t dress well for church to impress God – we do it for us, to help us adopt the attitude that God is the most important priority in our lives. We dress well and “go the extra mile” for things we think are important to us: the interview with the boss, the date with the girlfriend. We put on our uniform for the sports game; we make sure to wear scrubs if we’re a doctor doing surgery. What we wear, and where we wear it, shows that we understand what’s going on there.

So, when we dress well for Mass, we are demonstrating in a very tangible way that God is worth it! It helps us to remember that what we are doing at Mass requires dignity, attention, respect, and all of our love.

Are there hard-and-fast guidelines, then, about Mass attire? Here is a basic principle: it should be classier than what we would ordinarily wear around-the-house. What that looks like for each person might be different. But it should take some effort, to help us recognize that we are going into the very presence of Almighty God. Personally I think that clothing with large logos are probably inappropriate for church, and that tee-shirts and shorts are too casual and should be upgraded to pants/modest skirt and a collared shirt and some sort of dress shoes.

Now, obviously there are some exemptions. If you were headed home from the beach and your car got a flat tire and you just barely made it into Mass, it would be perfectly understandable for someone to wear beach attire. When I was growing up, though, my church didn’t have air conditioning at all, and my parents still made us wear long pants and button-down shirt – it was awful…and it taught me an important lesson that the Mass is worth sacrificing for. That is a lesson I have never forgotten – drilled into me on many sweaty Sunday mornings!

I am quite sure I will get a few emails or conversations from those who disagree with me on this controversial topic! But to those who disagree, I would encourage one thing: try it for a few weekends, and see if it makes a difference in how you worship, in your attention, in your seriousness about your Catholic Faith. It couldn’t hurt – and it might just be a concrete way of honoring God every Sunday morning!

Corpus Christi Procession

The feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord is fast approaching! Join us to honor our Eucharistic Lord with a beautiful traditional Eucharistic procession immediately following our 11:30am Mass. The procession will stop at different altars all around our campus, where we will offer love and worship to Lord. Come and experience the beauty, the tradition, and the worship of our first-ever Eucharistic Procession for the Feast of Corpus Christi!

Thank You David Baranowski!

It is with great sorrow that we bid goodbye to our phenomenal director of music, David Baranowski. He has taken a new position as director of several choirs, one of which meets on Sunday mornings. He has truly elevated our music program and added so much elegance, beauty, and true worship to our liturgies. He will be truly missed. We will be interviewing for new director of music within the next several weeks.

Parish News

Photos from Our May Crowning

The Knights of Columbus Council 5986 is sponsoring a blood donation drive at St. Jude's on Saturday, July 23. Any parishioner wishing to donate at that time can do so by following the instructions below:

Here is how you can make an appointment. Go to the ARC blood donation web site, https://www.redcrossblood.org/. In the upper right hand corner place '06468' in the zip code box. At the top of the left hand column, click “refine search” and then find and click “Choose my dates”. When the calendar comes up, click on July 23, 2022 then click on 'refine results'. Our drive should appear. From there, you can schedule your own appointment.

Fran Cambra reached 21 gallons of blood donated at a recent Knights of Columbus blood drive. Here’s a photo.

L to R: John Tartaro, Frank Flynn, Fran, Jeff Romeo and Hav Tweedy

Hopeline Baby Bottle Appeal

Knights of Columbus

St. John XXIII Council 5987

The Knights of Columbus will be initiating a fundraising drive to raise much needed funds for the Hopeline Pregnancy Resource Centers. Hopeline has been helping women in Connecticut for over 30 years. It is a faith based organization committed to caring for women and their families through their free and confidential pregnancy services which include pregnancy testing, ultrasounds and counseling on the truth about abortions as well as the option of parenting and adoption.

This is a wonderful way to put our faith into action. Our goal is to raise $5,000. We will be distributing baby bottles after each mass, beginning the weekend of June 4^th and 5^th, to be filled with your donations. We will be collecting these bottles after all Masses each weekend from June 11^th to June 19^th.

Any amount you can donate will be appreciated by the Knights of Columbus, Hopeline, the expectant mothers and the unborn babies.

The Reverend James McCarten Assembly 119

4^th Degree Knights of Columbus

Patriotic Rosary

Flag Day

Tuesday June 14^th 7 P.M.

Madonna Statue (Church if bad weather)

7P.M.

St. Jude’s Parish

The 4^th Degree is the Highest Degree Taken By Knights and Is The Patriotic Degree of The Order

 CELEBRATION OF VOCATIONS

Please join us for a Coffee Social following the 9:30 Mass on June 5th as we take this opportunity to congratulate Deacon David Flynn and Deacon John Tuccio on the 7th Anniversary of their Diaconate Ordination.

We are so grateful for their dedication and Ministry to our Parish.

We welcome our Seminarian, Pablo, who will be with us this summer, to our Parish Family and assure him of our prayers as he continues his preparation for the Priesthood.

The June issue of the Family Newsletter is now available - click below.  If you would like to be added to the recipient list, e-mail Jessica Iannotta

Young families with children and teens are invited to meet at Great Hollow Lake at 5 pm on June 22 for hiking with Fr. Joseph. After hiking we will meet at St. Jude for Pizza. 

RSVP below so we know to expect you!

Save the Dates for Summer Family Events! 

Tuesday, July 26: Family Bingo Night - 6:30 pm

Friday, August 12: Family Movie Night - 7 pm 

REGISTER NOW for Vacation Bible School!

Visit https://www.stjuderc.org/vacation-bible-school.html to register your child entering Grade K-5. Space is limited so sign up early to reserve a spot for your child!

PLEASE REGISTER ASAP so that we can order materials. 

If you have already registered, please send in the parent release.

We need more ADULT and TEEN volunteers!

If you are an adult interested in volunteering, please fill out this form to let us know your availability and what you'd be interesting in helping out with. If you are a teen who would like to volunteer, please fill out this volunteer application. Contact Jessica Iannotta for more information.

Mom's Group Announcements!

St. Jude's Mom's Group Kickoff Meeting Recap is available on the parish website. Contact Jessica Iannotta for more information and click here to register for the group contact list.

Next meeting Wednesday 6/29 at 7 pm in the social hall to kick off our summer book club on Living Joy by Chris Stefanick.  To join our monthly mother's Zoom rosary e-mail Jessica Iannotta

Diocesan Wedding Jubilee Mass 

Bishop Caggiano will be celebrating the Wedding Jubilee Mass on October 22nd at Saint Mary's Parish in Bethel at 11 AM

This Mass will be for couples celebrating 25, 40, 45, 50 or more years of marriage.

Parishioners wishing to attend may feel free to either email Pat Hansen at phansen@diobpt.org or call 203-416-1342.

Please remember in your daily prayers:

Marge Tranzillo, Judy-Beth Raine, Maria Bertone, Deacon Ronnie Bicknell, Marie Micholovich, Vincent Daniello, Dyana vander Wielen, Joe Pinto, Ray Schwartz, Zoey Frigo, Daniel Louis Bianco, Max, Hung Vu, Alfred Zawadski, Michael Serke, Kristen Kelly, Leroy Moye, Richard Carrano, Judy Thomas, Dr. John Kezel, Joseph Sheridan, Francisca Testa & family, Catherine Belanger, Stephen Henn, Robert Orol, Manny Cambra, Bennett Gulyas, and Tom Pleva

All healthcare workers, first responders, caregivers and the men and women in the military.

If you have anyone that you would like to add to the list, please call the office or email with the name to be added.

Please join us in praying our Monthly Parish Intention. 

Our Petition for June is:

Through devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Most Loving Heart, may our own hearts grow in love for others,

We pray....

SACRED HEART OF JESUS, I PLACE MY TRUST IN YOU

Upcoming Mass Intentions

Sat   June 4       8:30am               Roberta DiCicco

Sat   June 4       5:00pm               Isabel Dantas-Teixeira and

                                                         Lucinda Dantas

Sun  June 5       7:30am               St Jude Parishioners

Sun  June 5       9:30am               Paul Sideleau, Sr

Sun  June 5       11:30am             Andrew and Helen Oros

Mon June 6       9:00am               Dionisio and Rosa Barroso

Tue   June 7      9:00am               Vincent Buonassisi

Wed June 8       9:00am               Melissa Gentile

Thu  June 9       9:00am               Garry Gasso      

Sat   June 11     5:00pm               St Jude Parishioners

Sun  June 12     7:30am               Irene Zawadski

Sun June 12      9:30am               Maria Emilia Monteiro

Sun  June12      11:30am             Raymonda Blair

The Tabernacle Candle will burn in memory of the deceased members of the Bonitatibus and Tranzillo families during the month of June.

If the 9:00 am Weekday mass is not listed, an intention has not been requested. Also, there are no public Masses on Friday mornings.

Monday through Thursday Weekday Masses will be in the main Church at 9 am and live streamed.

The Weekend Masses inside the Church are Saturday at 5:00 pm and Sunday at 7:30, 9:30 and 11:30. Only the Saturday Mass at 4:00 pm and the Sunday 7:30 am Mass are live streamed.

Reminder, after 5/1, the Saturday evening Mass is at 5:00 pm instead of 4:00 pm.

(Live-streamed Masses may be viewed at https://www.stjuderc.org/view-masses.html )

St. Jude Religious Gift Shop is located downstairs in the Msgr. Sabia Social Hall. Fr. Joseph's Books and CD's are available in the Gift Shop. Also new items: Gifts and cards for Father's Day, Graduation, Teacher's Gifts, statues, rosaries and more. Come in and browse. Call Fran Cambra 203-261-2573 or Parish Office 203-261-6404.