Reflection from Fr. Joseph

We continue our series of Hometown Holiness with a very little-known saint from upstate New York: St. Marianne Cope!

Baptized in 1838 with the name of Barbara, her family emigrated from Germany to Syracuse, NY when she was only a year old. They changed their name from the German “Koob” to “Cope” upon arriving in New York, to fit into the English-speaking country. She initially attended eight years of the local Catholic school, but upon graduation her father developed a disability which hindered his ability to work. As a result, fourteen-year-old Barbara became the primary breadwinner of her family, working in a textile factory.

By the time she was in her mid-20s, her father had passed away and her siblings had begun to support themselves, so she was free to pursue her religious vocation. She entered the local convent of Franciscan Sisters (taking the name Sr. Marianne) and worked in a school before discovering her real passion: health care. She founded the main hospital of Syracuse, St. Joseph’s, and became well-respected in the medical field. Medical schools would often send their students to train under Sr. Marianne, whose medical and surgical techniques were cutting-edge at the time.

All of this was just a prelude to the next stage of her ministry. In 1883, she received a letter from the King of Hawaii (before it was part of the United States), begging for medical help with the many lepers that made their way to the leper colony of Molokai. Fifty other religious congregations received the same request, and had turned it down out of fear for the contagious disease. Sr. Marianne, however, knew this was God’s will for her life, and she agreed to lead a medical mission to the most forsaken sufferers of the deadly and dreaded disease of leprosy.

These were her courageous words in accepting this death-sentence of an assignment: “I am hungry for the work and I wish with all my heart to be one of the chosen Ones, whose privilege it will be, to sacrifice themselves for the salvation of the souls of the poor Islanders... I am not afraid of any disease, hence it would be my greatest delight even to minister to the abandoned 'lepers.'”

For the next thirty years she poured her life out for these disfigured, horrific, beloved souls, working in several leper hospitals, serving alongside the great heroic leper-priest St. Damien of Molok’ai, founding hospitals and personally serving the poor, forgotten ones. Any time the Hawaiian government or her bishop asked her to take on a new, dangerous responsibility, she would respond, “We will cheerfully accept the work!”

Despite her close contact with lepers, she never contracted the disease, and died of natural causes in 1918. She was only canonized (became a saint) recently – in 2012. St. Marianne Cope, pray for us!

Parish News

Readers Needed!

We are looking for a few new readers for Mass! If you love the Word of God, consider proclaiming it at Mass. You must be a confirmed and practicing Catholic (teens welcome!). Please contact Deacon John Tuccio at deacon.tuccio@stjuderc.org for training.

Connecticut Catholic Men's Conference

Calling all Catholic men! All men are invited to the 15^th Annual Connecticut Catholic Men's Conference in West Hartford on Saturday, September 24^th (https://ctcatholicmen.org/). Dynamic talks by our very own Bishop Caggiano - along with other national Catholic speakers such as Fr. Chris Alar and Fr. Larry Richards - lively music, Mass and Adoration, and fraternity with other Catholic men. You can register online - and speak to Fr. Joseph if you want to go FOR FREE (limited free tickets are available). Hope you can make it!

Day With Mary Retreat

All parishioners are invited to celebrate Our Lady's Birthday at St. Jude's with a special Day With Mary Retreat on Saturday, September 10 (her birthday is Sept 8th). This retreat features talks, Mass, a movie about Our Lady, dynamic talks from the Franciscans of the Immaculate, and fellowship. The retreat is free and runs from 9am-2pm here at St. Jude's. All are welcome! For more information, visit https://daywithmarywest.org/ .

Please volunteer!!

The volunteer sign-up board is now up in the church vestibule! 

Please consider joining your fellow parishioners in volunteering a few hours of your time.

Together we can make our Parish Festival a huge success!

Virtus training available online on Sunday August 21st at 4:00pm. Go to https://www.virtusonline.org/virtus/. For in-person class please contact Deacon John.

It’s that time of year and the Italian Festival is back! St Jude parish is delighted to invite you to join the business sponsor program for our 32nd annual Italian Festival held this year from August 24th through the 27^th. Thousands of people will be attending the festival to enjoy rides, games, raffles, nightly entertainment and of lots of great food.

Feast of Blessed Michael McGivney

This past weekend, Aug. 12-13 was a special time for the Knights of Columbus as they celebrated the 170th anniversary of their founder Blessed Michael McGivney's birthday along with his feast day and ending with the celebration of his 132nd anniversary of his death. St. John XXIII Council 5987 to help their members along with the parishioners of St. Jude's celebrate these events arranged to have present a 1st class relic of Blessed Michael McGivney. After all the weekend masses Council Chaplain Fr. Joseph Gill led the congregation in praying the Litany of Blessed Michael McGivney. After the litany parishioners had the opportunity for private prayer and veneration. 

Youth are invited to bring their backpacks to all Masses the weekend of August 27-28.

Fr. Joseph will be blessing the backpacks and backpack prayer cards will be available to attach to backpacks for the start of the school year. 

We pray that the children of our Parish have a good start to the new school year.

We are looking for extra baby gates for youth group games!

Do you have extra baby gates that you no longer need (see photo for the kind we are looking for)?  We could use an extra set to add to the set we have.

If you are interested in donating one to St. Jude's, email Jessica Iannotta

Thank you!

Would your child like to be part of our new

St Jude's Kid's Club? 

It will be a junior version of our youth group geared toward elementary school aged children

in grades 1-5 and based on the format of our

Camp Adore VBS - games, faith based activities, Adoration, and songs.

The group will meet on the first Sunday of the month and launch on the afternoon of October 2. More details will be announced soon! 

Adult and teen volunteers are needed!

If you are interested in volunteering or registering your child to be a part of the group,

e-mail Jessica Iannotta for more information.

Save the Dates for our next Softball Games! 

Sunday 9/25 2-5 pm is the Parish Softball Game against St. Stephen's Parish

Location: Upper Baseball fields at Great Hollow Lake. Optional practice Sunday 9/11.

E-mail Jessica Iannotta to RSVP and for more information

Mom's Group - Save the Dates:

Next meeting Wednesday 8/31 at 7 pm in the social hall to finish discussing our summer book club on Living Joy by Chris Stefanick. See the Parish office if you need a free copy of the book.

Our next monthly mother's Zoom rosary is 9/7 at 9 pm and will continue on the first Wednesday of every month e-mail Jessica Iannotta for more information

Stay tuned for more Fall events to be announced soon.

Please remember in your daily prayers:

Marge Tranzillo, David Nicolett, 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, Dr. John Kezel, Joseph Sheridan, Francisca Testa & family, Catherine Belanger, Stephen Henn, Manny Cambra, Bennett Gulyas, Tom Pleva, Andrew Henn, James Buturla, Violeta Shala, Vito Melfi and Amanda Alarcon

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 August is:

As we celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven, we ask our Blessed Mother's intercession for all persecuted Christians that this reign of terror may end,

    We pray,  Hail Mary.....

Upcoming Mass Intentions

Mass Intentions for  August 20 – August 28

Sat  Aug 20  5:00pm           Luis and Elvira Ferreira

Sun Aug 21   7:30am           Kevin O’Neall

Sun Aug 21   9:30am           St Jude Parishioners

Sun Aug 21   11:30am         Maria Emilia Monteiro

Mon Aug 22   9:00am           Gerry Kennedy

Tue Aug 23   9:00am           Bobby Gioscia

Wed Aug 24   9:00am           Andrew Vill

Thu Aug 25   9:00am           Gerry Kennedy

Sat  Aug 27  5:00pm           Domkowski Family

Sun Aug 28   7:30am           St Jude Parishioners

Sun Aug 28   9:30am           Patty Eng

Sun Aug 28   11:30am         John and Olga Saad

The Tabernacle Candle will burn in memory of the Barriuso and Arribas families during the month of August

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.

(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, statues, rosaries and more. Come in and browse. Call Fran Cambra 203-261-2573 or Parish Office 203-261-6404.