Keeping Us Connected Newsletter
July 10, 2020
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“One thing I ask of the LORD; this I seek: To dwell in the LORD’s house all the days of my life, to gaze on the LORD’s beauty, to visit his temple.”
– Psalm 27
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ALERT! Gather & Grow Begins!
We are finally ready to begin work on the Gather & Grow project. As a result, the church building will be closed this Sunday, July 12 at 6:00 P.M. until the completion of the project. Many more details will follow next week, but I wanted to share this information with you as soon as we received word that everything was in place and ready to begin. Please note that
Eucharistic Adoration next Wednesday, July 15, will be in the Parish Hall.
Again, more details will follow in next week’s Newsletter.
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Related to this, is a video (below) on the Beauty of Catholic Church buildings and architecture. It’s a bit technical at times, but if you stick with it some good insights will come.
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Dear Saint Mary’s Friends,
Post July 4th Historical Prayer
St. Paul writes to St. Timothy, “
First of all, then,
I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. This is good and pleasing to God our savior
.”
(I Tim 2:1-3). I wonder how many of us follow the Apostle’s urging in our own daily prayers to pray for all of our leaders. If a Republican, do you pray for the members of the Democrat controlled House of Representatives, or the Governor of Connecticut? If a Democrat do you pray for the President and members of the Republican controlled Senate? Paul’s words come to mind because of the Prayer of the Faithful we used at two Masses this past Fourth of July Weekend. A number of parishioners in attendance asked me what that prayer was. Well, it was a prayer composed by Archbishop John Carroll for the first inauguration of George Washington in 1789. The Archbishop was the first bishop in the U.S., and cousin of Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. At that time there were about 25,000 Catholics in the country and 22 priests, along with a great deal of anti-Catholic prejudice. The language is a bit different than we’re used to, and the thoughts are perhaps deeper than most of us muster in prayer, nonetheless, it is a worthy prayer and just maybe spurs us on to do so in our own language. It can be found
HERE
.
A Big Thank You to our Maintenance Staff
Unless you see it daily, it’s almost impossible to appreciate the amount of work our maintenance staff has been doing to keep parish property and gatherings physically safe. Greg Taylor, Phil Franceschini, and Jim McElroy have worked tirelessly on our behalf. Along with their regular daily work, they sanitize church, school and office not just every day, but multiple times on some days. They, along with a great team of volunteers, arrange chairs in the Hall according to the groupings of attendees, and they sanitize after every Mass and event. And they do this with few if any days off and with a generous spirit. Gentlemen, thank you on behalf of all of us at St. Mary’s and God bless you!
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Left to right: Jim McElroy, Greg Taylor & Phil Franceschini
A Correction
A week or so ago I congratulated three St. Mary School Students for winning a Knights of Columbus essay contest on Virtue and the Gospel. While I mentioned that 8
th
grade graduate Katie Hoedermann as one of the winners, I inadvertently left out what she won. Katie, not only represented our region, but then was named the statewide winner at her grade level. If you’d like to read Katie’s essay, you can do so here...
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Also in today’s Newsletter:
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A Reflection by Fr. Damian
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History of Black & African American Catholics
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MASS REGISTRATION
Saturday, July 11
Sunday, July 12
Click on the Mass time above to register for that Mass
Registration for Sunday Masses goes live on our website
Thursday @ 9 AM
All changes to reservations must be made by
Saturday @ 9 AM
*The 10:30 AM Sunday Mass will be livestreamed
WEEKDAY MASSES
Monday, Wednesday, Friday - 12 Noon
No Registration Needed
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Pre-Baptism Web Class
A Zoom web conference Pre-baptism class will take place on Wednesday, July 15. If would like t be included, please email Joanne Brown, jbrown@smcr.org, by 4:00PM on Monday, July 13.
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Sacrament of Confession
Tuesdays - 12:30 to 1:30 PM
Saturdays - 3:30 to 4:30 PM
NEW LOCATION:
Nancy Bossidy Rec Center (GYM).
Enter from the Greenfield Avenue entrance, then bear left, driving alongside the main entrance to the gym. Confessions will be held there. Exit to the left onto Barry Avenue.
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Church Bells Ring Noon Each Day for the Angelus
Whether you can hear them or not, let’s try as one community in the Lord to pray the Angelus together at that time, wherever we are. If you don’t know the Angelus, you can pray 3 Hail Mary's (or take this opportunity to learn it
here
).
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Adoration
Sundays & Wednesdays
Please remember to wear a face mask and sit at a safe distance.
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for all the sick, deceased, health care workers, pharmacists, and first responders
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Church Open Hours
Monday - Saturday, 8 AM - 6 PM
Sunday, 11 AM - 6 PM
The Church is sanitized daily at 7 AM
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Many thanks for your continued support of our Parish!
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WAYS TO CONTINUE YOUR WEEKLY OFFERTORY
Your support helps maintain our Parish facilities and bring the Eucharist and God's Word to our community - plus it helps those in need through our many ministries.
Onl
ine Giving
is an easy way to give with a click of a button.
You may mail your offertory to the Parish office as well; mail is picked up every day. St. Mary Parish, 55 Catoonah Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877
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