July 3, 2020 | eNewsletter
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Fr. Mike Hall has been a part of St. Gregory’s for many years: as a parishioner, as a longtime participant in our Appalachia mission trip, and as a member of our clergy as parochial vicar from 2015 - 2016. He has also been known to flip a burger or two in the Food Tent at our Annual Family Carnival, which he attends every year! Fr. Mike inspires with his excellent homilies and is very approachable with his jovial nature. Fr. Mike Hall was the Pastor of Our Lady of Good Council in Ewing, and is the Director of the Office of Worship for the Diocese. Welcome, Fr. Mike! Our parish family is blessed to have you back at St. Gregory the Great!
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Limited Public Mass
Saturday: 5:00pm Vigil
Sunday: 9:00am (live-stream), and Noon
Daily (Monday – Saturday) 8:30am
Private Prayer in the Church
Monday
–
Friday 1:30pm-7:30pm
Saturday 1:00pm-3:00pm
Confession
Tuesday: 6:30pm
Wednesday: 6:30pm
Or by appointment (please call the Rectory to schedule)
Baptism
Saturday: 12pm
Sunday: 2:30pm & 4pm
We are currently in the process of rescheduling Baptisms that were postponed due to COVID-19. As a result, please allow a reasonable amount of time before securing a date. We appreciate your patience.
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Project Appalachia UPDATE
After many discussions over the past several months with the Summer Home Repair Committee of the Catholic Church of Preston County, they have decided to cancel the program for this year due to COVID-19 concerns / restrictions. While this is very disappointing to the teens and adult volunteers who had planned to attend the 2020 Project Appalachia trip, we will be back the Summer of 2021 (tentatively July 10 - 17, 2021)!
In lieu of this year’s Appalachia trip, it has been decided to conduct a mini service / mission event right on the St. Gregory the Great campus July 11 - 18, 2020.
There are many outdoor projects around campus that could use our attention. We would also like to conduct a few “Appalachia like” outdoor prayer services. Of course we will need to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines (ie. social distancing, masks, sanitization, etc.) that are still in place. Safety is our #1 priority.
VOLUNTEER!
Any teen in grade 9 - 12 is eligible to participate (with a signed parental permission form). Teens entering 9th grade in September are welcome to apply. All adult volunteers, 18 yrs. or older, must be VIRTUS trained and background checked.
The number of teens that can participate will be determined by the number of adult volunteers and projects we have. You don’t need to participate every day.
If you'd like to volunteer, please click a volunteer button below and complete the form by July 3.
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Food Pantry - Thank You!
Your caring and generosity has make a world of difference to so many!
We are so grateful to all our parishioners who continued to be so caring and generous in driving to the parking lot to drop off your Food Pantry donations while the Church was temporarily closed for public Masses, and throughout the entire year!
As of May 13, since the Church closed in mid March, a total of 8,626 items were donated to our Food Pantry. That included the Saturday morning collections and the 2 special Wednesday collections headed up by Lauren Lencovich and her fellow Notre Dame students, working with the Knights of Columbus. A huge thank you to everyone involved!
The output of your support particularly during those two months when so many more people are in need of help has been nothing less than incredible! So much so, that we have seen a significant increase in donations this year vs. last year's. As of May 13, last year's total donations were 25,069 items and this year's total to date is 32,541 items with 1 1/2 months remaining until the end of the 2019 -2020 fiscal year.
An additional 3,698 items were also collected since May 13, bringing the total items donated Year to Date to 36,239! Please know the huge impact your individual donations have collectively made in lending a hand to so very many people when they needed it the most!
God bless you for your love and generosity and your continued support for our Food Pantry!
'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'
Matthew 25:40
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Drop-Off Food Drive
The Knights, working with students of Notre Dame High School, will be collecting food pantry donations from your car
Tuesday, July 14, 10am - 2pm
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Clothing Bins – Thank You!
Over the past 12 months (June 2019 to May 2020) we had collected 48,466 lbs. of clothes and raised $12,117. Of the money raised, $6,000 was donated to the Parish and Academy and the other $6,000 was used to support KofC charitable programs such as Food for the Hungry, Pro-Life activities, Project Appalachia, Supporting Religious Life, Children’s Christmas Party, Academy Scholarships, Brother Knights and Families in Need to name a few. Thank you for your support and please continue to spread the word, the bins are located on St. Gregory the Great Campus and are available and open for donations 24/7 and 365 days a year! 100% of the proceeds support our parish, academy and local Knights of Columbus charitable programs.
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Confirmation Candidates Raising Awareness of Laudato Si’
On June 30th, Confirmation candidates and SGTG parishioners Dana Trotta, Adrianna Caliendo, Kami Enciso, Luciano Verduci, and Michael Delate published pages on Instagram and Facebook to help raise awareness of Laudato Si, a Papal Encyclical written by Pope Francis in 2015. In this 5th anniversary year, these students are asking you to follow
@laudatosi.awareness
on Instagram and
Laudato Si Awareness on Facebook
to learn more about this Papal Encyclical where Pope Francis asks the people of the world to save the environment. They will provide inspirational messages and helpful tips and hints on how we can live the purpose of Laudato Si.
Thanks for your support!
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Community Garden Ministry - Thank You!
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This is from Priscilla Hayes, and it is my final bulletin post for the St. Gregory the Great Community Anti-Hunger and Education Garden. It is a bittersweet feeling as I move on to working on a book of history full time. I so appreciate the community which has built up around the Community Garden over the past four years!
Thank you Father McClane for suggesting the project and ministry! Thank you Nicholas Ehring and your wonderful family for building us the garden of our dreams, as an Eagle Scout project! Thank you to Susan Scibilia and Liz Pelikan for their help with our weekly bulletin posts. The wonderful Confirmation students and scouts and other volunteers we have worked with over the years are so many, and so amazing!
And we have a great team to take over. Megan Dinh and Ellen Wallover will be coordinating the maintenance of the garden and produce donations from it. Cherie Parker and Cassandra Breza will coordinate the St. Gregory the Great Academy Garden Club. Jay Derrico, one of the founders of the garden with us and an amazing wealth of gardening and educational knowledge will be continuing to provide guidance to both sides of the garden, as will Maureen Smitley, also an original founder.
There are additional wonderful team members: Tracy Bailey and her daughters, Cheryl Kobren, and Lisa Bremer. We also cannot forget our youngest—and among the most dedicated volunteers—Rulli, Holton, Aidan, Thomas and Jamie.
And we couldn’t get our harvests to hungry people without the amazing help of John Zubricky and Tim Cupo, who collect food donated by parishioners and by our garden and get it to local food pantries. You can be on our wonderful team! Please send an email to Megan Dinh,
mas5p@aol.com
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Thank You Priscilla! With heartfelt thanks core members of our Parish Community Garden and Academy Garden Club gathered to thank Priscilla for the hard work and dedication in growing the ministry. Priscilla generously shared her master gardener’s expertise, love of the garden, and desire to care for God’s world and the needy. Our Parish was treated to amazing notes, photos and exemplary communication of the garden work. We wish Priscilla the best as she dedicates her time to writing. We look forward to times when Priscilla will be a helper or presenter in the garden!
With many thanks, Ellen, Megan, Jay, Cheryl, Tracy, Cherie, Maureen, Community Garden Members and The Academy Garden Club
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Gain access to Catholic audio talks, movies, ebooks & video-based studies with FORMED
Registering for FORMED is FREE and easier than ever:
- Go to formed.org/signup
- Select St. Gregory the Great 4620 Nottingham Way, Hamilton Square, NJ
- Register with your name and email address
- Check that email account for a link to begin using FORMED
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Let’s celebrate the day that gave us the freedom of thought, actions, faith and speech!
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How to pray a Patriotic Rosary
Before you begin praying the rosary, sing “God Bless America”
Offer the first 3 Hail Mary’s for the people of the United States to grow in the virtues of faith, hope, and charity.
Follow the Mysteries of the Rosary for the day.
Offer each Mystery for an intention:
1. The President of the United States
2. All Government Officials
3. All those in the Armed Forces
4. First Responders
5. The Unborn
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Counseling Services
Parishioners seeking help through difficult issues such as: marital problems, raising children, eldercare, bereavement/grief, or the stress of job loss that can be successfully addressed by brief counseling support.
Through a joint effort of the Diocese of Trenton and Catholic Charities, licensed professional counselors are available to help.
You must be a parishioner in a parish of the Diocese to take advantage of this program, which can
be accessed by contacting on
e of our priests who will provide additional information and a referral.
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Thank you for your unrelenting efforts to submit your donations each week by mail, in-person drop off or with online giving. If you are not already registered, please consider opening an account by going to the Parish website. You can set up donations on a recurring basis or as a one-time gift.
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Church of St. Gregory the Great
Rev. Michael Hall, Pastor
4620 Nottingham Way, Hamilton Square, NJ 08690
609-587-4877
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