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November 3, 2022
Thanksgiving Harvest
Special Edition #2
It's time to party! Our Filipino Harvest Offering (Line dancing fundraiser) is on Sunday, Nov. 13. Join in the fun! More information below.
Our Thanksgiving Harvest at St Antoninus is an annual event, usually on one of the Sundays in the Fall, when the whole parish joyfully comes together for a thanksgiving festival.

While this is our major fundraiser for the year, it is not just about raising money. More than anything else, this is truly a grace-filled time for giving thanks to Jesus, the Lord of the Harvest, for all the blessings and provisions received for the year. It is also a time when the parish unites with one heart to serve the Lord and one another - and have fun together!

Borrowed from a beautiful tradition in West Africa, this thanksgiving festival is a time when we present our "first fruits" to the Lord right at His altar during holy Mass.

Families, individuals & groups come during Offertory at Mass to present themselves & their gifts to the Lord, in a form of contribution to support the Lord's mission for His Church. The offerers are then blessed by the priests at the altar, along with their gifts.

This is not a one day event. Our grand Thanksgiving Harvest day this year at St Antoninus is on Sunday, December 11.

However, there are at this time 5 Sundays of Family Harvest Thanksgiving Offering leading to this main event. During these Sundays, families, groups or individuals invite their extended families & friends to join them.

(More on Family Harvest Offering in section below. See flyer of the Filipino Harvest Offering , a Line dancing fundraiser, on Nov. 13, 2022)

On Sunday December 11, the day of our main harvest event, we will begin with Holy Mass at 10am, with a Parade of Nations, followed by a delectable multi-cultural lunch and exciting festivities, including a bazaar auction.

Please invite all your families, friends, co-workers, your doctors, insurance agent, car mechanic, etc to come and support our harvest appeal.

Let us know you would like a solicitation kit containing Fr Joseph's appeal letter, flyers, sponsor page and other materials for this fundraiser.

Please pray with your parish for a fruitful Thanksgiving Harvest 2022!

What is the fundraising goal for this year's Thanksgiving Harvest?
Our goal for this appeal is $150,000. This may seem impossible to achieve, given the short notice, but we will hope, pray and work together, and be grateful for whatever the Lord provides.

What will these funds be used for?
They will be mainly used for infrastructure repairs and improvements on our aging buildings. Please read Fr Joseph's letter (following) for an explanation.

How can we contribute to the Thanksgiving Harvest 2021 appeal?
Please go below for the online donation links and mailing address.

For questions, call Jude Anemelu, the coordinator of this year's harvest: 973-735-8442. Thank you and God bless you!
Letter from our Pastor:

Dear St. Antoninus family & friends: 

            “What ever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters” (Colossians 3:23)
 
I am delighted to announce that our 2022 Thanksgiving Harvest celebration will be on Sunday, December 11. Our preparations began late this year due to a very busy and blessed summer. But it is not too late, as long we do this for the Lord.
 
This joyful celebration is our primary fundraiser each year for the vital infrastructure repairs and minor improvements needed for our beautiful but aging buildings ( See below for list of work already completed and projects still in progress). 
 
This is a golden opportunity, an “excuse,” to invite family and friends to join you on one of the Sundays prior to December 11th in your personal “thanksgiving offering unto the Lord” for all the graces and blessings received this past year. “Give thanks in all circumstances. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thes 5:18).
 
The recent years have been a very challenging time for all of us, not only here in this country, but all over the world. On top of that, there has been a substantial decrease in the practice of the faith, and a significant increase in the entanglements of evil, including in our own families.

May this give you an even greater reason to have a selfless courage and love in inviting family and friends to join you on one of the Sundays prior to December 11th for your thanksgiving offering at Mass. Reserve a Sunday for your thanksgiving offering and invite family, friends and business associates to give thanks to the Lord with you – that many others may share in the blessings of making a thanksgiving offering unto the Lord.
 
Thank you for your generous support for our Thanksgiving Harvest in the past, and thank you ahead of time for your continued sacrificial support with your time, talent and treasure this year. May the Lord outdo you in generosity, as He always does! Please consider being a Major Sponsor or Benefactor, but most of all, simply give with a grateful heart according to how the Lord has blessed you.  
 
With great joy, expectant faith & thanksgiving in our hearts, we do our part in bringing in the fruitful harvest that He has promised.
 
Remember that the greatest fundraising we can do is going to be through sharing the faith with someone. You can do this by simply inviting them to join you here at Sunday Mass. Our faith is too good to keep it to ourselves.
In Jesus thru Mary & St Joseph,

Fr Joseph

Here is the downloadable flyer of our Thanksgiving Harvest 2022. Pls pass on to your family & friends.
Our Thanksgiving Harvest will be in 6 weeks- on Sunday, December 11!


This is a parish event and our major fundraiser of the year.

Please find out how you can actively participate in our Harvest:

  • Join one of the Harvest committees. The following are s committees: Honorary Sponsorship , General Sponsorship , Family Harvest Offering, Food, Set-up, Decor, Entertainment & Program, Media & Public Relations, Communications, Cultural Diversity Committee, Childcare. For more information, call or text our Thanksgiving Harvest 2021 coordinator, Jude Anemelu 973-735-8442, or call the office at 973-623-0258.

  • Come to our grand Thanksgiving Harvest event on Sunday, December 11. Come in your ethnic attire. Invite your extended family & friends.

  • Invite your personal contacts to become sponsors and benefactors of our Harvest fundraiser. A complete solicitation kit with flyers, solicitation letter, etc is available to to help you reach out to your contacts. Pls call the office or text 551-689-0107 to get extra kits.

  • Sign up to participate in our Family Harvest Thanksgiving offering on any of the remaining 8 Sundays leading to our Thanksgiving Harvest event. See below for more info
.
With love & thanksgiving,
from our families....

Please participate in the beautiful tradition of the Sunday Family Harvest Offering in preparation for our Thanksgiving Harvest. This is an occasion for an individual, family or group to make a special thanksgiving offering on any of the Sundays leading up to the Thanksgiving Harvest day (Dec 11).

It is a time to give thanks to God for the blessings received, especially over the past year- and it would mean that you would invite extended family & friends to join you on that day in processing to the altar to present your offering during the Offertory of the Mass.
We have 5 Sundays remaining for our Family Harvest Thanksgiving Offering. Choose your day! We can accommodate up to 3 sets of families or individual or groups on each of the 6 Sundays.

Nov 6 - a) Elizabeth Newton & family b) Charlott Pouka
Nov 13 - Filipino Harvest
Nov 20
Nov 27
Dec 4- The Religious Education Classes (Students &Teachers)

Please call the office 973-623-0258 or see Cassilda after Mass if you would like to schedule your Family Harvest. Or email us directly right here.

Join us!
The best possible fundraiser is always going to be evangelization. It is by God‘s providential design that this is so. Everything goes back to and rests upon evangelization . While it is certainly true that we are always sustained by grace, it is also true that we will be judged by whether or not we were faithful to and good stewards of that grace. In that sense, our very existence as a parish is dependent on our obedience to the Lord’s commandment to "Go make disciples."
Most of the time all we have to do is simply extend the invitation: "Come and see.Come with me to church.'
The Lord will do the rest....
  • - Fr. Joseph

Essential work that we have been able to do or are in the process of doing with the funds raised from the last 3 Thanksgiving Harvests:
 
PROJECTS COMPLETED
1. Electrical & HVAC engineer and structural engineer consultations and reports, – $13,425
2. Steel catwalk in boiler room for access to new location of upgraded church electric supply – $18,000
3. Essential upgrade of our electric supply in church from our present 200 amp service to a 800 amp service) into the church needed for HVAC work. (waiting for PSE&G to turn on power). This work was done in 3 stages with total cost of $60,000.
4.  Replaced leaking roof in convent (emergency) - $14,000
5.  Repaired parapet wall of convent - $2,500
6.  Replaced rotten structural section of edge of the church roof (rectory side) and gutter (emergency) - $10,000.
For other church roof expenses see below.
 
(Total Spent thus far - $117,925)
 
PROJECTS IN PROGRESS (or bids still coming in):
 
1. HVAC split system package of four (exterior) condensers and 8 (interior) heads– $74,237 (This will be done in 4 stages, at a cost of $18,559.25 at each stage).
-Stages I & II (2 exterior condensers and 4 interior heads) – $37,118.50
2. Fencing to protect (exterior) condensers from vandalism & theft (approximate cost - $10,000)
3. Replace entire membrane on two sections of church roof and patch about 20 small holes in flat roof membrane – (approximate cost $10,000)
 
Total Additional expenses in 2022 (approximately) - $57,118.50.
 
Total (projected) Harvest Funds spent on major projects in the past 2 years (by the end of 2022) - $175,043.50
 
HVAC - Stages III & IV to be completed in 2023 with funds from the 2022 Thanksgiving Harvest – Please God. -$37,118.50
 
Photos from our previous Thanksgiving Harvest celebrations- click below to view.
Click below to donate to our St Antoninus Thanksgiving Harvest 2022.

Choose among convenient online options by clicking the "Donate" button.
You can also use Zelle.
To open a Zelle account if you don't have one:

Put St Antoninus as a recipient and enter the following info:
Name: St. Antoninus Catholic Church
Email: saintantoninuschurch@gmail
 
When you sign up, please include your email or phone number. Thank you and God bless you!.

Schedule of our regular Liturgies & Events. Click on image below to view:
973-623-0258
337 South Orange Ave, Newark NJ 07103 
Rev. Joseph A. Meagher (Pastor)