Best Wishes and Thanks
You may have noticed that Deacon Michael Cassella helped us out a couple of Sundays these past few months. However, we have now been informed by the Archdiocese of Hartford that he will be assigned to another parish. We wish him well as he follows wherever God is calling him.
What?s going on?
For the last several weeks, our sign on the triangle of grass at Grove Hill and Main Street has been knocked over or thrown down whenever the grass is cut. Several times other signs have been left undisturbed but our Church sign and School sign have been knocked over or bent. This week after the grass was cut, our sign was run over and cracked. We will have to buy a new one and they cost around $200. If you know who cuts the grass at that corner or have any idea who is damaging our sign, can you ask them to stop? Many of you have contacts with the Town; maybe they can help us figure this out.
The Bells are fixed
Over the years, our bells have been gaining time so that in the last couple months they were 9.5 minutes ahead. That means the Mass bells used to ring almost 5 minutes early. If you hear the bells ringing before Mass now, it means that you have 5 minutes until the opening song. On your marks, get set, go.
Grace after Grace after Grace
Recently, in one of our local hospitals, a woman was knocking on heaven?s door. It was clear to everyone that her life was coming to an end. As the comfort medicine had its effect, she kind of faded in and out of consciousness. As she lay there, all she kept repeating was Hail Mary, Hail Mary. She couldn?t even finish the first line of the prayer . One of her caregivers who was not Catholic heard her invoke the Blessed Mother and said to herself, ?She must be Catholic.? The next day, as the end drew near, this caregiver said to herself, ?I better call a priest because that?s what Catholics do.? So I was called to the hospital to give the woman the sacrament of the sick. I anointed her (which gives complete remission of sins) and prayed for her. Then I was able to stay with her for awhile and watched her breathe her last breath, only to open her eyes in heaven. What a beautiful providential gift that was for me and for the woman who opened her eyes in heaven. Hail Mary?.
A Great Night
Last Monday evening I had two meetings with our religious education teachers, I was called to anoint someone at home, stopped by the New Parishioner sign up and spoke with the 14 new families and I stopped by to see the beautiful ladies who knit prayer shawls for the sick. When I was finally going home, I noticed that all of the lights were on in Church. I went in to shut them off only to find our High School Youth Group discussing religious persecution in Iraq and the terrorist group that is beheading people over there. It certainly is frightening. Last week, one of our senior citizens was worried that the group that is called ISIS would
be coming over here next. Our kids and Sal Biase, our Youth Minister, had an animated discussion. Because it took place in the context of our youth ministry, the whole discussion was able to be framed in light of our faith. I tried to help our young people see that if ISIS, which seems to be filled with rage and hate, succeeds filling us with rage and hate, then they win and we lose. Certainly we have a right to defend ourselves, but we have to be careful that we don?t let evil win and love lose. How is a Christian supposed to fight hate and evil? To know that answer all you have to do is look at the large cross above the altar. That?s how God overcame evil with good. I blessed each one of the kids on the forehead and finally went home. What a blessing for us to have a youth group and to be able to discuss such important topics with them in the light of our faith. My head hit the pillow with a smile; what a great night!
The Epistle On Line
?The Epistle On Line? will be sent out next week. We?ve included some simple articles that will help you grow in your faith. The State of the School Report and the Confirmation Orientation texts are also included. Please take some time to enjoy ?The Epistle On Line? and let us know what you think.
Have you noticed the new look?
Patty LaVette, our Director of Communications and Membership, has been working hard to update our new website. It has a fresh, new, clean look and is very easy to manage with lots of new features. The best thing about it is that it adapts itself to the computer on which it is viewed. In other words, if you look at it with your laptop, it looks one way and if you look at it with your phone, it looks another way. It is always easy to read and get the information you need. About one hundred people view our website everyday. Because people can find the information they need on the web, the number of calls coming to the Parish Office have significantly decreased over the last couple of years, which frees up our staff and volunteers to do other tasks. GOT A QUESTION? CHECK THE WEB FIRST. Thanks for your hard work Patty.
Volunteers, Volunteers! Calling anyone willing to volunteer!
We still need help for both our parish picnic and our Berlin Faith booth. If you can give us a couple of hours at these two important events, it would be great. It takes an army to staff these huge events. We could especially use some help on Saturday, September 20th, to help set up the picnic. You can either sign up on our homepage or use the appropriate forms in the bulletin. Ladies, send your husbands; we could use them!