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Please pray the following prayer daily:

Loving God,
We give you thanks for all yours gifts to us,
Especially the gifts of this new century
And the third millennium of Christianity.

 Above all,
We give you thanks for sending us Jesus Your Son.
In Him you have revealed to us
The fullness of your love, compassion and forgiveness.
You sent Him to us as your messenger of
Justice and peace, reconciliation and healing.

 Open our hearts to the understanding of His Good News
And help us to proclaim it to all the world.
Enable us to bring unity there is division,
Love where there is prejudice,
Respect where there is contempt.
As the parish family of St. Mary’s,
May we become your instruments
In bringing your salvation to all your people.

We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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We have grown!

We are growing!

We will continue to grow!

Part II  

The first part of this parish newsletter contained a spiritual report and was given to you in December.  This is the second part which I write with some concern, but with more confidence, because you have always supported me in the ups and downs of this parish.

 

The roof of the Church, the Annex and the Church Hall have been leaking in several areas, and they have been leaking for a good while. We hired an engineer to find out the reasons.

 

The investigation revealed some good news!  The A Frame position of the main Church roof that was repaired in 1997 is good.  But it also revealed serious problems.  The valleys and transition portion of the Church roof and all of the roofs adjacent to the Church, require major work.  The roofs over the Sacristy area (where the priests & altar servers vest and supplies are kept), the furnace room, Church Hall and the flat roof on the side of the Annex building have to be replaced.

 

Prior to my knowledge of this problem, I had authorized our Buildings and Grounds Committee and the Pastoral Council to look into the problems with the foyer (entrance area) of the Church.  The cement slab, upon which the glass enclosure sits, is sinking and the glass structure does little, if anything, to keep the winter and summer weather out, or to keep heat or air conditioning in.  The foyer itself is void of air conditioning or heat.  The Reconciliation Room and the Parents Room, parts of the foyer, do not have heat or air conditioning.  The foyer is used heavily for funerals and weddings. Often it is very crowded and congested with various activities.  This is where most visitors or passersby get their first impression of our parish.  I also consider the ministry of greeting to be most important.  The space in the present foyer does not permit any meaningful greeting ministry.

 

With this background, the Pastoral Council and I had agreed to having the foyer expanded so that the above mentioned problems might be resolved.  I was about to announce this project to you and the ways of raising money for it when the roof situation came to my attention.

 

In 2007 our Church building will be 50 years old!  While being proud of our Church which is our second home, we also need to look into its maintenance and well-being just as we concern ourselves with our own homes.  Our pews need attention and refurbishing on the occasion of the jubilee of the Church!

 

On the request of many parishioners, I have made the religious education of adults with programs on Spirituality, Bible, etc., a big priority.  The education of the children and the youth has the same priority.  To realize this big priority, we need a meaningful library.  The present library located partially in the parish office building and partially in the Annex building needs relocation, reorganization, updating, etc.  In order to do this, the space on the first floor of the Annex has to be architecturally adjusted and new books and materials acquired.

 

The total cost of these necessary projects could be about $600,000. We intend to raise this money by conducting a capital campaign.  The construction needs to be done in September.

 

Please realize that while different opinions and approaches are natural, we need to be united in mind, heart and spirit.  It is our parish and our Church!  We need to make every effort to overcome our differences and to be united in our efforts.  I appeal to you for your cooperation.

 

Please pray for the success of our efforts to give our parish a suitable 50^th birthday present!

 

Fr.  Michael Sequeira

 

To those wishing to join our Catholic Parish Family

We welcome all those who are moved by the Holy Spirit and under His guidance seek membership in our Catholic Parish Family. 

Our formation period is basically from September to May, 2006-07. It has four parts: a time of basic education in some of the essentials of our Catholic Faith, a time for hearing the Word of God and experiencing change of heart (conversion to Christ), intense spiritual preparation during Lent and the reception of the Sacraments at the Easter Vigil. The formation continues after Easter in the form of reflecting on the process of your faith journey.

However, we start forming you in our Catholic faith from the moment you make your inquiry.   We assist you to know our community, our faith and our parish life. You need a sponsor. This person has to be a practicing Catholic. Please call us at 860 669 8512.

Registration in the Parish. All those who consider themselves to be members of this parish need to be registered as our parishioners. In order to come to our Masses and liturgies, registration is not needed. All are welcome! However, in order to receive any other services, previous registration is needed. Please call 860 669 8512 if you are not registered.

 

Sponsor Certificates. It is likely that sometime you will be asked to be a sponsor at a baptism or confirmation. That is a beautiful call! You will be asked to get a sponsor certificate from me. Remember though the meaning of being a “SPONSOR”! Being a sponsor means that you are an active member of the faith community and in that capacity you are sponsoring or ushering in a new member by your own example of practicing your faith. In order to receive the sponsor certificate you must be registered in the parish for at least six months, be a regular Churchgoer and a supporter of our stewardship process of time, talent and treasure to your parish.

 

Do you need people to clean your houses? There are parishioners who seek jobs of cleaning houses or doing any kind of manual work. If you are interested, please call 860 669 8512.

 

Do you want your house to be blessed? I am willing to come to your homes and bless them.  Please call our parish Office.

 

 

Fr. Michael

 

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Fiftieth Year Renovation Campaign

May 5, 2006

 Dear Parishioners,

 

I would like to communicate with you on some of the needs of the parish.

 

THE ROOFS:

The roofs over the Altar area of the Church, the Sacristy, the Church Hall and the Annex need to be replaced with new roofs.  If this is not done, the buildings will suffer substantial damage.  The A Frame of the Church has been fine.  However, the roofs mentioned above have been leaking seriously.  Professional examination of the roofs show that new roofs are needed before this winter.

 

ENTRANCE TO THE CHURCH:

Our Church was built fifty years ago.  it is a beautiful building.  however, the community has grown substantially  between 1957 and now.  That means the number of services(7 masses every weekend, baptisms, weddings, funerals, confirmations, firs communions, etc.) and the usage have increased substantially!  In the past we did some work on the building:  renovation of the altar area, stained glass windows, carpets, etc., but more is needed.

 

The glass doors at the entrance to the Church are sinking on their cement beds and the air lock is crumbling.  The entrance area, the Reconciliation Room and the Parents' Room receive little relief from the winter conditions outside.  Entrance to, and the exit from, the Church after heavily attended events have not only become difficult but also a problem at funerals and weddings.  The foyer(entrance area) is small and becomes very crowded with activities.  As you know the first impression of any new comers to our Church is important, but this is what they see.  The ministry of greeting has also become impossible.  The entrace needs to be expanded.

 

THE PEWS, THE KNEELERS AND THE LIBRARY:

Our pews are in need of work. Moreover, our parish library needs to be made more accessible and user-friendly to accommodate our growing adult and young people’s religious education programs.

 

These projects were approved by the Pastoral Council at their April meeting. They are also approved by the Finance Committee. In order to do these works, we will be conducting a capital campaign to raise $600,000. I ask you first to pray that these undertakings may be successfully completed. I also ask you to make your sacrificial pledge for it. We have always been proud of our Church. At this time we need to band together as a big parish family and make the sacrifices necessary to preserve our Catholic heritage at St. Mary’s. Make your generous pledge now and secure the future of our parish! I thank you.

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I Am The Vine

“ I am the vine, you are the branches. Remain in me just as I remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me” (the Gospel for the fifth Sunday of the Easter season, John, 15:1-4)

 

Let us be united in raising the funds needed to put new roofs over our Church buildings, to expand the entrance to the Church, to care for the pews and to establish a good library. I thank you for your cooperation, your support and your pledges. This is how we can bear much fruit here. Also, this is how we can assure that you and your children have a good Church in the future. Eggplants grow on the branches of the main plant. They are heavy and often the branches break, but when the branches get some support, they remain on the plant and bear many eggplants. In the same, be united with me in making our projects a success.

“Thank you again for building such a wonderful faith community that actively seeks to engage the future of the Church – its youth. Your efforts have served to give me peace in my heart regarding my children for the first time in a long time. And for that, I will be eternally grateful. God bless you” (from a letter to Fr. Michael)

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Parish Photo's:

Slide shows of the Parish Picnic and Monster Bash!

click here for photos of Parish Picnic

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click here for photos of Monster Bash

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