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|  St. Paul Church 485 Alling Street Kensington CT 06037 The Epistle Online: November 26, 2015 |
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Welcome to The Epistle Online
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We hope this newsletter will be a helpful resource for you, providing information about what's
going on in our parish and sharing content and resources on both spiritual and practical matters related to our Catholic faith.
The newsletter will again be named "The Epistle" with a nod to our patron, Saint Paul, whose letters to the earliest Christians still guide and inform us today.
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Have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving
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Best wishes to all of our parishioners and their families
or a peaceful Thanksgiving holiday
filled with awareness of our many blessings.
From Fr. Robert, Fr. Raymond, Fr. Tim, Fr. Charles
and Deacon Carmen
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Our Faith
Coming soon... Advent and the 'Year of Mercy'
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Next month, on December 8th, a special event will take place that has great significance for the whole church
.
Read Archbishop Leonard P. Blair's article,
Jubilee Year of Mercy
, to learn more.
You and your family are invited to walk through the Holy Door to begin the Jubilee Year of Mercy.
The
Archdiocese of
Hartford
will inaugurate the Year of
Mercy on Sunday, December 13th
at 3:00pm at
Saint Joseph's Cathedral
.
All are invited to take part in this special liturgy.
Advent begins this weekend!
Check out this timely and thoughtful article,
Advent: Of Elves or Angels?
by a
uthor Julianne Stanz. She writes, "
Yes, the Elf of the Shelf can be a harmless bit of fun, but if your child looks forward more to the Elf than to the reason for the season, then I think you will agree with me when I say that we have a problem."
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For Our Youth
Give Thanks and Enjoy a Good Movie
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We hope you have a restful Thanksgiving and enjoy the time away from school or work. In the spirit of giving thanks, take a few minutes to watch this video from
Fr. Mike Schmitz on
How to Avoid Being Ungrateful
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Looking for a good movie?
Before you go spend your hard-earned money (or your parents' hard-earned money), take a quick look at the website for the
Media Review Office
of Catholic News Service. The reviews here consider whether movies "
affirm, challenge or reject" our Christian values.
Here are just a few...
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For Our Families
Special Feature for the Guys
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Former NFL all-pro wide receiver and coach,
Danny Abramowicz
,
has a tv show called
"Crossing the Goal"
on EWTN (
not ESPN!)
The sports-format show
encourages men to get into 'spiritual shape'.
Families that pray together, stay together.
Same goes for married couples. Couples who pray together are
much
more likely to stay married than those who don't. This article
may
help strengthen your marriage:
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For Our Seniors
We are here for you
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If you or someone you love is in need of a visit or a helping hand, please let us know. It's important that we keep in touch with our senior citizens who are home-bound or in a nursing home to make sure their needs are met, especially as we head into the holiday season and into another New England winter.
If you're looking for ways to stay active, consider joining one of our parish ministries!
Our ministries are always happy to welcome new members. Our seniors help our parish in so many ways! Contact us if you'd like to get more involved, help others and enjoy the company of your fellow parishioners.
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| Ministry of the Month: Knights of Columbus |
T
h
ank
you
to
all of our wonderful parishioners who voluntee
r
to serve others through our parish ministries.
In this month's issue we're
putting the spotlight on our local Knights of Columbus Council. This active group has recently welcomed more than a dozen new members and is especially busy during the holiday season
. Click to learn more.
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From Our Friars
Fr. Tim
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Do you know about The Elijah Cup?
Since early spring, many of our parish families have taken
a Chalice and Patten into their homes for a week to pray for vocations to the Priesthood, Permanent Diaconate and Sisterhood.
All are welcome to host the Elijah Cup at home. Click
here
to learn more or to sign up.
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Our Church Community
Get to Know the Office Staff
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In an effort to help our parish family get to know each other better, we are in the process of creating a
Parish Photo Directory (as you may be aware). In the same light, we hope this section of our newsletter will help you put faces with the names of our staff members and volunteers...
Our first
victim is our Parish Secretary of over eleven years, Flora Sittnick
. A cantor and parishioner of St. Dominic parish, Flora is gifted in music and has been involved in music ministry for over 20 years. She and her husband John reside in Plantsville.
If you have any questions or concerns that our website can't answer, you can call Flora at the parish office or email her at
[email protected]
. She'
ll be happy to help you.
We're blessed to have such a dedicated member of our staff.
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A Word from Fr. Robert
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Hello everyone, a few weeks ago, a very kind man came up to me after Mass and asked, "why do we have announcements after Communion if it's all printed in the bulletin?" That was a very fair question as far as I was concerned and the answer I gave him was that many people in our parish simply do not read the bulletin, so we have to announce some of our more important events from the altar. Our bulletin readers tend to be older parishioners. Many of our younger parishioners are on Facebook and twitter, so we are too. Others will read something online or check out our website. (About 150 people look at our website everyday). With all of our communications, we want to reach all of our members and that's why we're trying to enhance our online presence with this newsletter.
We want to be where you are and we want to say things that are meaningful to you, things that will bring you closer to Christ, to each other, and to the Church.
The parish staff and the Pastoral Council have worked very hard to find a way to be more present to our community at large. In a few days when you drive down Farmington Ave, you are going to see just how much we want to reach out to our local community. Let me know what you think. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and some quality time with their families. God Bless You All.
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Asbestos, Door and A Broken Piano
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The End of the Year Appeal is out.
Click here to make a quick donation and help us address these important maintenance issues. Thanks in advance.
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Upcoming Events & Activities
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| Nov 26th |
Thanksgiving Day Mass at 9am |
| Nov 27th |
Friday, Mass at 7am (No 5pm Mass) |
| Nov 28th & 29th |
Angel Tree begins |
| Nov 29th |
Advent Craft this weekend! after 9am and 10:30am Masses |
| Dec 4th |
Blood Drive coordinated by SPS Alum, Grayson Barnes, See Flyer |
| Dec 6th |
Breakfast with Santa from 8am to Noon
Christmas Concert at 5:30pm
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| Dec 7th |
Vigil Mass for Holy Day, 5pm |
| Dec 8th |
Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Mass at 7am, 9am* and 5pm
*School Mass at 9am |
| Dec 13th |
13th of the Month Rosary in the Church
Year of Mercy Liturgy and Procession at the Cathedral, 3pm |
| Dec 16th |
Parish-wide confessions for Advent, 7pm |
| Dec 24th |
Christmas Eve Mass at 4pm, 6pm and 10pm |
| Dec 25th |
Christmas Day Mass at 9am, 10:30am and Noon (No 7:30am Mass) |
| Dec 31st |
New Year's Eve, Vigil Mass at 5pm |
| Jan 1st |
New Year's Day Mass at 9am and 11am |
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PASS IT ON
Please forward this Newsletter to a family member of friend so they too will have an opportunity to learn something new and to see all the great things that are happening at
Saint Paul Church.
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"For it is in giving that we receive."
-Saint Francis of Assisi
A Ministry of the Conventual Franciscan Friars,
Our Lady of the Angels Province
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