Upcoming Events
UPCOMING EVENTS: PLEASE BE SURE TO MARK YOUR CALENDARS SO THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ATTEND THE FOLLOWING PARISH MASSES AND EVENTS
Please mark your calendars!
Christmas Treat-Inflatables-Sunday, December 15th 5:30-7:00 PM and Sunday, December 22nd 5:30-7:00 PM
O Come All Ye Faithful-Sunday, December 22nd 5:30-7:00 PM
Christmas Masses-Tuesday, December 24th Mass at 4:00 PM (No 8:00 AM Mass) Wednesday, December 25th Masses at 7:30 AM and 10:30 AM
New Year’s-Feast of Mary, The Holy Mother of God-Tuesday, December 31st Mass at 4:00 PM (No 8:00 AM Mass) Wednesday, January 1st Mass at 9:00 AM
Adult Drop-In Activity: Each Monday from 10AM until lunch time. Come on down and bring a friend (it’s not just for parishioners) and enjoy socializing or playing scrabble, dominos, or cribbage.
MONTHLY FOOD COLLECTION: OUR NEXT MONTHLY FOOD COLLECTION WILL BE ON THE WEEKEND OF January 4th and 5th. We will have our monthly food collection at all Masses on the first weekend of each month. Please try to remember to bring in some non-perishable food items for the needy. Please leave your items near the baptismal font, or in the bins inside the Fales Street entrance, when you come to Mass. THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU!
HOPE FOR HOUSING CARDS are sold on the first and third weekend of each month. Gift cards are available in various denominations from these vendors: Stop & Shop, Shaw's, Big Y, CVS, Dunkin, Panera, Amazon, Starbucks, Target and TJMaxx. You purchase the cards for their face value and vendors contribute 3% to 5% to help end homelessness in the Worcester area community. Your support for this project is appreciated. For the month of December, they will be available on the weekends of November 30th & December 1st, December 7th & 8th, and December 21st & 22nd.
2025 MASS INTENTIONS: We are now accepting Mass intentions for 2025 from January through Easter. Please note, Mass intentions are not automatically carried over from year to year. All Mass requests must be made by calling the rectory during office hours. The suggested donation for all Mass intentions is still $10.00.
Youth Drop-In Activity: We are now getting ready to restart our Youth Drop-In Activity program. We have Fr. Pat’s 2 large moon-walks, air hockey, skee-ball, and basketball in the upstairs gym. Downstairs, we have other fun things to do as well as snacks, including hot dogs, chips, soda, freeze pops, all at no charge at all. We are hoping to add a couple of new arcade games in the near future. Watch the bulletin for the announcement of our first drop-in date. Parents, please let us know which is better: Saturday, or Sunday evenings from 5-7 PM.
Our OPERATIONAL EXPENSES INCREASE APPEAL is now ongoing. There are four areas that we are facing significant increases with.
- Our property/liability insurance
- Plowing increase (salt & sand especially)
- Electricity increases
- Natural gas increases.
These will amount to at least $27,000 in operational increases. We hope to take no more than half of this amount from our savings and to ask our parish for the other half with personal donations. So far, toward raising at least half of this amount ($13,500) we have raised approximately $8,000. We are very grateful to all who have contributed, and we ask everyone else to please consider making a gift no later than Thanksgiving Day. The success of this appeal is essential to the financial well-being and future of our parish. For all your generosity, thank you very much!
~Fr. Pat~
We want to thank everyone who made a donation to this appeal. If you haven’t done so, there is still time. We raised $14,500.00, which will go a long way in helping with the increases in our property insurance, plowing, electricity, and heating expenses. Your generosity is appreciated so very much.
God Bless you! ~Fr. Pat~
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COVID-19 MASS REGULATIONS:
DO NOT COME TO CHURCH IF YOU ARE SICK.
THE SIGN OF PEACE SHOULD BE DONE WITH A NOD OF THE HEAD AND/OR A WAVE OF THE HAND. SHAKING HANDS IS STILL STRONGLY DISCOURAGED AND SHOULD BE AVOIDED EXCEPT AMONG FAMILY MEMBERS. SOCIAL DISTANCING IS NO LONGER REQUIRED BUT MAY STILL REMAIN A PRUDENT PRACTICE WHEN AMONG PEOPLE YOU DO NOT KNOW, WHEREAS, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW WHO IS AND WHO IS NOT VACCINATED. WE SHOULD STILL REMAIN CAUTIOUS WHILE CAREFULLY RETURNING TO PRACTICES IN PLACE PRIOR TO THE PANDEMIC.
THE MONTHLY GROUP ANOINTING OF THE SICK AFTER THE FIRST SATURDAY OF EACH MONTH IS NOW CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
THE SACRAMENT OF THE SICK, HOWEVER, IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE AT ANYTIME FOR ANYONE IN DANGER OF DEATH.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO CHECK THIS WEBSITE FOR FUTURE UPDATES.
UPCOMING EVENTS: PLEASE BE SURE TO MARK YOUR CALENDARS SO THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ATTEND THE FOLLOWING PARISH MASSES AND EVENTS!
“LEGACY OF HOPE”
We have already started to put proceeds from the Legacy of Hope to use.
PARISH PROJECTS FROM LEGACY OF HOPE CAMPAIGN
*New LED lights have been installed on the outside of our Parish Center
* Windows inside the center are being covered with insulating film to save on heat this winter
* Set of doors in Parish Center have been repaired and repainted
* Outside front of Parish Center has been upgraded with new cement walkway and a truck load of mulch
* We have installed two 24,000 BTU heating/AC units in the downstairs of the Parish Center
* A new professional grade snow blower has been ordered and will arrive in the next month
WE HAVE ALSO DONE THE FOLLOWING PROJECTS
* New LED light bulbs have been installed in all the hanging lights over the pews in the church
* The outdoor shrubs in the front of the church have been trimmed so they are away from the buildings
* Scraping and painting of one of the handicapped railings to the church
* Installing a second sump pump in the basement of the church to protect the furnace
* The purchase of new hedge trimmers, 40 V batteries, and other cutting tools to maintain the property
* We repaired the church organ
* We updated & replaced the lighting in the lower rectory to LED fixutres.
* In addition there were several other repair/maintenance projects that were done.
We are truly grateful for all those who have sent in their Legacy of Hope gifts. If you haven’t done so already, please try to send in your gift either via the mail, drop off at the rectory, or hand to Sister Irene or Father Pat at any of the weekend Masses
Thank you and God bless you!
Please see the following links for more information:
PARISH WISH LIST: We will now have an ongoing Parish Wish List that we will publish in the bulletin. These are things that would be a nice addition to have when we get the funds. The first items are as follows:
LITURGY: A new set of 4 vestments (chausables) to be used at the altar. The cost for the entire set is $650.00. With the generosity of our parishioners we now have the vestments. if we receive any additional money it will be used to purchase the 5th vestment to complete the set.
YOUTH: In the very near future, we will be starting up our Youth Drop-In Activity program. It is a good thing for kids to enjoy, having fun with their friends, sponsored by the Church. We would like to purchase 2 new arcade games for our Drop-In Activity program. The cost of each of the games is $300.00. So far we have received $100.00 to help with this purchase.
We will keep you informed as to how much has been raised for each of our Wish List items. The money raised from the Legacy of Hope has all been designated for specific items. Our Wish List will come from new donations from the generosity of our parishioners. If you did not contribute to the Legacy of Hope, perhaps you may consider a donation toward something on our parish Wish List..Thank you!