March 25, 2025

Lent at Saint Josephine Bakhita Parish

March 25, 2025

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Josephine Bakhita Parish,

In his book Rediscovering the Parables Joachim Jeremias says that the Prodigal Son story (this week’s Gospel Luke 15:1-3, 11-32) tells us with impressive simplicity what God is like—a God of incredible goodness, grace and mercy.

Almost every detail of the story emphasizes the immense, extravagant, reckless love God has for us: the way the father looked every day for his son, ran with abandon to meet him and refused to listen to his son’s well-rehearsed speech; the manner in which the father dressed him with the finest robe, ring and sandals; and how he threw an extravagant feast to celebrate his son’s return and tried to persuade his older son to share in the joyous occasion.

Every detail of this carefully crafted story is charged with symbolism to reveal the incredible, unconditional love God has for us. If only we could realize this, we would not be like the younger prodigal son in the sense that we would be afraid to approach our heavenly Father or hesitate to come to him in forgiveness. Let us run to the Father of mercy and be changed this Lenten Season.

Wishing you a blessed Lent!

Fr. George Couturier

Click Here to See All We Have Planned for Lent

March 30, 2025

4:00 PM at Saint James

9:00 AM at Saint Elizabeth Seton

& livestreamed

11:00 AM at Saint James

Lent Prayer & Devotions

Pray the Stations of the Cross

The Stations of the Cross invite us to use all our senses as we reflect prayerfully and walk intentionally with Jesus through his suffering, death on the cross and resurrection.

Attend the Stations of the Cross

Friday Evenings

5:30PM at St. James

7:00pm at St. Elizabeth Seton

Daily Mass

Mon-8:30AM @ Seton

Tues-8:00AM @ St. James

Thur-8:00AM @ St. James

Fri-8:30AM @ Seton

Evening Prayer

Fr. George leads evening prayer Monday - Friday at 5:00 PM on our parish Facebook Page. All are welcome!

Reconciliation

Fr. George welcomes all to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Monday evenings at 6:00 PM at St. Elizabeth Seton.

Lent Almsgiving

Please bring back your rice bowl when churches are open for weekend masses. Kindly return them no later than the weekend after Easter (April 26 & 27). There will be greeters to accept your rice bowl donations.

Thank you for changing lives this Lent!

Easter Food Baskets

Saint Josephine Bakhita Parish will be collecting Easter food “baskets” for families within our community on the weekend of April 12-13 so that they can be delivered before Easter. Rocky Hill Human Services is asking for "generic" baskets for families of four to six people. If your family or group would like to donate a basket, please sign up on the sheet located in the Foyer of either church so we know how many to plan for. If we get enough, some will also be donated to Catholic Worker in Hartford.

Please bring your basket (any container is acceptable as long as it looks nice) to the Rectory garage at Saint Elizabeth Seton or Father Shea Hall at Saint James on Saturday afternoon, April 12 or Sunday morning, April 13. A list of suggested items is available here. Please do not include perishable foods. People will be given gift certificates to use for their fresh foods.

During this weekend we will also be collecting grocery store gift certificates which Rocky Hill Human Services will add to the baskets when they are distributed. Please bring the gift certificates to Mass April 12-13 and give them directly to Fr. George.

Bakhita Bible Camp is Back!

Mark your calendars now for Saint Josephine Bakhita Parish Vacation Bible Camp to be held Monday, June 23, 2025 - Friday, June 27, 2025 from 9:00 AM - Noon.

Bakhita Bible Camp welcomes campers entering Kindergarten through Grade 6.

Registration forthcoming for Teen Volunteers entering Grades 7-12 and Adult Volunteers of all ages.

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about volunteering opportunities, please contact Lisa Torneo at biblecamp@sjbrh.org.

Click Here To Register Campers for Bakhita Bible Camp

Other Fun Tidbits

Palm Crosses for Sale

The Knights of Columbus will be taking orders for Palm Crosses after every Mass at the St. James & St. Elizabeth Seton campuses starting on Saturday, March 8 through Sunday, March 30. Palm crosses will be available for pick up after every mass on Palm Sunday. The cost of the palm crosses is $13. Please contact David Mikol at (860) 726-3585 with any questions.

Parish Visitors

Our Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion are available to bring Holy Communion to our homebound parishioners and those recuperating from surgery or illness. Please contact the parish office to request a visit: 860-529-8655.

Giving Garden

The Giving Garden of St. Josephine Bakhita has supplied the St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen in Middletown with 460 to more than 900 pounds of fresh vegetables a year since 2017. The garden is on Brook Street, east of the rectory.

Our 14 volunteers manage the 20- x 30-foot plot as an organic, non-synthetic chemical garden.

This ministry is not hard work or a chore but a pleasure, where you work with and meet some very kind folks. But gardeners could use your help, either a one-time effort; once a week for an hour or so, or whatever you’re able to do. We’re looking for volunteers from high school age through seniors.

Some needs this year include:

One time efforts in April/May to improve the fencing and borders or shovel some mulch & wood chips.
Weekly plant & weed maintenance, limited to an hour per week, June - early October
One more picker/team of pickers for once every two weeks (once harvesting time arrives.)

If you have an interest in helping, please contact Bob Manzi at manzirj@sbcglobal.net or at 860 502-5097. You can even visit us anytime usually at 5 p.m. Mondays, starting in June.

Saint Josephine Bakhita Faith Sharing Group

All are welcome to join the Saint Josephine Bakhita Faith Sharing Group. We meet on the 4th Tuesday of the Month in the month of April, May and June. We meet from 10:00-11:30 AM at St. Elizabeth Seton Church. This group grew out of our parish Awakening retreat in November 2024. At our meetings we start with a presentation of a gift of the Holy Spirit and then we break into small groups to share how the Holy Spirit is working in our lives. A main focus is how we keep the Holy Spirit as an active component of our everyday life. For additional information, please contact Michael Lonergan at 860-638-7080 at Mikelonergan53108@sbcglobal.net.

To view some of the wonderful things accomplished through your generosity, the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal is continuing the web-series called, The Appeal at Work. The season premiere will be airing on Thursday, April 3rd on all Archdiocesan Social Media sites as well as the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal webpage. New episodes will also air the first week of May & June. Episodes will highlight some of the

wonderful ministries supported by the 2025 Archbishop’s Annual Appeal, Trust in the Lord. By going to the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal Website, https://archdioceseofhartford.org/appeal/ you will find a link for each episode. Please tune in Thursday, April 3rd for the season premiere.

All funds contributed to the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal are used exclusively for the purposes outlined in the Appeal literature, which can be found here. No Appeal funds are ever used for legal fees or settlements.