November 14, 2023

Fall News From Saint Josephine Bakhita Parish

November 14, 2023

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Josephine Bakhita Parish,

Greetings and a Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!! I do hope many of you can join us for our annual town-wide Thanksgiving Service celebrated with many of the churches in Rocky Hill here at our St. James Campus on Tuesday November 21 at 7:00 PM. An evening of prayer and sacred music and Thanksgiving reflection and proclamation. There will be a monetary collection in support of the Rocky Hill Food Bank. It is my hope that many of our St. Josephine Bakhita parishioners can join in solidarity with our sisters and brothers of our community churches.

Also there will be a Thanksgiving Day Mass at 8:00 AM at St. James Campus on Thursday November 23, 2023. Please join us!

On the heels of Thanksgiving is the beginning of our Advent season and a new liturgical year. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, a day of gratitude, would it not be appropriate to stretch out the gratefulness into the Advent Season, into Christmas and beyond? Several years ago, we invited folks to begin a personal gratitude journal that would engage us in a daily dose of grateful reflection. Thought it would be appropriate to ask you do engage in this once again. All you would need is a simple blank journal and a pen and a desire to take 5-10 minutes to pause and reflect on your day…and jot down your thoughts, reflections, and prayers.

Here are a few questions you could use for your journal entries each day:

How am I feeling today?
What things are weighing on me?
What things am I grateful for?
What or who am I praying for today?
My mood today is: calm, happy, anxious, rested, angry, playful, creative, sad, etc?
Where is God in all of this?

If you commit to doing this for a year…it will be fascinating to look back and see the growth in your life.

Peace and blessings!

Fr. George Couturier

The 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

November 19, 2023

4:00 PM at Saint James

9:00 AM at Saint Elizabeth Seton

11:00 AM at Saint James

Scan this QR Code to add the Holiday Fair to your calendar! We can't wait to see you there this coming Saturday!

HELP WANTED! We Have a Job for Everyone! Click Here to Volunteer to Help at our Holiday Fair!

HELP! WE NEED BAKERS TO SIGN UP ASAP!

CALLING ALL PARISH BAKERS!

Annual Holiday Fair

Bake Sale & Cookie Walk

Donations of baked goods and cookies are still needed for our annual Holiday Fair. We have many talented bakers in our parish and each year they donate delicious homemade baked goods for our very popular Holiday Fair Bake Sale & Cookie Walk. We can never have too much! Every last crumb sells! Please sign up to donate one or more items.

Attention Bakers: Drop Off Instructions

Please bring your donated baked goods to the Parish Center on Friday, November 17 between 2 - 6 PM. Include a slip of paper with your name and description of your baked goods, and any allergens, as labels will be prepared to identify items for shoppers. Cookies should be placed on a disposable tray and baked goods packaged in clear wrap. Someone will be available to check in your donations so please speak to a volunteer at the time you drop off your donations. Thank you!

Click Here to Volunteer to Bake For Our Holiday Fair

Annual Holiday Fair

Tea Cup Raffle

We are seeking new or gently used items for our Teacup Raffle as well as holiday ornaments for the Holiday Fair. Collection Bins are located at the entrances of both Churches. Any questions, feel free to call Kathy Alexander at 860-563-5859.

Thanksgiving Food Baskets &

Grocery Store Gift Certificates

Create a Thanksgiving Food Basket for a household of 4-6 people to donate to Rocky Hill Human Services and deliver to either church the weekend of November 18-19.

Donate gift certificates to local grocery stores to compliment the Food Baskets and enable families to buy turkeys and perishable foods.

Please indicate your intention to donate a basket by signing up in either Church Foyer. Learn all about where to donate and how to build your basket, Click Here.

ABC Women’s Center

Annual “Baby Bottle Drive

From November 4-19, our parish community will be supporting the annual “Baby Bottle Drive” to benefit the clients of the ABC Women’s Center. This Center is a faith based pregnancy resource center located in both Middletown and New Britain. Clients are provided with a wide variety of services that are free of charge; this fund–raiser is vital to the accomplishment of that mission.

Baby bottles will be available in the entrances of both churches. Please take one home and fill it with your generous donation of change, currency or a check made payable to: ABC Women’s Center (not the Parish). (Credit card payments accepted by using the QR code on the bottle or by calling Idalis Moreno, the Development Manager, at 860-894-7402.)

Please return the baby bottle containing your donation to Church no later than the weekend of November 18-19!! For any questions or more information, call Lorraine Levesque at 860-534-0937. Thank you in advance for your generosity and support!!

Food & Cereal

For Our Local Pantries

We continue to seek food and cereal donations for our monthly delivery to the Rocky Hill and Amazing Grace food pantries. Non-perishable food items and cereal boxes can be dropped off at either church location. Additionally, we need volunteers to deliver the food to Amazing Grace.

Learn more, Click Here.

Catholic Campaign for Human Development Special Collection: November 18 – 19

Did you know that nearly 34 million Americans live below the poverty line? You can help by supporting the collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development through our special collection the weekend of November 18-19, 2023.

Saint Josephine Bakhita Bible Study

Advent 2023

Saint Josephine Bakhita Bible Study will be meeting during Advent to prepare for the great feast of The Nativity of the Lord at Christmas.

We will meet on four Wednesdays on November 29, December 6, 13 and 20, to read through, contemplate and discuss together the readings for the following Sunday. This will help us to focus on the Sunday liturgies during Advent by hearing the Word of God a more deeply.

No prior experience with bible study is required. All are welcome.

There will be a morning session at Saint James Parish Center at 10 AM and an “online” session at 7:00 PM. Each session will last about 75 minutes.

There will not be a separate text that needs to be purchased. The materials for preparation for our sessions together starting on November 29 will be emailed to registered participants each week prior to our meetings in sufficient time to prepare.

Email Deacon Michael at saintjmdeacon@gmail.com to register and receive these emails with the links each week for the materials and the online meeting.

Contemplative Dialogue Advent Series

All are invited to join our 5-week series that will be held on Tuesday evenings in person at the St. Elizabeth Seton campus in Room D from 6:00 – 7:15 beginning on November 28 and ending on December 26.

We will be reading ‘Bridges to Contemplative living with Thomas Merton.' Each week, participants will read a chapter and reflect on it in silence. There is then a sharing period when members may choose to share how certain parts of the readings were meaningful and relevant in their lives. Everyone is asked to listen to each other’s sharing without comment - to listen deeply is to cultivate inner silence.

If you would like to participate, please register (by email to mca0711@sbcglobal.net or call 860-604-2807) by November 12^th to allow sufficient time to order and receive books before our initial session.

Please contact Fran Mastro (at 860-810-2403 or Fmed6@icloud.com) with any questions or for more information.