Our Back to School Collection will take place the weekend of August 13/14.
The items needed are the usual ones: Pencils, pens, binders, paper, backpacks, notebooks, calculators, markers or crayons, and all the other things you will see on sale these weeks before school begins. This collection is a great help to the families living in the Ozanam shelter of Catholic Charities, where every penny counts as parents work toward the day when they will have their own place to live. Please plan to contribute to this project if you can – every little bit helps. Thank you.
August 13th is the Feast Day for Blessed Father Michael McGivney, who was the Founder of the Knights of Columbus, and who was beatified in 2000.
In celebration of this event, the Knights of Columbus and Father McGivney will be recognized at the 10am Mass on Sunday August 14, 2022. All brother Knights of our Council 12700 and their families are being asked to attend this Mass. Following Mass all Knights and all other members of the parish are invited to come down to the Church Hall for a reception/open house to share fellowship, light refreshments, and to learn more about the Knights of Columbus.
And CONGRATULATIONS to our Knights Council 12700 which has just received the distinction of STAR COUNCIL, the international organization's top award for local councils. The Star Council Award recognizes overall excellence in the areas of membership, promotion of fraternal benefits, sponsorship of faith formation programs and service-oriented and charitable activities.
For more information on joining this wonderful organization please contact Grand Knight, Kevin Mazza, at 908-392-2711 or [email protected].
Our next food collection will be taken up the weekend of August 20/21. No perishables, please. Last collection we collected 85 bags of food. Thank you to all who gave so generously in last month’s collection.
PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE FOOD MORE THAN A WEEK IN ADVANCE.
The parish office will be open on Sunday, August 21 from 9:00 am-12:30 pm.
Diocese of Metuchen 40th Anniversary Pilgrimage to the Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, Saturday, Sept. 24 — see Schedule of Events.
If you have any interest in attending this special pilgrimage to Washington, DC, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Diocese of Metuchen, please send an email to Father David at [email protected] putting the number “40” somewhere in the subject line.
If there is enough interest we could arrange for a parish bus. Alternatively, people can go on their own, driving, training on AMTRAK, or carpooling.
A bus would cost $40-50 a person. It would have to leave before 7:00 that morning and would not return to Middlesex until about 9:00 pm that evening.
At this time, about 25 parishes are planning to sponsor buses, but it is not clear at this time which of these may have room for folks who are not their parishioners.
HELP NEEDED:
The Religious Education Program needs the following volunteers for the 2022-2023 Academic Year:
4:00-5:10PM Class Session 2
Assistants are needed (Grades 1 and 2)
5:30-6:40PM Class Session
6th Grade Catechist, 4th and 6th Grade Assistants and a Hall Monitor is needed
7:00-8:15PM Class Session Two
Grade 7 Assistants are needed
Please consider donating your time and talent to assist the children of the parish on their journey of faith. All volunteers over the age of 18 years MUST be fingerprinted, background checked and attend a one-time Protecting God’s Children Workshop in order to work with children in the Diocese of Metuchen. Catechists and assistants receive tuition discounts, student volunteers receive service hour credits.
We are having a Fall Vendor Fair on Saturday, November 19 in the Parish Center from 9am – 3pm. If you are interested in a table, we are taking reservation now. Please call Patty in the Parish Office.
The Rosary is prayed every Tuesday and Thursday after the 12:00 noon Mass. All parishioners are invited to join in this most devout form of prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary for peace and the preservation of freedom in the United States.
With summertime and vacation time upon us, please consider joining our parish online giving program. This is the safest and most convenient way to ensure the financial stability of the parish over the summer months when many of our parishioners are on vacation. You can make your gift payable on a recurring basis, so that you support the parish even while you are away. Remember, parish expenses do not decrease over the summer months! Making a donation is easy. Simply go to this link. You can select either a one-time or a recurring gift. Even though you will not be using envelopes, please make sure to include your envelope number when you sign up to ensure that you get properly credited for your donation.
Wishing you and your family a happy and safe summer! God bless.
Please make use of our Meditation Garden. What a beautiful spot to spend a few minutes with our Lord! Our Meditation Garden and Remembrance Walkway project is ongoing, and bricks can be ordered at any time. The next placement of bricks will be during the summer. Remembrance bricks are a beautiful way to remember loved ones or special moments in our lives.
All volunteers are reminded that if their volunteer work at the parish involves working with children, unless each child’s parent or guardian accompanies their child for the entire time, the volunteer needs to have been fingerprinted and have gone through the Protecting God’s Children program, and their credentials must be up to date and on file with our Safe Environment Coordinator at OLMV (Ms. Zmigrodski). Also, no photos that include children may be included on any social media website or platform or in any publication without the prior written consent of the parent or guardian. Many thanks for your understanding and cooperation
While online giving is the best and easiest way to make offertory and special contributions to the parish, many thanks also to all who use the offertory envelopes for making their weekly and special contributions to the parish.
Collection envelopes are currently sent out every other month to about 1300 families in the parish. This is far more than the number of families that actually use them. In order to cut costs and waste, we are in the process of discontinuing envelopes being sent to any family that has not used its envelopes since January, 2019. You should still retain your envelope number and use it whenever you add or make changes to online giving or make a note of the envelope number on the memo line of your check if you make a contribution by check. If for some reason you would still like to receive envelopes, please call Patty in the parish office.
The best way to support the parish is to enroll in our online giving program. Through this program you can determine your donation amount, select the funds or funds of your choice to which to donate, determine the method of payment, and set the frequency of payments (one-time or recurring). Many thanks for your prayerful support and generosity.