We are family!

A message of love and solidarity.

Here at Saint Stephen Parish, we will never stop living and promoting our Catholic Faith!

Each day we will post news, initiatives and information that is important to all of us as a parish family.

We are going to use, to the best of our ability and creativity, the means that this era of technology offers us, to stay connected with our brothers and sisters because “We are family”.

That is the title of the brief posts you’ll find on our web page or on the Parish Facebook page. Since we are a bilingual community, everything will be posted in the two languages, you just need to scroll down the page to find the English post. So, log on to www.ststephenparish.org each day and let us stay connected with each other.

Feel free also to comment and sent suggestions that may be helpful, thanks.

Altar Servers Invited Back

After a hiatus of several years, we would like to have our young people resume their role of serving at Mass.

This is a great privilege in assisting the priest as he brings Jesus down from Heaven into our parish churches.

This service is open to boys and girls who have served in the past or who would like to serve now. You must have received your First Communion to be eligible and you must be available to fulfill your assigned Masses.

Training will be provided. If you are interested, please contact Mr. Drummey at classes on Sunday,

Helping the St. Vincent de Paul Society

We know that many of you gave up things during Lent that may have saved you some money. Some of that money has been used in past years to help different charities, like the Rice Bowl program, the Bethany project to help prisoners, the Pro-Life movement, etc.

How about this time donating the money you saved by denying yourself certain pleasures to the St. Vincent de Paul Society? The SVDP does a wonderful job helping the most needy among us. This is the way we try to respond to our call to help the poor here at Saint Stephen's

Faith Formation in the Fall

Religious Education in English and Spanish for the young people in our Parish, especially for those receiving First Communion and Confirmation, will begin on Sun-day,

 September 17th, at 10:15 a.m. for grades 1 to 6 and at 11:45 for grades 7 to 10.

Registration forms will be going out shortly or you can scan the QR code here to sign up on line. If you have any questions, please call Mr. Drummey at (508) 875-4788.

Visits and Holy Communion to the sick and homebound.

As Catholics, if we have the misfortune to end up being sick for a while, or in recovery; one of the most comforting things for us is, to be able to watch Mass on TV, and that is why we continue to broadcast our Masses that you may follow each weekend by linking to our webpage and, most of all, to receive Holy Communion. If you hap-pen to know any of our Parishioners to be in this situation, please, call the office and notify us about it. One of our Priests, Deacons or Extraordinary Minister of Communion will be more than happy to visit your relative and bring him/her Holy Communion. Please, let us know!

“Will Only a Few People Be Saved?”

Jesus was asked this question and responded that we must “enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and restricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14).

People have debated for centuries about what Jesus meant by “many” and “few.” No one knows. What we do know, however, is that we want to be among the few. How can we do that? Well, for one thing, we can keep the Ten Commandments, as Jesus told the rich young man who wanted to know what he had to do to get to Heaven.

The Commandments explain in more detail what Jesus called the two great commandments. First, we must love God with all our hearts, all our minds, and all our souls. Second, we must love our neighbor at ourselves.

If you were to ask people if they expect to go to Heaven, many would respond in the affirmative. If you ask them why, they will say, “Because I’m a good person. I shop for my elderly neighbor, I help out at a homeless shelter, I coach youth sports, etc.”

But that’s only the second great commandment — to love our neighbor. What about the first great command-ment — to love God above everything and everyone else?

Does helping other people make up for neglecting God? Does coaching sports on Sunday morning make up for not going to Mass? We would say no.

A good person should first of all be a “Godperson.” The two should go hand in hand, always putting God first in our lives and others second. Then we can be sure of being saved.

Baptisms and Marriages

Two great Sacraments that God has given to His Church are the sacraments of Marriage and Baptism. We encourage those who are planning to get married to contact one of our priests for an initial meeting at least six months prior to the wedding date you have in mind. And for newborn babies, bring them to the fountain of Baptism as soon as possible to give them the greatest gift of all — the grace to become children of God.

Baptism begins our journey to Heaven. We cannot receive any of the other Sacraments without having been baptized. It is imperative that parents not neglect to have their children baptized shortly after birth.

Winners in December Raffle

Many thanks to all who bought tickets for the December Raffle. Here are the names of the

second week of December winners.

Congratulations to them and good

luck to everyone else for the rest of the month:

Carmen O’Connor (Immaculate

Conception, $200), Jairo Rodriguez ($100), Noemi Vargas

($100), Vicky Aguilar (Our Lady of Guadalupe gift

plus $100), Rachel Previte ($100), Adele Smith ($100),

Mirna Morales (Restaurant gift certificates plus $100), and

Jim Drummey ($100).

NO Prayer Group for TWO weeks!

Our Holy Spirit Prayer Group will not meet tomorrow night, December 23rd, nor the 30th, in the St. Paul Room of the School because of Christmas. We will resume our weekly Monday night meetings on January 6th. In the meantime, we wish all of you a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

Special Plenary Indulgence on January 1st, Feast of Mary, The Mother of God.

A plenary indulgence will be granted to all the faithful who devoutly assist at the recitation or singing of the Veni Creator Spiritus (“Come, Holy Spirit”) on January 1st, the Feast of Mary, the Mother of God. The indulgence can be to re-move all the temporal punishment attached to one’s own sins, or it can be for a soul in Purgatory.

The usual conditions must be fulfilled: Mass and Holy Communion on the day the indulgence is sought, Confession 20 days before or after the day, prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father (Apostles’ Creed, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be to the Father), and freedom from all attachment to sin, even venial sin.

The full hymn will appear in a brochure available at the doors of the Church, but here are some of the words:

Come, Holy Spirit, Creator blest, and in our souls take up the rest. Come with thy grace and heavenly aid, to fill the hearts which thou hast made.

O Comforter, to Thee we cry, O heavenly gift of God Most High. O fount of life and fire of love, and sweet anointing from above.

Thou in thy sevenfold gifts are known; Thou, finger of God’s hand we own; Thou, promise of the Father, Thou; who dost the tongue with power imbue. Kindle our senses from above, and make our hearts o’erflow with love, with patience firm and virtue high, the weakness of our flesh supply.

That’s Why There’s a Christmas Day

C is for the Christ Child, born on Christmas Day

H for herald angels in the night

R means our Redeemer

I means Israel

S is for the star that shone so bright

T is for three Wise Men, they who traveled far

M is for the manger where He lay

A is all He stands for

S means shepherds came

And that’s why there’s a Christmas Day.

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