October 11, 2020 - 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Friends in Christ:

Have you driven by lately? You might have noticed a scarecrow in our front yard! St. Bridget School is happy to participate in the Cheshire Chamber of Commerce’s Scarecrow Contest. You probably have seen countless scarecrows popping up all over town but DON’T miss seeing ours. Our students all participated. Under the inspiration and direction of Sister Jeanne d’Arc Paquette, FSE, our Art Teacher, the students all wrote out prayer intentions for our Cheshire Community and our Pre-K students drew pictures of love which were used to stuff our scarecrow. Our scarecrow is a middle school student with a Pre-K student resting on its’ shoulder. So when you see it know that the students of St. Bridget School are praying for you daily!

Today is also the Annual Flu Clinic…The Franciscan Home Care and Hospice Care will offer Flu Vaccinations after all the Masses. THIS WILL BE A DRIVE-THRU FLU SHOT CLINIC. Please bring your insurance card, drive up to the Flu shot station which will be located in front of the school down near the field, wear your mask, and stay in your car!

They will be on campus from 4:30-6:15PM on Saturday and again from 7:30AM until 1PM on Sunday. We are so grateful to the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist and their Home Care and Hospice Care for providing this service to our parishioners.

The Consent & Reimbursement Form can be found on our website at www.stbridgetcheshire.org/events

Next Sunday is World Mission Sunday…a day set aside for Catholics worldwide to recommit themselves to the Church's missionary activity through prayer and sacrifice. Remember the call of Jesus, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Pope Francis consistently reminds us that we are all called to be missionary disciples, therefore this World Mission Sunday is an opportunity to pray for the grace to have the courage and strength to witness to the Gospel in each of our daily lives.

We also remember that there are many throughout the world who have not heard the Gospel message. This World Mission Sunday collection (which has a separate envelope in your packets) helps those missionaries in foreign lands have the resources they need to bring the Gospel to those who long to hear the Word of God and long to know the mercy and love of God.

Thank you for your generous consideration of this important work of the Church. Let us also remember to pray for the missionaries and the success of their efforts.

I am guessing that this pandemic is keeping more and more of us in our homes in the evenings and not out and about but if you have ventured by the church in the evening lately I wonder if you have seen it? A couple of months ago as we were preparing for the roof project I happened to see Paul and Kristin Bowman and they mentioned to me at some point there used to be a light on the steeple at night. They suggested that while the people are on the roof doing the roof work perhaps it might be time to get that light fixed. Well I did not even know that a light up there existed. I had been on the roof once in my time here as we were dealing with the masonry work last year, but did not make it to the next level where the steeple is. Our electricians replaced the light fixture with a new one and with a LED bulb and now our steeple is once again illuminated from dusk to dawn. Special word of gratitude to The Paul Bowman Family for their generosity in covering the costs related with this project! I hope you will drive by some evening and see it for yourself. What a ray of hope, a sign of God’s presence, a light shining in the darkness, in the midst of our community!

HAVE BOXES OF OLD PAPERS AND WANT TO GET RID OF THEM? Did you do some housecleaning during the pandemic and find yourself with a ton of papers to shred? We have the answer for you! St. Bridget School is hosting a Community Shred Event on Saturday, November 14, 2020, from 9AM until Noon, Rain or Shine, in the parking lot behind the rectory! Simply pull in, empty your boxes in the bins and watch it be shredded in the truck! All proceeds support St. Bridget School. $10 for a standard copy box, $15 for a legal size copy box, or $15 per bag! What a great way to get rid of our old files and support our parish school at the same time! I hope to see you there!

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO DONATED TO THE STUFF-A-BUS THIS YEAR! As you know each year in September the 8th graders of St. Bridget School support the Cheshire Community Food Pantry by collecting food from parishioners and all school families and stuff-a-bus to bring the food to the pantry. This year due to COVID 19 a bus was not available for their student ministry project. But fear not, thanks to our local Knights of Columbus Santa Fe Council #2978 the students were able to continue their stuff-a-bus collection in a creative way. The Knights collected the food at the doors of the church, the students collected the food from the school families and then the students organized the food in boxes decorated as school buses which the Knights then delivered on their behalf to the Food Pantry. COVID 19 has forced us to get creative in our day-to-day lives! Well done Knights of Columbus and well done 8th grade students of St. Bridget School. Working together we helped our neighbors in need even amid a pandemic!

THE PANDEMIC SAINT BRIDGET OF SWEDEN COOKBOOK…a few months ago I think back in April or May, Father Federico and I were doing our weekly Casual Conversations and we were realizing that the pandemic has caused a lot of people to start cooking and baking more than normal.

We decided we would try to do a cookbook from parishioner’s recipes. A good number came in but we WANT more.

SEND US YOUR RECIPES!

Over the next couple of months we will be seeking recipes in categories! This week we are interested in your favorite APPETIZERS. Send in those family specialties to

cookbook@stbridgetcheshire.org.

WE ARE ALSO LOOKING FOR STORIES OF FAITH! We want to hear from you! The Pastoral Staff discussed the desire to hear from you about your story of faith! We would like you to write out your story and share it with us. We hope to highlight different stories from time to time in upcoming bulletins. Stories can be submitted anonymously or with your name on it.

Please tell us how you became Catholic and why you stayed Catholic. Describe what the Catholic faith means to you. How has the faith helped you in the tough and dark times of life? How has your faith helped you during this pandemic?

Tell us about any incredible and uplifting supernatural experiences that have happened to you. Share with us why Saint Bridget of Sweden is your parish? We are planning to incorporate your story of faith into an outreach program for those friends and family members who have left the Catholic faith. The testimony and faith stories from people just like them will have a much bigger impact than if it came only from their priests. Your submission will not be shared without your permission. Please send your story to my attention through the collection or via email to rectory@stbridgetcheshire.org. Thank you!

As always, remember to pray and ask God’s blessings upon our family of faith as we build His kingdom here. Please know that I am praying for you, and I ask for your prayers for me, that together through the intercession of Saint Bridget of Sweden, our Patroness, and united in the Eucharist, we will reflect the presence of Jesus to the world.