Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time—November 3, 2019

Dear Friends in Christ:

The Archdiocesan Synod 2020: Grow and Go meeting of delegates was last weekend and it was an amazing experience. I have asked our two delegates, Jill Hale and Shawn Simpson, to write about their experience for all to learn firsthand from our delegates. You can find their article on page 9 of this bulletin. It was a non-stop busy weekend of presentations, small group discussions, and prayer. As the Secretary of the Synod, it was a very powerful experience to see so many faithful and committed Catholics, younger and older, come together to discern a path forward for our local church.

The work now continues as the Synod Office is charged with collating all the materials from the many small groups, synthesizing the material, removing duplications, and then presenting the material to the Synod Preparatory Committee, the members of the Archbishop’s Cabinet, and, of course, to Archbishop Blair. After hearing the various members’ thoughts on the material it will then be in the hands of the Archbishop to write a Pastoral Letter outlining his thoughts and a path forward for our Archdiocesan family of faith. So keep those prayers coming! They are powerful, and they work!

Cheshire Town Wide Interfaith Thanksgiving Meal Project is HAPPENING NOW. As we have done for the last few years, all the houses of worship in the Cheshire community are working together to provide for the families served by the Cheshire Community Food Pantry in preparing their Thanksgiving Day meals.

Saint Bridget of Sweden Parish Family is responsible for collecting Boxed Mashed Potatoes and Canned Fried Onions. The baskets in front of the altar NEXT WEEKEND are for the donation of such items, please help us help others!

It is imperative that ALL ITEMS be brought back to either Saint Bridget Church or Saint Thomas Becket Church by next Sunday to enable the needed time for delivery and set-up of items for the putting together of the Thanksgiving Boxes at the Food Pantry.

JOIN US!!! Our "No Turkey Parish Thanksgiving Dinner" will be held on Saturday, November 23rd! Please sign up to join us by filling out the cutout on page 13 or by calling the rectory as soon as possible.

In addition to a delicious Italian dinner we will have activities for the children in the school gymnasium and entertainment for you to enjoy in the Parish Center. Please make an effort to come and join us as we gather as a parish family to give thanks to God for all His blessings.

Last year the children of the parish wrote essays about what they were grateful for, and a few were selected to be shared at the Parish Dinner. It was very well received so we are doing it again this year! We are asking all school aged children to write a paragraph or more about what they are grateful for this Thanksgiving.

We will select a few of them to be read by the children at our No Turkey Parish Thanksgiving Dinner by the student authors themselves! Essays must be turned in by Thursday, November 14th, to be considered, and children must be attending the dinner to be chosen. These can be turned in through the collection, dropped off at the rectory, emailed to office@stbridgetcheshire.org, or given to the school or religious education office.

Thank you to all those who contributed to the 2019 Annual Fund for St. Bridget School which took place over the summer. As you may remember the Annual Fund this year was designated to help us replace the aging SMART Boards in our parish school. With your generosity we were able to purchase 3 new SMART Boards. Thank you to all those who contributed to this campaign!

Realizing that replacing 23 SMART Boards was a huge undertaking and that our Annual Fund would only provide funding for a few at most, we applied for a grant! I am thrilled to announce that St. Bridget School received an $85,000 grant, payable over two years, to replace the remaining 20 SMART Boards!

THANK YOU to Mr. Frank M. Loehmann, Jr., and the Board of Directors of the John G. Martin Foundation for this amazing grant! This grant enables us to replace our outdated SMART Boards with new state-of-the-art SMART Boards that will certainly enhance the learning experience for all of our students in the days ahead! The first shipment of these new SMART Boards is being installed this coming week! We are so excited and SO GRATEFUL! Thank you Mr. Loehmann for all your guidance through this grant application process, and please thank the members of the John G. Martin Foundation for their amazing support of our parish school!

As we continue into the weeks of Fall please don’t miss the many spiritual and social opportunities we have as a parish family to grow together in faith. There is so much planned for the coming weeks! There is something for people of all ages! There are things that are spiritual and things that are social. A full list of activities and events can be found on our parish calendar on our website www.stbridgetcheshire.org, and on the calendar on our Parish App. Have you downloaded the myParish App yet?

DOWNLOAD THE APP TODAY! myParish App is being used already to communicate with our parishioners and NOW the various groups and ministries will begin utilizing the app as well. It will be a great way of communicating information to our parishioners and also a place to access daily Mass readings, confession and prayer reminders. It is certain to become your “go-to” app for Catholic parish life. You can download the app by texting APP to phone number 88202. You will receive a link, click on it, open it in the store, download, search, and enter St. Bridget of Sweden and then click get started!

A word of Congratulations to our Sante Fe Countil #2978 of the Knights of Columbus who are being honored this weekend with the Star Council Award! The Star Council Award recognizes outstanding achievement in membership, insurance and service program activities. We are super excited to have achieved this Award! Congratulations to our Grand Knight Ronald Painchaud and all our Knights on achieving this Award.

Recruiting new members is essential to the continued growth and well-being of any council and the Order as a whole. I am so grateful to all those who worked so hard last fraternal year to breathe new life into our Council and to bring new members into the Order. Offering a man membership in the Knights of Columbus gives him the opportunity to improve his own life and his community. Membership allows him to experience the fraternal bond that Knights share while growing closer to his family and his faith. If anyone would like more information about the Knights of Columbus please feel free to reach out to me, email Ron at ron12pain@gmail.com, or to check out our weekly column in the bulletin Knights Korner.

Finally, as always, please remember to pray for our parish family and ask God’s blessings 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, and united in the Eucharist, we will reflect the presence of Jesus to the world.