Author: bparker

Mary’s Place Holiday Donations

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Mary’s Place Refugee Outreach is looking for donations of toys, blankets and cold weather accessories (hats, gloves, and scarves) for children and teens. We hope this year you will once again help us put smiles on refugee children’s faces. Without the support of community members like you, Mary’s Place would be unable to continue providing services and programs for resettled refugees in Rochester. Thank you for helping to make this Holiday season brighter for every family at Mary’s Place.

Please see the dates and time of drop offs and information on when and how to get involved below:

Donation Drop Off Information:  Dates: Monday December 6 through Friday, December 10 – Time: 11:00 am – 4:00 pm  Location: Mary’s Place Refugee Outreach, 414 Lexington Avenue, Rochester, NY 14613

Gift Assembly Information:  Dates: Monday, December 13 through Thursday, December 16 – Times: 8:30 –  4:00 pm  Location: Mary’s Place Refugee Outreach,  414 Lexington Avenue,  Rochester, NY 14613

If you have any questions, please contact Mary’s place outreach directly at (585) 270-8626 or by email at: 

All donations must be dropped off at Mary’s Place.

2021 Thanksgiving Basket Gift Card Drive

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if you would like to help someone in need this holiday, we invite you to participate in our Thanksgiving Basket Gift Card Drive. There is no better way to give thanks than to give back! This is an opportunity to help those living in our community who are making difficult decisions between buying food and paying for rent.Thank you to everyone who has already donated to this event!

Our goal this year is to collect $10,000 in Aldi’s gift cards that will provide Thanksgiving meals for 200 families living in the neighborhood surrounding the Cathedral! As of November 9, we are at 16% of our goal. For those who haven’t donated yet, there is still time to do so. We would greatly appreciate receiving all donations by November 15th.

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one”
Mother Teresa

Thank You from the Women’s Care Center

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Thank you so much for the wonderful baby shower for the Women’s Care Center. God is so good. Your love and support is most appreciated. The love goes a long way to ensure that moms and babies and many families have these basic necessities. Thank you so much and Thanks be to God!

Thank you to Annette Hunt and Social Ministry community for setting up this baby shower for the Women’s Care Center.

Advent Giving Tree

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The Social Ministry Committee is happy to return to the Cathedral Community the Advent giving tree. The tree will be in the narthex the weekend of November 20 & 21, with gift suggestions for families and individuals referred by the Catholic Family Center. Please return the gift and gift cards unwrappedto the Cathedral office by December 5th. Thank you in advance for your assistance this holiday season.

Faith Formation 2021 – 2022

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 I’m so grateful to Karen Stevens for helping me to piece together an “in-person” religious ed. program here at the Cathedral, after having an online only program last year due to COVID. Karen worked in this role here at the Cathedral several years ago, and she has been extremely helpful in getting us up and running again. We are still in the early stages of planning but we would like to begin taking signups. The program will start Sunday, September 19th and take place most Sundays from 10:15am until 11:15am. This will allow a family to have their child(ren) enrolled in the program and also attend either the 9:15am Mass (beforehand) or the 11:15am Mass (afterwards).
Signup forms are available in the Cathedral narthex, or can be downloaded here…
Faith Formation Registration (Download) 2021-2022
 or Families can enroll online at the link to the Registration Form found in the Menu above under Faith Formation
 The Sacrament of Confirmation is generally administered by Bishop Matano to 9th graders at the end of that second year of classes. Confirmation classes will also take place at the same time as Faith Formation: Sundays from 10:15am until 11:15am.
The RCIA program is an intellectual and spiritual journey for those individuals who have never been baptized, but are interested in exploring the teachings of the Catholic faith in view of potentially seeking baptism and entrance into the full life of the Church next spring. But I also find that RCIA classes can also serve as helpful formation for those nonCatholic Christians who are already baptized, but are considering “converting” to the Catholic faith by being received into full communion with the Catholic Church. Depending on interest, I am hoping to host these Wed. evening from 5:30 to 6:30 pm at the Cathedral starting Sept. 15th.

Help Haiti

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Gifts of love benefit St. Damien Pediatric Hospital, Port–Au–Prince, Haiti’s only children’s hospital treating childhood cancer and children in desperate need without cost to their families.
$5 Donation each In the Cathedral’s narthex after all masses on Dec. 4/5.  These GIFTS OF LOVE among the last of Holy Childhood’s beautiful ceramic Angels gift card saying you have made a donation in honor of the receiver to “help children in Haiti”.
Sale organized by our Social Ministry group and St. Louis Church, Pittsford Cathedral Community
Contact Annette Hunt ()
If check, please write to The Cathedral Community.
Write “Haiti” on the memo line.
To further help St. Damien Pediatric Hospital, we again have been offered a matching grant for revenues received. We also request your prayers as St. Damien is located in Port–au–Prince, about 80 miles from the area of Haiti hardest hit by the recent earthquake. It’s the only pediatric hospital in the country, and it serves about 90,000 patients every year. Please visit: www.nphusa.org/stdamien to learn the magnitude of our endeavor.

HOMILY SERIES… John, Chapter 6

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Beginning July 25, 2021 (The 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time) , the Gospel readings were taken sequentially from Chapter 6 of St. John’s Gospel. This is Jesus’ great teaching on the Eucharist! And it is section of Scripture that all Catholics should know and be able to explain.

What follows is Fr. Van Lieshout’s homily series on this mystery which is the “source and summit” of the Christian life!

Week 1: Eucharistic Implications of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes (John 6: 1-15)

Week 2: The Manna from Heaven (John 6: 24-35)

Week 3: Jesus’ Identity and the Centrality of Faith (John 6: 41-51)

Week 4: The New Bread from Heaven (John 6: 51-58)

Week 5: “To Whom Shall We Go” (John 6: 60-69)

Green Team

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Choose Life by Choosing to Care for Creation

A JOINT MESSAGE FOR THE PROTECTION OF CREATION

Pope Francis, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, and Anglican Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury, England wrote a joint statement calling for Christians and all people of good will to change their ways. In a short statement they issue a prophetic call saying, “We must decide what kind of world we want to leave to future generations. God mandates: ‘Choose life, so that you and your children might live’ (Dt 30:19). We must choose to live differently; we must choose life.”

To read the joint statement, please see the Green Team tab in the Menu above. (Go to the Green Team tab under the “Ministries” tab. then under the “Outreach Ministries” tab.