Scroll through this week's Flocknote for our Mass Schedule, Gospel Reflection, Announcements and more.

Mass Schedule/Intentions this Week

If you are unable to join us in person you may connect to the livestream Mass via our Facebook page or our website. The Daily 8:30A.M. and Sunday 9:30A.M. Masses are livestreamed. You can view the recording anytime.

Saturday, June 19

+John Molinelli

Req. by The Lampasso Family

Sunday, June 20

8:00am

+Nef Martinez

Req. by Al and Marie Trebing

9:30am - Livestream

+Anthony Borrello

Req. by The Pavain Family

11:30

+Ronald Wojdyla

Req. by Deacon Frank and Mary Foyt

Monday, June 21

8:30am - Livestream

+Daniel R. Palange

Req. by Clare O'Gorman

Tuesday, June 22

8:30am - Livestream

+Theresa Bjella

Req. by Bob and Mary Young

Wednesday, June 23

8:30am - Livestream

+Sharon Riguzzi

Req. by Evo Riguzzi

Thursday, June 24

8:30am - Livestream

+Mary Manley

Req. by The Byrnes Family

Friday, June 25

8:30am - Livestream

+Frank Joseph

Req. by The Byrnes Family

Saturday, June 26

+Selvanayagam

+Maria Rose Arputhaswamy

Req. by Fr. Prince

Sunday, June 27

8:00am

Eugene Byrnes - Special Intention

Req. by The Byrnes Family

9:30am - Livestream

+Sylvia L. Moreau

Req. by Deacon Frank and Mary Foyt

11:30

+Mary Flinn

Req. by The Carroll Family

Announcements

Retirement Notes

My dear Sisters and Brothers in the Lord,

The Book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3 begins with these words: “There is an appointed time for everything …. under the heavens.” There is a time to plant and a time to harvest. Marie Trebing and Gigi Pekala, the two coordinators of our Religious Education Program in our parish are retiring. Marie has spent 20 years and Gigi 17 years of planting the seeds of faith in the hearts of so many of our young people in our parish. They have dedicated their time in forming the children and their families in faith and helped them to encounter the Lord in Word and Worship. They have faced tremendous challenges, and sometimes, deep disappointments, yet they worked tirelessly and made a difference in the lives of these young people and families.

As a parish, we owe them a great debt of gratitude for their dedicated service. We’ll miss their expertise and example of their Christian witness. They have laid a solid foundation by planting and nurturing the seeds of faith in these young hearts and it is our responsibility to continue to help them grow ever closer to the Lord. As we express our deep gratitude, we invoke God’s blessings on them and their families and wish them every success in their future endeavors.

Marie and Gigi, thank you again and God bless you.

Fr. Joseph A. Prince

Pastor

A note from Marie Trebing:

I would like to personally thank Fr. Prince for having faith in me to be able to work in the Religious Education Department for the past 20 years. I also want to thank my co-partner Gigi for joining me 17 years ago as Religious Education Coordinator. It was a tough start to organize, but we did it, and in our hearts, we know we did it well.

We would also like to thank the entire parish, especially those who have volunteered their time as Catechists, and for all your prayers and support for all the children in our program here at St. Elizabeth Seton. You have all been with us for all the Sacraments, Feast Days, Praying the Rosary, and Stations of the Cross for children and teens. A special thank you to Ray Kurkjy for being with us all those years as our hall monitor and volunteer wherever we needed him. May you rest in peace. We love you, Ray.

Please keep Gigi and I in your prayers as we begin the next chapter of our lives. It is always difficult to leave a castle that you have built, but we know we are leaving it in great structure. We wish our parish’s new coordinators much success and the deep spirituality that we have received by teaching the children and making our Catholic Faith matter to all of them. We will still be here, so we will see you in our beautiful church.

God bless all of you.

Marie Trebing

Baptism

The parishioners of St. Elizabeth Seton wish to welcome Luca Gabriel Stec to the Roman Catholic Family of our parish. Luca was be baptized in our Church on June 13, 2021. So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. ~2 Corinthians 5:17

Wedding Banns III

Please join us in praying for all newly married couples and those preparing for the Sacrament of Matrimony. Charlie Cipriano and Drew Fauser will celebrate their marriage at a Nuptial Mass on Saturday, June 26th, 2021.

In and Around the Diocese

Perfect Father's Day Gift

Click here for a special project to own a Saint Joseph Statue during this Year of Saint Joseph. This is a great gift for Confirmations, graduation, weddings, house warning, for Dads, for priests, for one's self. Your statue will be blessed in the Holy Land before coming to America. This project will create jobs for Christians living in Bethlehem, that's where Saint Joseph first held baby Jesus in his hands. We must never abandon our Christian Holy Land. Read the flyer and buy one if you can. Orders must be received before July 7th.

14th Annual CT Catholic Men's Conference

Men of the parish, please save the date for September 25th and plan to attend the Annual Men's Conference to be held at the New Britain Stadium. Please visit www.ctcatholicmen.org or click here to see the flyer for more details.

Worldwide Marriage Encounter

To support married couples during this time of social distancing, Worldwide Marriage Encounter is sponsoring virtual marriage experiences. Some are on weekends and are seven sessions on weekdays from 7:00pm to 9:30pm. Couples will explore their individual personality styles, improve listening and communication skills, understand God’s plan for their marriage, and learn how to keep their relationship a priority. Registration is limited and a $100 application fee is required. For more information or to apply, call Frank & Margie Pearson at 860-337-2447 or visit them at https://wwmectw.org/.

Happy Father’s Day! Take time for your marriage by attending the Worldwide Marriage Encounter experience on Thursdays/Mondays Jul 8-29

.

Wedding Jubilee Mass

Save the Date: The wedding jubilee Mass will be held at St. Matthew Parish on September 25, 2021 at 10:30am and 1:00pm. Registration information will follow in the near future.

Byzantine Iconography Workshop

Learn to write/paint an icon according to the ancient techniques using contemporary mediums such as gouache and acrylic paint. This is a 5 day workshop to be held July 26-30th. Click here for more details.

News and Views

For more Diocesan News and Events visit the Diocesan Website
To receive daily Catholic news you can subscribe to the National Catholic Register
If you would like to see what's happening in Rome visit: News from the Vatican - News about the Church - Vatican News
Rather listen? Tune in to Veritas, our local Catholic Radio Station, during your day at 1350 on your AM dial.
EWTN TV Channel Finder
EWTN News
EWTN Religious Catalogue
EWTN News organizations – NCR, CNA, ChurchPOP
EWTN Radio Affiliates Map Radio Affiliate Map
EWTN Radio on SiriusXM Satellite Radio
EWTN Podcasts
Streaming - Watch Live, Listen Live
EWTN App
Social Media – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube

Father Prince's Weekly Reflection

Reflection for the 12^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Any driver who has driven on ice and snow remembers the split second when total control is lost. Neither the brake nor the steering wheel responds, and the car goes wherever it wants. The feeling of not being in control is scary. That is what the Apostles were experiencing, sitting in that boat. Job was experiencing the same feeling as he saw his wealth, his family, and his own life escape his control. The need to control is one of the strongest needs we have as human beings.

Children learn at a very early age how to control their environment. They quickly master behaviors, which allow them to control people’s responses to them. As adults, we spend a great deal of energy trying to create a tight, secure world where no surprises are possible. Our patterns of relationship, work, and leisure are predictable and protected through an elaborate alarm system that allows us to see the surprise coming, and thus to deflect its full impact. And yet events beyond our control do happen in life.

They happen to each of us at some time in our life – a broken dream, the death of a loved one, the tragic event, which nothing could have prevented. It is also the most common and subtle experience of every day life where we are confronted with the new realities, new events, and new challenges. Most of us, when confronted with the newness of reality, we tend to retrench. We somehow prefer the security of something known to the abyss of the unknown.

Why should we open ourselves to the unknown? Every new experience is a call to growth. Yet openness to the unknown is impossible without faith. For the Apostles, to let go of their fear does not make sense – without faith in Jesus. From time to time in our life, we are faced with decisions, which shape our future. In every decision, there is an element of the unknown. We can weigh the pros and cons, but in the last resort, there is much that remains unknown. How comforting it would be if we knew that every decision we made was in fact the right decision. This luxury is not part of our lot, for we are to live by faith, and faith alone.

Faith is not about what we know, but about what we do not know. Openness to the unknown future, a future totally beyond our control is possible only when one lives by faith. Faith is not the answer to the pervading questions of “What, Why, When, Where, and How?” Rather, it is that which allows us to ask these questions, to live with them and to make decisions, which are the beginning of an answer. Faith is the acceptance of the totality of reality, a reality, which is beyond our control. Only then we can grow. Faith is the willingness to live with risk, learning to make choices without having the security of knowledge. Faith makes us beyond the solidity of the ground for the flight in open space, where the fall is always possible, but in our hands.

For the Apostles, faith is the acceptance that Jesus will save them in his own time and in his own way. Yet faith is not gambling. It is not taking a lottery ticket or playing the odds. It is choosing to enter freely into the unknown future so that we can create it. There can be no tomorrow until we let go of today.

Patrick Overton in “The Learning Tree:”

When we walk to the edge of the light we have,

and take that step into the darkness of the unknown,

we must believe that one of two things will happen –

there will be something solid for us to stand on,

or we will be taught how to fly.

Catechism Corner

Catechism of the Catholic Church

267. What is the essential rite of Confirmation?

The essential rite of Confirmation is the anointing with Sacred Chrism (oil mixed with balsam and consecrated by the bishop), which is done by the laying on of the hand of the minister who pronounces the sacramental words proper to the rite. In the West this anointing is done on the forehead of the baptized with the words, "Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit". In the Eastern Churches of the Byzantine rite this anointing is also done on other parts of the body with the words, "The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit".

Further reading: CCC 1290-1301, 1318, 1320-1321

268. What is the effect of Confirmation?

The effect of Confirmation is a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit like that of Pentecost. This outpouring impresses on the soul an indelible character and produces a growth in the grace of Baptism. It roots the recipient more deeply in divine sonship, binds him more firmly to Christ and to the Church and reinvigorates the gifts of the Holy Spirit in his soul. It gives a special strength to witness to the Christian faith.

Further reading: CCC 1302-1305, 1316-1317

Thank You!

We wish to thank all of our parishioners who have been mailing in or dropping off their donations, and those who have signed up for Online Giving. We appreciate your generosity and desire to continue to support the parish.

Please note that we have upgraded our Online Giving Platform. It is very user friendly. If you shop or do your banking on-line please consider this format for your donations. You have the option to make a one time gift or set up a recurring cycle that suits your timing and budget You can visit the site by clicking the button below.

Online Giving

If you would like to make a one time donation to our Sunday Collection, please click on the button below.

Sunday Offertory

Act of Spiritual Communion

My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You.

Amen.

“Arise”, the 2021 Annual Catholic Appeal calls us to renewed hope and a deepened commitment to serve our neighbor. The call to “Arise” challenges us to put our personal faith into action and provide for the needs of our sisters and brothers, no matter who they may be.

Your gift enables the diocese to continue works of charity, formation in faith, education and catechesis. It provides programs and ministries that feed the hungry and counsel the homeless who live among us; help youth develop their minds and grow in faith; sustain our priests, active and retired; prepare men for the diaconate and the priesthood; provide Catholic education through scholarships; and much more.

Catholic Charities of Fairfield County continues to be a clear leader in providing social services serving our neighbors in need during the crisis began. Catholic Charities programs have remained open providing a broad array of essential services to the most vulnerable members of our community. Catholic Charities is a leading provider of critical food resources throughout the County serving over 1.3 million meals since the COVID crisis began to the homeless, the homebound elderly, and individuals who lost jobs due to the pandemic via our soup kitchens, food pantries, Meals on Wheels program, as well as our Room to Grow pre-school. Your Gift will truly change lives. Joe, a homeless US ARMY veteran who lives in his car and receives breakfast and lunch every day at the Thomas Merton Center said: “If it wasn’t for the Thomas Merton Center I don’t know how I would survive. I feel so welcome and valued here” However, Catholic Charities cannot do it alone. Your gift to the Annual Catholic Appeal will help Catholic Charities continue to do the incredible work that it does for our most vulnerable neighbors in Fairfield County. Thank you for your gift.

Thus far, Saint Elizabeth Seton parish has raised 197 gifts worth $81,065 from 161 donors bringing the parish up to 89.57% of our $90,500 goal.

Thank you for your generosity and support.

Printable Pledge Form, Click Here

Printable Pledge Payment Form, Click Here

ACA ARISE VIDEO

Mass Intentions

If you would like to schedule a Mass intention for a loved one. Please send an email to the office: stsetonparish@comcast.net, or call 203-438-7292.

Prayer Requests

If you have a prayer request, please send an email to the St. Elizabeth Seton prayer tree. SESPrayertree@gmail.com

Church Hours

The Church is open daily 6:30am-4:30pm for private prayer. Daily Mass is offered Monday through Friday at 8:30am and is limited to 100 people.

Parish Office

The Parish Office is open daily Monday through Friday 9am to 1pm.