An Evening of Praise and Worship,
A Message from Bishop Cantú,
Celebrations of First Holy Communion
Week of September 21, 2020
Dear Faithful Parishioners of St. Thomas of Canterbury,
It has been a challenging time for all of us, but it is also a time of grace. I hope that we all have an opportunity to treasure and appreciate what we have been taking for granted – our family, health, job, freedom, time, air and faith. These last few months have been a reminder for me that we are not in control of all of those things. We might have been too busy making a living for our family that we forget to live with our family. Therefore, in light of these unprecedented events, we give thanks to God for the reminder of the presence of God and of our loved ones in our lives. Let us treasure them and the time we have with them.
Speaking of our loved ones, the Youth and Young Adult will be hosting a Praise and Worship Event this Saturday at 7:30pm in our church parking area. The theme is “Peacefulness,” the gift that God desires all of us to have and the gift that our young people need in the midst of changes and adaptations to their school, life, and friends. They will be supported from among their friends along with live music and especially, one-on-one with Jesus in adoration. As an incentive, there will be good door prizes!
I want to continue to thank you for your ongoing support of our parish. I was very touched to see one of our parishioners dropped off his donation at the office. It is an act of grace and love – an unmerited/unearned gift. Thank you to all of you for loving and caring for us. To help you visualize how our weekly collection is gathered, here is a summary of this past week:
·Mail-in/Drop off: $1,100
·Offertory at Mass: $1,627
·Electronic: $1476.
·2nd Collection (Holy Land): $225
This weekend’s 2nd Collection will be for the Co-op Mission - Diocese Alleppey, India. Please help. You can find more in details of this mission below or on our website. Thank you for joining me in helping our brothers and sisters in need.
May God continue to show his care for you and your loved ones.
With prayers,
Fr. Andrew
Bishop Cantú’s Statement on the Desire to Return to Indoor Worship
September 20, 2020
Dear brothers and sisters in the Diocese of San Jose,
The pandemic this year has forced us all to re-evaluate how we live our lives. Families have had to deal with the loss of jobs, working remotely, distance learning for our children, separation from loved ones, isolation, and the list goes on. We, as Catholics, have had to change how we worship and experience our faith community.
In his September 13th homily, Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco invited the faithful of San Francisco to participate in a Eucharistic procession on September 20th to the Cathedral to call for reopening churches for worship at a level consistent with other activities in San Francisco and with stringent health and safety protocols in place.
I support the Archbishop’s call for San Francisco Catholics to prayerfully protest the County and City of San Francisco’s uniquely severe limits on public worship, which until this week only allowed outdoor Masses for up to 12 people despite the fact the City of San Francisco has been in the Red Tier for three weeks. As the rest of the state, including our own County, was safely lowering the restrictions on gatherings, the County and City of San Francisco was not.
For us, the situation has been different. Our Diocese has been able to celebrate Masses with up to 60 people outdoors or with 100 cars for nearly three months with strict health and safety guidelines while our County was still on the Watch List or Purple Tier.
I continue to dialogue with key County officials about allowing indoor worship, ensuring safety and health requirements, now that our County has moved to the Red Tier within the past week. I hope we can soon return to indoor worship at a safe percentage of a church building’s capacity, with all the necessary health and safety precautions. While I, like many of you, don’t like the public health restrictions, they have kept us safe, reduced the COVID spread in our County, and have been reasonable in our County so far.
Yours in Christ,
Most Rev. Oscar Cantú
AN EVENING OF PRAISE AND WORSHIP!
Join us this Saturday, September 26 @ 7:30PM - 9:00PM! 4:TWELVE Youth Ministry is hosting an evening of Praise and Worship with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for all youth, young adults and the young at heart!
Our theme for the evening is PEACEFULNESS!
Invite your family and friends and sign up below or at our website.
Praise & Worship 7:30 pm Saturday, September 26
Sacramental Celebrations
Our celebrations of First Holy Communion continue this weekend! Congratulations to Shalene Lizardo, Mai Han Vu, Yovani Flores-Colocho and Christopher Dunne who have now joined us at the Table of the Lord!
Upcoming celebrations:
Sunday, September 27 at the 10am Mass: Audrey Allen, Dylan Curtin, Anna Henry
Heartfelt Gratitude for our Catechists!
Last Sunday, all catechists were formally commissioned for ministry to catechesis and faith formation to the community. Congratulations to all our catechists especially as they embark on another year of faith formation during this time of pandemic and social distancing. This is going to be an unusual year for how we do faith formation, nevertheless we are committed to sharing the Gospel message in any way we can!
Congratulations and Thank You to: Marie Beno, Lucy Chai, Juanita Cordero, Edna D'Souza, Anne Gadd, Barbara Louis, Esmeralda Murillo, Caroline Nystrom, Amy Trayer, Trisha Quilici, Christie Schauer, Ken Schieck, Margaret Schieck, Joyce Shannon, and Shari Smith.
Has God called "you" to serve as a catechist? For more information, contact Vicki at info@StThomasSJ.org
FAMILY FAITH FORMATION:
Registration for Family Faith Formation and Religious Ed has begun. All previously registered families have been mailed a registration packet. If you are new to our parish, all registration materials are available on our parish website.
Faith Formations sessions will be on-line/virtually. Visit our website for schedules and more specific information or contact Vicki Schwoob, Director of Family Faith Formation.
ADULT FAITH FORMATION:
Are you interested (or do you know someone who is) in learning more about the Catholic way of life? Are you interested in becoming Catholic? Have you been away from the faith? Are you are a baptized Catholic but still need to receive First Eucharist and Confirmation? Are you a Catholic and have questions about your faith? Are you seeking something more?
The RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) Team welcomes all! We are here to provide information and spiritual guidance for all those interested in becoming Catholic, those interested in completing the sacraments and those who have a desire to know God.
The RCIA itself is a process developed by the Catholic Church for unbaptized adults and children (ages 7 and above) guiding them through education, formation and ritualization of entrance into the Catholic community.
The process for the RCIA is always open and is year round since God’s time and plan is different for everyone.
Contact Vicki Schwoob for inquiries and sacraments; info@StThomasSJ.org
or (408) 378-1595.
Sacrament of Reconciliation:
Thursdays 6:00pm to 6:30pm in the Prayer Garden
Visits from Fr. Andrew:
If you would like to receive the sacraments of Eucharist, Reconciliation or Anointing of the Sick, and you are not able to come in person, Fr. Andrew would be happy to visit you. Please call the parish office, and leave a message or contact Fr. Andrew: info@StThomasSJ.org OR
(408) 660-8901 (emergency number)
OFFERINGS 9/20/2020
Weekly budget: $ 4,500
Weekly offerings: $4,203
Shortfall: - $ 297
You can always drop off or mail your donations at the parish office. On-line giving available at our website: www.StThomasSJ.org
Click: Give & Fundraising
Thank you for your support and generosity!
MISSIONARY APPEAL 2020:
The Diocese of Alleppey in India
The Diocese of Alleppey is situated in the southwest coast of India. This area is densely populated with very limited resources. 75% of the population are fishermen who live on meagre income from the daily catch. The area has been affected by devastating floods and are still trying to recover. Contributions from this Mission Appeal will add to the existing rehab projects to support the flood affected people and others. To read the full letter from Bishop James Anaparambil, please click on the link below.
PARISH WEBSITE:
We are still in the process of building our pages for our parish website; It is a work-in-progress so we ask you to please be patient.
Visit our website to sign up for Mass, see our Mass schedule, get information for our live-stream Mass and to send in your prayer requests.
If you cannot come to outdoor Mass, celebrate with us and watch on our YouTube or Facebook channel. The links for our channels are provided below.
Pope Francis' Prayer Intention for September: Respect for the Planet's Resources
We pray that the planet's resources will not be plundered, but shared in a just and respectful manner.