2023 Advent and Christmas: Mass Schedule and Special Events

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Advent Confessions will be heard on the following Saturdays at 1:00pm: 12/2, 12/9, 12/16, 12/23, and Monday, 12/18 at 7:00pm.

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on Friday, December 8th will have masses at 9:00am, 11:30am, and 7:00pm.

Our Annual Christmas Concert featuring the Music Ministry and the Bloomfield Civic Band will be on Saturday, December 9th at 7:00pm.

Simbang Gabi returns to the parish after a several-year pause on Friday, December 15th at 7:00pm.

Our Annual Christmas Pageant will be held Sunday, December 17th at 1:30pm.

Sunday, December 24th will have 8:00am and 10:00am mass. There will be NO 12:00pm mass.

Christmas Eve Masses on Sunday, December 24th will be held at 4:00pm [Children's Choir], 6:00pm, and 10:00pm [Adult Choir]. 

Christmas Day Masses on Monday, December 25th will be held at 8:00am, 10:00am, and 12:00pm.

From Beyond Cornerstone: Thank you for your Thanksgiving Turkey Donations!

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The Beyond Cornerstone Ministry turkey collection was a big success! Thanks to the generosity of our parishioners, sixty three turkeys and three hams were delivered to the soup kitchen to be distributed to families in need. We also provided a van full of clothes and a van full of water.

Bloomfield UNICO provided us with a van full of food for the soup kitchen. This was twice as much as last year.

Our St. Thomas parishioners and the shoppers at Bloomfield Shoprite are to be commended for their spectacular generosity of giving.

Our next planning meeting will be Tuesday, January 9th, 2024 at 7PM in the Parish Center. All interested in this Ministry are welcome.

Fr. Larry Recommends: "The Veil Removed" A Short Film

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The Veil Removed is a short film that reveals the coming together of heaven and earth at Mass, as seen by saints and mystics, revealed by scripture and in the catechism of the Catholic Church.

Please click the button below to be taken to the video.

Watch the veil removed

Help Needed with Christmas Decoration Setup

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Helpers are needed to set up our exquisite Christmas decorations! It’s that time of year to enjoy all the Christmas season brings, including beautiful lights, trees, and flowers. It can’t be done without the effort of volunteers every year. Please consider giving of your time to help make it possible.

Setup will commence at church on Saturday, December 16th at 9am. To get involved, please call or email Dan at (973) 216-7639 or dbitecola@gmail.com.

Are you unavailable or not able-bodied, but wanting to help? Please consider a donation to help offset the cost. Click here to make an online donation, or leave your donation in the basket at mass labeled “Christmas Decorations”.

Thank you for your generosity of time, talent, and treasure!

Deacon Tom's Homily for Sunday, November 19th; 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

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OPEN OUR HEARTS, LORD, HELP US to love like You. Open our hearts, Lord, help us to love.

GOD IS LOVE – TOTAL, SELF-GIVING Love!

WE CAN ACTUALLY SEE God-on-the-Cross pouring Himself out totally…for us. Jesus holds nothing back.

HIS HEART IS PIERCED; IT IS completely open. He gives every drop of blood, every inch of Himself for us.

TODAY, WE PRAY FOR A HEART LIKE Jesus’ heart - the natural heart we once had a long time ago, before we first sinned.

JESUS-ON-THE-CROSS IS THE blueprint for our daily life. He tells us: “Love one another as I have loved you.”

WE EMULATE HIM BY POURING ourselves out for others.

THE GRACES, THE BLESSINGS THAT we receive, we, in turn, pour out on those around us – beginning with our family and friends.

WE SHOWER HIS COMPASSION EVEN on the stranger in the Shop-Rite who blocks our way with his cart and on the jay-walker who deliberately crosses right in front of our approaching car.

JESUS COMMANDS US: “BE compassionate as your heavenly Father is compassionate.” The forgiveness God is showing us, we are to show to those who hurt us.

LIKE THE WORTHY WIFE IN TODAY’S first reading, we reach out our hands to the poor; we extend our arms to the needy.

EACH DAY, THE PATIENCE AND THE love God is pouring out on us, we pour out on everyone we encounter.

ONE DAY, OUR MASTER WILL return. He will require an accounting from each of us of all the gifts He has poured out on us – the forgiveness, His compassion, the patience, and all the love,

ARE WE PAYING THEM FORWARD? Are we giving His gifts with an open heart to those around us?

OR ARE WE HOARDING THEM, keeping them to ourselves? Are we ignoring His gifts, burying them in the ground?

SO TODAY, WE PRAY: OPEN OUR hearts, Lord, help us to love like You. Open our hearts, Lord, help us to love.

Christmas Pageant Sunday, December 17th at 1:30pm

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The 2023 Christmas Pageant will take place on Sunday, December 17th at 1:30pm. Join the youth of the parish as they reenact the Gospel account of Jesus’ birth through story and song.

Admission is free. Attendees are kindly asked to bring a non-perishable item for our church’s food pantry.

If you have a child between the ages of 3-12, you may sign them up before November 26th via Google Form only. Please click here to be taken to the online form.