reconciliation service st. thomas christmas mass schedule2… · pregnant? need help? call...
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Office Hours: Mon, Tues, Thurs 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Wednesday 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Friday 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM Phone 601-264-5192 ~ Fax 601-264-0834
Emergency 601-467-7660 ~ Student Center 601-450-2520 St. Thomas on the Internet: www.stthomas-usm.org
Website email: [email protected] Church email: [email protected]
Bulletin email: [email protected] St. Thomas Official Facebook Page:
www.facebook.com/pages/saint-Thomas-Aquinas- Catholic-Church/184997814860690
Pastor: Fr. Mark Ropel 601-264-5192 [email protected] Associate Pastor: Fr. Godfrey Andoh 601-264-5192 Deacon: Ralph Torrelli 601-268-0754 [email protected] Deacon: Truett Roberts 601-310-5710 [email protected]
Parish Administrator: Deles Roberts [email protected]
Parish Secretary: Cathy Englert
Campus Minister: Jonna van Thiel
601-450-2520 [email protected]
Youth Minister: Paul Macias
CCD Director: Kelly Lamunyon [email protected]
Prayer Line: Barbara Hasler [email protected]
Social Media Team: Shar Drennan & David Magola [email protected]
Bulletin Ads: Barbara Hasler
601-434-6868 [email protected]
Altar Server Coordinator: Jennifer Bilbo 601-606-4440 jbilbo@bellsouthnet
St. Thomas Weekend Masses:
Confessions: Sat. 4:45 – 5:15 PM or by apt.
Vigil: Sat.–5:30 PM
Sunday 8:00 & 10:15 AM & 6:00 PM
Weekday Masses:
Mon. – 5:30 PM, Wed. – 6:00 PM,
Tues, Thur. & Fri. – 8:15 AM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sacred Heart Mass Schedule:
Vigil: Sat. – 4:00 PM,
Sunday 8:00, 10:30 AM & 4:00 PM;
1:30 PM in Spanish
St. Fabian Mass Schedule:
Vigil: Sat. – 5:00 PM, Sunday: 10:45 AM
Holy Rosary Mass Schedule:
Sunday: 9:00 AM
The Sanctuary Candle This Week
Special Intention
Reconciliation Service Mon. Dec 22nd 6:30 PM - St Thomas
St. Thomas Christmas Mass Schedule
Christmas Eve:
4:00 PM & 6:00 PM
9:00 PM Vietnamese Mass
12:00 Midnight
(Carols begin at 11:00 PM)
Christmas Day: 10:15 AM
New Year’s Eve: 6:00 & 11:30 PM
New Year’s Day: 10:15 AM
Last Week’s Collection: $9,824.99
Direct Deposit Weekly: $1,955.00
The Pickle Jar: $355.01
Retired Religious: $534.53
Fr. Louis Lohan Farewell
After nearly 44 years of ministry
in the Diocese of Biloxi, Fr. Louis
Lohan is retiring. There will be a
community wide farewell
reception on Thursday, January
15, 2015, from 4-7 PM, in the
Parish Community Center at St.
Thomas the Apostle Catholic
Church in Long Beach. All are
invited! Please make plans to
come and say goodbye to Fr.
Louis before he leaves for his
retirement in Ireland!
Message from Fr. Mark
John:1-5 “In the beginning was
the word, and the word was with
God. He was in the beginning with
God. All things came to be through
Him, and without Him nothing came
to be. What came to be through
Him was life, and this life was the
light of the human race; the light
shines in the darkness, and the
darkness has not overcome it.”
Merry Christmas! May you
experience the light of Christ this
Christmas Season with your
families and friends. May you be
like the shepherds who upon
seeing the infant Jesus, gloried
and praised God. I pray and
hope you have a Blessed and
Merry Christmas!
Fr. Mark
Adoration ~ Adoration is
cancelled for Monday the 22nd
and 29th due to the Holidays. It
will resume in the New Year on
January 5th.
Office Closing ~ The Parish
Office will be closed Dec. 24th –
26th for Christmas.
St. Thomas Prayer Group
meets on Thursdays at 5:15 PM in
the St. Thomas Room. Please join
us in praising God!
Eucharistic Ministers and
Lectors are still needed for
all masses on Christmas and New
Year’s. If you are available for
any of these, please contact Kathy
Schimel at 601-270-4741.
Advent Reconciliation Service ~ Our service is scheduled for
Monday, Dec 22nd at 6:30 PM. We will have at least 6 priests
present; this is a great way to
prepare for Christmas.
CCD ~ No CCD until January
4, 2015.
CYO News
Sr. CYO ~ See you next year!!
Christmas Offerings in the
Library ~ We have a number of
Christmas movies - The Nativity,
Bells of St. Mary's, It's a
Wonderful Life and others, as well
as some beautiful Christmas
books and DVDs for children.
The Library is located upstairs
from church offices and is
accessible during weekday office
hours and Sundays 9:00 -10:00
AM. Times not good for you?
Contact Pat 601-549-4620.
Bulletin Ads ~ If you would
like to advertise your business on
the back of the St. Thomas
bulletin, the spring bulletin ads
will begin in January. Call, text,
or email Barbara Hasler at
[email protected] or 601-
434-6868.
Lector and Eucharistic
Minister Schedules have been
mailed. If you have not received
yours contact Kathy Schimel at
[email protected] or 601-
270-4741.
St. Thomas Prayer Line ~ Mrs.
Barbara Hasler is in charge of our
parish prayer line. If you have
requests for prayers, you may
contact her at 601-434-6868 or
email her at
[email protected] putting
“prayer requests” in the subject
field or place the petition in the
collection basket.
Readings Dec, 22nd – 28th
M 1 Sm 1:24–28; Lk 1:46–56
T Mal 3:1–4, 23–24; Lk 1:57–66
W 2 Sm 7:1–5, 8b–12, 14a, 16;
Lk 1:67–79
T Is 52:7–10; Heb 1:1–6;
Jn 1:1–18 or 1:1–5, 9–14
F Acts 6:8–10; 7:54–59; Mt 10:17–22
S 1 Jn 1:1–4; Jn 20:1a, 2–8
S Sir 3:2–6, 12–14 or Gn 15:1–6; 21:1–3
Col 3:12–21 or 3:12–17
or Hb 11:8, 11–12, 17–19
Lk 2:22–40 or 2:22, 39–40
Mass Intentions M-Dec 22 Celio Cadena – RIP
T-Dec 23 Souls in Purgatory
W-Dec 24 4:00 Parish
6:00 Sp Int for JoAnne Johnson
9:00 Vietnamise
11:00 (Midnight) Fred Frosch – RIP
T-Dec 25 Carolina & Jose Fernandez –
thanksgiving
F-Dec 26 James & Charles Donahue – RIP
S-Dec 27 James Mordovich – healing
S-Dec 28 8:00 Art Bradey – RIP
10:15 Virginia Murphy Dower – RIP
6:00 Parish
Our Mission Statement ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church,
enriched by our resident and university community and empowered
by the Spirit, strives to live a Christ centered life and proclaim the
Gospel message of Jesus Christ through Worship, Sacrament and
Community Service.
Pregnant? Need Help? Call Birthright of Hattiesburg
601-336-5854
Christmas & Year End Giving ~
As the end of 2014 draws to a close
we have had questions about
“charitable giving”. Many people
enjoy using Christmas and year’s
end as a special time to
give to their Church.
Celebrate the joy of
Christmas by giving in
the true spirit of the
season and make that
special gift to St.
Thomas and/or the St.
Thomas Building Fund! Don’t
forget donations made before
December 31st are tax deductible!
.
Sympathy ~ We offer our
sincere sympathy to Paula Potter
on the death of her aunt, Thelma
Falgoust. Paula you and your
family are in our prayers.
Cooking for Catholic Student
Association (CSA) ~ We would
like to thank everyone that has
helped this semester with
providing a meal for the
students. Thanks to the generous
support from the St. Thomas
parish we are able to provide a
free home-cooked meal to the
students. If you would like to
provide the meal or part of the
meal for next semester, please
contact Jonna van Thiel, Campus
Minister, at 601-862-8534 or
The St. Thomas Parish Council will meet on Jan. 5th. If you have
a concern, challenge, or issue that
you would like to be brought
before the committee please call
Deles at 601-264-5192 or email
her at (delesroberts@stthomas-
usm.org) and she will place it on
the agenda. Success comes when
families pull together. So as a St.
Thomas family let us pull
together and work together to
accomplish what God has set
before us!
Next Week
LECTORS & COMMENTATOR
Dec. 27th ~ 5:30 Debbie Boyer
Dec. 28th ~ 8:00 Ron Schmidt
10:15 Brett Montague
CHILDREN’S CHURCH
No Class (Christmas Holiday)
EUCHARISTIC MINISTERS
SATURDAY 5:30 P.M.
Dec. 6 Sue Kern
13 Carmen Robinson
20 Melinda Miller
27 Kim McCloskey
** Diana Little
** Rosie Quinn
SUNDAY 8:00 A.M.
Dec. 7 Jackie Konieczny
14 Kathy Schimel
21 AdamHays
28 Deborah Barrett
** Brianna Burkett
** Italo Subbarao
SUNDAY 10:15 A.M.
Dec. 7 Patricia Burchell
14 David Gibbs
21 Jacquelyn Jones
28 Michelle Gibbs
** Brad or Lisa Diaz
** Pam Bigelow
** Orlando or Hope Andy
** Robert or Charlene Robbins
** Blanca Meek
** Lance Line
Business Sponsor Spotlight
The Hulett-Winstead
Funeral Home is the oldest
family owned and operating
funeral establishment in the
Hattiesburg area. The J.R.
“Buddy” Winstead family
continues to the dedicated
tradition of sensitivity to detail
with dignity and confidentiality
into the 21st century.
Dear Padre, Was Jesus actually born December 25?
How do we know the date of Jesus’ birth? I’ve checked my Bible, and I can’t find any mention of the date.
You’re right: The Bible doesn’t say Jesus was born December 25. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke are the
only Scriptures to give much detail about Christ’s birth and infancy. They name the key political figures of the day,
but not much else (Luke 1:5 and 2:1–2). Neither evangelist included specific information about the dates.
Dates were apparently not important to the earliest Christians. Besides, the first few generations of Christ’s
followers were far more interested in celebrating Christ’s resurrection each Sunday, and eventually on Easter, than
they were in celebrating his birth.
Christians started to associate December 25 with Christ’s nativity centuries after the fact: the year 336, according
to the earliest evidence.
The most popular theory is that the Church chose to replace a popular pagan Roman sun festival celebrating the
winter solstice (December 21 or 22) with a Christian feast that could overtake the pagan festival and use its sun
imagery to speak of Christ as the unconquered “Sun of Righteousness.” Fr. Matthew Allman, CSsR [email protected]