Finance Committee Corner Last Sunday $6,548 was received in the offertory
baskets at Mass and $5,913.5 was received through Parish Pay, for a total of $12,461.5. Our average weekly operating budget is $15,000. Thank you for so generously giving to our regular collection. The second collection in support of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development totaled $3,650. Thank you!
MAGNIFICAT Magnificat Advent Companions will be on sale in the back of Church after Masses on November 26/27 & December 3/4 for $3.00 each. This little book of prayers and spiritual readings is a perfect way to better enter into the richness of the Advent Season.
Blessed Sacrament School Applications are currently being accepted for the School of the Blessed Sacrament Early Childhood Program. Interested families should visit our website
www.sblsnyc.org or contact Julie Park by phone
(646-998-3037) or email (
[email protected]). The next opportunity to visit our school will be on Tuesday, December 6th at our Touring Tuesday.
GAY FELLOWSHIP MASS AND CHRISTMAS PARTY Please join us for Mass on Tuesday evening, December 13
th, at 6:30PM, followed by dinner at Joanne’s Trattoria, 70 West 68
th Street. Dinner will be $25 per person and RSVP’s are
required by Tuesday, December 6. You may RSVP to either John Gasdaska,
[email protected] or Chris Williams,
[email protected]. All are welcome and the evening promises to be a beautiful and fun-filled way to celebrate and embrace the upcoming Christmas Season. We hope you can join us.
As December 13, 2016, the date of the Mass for the annual celebration Feast of St. Lucy by Xavier Society for the Blind at St. Patrick’s Cathedral nears, we have more exciting details falling into place. As we honor our patron and her special significance in the blind community we will, as usual, have a blind lector, a blind person reading the Prayers of the Faithful, and the gifts will be offered by blind members of the congregation. This year will have a special guest, Father Jamie Dennis, a young blind priest from Owensboro, Kentucky celebrating the Mass. The service begins at 6:30 pm, in the Lady Chapel of St. Patrick’s, on 5
th Avenue between 50
th and 51
st Streets. Readings for the Mass will be provided in both braille and large print.
Since 1900, the Xavier Society for the Blind has provided religious and spiritual materials in braille and audio formats to anyone with a visual impairment at no cost. Call
212-447-7800 or
800-637-9193 for further details.
Spirit Sunday Please join us 12/4 following the 5:30PM Mass (in the parish hall below the church) for the first Fall Spirit Sunday. Appetizers, drinks, and a whole lot of Spirit will be served! Join us for a drink, a bite, and some friendly fellowship. If you have any questions or would like to be part of the planning for Spirit Sunday, please contact John Gasdaska at 646-345-7350.
St. Nicholas International Fest! December 6th is the Feast of St. Nicholas. On
Sunday December 4th, therefore, we would like to make our regular Coffee Hour a bit more festive to help prepare us for the coming days of Christmas. Christ came for all people, and here at Blessed Sacrament, we are a wonderfully diverse community. To celebrate our richness, we will host an international food fest. Local eateries are graciously donating food, but we would love it if you were able to bring a dish representing your particular culture. Those interested in helping please contact James Palazza at
646.456.8878 OR
[email protected] Annual New York Cares Coat Drive On behalf of the needy within our local community, members of the Social Action and Youth Adults Committees will be accepting used-coat donations at the entrance to the church before each of the Masses on the weekend of December 10
th and 11
th.
Coats for adults and children should be “gently used”, just cleaned and in fair condition or better.
Jesse Tree The JoyJ Initiative will again this year host the Jesse Tree for our Homeless Outreach, which will be held in January, 2017. We will be requesting new items including McDonald or Subway gift cards; hats; gloves; scarves; warm socks; and sweatshirts. If you cannot provide an item, please consider a cash donation instead. Thank you.
We will be collecting the items or donation in the vestibule of the Church on Saturday, December 17
th and Sunday December 18
th.
God bless you for your generosity and Merry Christmas!
Advent Simple Suppers Please join us during the 4 Wednesdays during Advent: Nov 30
th, Dec 7
th, Dec 14
th and Dec 21
st for prayer and meditation followed by a light dinner of soup, salad and bread. Prayers begin promptly at 7pm in the dining room of the rectory. It’s a wonderful and contemplative way to prepare for Christmas. We hope to see you there. For more information please call/ email Chris Williams 304-337-1252/
[email protected] or John Gasdaska 646-345-7350/
[email protected]
YOUTH CHOIR Children (from grade 3 up) and Teenagers are invited to JOIN the CHRISTMAS EVE YOUTH CHOIR which sings at the 5:30 pm Christmas Eve Family Mass. Rehearsals are on Wednesdays from 4-5 pm in the Church NOVEMBER 30 TO DECEMBER 21.
The Parent Permission Form to sign up can be found on the Sunday School website under the YOUTH CHOIR tab. (
www.blessedsacramentsundayschool.org) or you can pick up the form at the rectory office. Please call Tina Silvestro if you need more information 212-877-3111.
VISITING FRIENDS PROGAM Do you have a relative, neighbor or friend who is homebound and might appreciate a visitor from time to time? He/she need not be a parishioner or necessarily share our Catholic faith, only live in the neighborhood of our parish. An assigned volunteer will visit your referral once a week for an hour or so to provide companionship and the comfort of social interaction. We are happy to visit people in nursing homes as well, should they be in need of some company. If you know of someone who might benefit from our program, please email us at
[email protected] (put “Visiting Friends” in the subject box) or leave the information at the Rectory. Our wonderful group of volunteers happily serve in this fine ministry.