Church of St. Theresa A Caring Community Reaching Out To One Another in Christ 2855 St. Theresa Avenue, Bronx, New York SUNDAY MASSES Saturday at 5:00pm, Sunday at 7:30am, 9:00am(Italian), 10:30am(Family Mass) 12:15pm , 1:30PM(Spanish) & 5:00pm WEEKDAY MASSES Monday thru Saturday 8:00am & 9:00am DEVOTIONS Miraculous Medal & St. Theresa Novenas after Monday morning Masses St. Anthony Novena after Tuesday morning Masses. Thursday 12 Noon Mass & Eucharistic Adoration Exposition & Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament First Friday 7:30pm to 8:30pm followed by silent adoration until 9:00pm. CONFESSION Saturdays from 4:00pm to 5:00pm and by appointment BAPTISMS Baptisms take place most Sundays after the 1:30pm Mass. We ask parents to attend the Baptism preparation meeting. Register at the Rectory for the meeting. The date of the Baptism will be discussed at the Baptism meeting. MARRIAGES Call the Rectory at least six months in advance of the wedding date to make an appointment with parish clergy. Rev. Msgr. Thomas Derivan, Pastor Rev. Joseph Ligory, Parochial Vicar Mrs. Josephine Fanelli, Principal Rev. Thomas D’Angelo, In Residence Mrs. Marie McCarrick, Dir. of Religious Education Msgr. Neil Graham, Retired, In Residence Dr. Liya Petrides, Music Director Rev. Robert Imbelli, Weekend Associate Deacon Anthony P. Cassaneto RECTORY: 718-892-1900/1901 WEBSITE: www.sttheresachurchbronx.org SCHOOL: 718-792-3688 FAX: 718-892-1146 E-MAIL: [email protected] RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: 718-792-8434 CHURCH OF S T. T HERESA , B RONX FROM THE DESK OF FATHER DERIVAN: THE PASTORAL REPORT Dear Parishioners, Today’s Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the Magi giving their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Newborn Savior. Several years ago, our retired Pope Benedict XVI said, “We are all pilgrims in the footsteps of the Magi.” We do not bring gold, frankincense and myrrh to the Lord Jesus. Instead, we bring Him even more precious gifts—the gift of our faith, the gift of our hope and trust in Him, and the gift of our love which shows itself in faithful service. And the beautiful thing is that the Lord gives us His gifts, even as we present our gifts to Him. And of course, His gifts are far more precious than ours. They are the gifts that come from the Sacred Heart of the Son of God. What we do as individual Catholics, we do also as members of the Church. We bring to the Lord our gifts of faith, hope and love as members of St. Theresa’s Parish and the Lord gives us so many gifts in return. Each year, on this Feast of the Epiphany, the Feast of Gifts, I like to give you a Pastoral Report about our parish. Several weeks ago I gave you the Financial Report, which, of course, is important. But I believe this Pastoral Report is even more important. It tells us how much the Lord has given to us from His wonderful love. Let us look at the gifts which the Lord has given our parish during the past year: 1. The Lord gives us the gift of the sacraments. As Catholic people, we know that the sacraments are central to our lives: * During the past year, 96 persons were baptized. Four adults were baptized at the Easter Vigil Mass in our RCIA program under the direction of Mrs. McCarrick and Father Joseph. * 76 children in our school and in our CCD Program received First Holy Communion. Bishop Gerald Walsh, Auxiliary Bishop of New York, confirmed 75 young people likewise from our school and CCD Program. * 32 marriages were solemnized. Also three adults received Confirmation at the Easter Vigil Mass. * 87 funerals were offered for our departed loved-ones. * Over 150 persons received the Anointing of the Sick at our Communal Anointing in October. * In addition to this, of course, there were countless confessions, including many of our Reconciliation Mondays in Lent and Advent, and Holy Communions received daily at our two weekdays Masses. * We are blessed with many parishioners taking part in Eucharistic Adoration on Thursdays after the 12:15PM Mass and on First Friday evenings at 7:30PM with the Holy Hour conducted by Deacon Anthony Cassaneto. * Approximately 1530 people attend Mass here every Sunday. 2. The Lord gives us the gift of our children. * Our elementary school is the “second home” for 425 children, ranging from 3-Year Old Class to Grade 8. Our principal, Mrs. Josephine Fanelli and her excellent staff of teachers and assistants offer our children far more than academic instruction. They help our children to be a “community of faith,” taking what they learn in the classroom and applying it to daily life. Our children come to church regularly for Mass, Benediction, confession and other ceremonies. Our children are also taught to be people of service, taking part in toy drives, food for the needy, clothing collections and other activities to help our brothers and sisters in need. * Our CCD Program on Wednesday evenings (Grades 4 to 8) and on Sunday mornings (Grades 1 to 3), coordinated by Mrs. Marie McCarrick, teaches the faith to 185 children, helping them to grow in Christ. We are blessed to have fifteen volunteer teachers to assist these children and several older youngsters who serve as assistants. * We thank God for the Bible study group taught on Tuesday evenings by Father Joseph Ligory, helping our people to grow in love for God’s Holy Word. 3. The Lord has blessed us with the gift of love for His Blessed Mother. In May we observe the Crowning of her statue, honoring her as Queen and Mother. We join in honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of the Americas in December and Our Lady of Montevirgine in September. We honor Our Lady in October with our beautiful Candlelight Rosary and we give the children in our school and CCD Program rosaries for their homes. May Our Lady always be close to us, her St. Theresa children. 4. The Lord has invited us to share the gift of service. We are blessed to have so many people who serve our church. We have our faithful altar servers (over 45 each weekend at our Masses), our ushers, proclaimers and Eucharistic Ministers under the direction of Deacon Cassaneto and our dedicated music Director Dr. Liya Petrides, our leaders of song Donna Liello and Gina Gentile, and, of course our three choirs –Children’s Choir (10:30AM Mass), Adult Choir (12:15PM Mass) and Spanish choir (1:30PM Mass). We have our dedicated sacristan Marie Sansalone who takes such wonderful care of our sanctuary and our sacristy and helps to keep our church a fitting place For the worship of Almighty God. We have the ladies in the Altar Society who take care of the vestments and linens for Mass and who serve our parish in the communion Breakfast, Candlelight Procession and other ceremonies. We have our Giving Tree during Advent, under the direction of Mrs. Carmella Greco, which provides toys, coats and other items for the needy. We Have the able help of our Parish Council, which also assists in our parish activities and special projects: our Little Flower Gift shop under the direction of Loretta Monahan; our St. Vincent de Paul Society headed by Julius DiFiore which takes care of food distribution and other charitable works; our Monday committee which helps us with counting. We have a very active Home School Association which conducts many fund-raisers to help our school and an energetic Sports Board to coordinate Energetic Sports Board to coordinate youth activities. continued EPIPHANY OF THE LORD We have the many volunteers who assist our Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts each week. We have a number of high school youngsters who offer their time and energy to help with our many activities throughout the year. In all of this, our parish is a busy place, busy about the service of God and neighbor. And I must not forget to mention our diligent rectory staff Cathy Zingaro, Bernadette Donoghue and Angela Stoyka who help you and me in every aspect of St. Theresa life. 5. We celebrate the gift of our priests. Our parish has always had a great love for the Priesthood and for priests. We thank God for the wonderful pastors who have served our church, Msgr. Filitti our founding pastor, Msgr. Ponsiglione, Msgr. Mazziotta, Msgr. Guido and of course our dear Father Grippo who served this parish for 23 years of faithful service. We are blessed with dedicated service of the priests who serve here today, Father Joseph Ligory who is so attentive to the sick and coordinates our RCIA and Bible Study; Msgr Neil Graham who has joined us this year and who conducts our Spanish ministry; Father Robert Imbelli who assists us On weekends when he is available; Father Thomas D’Angelo who lives here with us and is very much a part of St. Theresa life And the Salesian priests, Father John Serio, Father Bill Feruzzi and Father Abraham Feliciano who assist us with Sunday Mass. Of course we are blessed with Deacon Cassaneto for his twenty-nine years of service to our parish and Deacon Hartley Bancroft assists us on weekends as he prepares for his ordination to the Priesthood in May. May the Lord continue to guide our priests and may other young men hear His call to “Come and follow me.” 6. And finally we thank God for the gift of giving us you, our faithful parishioners. Tradition tells us that the Magi came from different nations to worship the Lord whose Star they had seen at its rising.