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On This Site:
NEW: Hub City Parish Downsizing: Prayer for Discernment
Parish Winter Programming
Jan 9: Childrens Faith Formation Update
News & Notes
January is Poverty Awareness Month: Support Intersect Fund!
23 STUDENTS SERVE ON MLK DAY
23 students and six adults joined forces with the Center for Faith Justice on Jan. 16 to serve the poor in Trenton-area locations.
Eight of the students spent the previous night in retreat at the Center.
Above, Anay Paz, Katty Juarez, Samantha Pelaez and Paul Robles pictured at the RISE thrift store in
Hightstown, where they help unload trucks and stock shelves. Below, Patty Mancuso and Rose Nickas at St. Ann Parish, Lawrenceville, as they took a break before the closing prayer service.
ROSCA NOW, TAMALES SOON
PARISH STARTS TO CELEBRATE EPIPHANY
(Photo by Bob McLaughlin)
Staff member Ana Bonilla explores her slice of Mexican rosca pastry for a tiny plastic doll of the infant Jesus, as part of "Three Kings" festivities at Sacred Heart on Jan. 5.
Ana didn't discover Jesus in her slice, but four members of the leadership group that met did find the dolls in their portions, and so they will have to provide tamales at the group's next meeting, Feb. 2, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.
WINTER PROGRAMMING
at SACRED HEART
--January is Poverty Awareness Month and we will highlight this in our prayers.
--Our neighborhood leaders group, the "Colectivo," meets Feb. 2 to address ongoing neighborhood needs.
In the meantime, there is a PICO-Wind of the Spirit event to be held Sat.Jan 21 from 10a-1pm at St. Joseph Shrine, Stirling.
Interested attendees can contact Rocio Ramos at the parish office.
Lent begins Wednesday, Feb. 22 with four Masses at Sacred Heart: 6:30am, 8:00am and 12:10am, all in English; 7:00pm in Spanish.
NEWS & NOTES
 ...15 Confirmation candidates and eight leaders spent a day in service with the Center for FaithJustice again this year on MLK Day...Stay tuned for announcement of Lenten faith formation programming..
Thanks to all involved in the setup and takedown of our Christmas liturgical environment...Celebration of Marriage Weekend Feb 11-12, with details soon...Thanks to our friends at St. James Parish, Basking Ridge, the Little Lights party was held Sat., Dec. 17 at 9:30am in the parish hall to much joy and enthusiasm among the participants...
!Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!
 Sacred Heart's many volunteers prepared for the all-night Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration Dec. 12.
The event kicked off with three hours of mariachi players at midnight, followed by numerous musical presentations, culminating in a 6am Mass and breakfast.
A record crowd joined in this year.
JAN 9:FAITH FORMATION UPDATE:
--2012 portion of programming now in full swing
--Parent meetings begin in Wednesday Faith Formation
Sacramental celebrations, such as this Oct. 22 baptism, are the culmination of weeks of religious formation and years of parental faith.
(Photo by Rafi)
OUR REGULAR (NOVEMBER-MAY) PROGRAM:
203 children are participating in our program.
For parents and catechists, please remember these opening dates:
Confirmation 1 and 2 classes, weekly on Sunday AFTERNOONS (NOTE THE CHANGE IN TIME) throughout the campus, 2-4 pm, resuming Jan. 15, 2012. (A reminder that a 3:30pm Mass each Sunday accompanies the Confirmation experience;
all parishioners are invited to attend this youth Mass from November-April.)
Family Faith Formation, grade levels 3-6, weekly on Wednesdays, with Session I running through Feb. 8. (Session II begins Feb. 15, 2012)
Communion 1 and 2 classes, weekly on Saturdays in the school building, 9-10:15am, resuming Jan. 7, 2012.
You can preview our program brochures by clicking
HERE FOR ENGLISH BROCHURE
and
HERE for SPANISH BROCHURE.
For questions, please call the parish office, or contact Rocio Ramos at Rocio.Ramos7@gmail.com.
Sacred Heart's faith formation is led in many ways by our parish teens, who organize small-group sessions, attend to class paperwork and provide a role model for the younger students. Above longtime assistants Dania and Daniela Garcia celebrate their birthday Dec. 22.
"RENEWING THE CHURCH IN NEW BRUNSWICK":
ENTERS RESTRUCTURING PHASE
PRAYER FOR THE RESTRUCTURING PROCESS
Lord, you alone know the plans you have for us,
plans to prosper us, not harm us,
plans to bring about the future you hope for.
Help us who call New Brunswick home,
- we who have as our patron the Sacred Heart of Jesus
along with the powerful intercession of St. Mary, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and St. Joseph,
the apostle St. Peter, the prophet St. John the Baptist,
and the king St. Ladislaus –
help us to be attentive to the work of your Spirit among us
in this time and this age
and among your pilgrim people,
to discern a future together for your glory and our common good.
Through Christ our Lord.
At a meeting with city pastors Jan. 9, 2012, Bishop Paul Bootkoski launched the second phase of "Renewing the Church in New Brunswick."
The mission is to develop a structure of 3-4
parishes that are vibrant, financially sustainable and ministering to the cultures and needs as they are today.
The public portion of the restructuring begins with information nights on either Jan. 26 or Feb. 2 from 7pm to 8:30pm in the St. Peter School Cafeteria.
A series of meetings will be held through the fall, when the new New Brunswick structure will be announced.
CLICK HERE to read the timeline and bulletin announcement that will be made in all city parishes the weekend of Jan. 14-15.
Renewing the Church in New Brunswick has been a process in place for more than two years.
CLICK HERE to read the proposal that all New Brunswick Catholic organizations agreed to Sept. 29, 2010 at a meeting at St. Peter's University Hospital with Bishop Bootkoski.
Our thanks to Sacred Heart Parish reps Natalie Borisovets, Tom McNellis and Nelson Torres,
who have been active participants in the proceedings and have represented our parish extraordinary well, as they will continue to do so during this decisive phase.
They are part of a Deanery Council to implement the agreement,
and began their bi-monthly meetings in November 2010. They are meeting through early 2012 to complete this phase of the project.
If you would like to follow the progress of the Council, CLICK HERE for the latest
minutes. Please keep the success of this city-wide project in your prayer petitions, especially as
we move to restructure New Brunswick area parishes to maximize resources and vitality.
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Sacred Heart youth group SHOUT has begun a new year of activities. Look to the bulletin for upcoming events.
Note: Meetings are in the parish hall after the 11:45am Mass on alternate Sundays.
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CHARITY AND JUSTICE
ST GIANNA LIFE PROMOTION SOCIETY
Grounded in the consistent ethic of life, the St. Gianna Life
Promotion Society engages in prayer, education and action to foster
a culture that celebrates the sanctity of life at all stages.
The group seeks to make connections between Gospel teachings and the
respectful and dignified treatment of all human life. Included in the groups's annual slate of activities are Respect Life Sunday
and a fund-raising Coffee House in the fall.
St. Gianna meetings are held every second Tuesday of the month.
For more information, contact Ellen Maughan at 732-249-
3096.
Fr. Pauly Thekkan, standing next to a banner for St. Gianna, presides at the 11:45am Mass Feb. 6, 2011.
Throughout the weekend, many came to venerate the relics of the 20th-century saint. Fr. Thekkan's chasuble contains
fabric from St. Gianna's wedding dress.
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SOCIETY OF ST. VINCENT de PAUL
JANE DOWLING, conference president
APPLYING VINCENTIAN SPIRIT TO NEIGHBORHOOD NEEDS
Meetings are usually the third Tuesday of each month. The Vincentians are also active in our two-week hosing of the New
Brunswick-area rotating mens shelter. For 2011-12, those dates are: Jan 8-15, March 11-18.
ANNUAL HARVEST OF HOPE DINNER
Jesuit Father Jack Podsiadlo was our keynote speaker for 2011. Joe Shure, above left, from the Intersect Fund, received a donation in recognition of Scott Alessi, above right, as the Rich Cunningham New Leader in Justice Award.
Check back soon for 2012 Dinner details. Camden Director of Catholic Charities Kevin Hickey will join us in 2012.
SUPPORT THE WORK OF THE INTERSECT FUND!
 Founded in New Brunswick just a few years ago, and with one of their first training sessions held at Sacred Heart, The Intersect Fund
helps break the cycle of poverty by training and aiding prospective low-income entrepreneurs.
Visit their website for ways you can support
their mission.
Watch The Intersect Fund's executive director Rohan Mathew on CNN's
American Morning Dec. 19, 2011.
The Intersect Fund is supported in part through funding by both the local and national offices of the
Catholic Campaign for Human Development.
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LITURGY
WE COME TO DO HIM HOMAGE
"The Eucharist is a priceless treasure: by not only celebrating
it but also by
praying before it outside of Mass we are enabled to make contact
with the very wellspring
of grace." - Bl.John Paul II |
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IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: ADORATION
OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT Adoration is held from 8:30-
12:00noon every first Friday of the month.
(Note: from June-September, Adoration is in the Parish Hall Chapel.)
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Join our parish mailing list
Please join our mailing list to receive news updates and other
important announcements
from the parish. To join, send an email to info@hub4sacredheart.org
and write "subscribe" in the subject.
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