Lenten Fish Dinners will be available at St. Patrick’s Parish Hall on the Fridays of Lent, except St. Patrick’s Day, from 4pm-6:30pm. Dinner includes haddock, coleslaw, Mac & cheese, and dessert. Take-out only. Adults: $15. Seniors/children: $10 (smaller portion). Children under 5 year of age are free. Please read below for more info!

Stations of the Cross begins on Friday, February 24, 2023, and will be held after the 10am daily mass at St. Thomas (around 10:30am), and 5:20pm at St. Patrick’s, through the Lenten Season. Please join us for this reflective time of meditation and prayer.

Who should fast? How should we fast? This diagram makes it easy to understand how to fast during the Lenten Season!

Wednesday evenings, 7pm, in the St. Patrick’s Parish Hall. Please join us for this awesome program, especially if you have already seen Season 1 & 2!

Wednesday Morning Bible Study continues at 10:30-11:45am.

The Eucharist by Augustine Institute will be the topic of our study.

Dr. Brant Pitre digs down to the Biblical roots of the Eucharist, through its foreshadowing in the miraculous events the Old Testament, the Gospels, and Apostolic teaching. Please call the Parish office at 607-797-4015 to register.

The Grief Recovery Method^® Grief Support Group
The Action Program for Moving Beyond Death, Divorce & Other Losses

Myths about grief:
Time heals all wounds; Replace the loss; Grieve alone; Be strong for others; Bury your feelings;

Your feelings are normal and natural. The problem is that we have been socialized to believe that these feelings are abnormal and unnatural. Whether your loss is from:
Death, Divorce and / or end of a relationship; Loss of a career; Loss of trust; Loss of faith; Loss of safety; Loss of health;

People say you have to let go and move on in your life, but they don’t tell you what you need to do to accomplish that. The Grief Recovery Method^® Outreach Program not only makes that possible, but provides partnerships and guidance to ensure that it happens.

For further information call: St. Thomas Aquinas Church; 607-797-4015.
ATT. Sr.Teresia Mutiso• Certified Grief Recovery Specialist^®• 607-201-6298

 Copyrights © / Trademarks (TM). ©1993-Present, Grief Recovery Institute^®, John W. James, and Russell P. Friedman. All Grief Recovery Institute^® related copyrights/trademarks are owned by The Grief Recovery Institute, John W. James, and Russell P. Friedman including but not limited to: The Grief Recovery Institute^®, The Grief Recovery Method^®, Certified Grief Recovery Specialist^®, Grief Recovery^®, and AARAM Formula^®. All rights reserved.

‘We Give Thanks to God’

A statement on the Dobbs decision by the Catholic Bishops of New York State

We give thanks to God for today’s decision of the United States Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. This just decision will save countless innocent children simply waiting to be born.

On this historic day, our gratitude extends to the millions of heroic Americans who have worked tirelessly toward this outcome for nearly a half-century. Women and men, children and adults, believers and non-believers, people of every culture and background have advocated for life. They have been a charitable and compelling voice for the voiceless, and today, their voice has been heard.

As Catholics, we have prayed and fasted, held vigils, offered Masses, and peacefully witnessed in these last five decades. We have joined others in educating schoolchildren, opening pregnancy care centers, walking with mothers, offering post-abortion counseling, and marching, year after year, to the United States Supreme Court to witness for life. Today, our voice has been heard.

With the entire pro-life community, we are overjoyed with this outcome of the Court. However, we acknowledge the wide range of emotions associated with this decision. We call on all Catholics and everyone who supports the right to life for unborn children to be charitable, even as we celebrate an important historical moment and an answer to a prayer.

We must remember that this is a judicial victory, not a cultural one. The culture remains deeply divided on the issue, which will be evidenced by the patchwork of state statutes pertaining to abortion across the country. To change the culture and build a culture of life, we need to enact family-friendly policies that welcome children, support mothers, cherish families and empower them to thrive. We outlined our vision for a pro-life New York in our recent statement, available here, and we rededicate ourselves to helping every expectant mother to carry her baby to term.

Building a culture of life is not solely the responsibility of the government or those heroic individuals working on the front lines, in crisis pregnancy centers and other ministries. All of us need to respect the dignity and sanctity of human life in everything we do: in how we treat our children, spouses and parents; in the way we behave in our place of work; in sum, how we live Jesus’ two great commandments to love God and love our neighbor.

Love, charity and reverence for human life from the moment of conception through natural death – these will build and sustain a culture of life.

Millions of Americans have worked tirelessly for almost 50 years towards this outcome. We thank them with every fiber of our being. Their vital work continues, and we commit ourselves to it.

Timothy Cardinal Dolan

Archbishop of New York

Most Rev. Edward B. Scharfenberger

Bishop of Albany

Most Rev. Robert J. Brennan

Bishop of Brooklyn

Most Rev. Michael W. Fisher

Bishop of Buffalo

Most Rev. Terry R. LaValley

Bishop of Ogdensburg

Most Rev. Salvatore R. Matano

Bishop of Rochester

Most Rev. John O. Barres

Bishop of Rockville Centre

Most Rev. Douglas J. Lucia

Bishop of Syracuse

And the Auxiliary and Emeritus Bishops of New York

Bp Pentecost letter 2022

Bishop Lucia releases letter on the Vigil of Pentecost, announcing creation of Vicarate Forane and invites all to work together in formation of the faith of making disciples. Click the link to read the full letter.

St. Thomas Aquinas parish offers the Devotion to the Sacred Heart on first Friday’s of the month.
St. Patrick’s offers the Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the first Saturday’s of the month.

First Friday Devotional prayers are typically offered after the 10:00am daily Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas.

The First Saturday Devotion at St. Patrick’s will include: Mass at 8:00am followed by the + Rosary, Talk and Consecration Prayers. Confession will be available.

I adore Thee O most Sacred Heart of Jesus, inflame my heart with the divine love with which Thine own is all on fire!

 O Immaculate Heart of Mary, full of goodness, show your love towards us.!

 

Most Reverend Douglas J. Lucia
Bishop of Syracuse

February 24, 2022

Statement on the Crisis in the Ukraine

I join the Roman Catholic faithful of the Diocese of Syracuse in prayerful solidarity with our sisters and brothers of the sovereign nation of the Ukraine.  It is most disturbing and saddening to see a nation which acclaims religious orthodoxy to attack fellow believers in such an aggressive and unjust manner.  Let us pray for a conversion of heart and for an end to what one can only describe as the greatest threat to world peace since the end of the Cold War era.

I express, particularly, to Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuck of Kyiv-Halych, to Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Metropolitan of Ukrainian Catholics in the United States, and to the Latin Rite Archbishop Mieczylaw Mokrzycki of Lviv, the concern and prayers of all Roman Catholics and people of goodwill in central New York.  I ask especially that we join Pope Francis on Ash Wednesday, March 2^nd,  in a day of prayer and fasting for the people of the Ukraine and an end to the violence afflicting them.  I also ask that we use the coming days of the holy season of Lent as ones of prayer, fasting, and charitable works to counter all aggression against the sanctity of human life and all the forces which seek to divide the human family.

This Sunday, February 27^th, from 2 to 3 pm all are invited to join in person or via livestream in a “Holy Hour for Peace” at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Syracuse.  Also beginning this weekend and throughout the Lenten season I ask that a “Rosary for Peace” be prayed either before or after all Masses in all the parishes of our Diocese.

In truth, this moment is a wake up call for all believers.  If we want to counter the works of evil and sin in our world it must begin with each one of us.: “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”

Bishop Lucia updates the faithful related to the conclusion of the Bar Date in the process of Chapter 11.
Please see letter attached here.

Bishop Lucia releases a Pastoral Letter for the people of the Diocese of Syracuse, In the Name of Jesus.
In the letter, Bishop Lucia acknowledges that home is where the heart is and that our home, within the Diocese of Syracuse, the faithful are called to rise and walk in the light of Christ, to live the Truth with love. In it the Bishop also announces an upcoming Diocesan Synod, an assembly of the people of God, as a vehicle for communicating and responding in the development of strategy for the Diocese today and in the future. Read In the Name of Jesus, in its entirety at the link below.

https://syracusediocese.org/assets/flipbook/index.html?page=1