St. Thomas the Apostle Parish

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BULLETINS
Please check our church bulletin for schedule changes.

December 22, 2024 Bulletin

December 15, 2024 Bulletin

December 8, 2024 Bulletin

Bulletin insert about The Five First Saturdays

January 2020 Bulletin insert regarding end-of-life decisions

Mondays
ADORATION after the Monday morning 8am Mass until 9am.

Second Monday of every month
Bedford County Citizens Concerned for Human Life
non-denominational, non-partisan, non-profit
We meet at 6:30pm in the game room at Homewood Estates.
Info call Doug at 623-6887 All Are Welcome!

Wednesdays during School Year
5:15pm Youth Choir Practice in the church

7-9:00pm R.C.I.A. in Heyden Hall
Have you been thinking about becoming a Catholic or interested in learning more about your faith? R.C.I.A., the Rite of Catholic Initiation of Adults. This is the process of formation for those seeking God through membership in the Catholic Christian community. All are welcome to attend.

Thursdays
Eucharistic Adoration every Thursday at 4:00pm followed by Mass for Vocations celebrated at 6:00pm at the Prince Gallitzin Chapel House in Loretto, 357 Saint Mary Street (map). Praying the Rosary and Eucharistic adoration follow Mass with Benediction at 8:00pm.

Third Thursday of every month
Catholic Book Club meets at 2pm.
Would you like to read about your faith and individuals who have shown us the way? Please consider joining our Catholic book club! If you have any questions please call Kathy Wright at 623-2824 or Anne Jones at 733-2217.

Fridays
Stations of the Cross on Fridays during Lent at 6:30pm in the church.

Divine Mercy Eucharistic Holy Hour takes place on Fridays in the church from 3pm to 4pm closing with Benediction. During the Holy Hour on Fridays we pray the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows of Mary. Email Father Rich if you would like a 7 decade rosary for a small donation.

First Friday Promises
Those who faithfully complete the First Friday devotion for nine consecutive months are promised the following, as told to the Roman Catholic nun
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque by Our Lord Jesus Christ:

I will give them all of the graces necessary for their state of life.

I will establish peace in their homes.

I will comfort them in all their afflictions.

I will be their strength during life and above all during death.

I will bestow a large blessing upon all their undertakings.

Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and the infinite ocean of mercy.

Tepid souls shall grow fervent.

Fervent souls shall quickly mount to high perfection.

I will bless every place where a picture of my heart shall be set up and honored.

I will give to priests the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.

Those who shall promote this devotion shall have their names written in My Heart, never to be blotted out.

I promise you in the excessive mercy of My Heart that My all-powerful love will grant all to those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months the grace of final penitence; they shall not die in My disgrace nor without receiving their sacraments; My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment.

To gain these blessings there are just three simple requirements to complete each month:

Attend Holy Mass
Receive Communion
Go to Confession within eight days before or after the Friday.

Saturdays
Confessions at 3:45pm in the church.
Confessions after the 8am Mass on the First Saturday of the month.

First Saturdays - 8am Mass
To honor our Blessed Mother and to fulfill her request at Fatima, Portugal, we offer a Mass each 1st Saturday to make reparation for the sins of the world. How necessary that is - especially today! Our Lady of Fatima asks us on the 1st Saturdays: to attend Mass, pray 5 mysteries of the Rosary, to spend 15 minutes in quiet prayer to make reparation for sin against the Sacred Heart of Jesus and her Immaculate Heart, and to go to the Sacrament of Confession. In light of that, Confessions will be after the 8am Saturday Mass to give people a chance to fulfill our Lady’s requests. The Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet will be prayed before the Mass. Please try to attend especially those who normally can’t come to weekday Mass because of work and family obligations.

The Great Promise of the Five First Saturdays
On July 13th 1917, Our Lady of Fatima, after showing the three Fatima seers a vision of hell, she said “You have seen hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them, God wishes to establish in the world devotion to my immaculate heart… I shall come to ask for… the Communion of reparation on the First Five Saturdays.”

On December 10, 1925, Our Lady said to Sister Lucia “Look, my daughter, at my heart, surrounded with thorns with which ungrateful [Children of God] pierce it at every moment by their blasphemies and ingratitude. You at least try to console me with your prayers and sacrifices. I promise to assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for their salvation, all those who, on the first Saturday of five consecutive months, shall confess, receive Holy Communion, recite five decades of the Rosary, and keep me company for fifteen minutes while meditating on the mysteries of the Rosary, with the intention of making reparation to me.”

Find more info go to www.salvemariaregina.info/FirstSaturdays.html

Sunday Morning CCD Classes 8:10-9:10
CCD Classes begin Sunday after Labor Day from 8:10am to 9:10am.
There is no CCD during Fall Foliage, over Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, President's Day, Palm Sunday, & Easter Sunday.
CCD is typically not held during school breaks. Please check the bulletin to be sure.

We welcome and thank the following CCD teachers for their services and dedication:

Grade 1: Norma McGee/Diana Feather
Grade 2: Chris Kline
Grade 3: Damon Weyant
Grades 4 & 5: Barb Mitchell
Grade 6: Linda Steele
Grades 7 & 8: Tom Beemiller
Grade 9: Jeff Wertz
Grade 10: Jeffrey and Julie Wright (in church basement)
Grade 11: Dr. George Zubak
Grade 12:

Sundays
DIOCESE OF ALTOONA-JOHNSTOWN TV MINISTRY
Our Telecast Times
5:30am Proclaim! Early Edition - WWCP- Fox Channel 8
10:30am Proclaim! – WWCP- TV-Fox Channel 8
11:00am Live Mass Telecast form St. John Gualbert Cathedral in Downtown Johnstown – WWCP- Fox Channel 8
9:00pm Rebroadcast of 11:00am Live Mass Telecast on Atlantic Broadband Public Access Channel 9, Altoona and Johnstown systems

We are always delighted to hear from viewers who wish to share their comments regarding our TV ministry. Your views and suggestions are helpful to us in many ways. We’re also happy to help parishes and church-related organizations publicize their activities, and we always welcome suggestions regarding possible story ideas. Send cards and letters to: Proclaim! PO Box 807, Johnstown, PA 15907. Be sure to check out our website: www.ajdiocese.org

Prayer for All Souls

It is a Catholic practice to pray for our deceased brothers and sisters, especially during November so that their time in purgatory will be shortened and their arrival in the Kingdom of God will be hastened. Eternal rest, grant unto them, O Lord. May the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son Jesus in union with all the Masses said throughout the world today; for the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, in my home and in my family. Amen.

It is recommended we pray this after every decade of the Rosary. Our Lady also imparted to Hungarian visionary Mrs. Elizabeth Szanto Erzebet, (mother of six who died in 1985), the following message on October 13, 1962 on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the last apparition at Fatima.

Proclaiming herself as "The Flame of Love", Our Lady said: "My Daughter, your compassion for suffering souls moved my Motherly heart so much that I will grant the grace that if anyone anywhere will say Three Hail Mary's in reference to my Flame of Love, then on each occasion a soul will be freed from Purgatory.

Furthermore, "In the month of the Holy Souls (November) TEN SOULS WILL BE FREED FROM PURGATORY FOR EACH HAIL MARY...Suffering souls will also feel the effect of the grace coming from my Motherly Flame of Love."

This is our opportunity to storm Heaven with our Rosaries during this month. Think of the number of souls you will all be able to deliver from Purgatory into the Glory of Heaven through your Hail Mary's. They won't forget you!!!