Category Archives: Special Collections

2016 Catholic Appeal This Weekend

CA16 Posters_EnglishThis weekend, March 5-6, you will be invited to support the 2016 Catholic Appeal at Mass. Please prayerfully consider making a pledge. The Catholic Appeal is the annual fund that helps sustain the 50 ministries of the Archdiocese of Boston. These ministries directly serve the Catholic faithful, and also support our parishes, schools, and Catholic organizations.

If you are unable to make your pledge at Mass, please take a pledge form from the back of the church or pledge online at bostoncatholicappeal.org.

Thank you for your prayers for a successful Catholic Appeal.

Christmas Collection for the Clergy Retirement Trust

Retired_PriestsEvery Christmas, Catholics across the Archdiocese of Boston join together to honor and thank our priests. Your gift to the Clergy Health and Retirement Trust helps to ensure an appropriate level of care and quality of life for our 614 active and senior priests. Please remember priests such as Fr. Tom Powers, Fr. John Connelly and Msgr. Joseph Lind who have made a meaningful difference in your life, and consider honoring him/them with a generous gift to the Christmas collection. Our priests are there for us in times of need. Now it is our turn to care for them when they need us. All are welcome to make a gift online at www.clergyfunds.org or use the in-pew envelopes that will be provided, or simply text the word PRIEST to 56512 (message & data rates may apply).  Thank you in advance for your prayers and generous support of our priests.

Thank You!

Emmanuel Dim Nigeria_2On the weekend of August 30-31, St. John Parish took up a special second collection for the Society of African Missions. Thanks to St. John’s, the missionaries received $5,616 and Fr. Emmanuel collected $3,735 for the purchase of a car for the mission.

Thank you for your generosity and kindness!

A Missionary Call for Help – Special Second Collection August 29-30

SMA_logoAfrica is a large continent, very cultural and dynamic. The Church is growing and there is a great future of the Catholic Church in Africa. The Church is also one and we can all contribute to stimulate this growth by our own prayers and contributions. I joined the Society of African Mission (SMA) because of their missionary charisms. SMA was founded to respond to missionary need to the most abandoned in the society especially in Africa. We strive to go to areas found to be too difficult to survive. We go to the interior of Africa, the villages and bush and anywhere where the most needy are found. Though it is a difficult mission, we draw our strength from the different pool of people who are there praying and supporting us morally and by their material contribution.

As I thank you for your generosity in the past, I humbly continue to appeal to your generosity to help us to put smiles on the faces of people. Your contribution will help to train SMA seminarians. In Africa, we have young people who are willing to be missionaries but do not have the means to support their seminary expenses. Your contributions will help our projects in remote villages, like building and running of churches, hospitals and schools. In these places, missionaries become the only hope of people when faced with hunger, sicknesses or the need to be educated. Your contribution will also give food and drink to people through our St. Vincent de Paul group, and it will empower and give future to children, women and youth, and help to sustain the Priests on mission.
Where I work, our churches and outstations are far apart, and it becomes difficult to go say Mass or visit the needy and sick in emergencies with the car we have at the moment, which keeps breaking down and requires constant pushing before it will start. This is not due to lack of maintenance, but because it is very, very old and would have long been replaced if the means were there. Please, I beg for your help towards getting a better mission car that will help us to be more efficient in our work. As the phrase goes, “some go to mission by giving something, some give to mission by going themselves.” In either way, we are all missionaries. May the Lord bless your generosity.

FR. EMMANUEL DIM, SMA

A Thank You from Fr. Francois

Fr_EaleI would like to thank all of you for making our missionary appeal such a great success last weekend. Thank you very much for your support and generous donations for the people of my native diocese of Kikwit. Through your generosity, the lives of our people and especially our children who benefit from diocesan ministries and services, are greatly enriched. Be assured of my prayers for all of you. May God continue to bless you now and for years to come.
– Fr. Francois X. Eale

Easter Flowers and Music

easter flowersWould you like to make a donation towards our Easter flowers or Easter music in memory of a loved one during this holy season? If so, you may make a donation using you offertory envelopes, the collection basket, ParishPay, or by dropping your donation off at the rectory or in the mail. Please make sure to include the name of the person you want remembered in this special way. The deadline for submissions is this Tuesday, March 31 at noon. Thank you!

Christmas Collection for the Clergy Retirement Trust

Christmas_Collection_Clergy_RetirementEvery Christmas Catholics across the Archdiocese of Boston join together to honor and thank our priests. Your gift to the Clergy Health and Retirement Trust helps to ensure the highest quality of care and quality of life programs that provide for the health and well-being of our 628 active and senior priests. Our priests have been there for us in our times of need. Now it is our turn to care for them when they need us. All are welcome to make a gift online at www.clergyfunds.org or use the in-pew envelopes that will be provided. Thank you in advance for your prayers and generous support of our priests.

Christmas Flowers and Music Memorial Donations

poinsettia-at-christmas-nightWould you like to make a donation towards Christmas Music or Christmas Flowers in memory of a loved one this holiday season? If so, you may make your donation by using an offertory envelope, the collection basket, Parish Pay, or by dropping your donation in the mail or at the Parish Office in the Rectory. Please be sure to include the name(s) of those you want remembered in this special way, and to print their name(s) clearly. The deadline to submit the name of a loved one is Friday, December 19 at noon.

Special Collection for Clergy Retirement Trust This Weekend

Clergy_Retirement_Trust_2014 This week’s second collection supports the retirement, medical and financial needs of priests of the Archdiocese of Boston. These priests have given their lives to faithfully serve Christ, the Church and you. Please be generous to this important collection. Following is a link to a video featuring the story of the Regina Cleri senior priest residence, which is celebrating 50 years of service this year: Celebrating 50 Years of Service to Boston’s Priests

This Weekend November 23-24: Special Collection for Retired Sisters

Retired Sisters CollectionThis weekend, November 23–24, the Archdiocese of Boston will take up the Collection for Retired Sisters. This collection provides needed financial support for Sisters, now retired, who have served the Archdiocese in countless ways through the ministries of education, health care, and social service. Please give generously in recognition of the Sisters’ many years of dedicated service. Your contribution does make a difference. Most senior sisters worked for years for small stipends, leaving a substantial gap in retirement savings. The funds raised through this collection help meet day-to-day needs for retired Sisters, such as prescription medications, nursing assistance, health care, and more. Through their prayer and ministries, Sisters can be found wherever Jesus is found—not only in parishes, schools, and hospitals, but also in their service to the poor, the lonely, and the oppressed. We are all beneficiaries of the devotion of the Sisters to the life of the Church.

To learn more about the ways you can help support our Sisters, please contact Sr. Marian Batho, CSJ, at 617-746-5637 or email  Sr_Marian_Batho@rcab.org