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Reserve your spot today for the St. Matthias School & Parish YARD SALE

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

Declutter your home • Recycle usable items • Sell or find a bargain • Earn extra cash • Help the school raise funds!

You can do all of the above by reserving space at our upcoming yard sale. Parishioners and school families are welcome to participate. Simply fill out the registration form below and remit it along with your check to the school by April 18th. You can either send it to the school’s main office, or you can mail it to St. Matthias School, 170 John F. Kennedy Blvd., Somerset, NJ 08873. Checks should be made payable to “St. Matthias School.” All sellers will be responsible for setting up and cleaning up their rental spaces.

The yard sale will take place on Saturday, April 30th, from 10 to 2 p.m. Set-up time for sellers will be from 8 to 9:30 a.m. in the rear parking lot of the school. Click here to register or go to www.stmatthias.info and click on the Yard Sale banner on first page. That will give you the registration form; just print, fill out & turn in to the school office with your check.

NJ Youth Rally at Six Flags Great Adventure

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

The Diocese of Metuchen’s Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry is excited to share that the 2022 New Jersey Youth Rally at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ, is scheduled for Sunday, May 15, 2022! The cost for the day is $55 per person ($25 for season ticket holders) and includes advance entry into the park, a FREE return ticket to Park, a 3-hour all-you-can-eat buffet, Mass, the Opening Ceremony, and a Free Parking Pass. Open to all Jr. High, High School & Young Adult Ministry, Scouting, Parish/School Athletic Programs, families, and all.

To purchase your tickets please visit the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry page on Diocesan Website and register before the May 6th deadline.

Questions? Please email mvantslot@diometuchen.org.

Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

Dear Friends,

At the 8am Mass here at St. Matthias, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation of Our Lord, on March 25, 2022 we prayed the Consecration/Entrustment prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  We are in solidarity with Pope Francis who initiated this consecration of Ukraine, Russia and the whole of humanity to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Below are both the original from Vatican and the one the Diocese adapted for our use. I encourage you to pray this Entrustment prayer with your families.

God bless.

Fr. Abraham

Symposium on Critical Race Theory

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

On February 28th, St. Matthias was fortunate to spend some time listening to the Rev. Dr. Dante R. Quick, Senior Pastor of 1st Baptist of Lincoln Gardens here in Somerset, share important background in a Zoom symposium on Critical Race Theory. He also offered his perspective on what CRT means for Christian education. The symposium was moderated by Dr. Sandra Donnay, parishioner ND and founder of the Racial Equity Initiative, and sponsored by the St. Martin de Porres Society of St. Matthias. First and foremost, Rev. Dr. Quick explained the history of CRT as an academic examination centered in legal studies which debuted in 1971 in the Harvard Law Review; however he put forth an explanation of CRT having begun far before 1971 as explained by forgone scholars and thinkers. He positioned CRT as nothing more than an examination of the relationship or “intersectionality” of race, economics, education, and health through the teaching of real and true American History, and the advocacy of equity vs. equality. You can listen to the full recording of the symposium on the St. Matthias YouTube channel by clicking here.  Also provided by Rev. Dr. Quick and the moderator, Dr. Donnay, is the list of resources below. We hope to have them both with us again sometime soon.

Recommended Reading/Books from Rev Dr. Danté R. Quick:

  • David Walker’s Appeal by David Walker,
  • The Meaning of July 4th For the Negro by Frederick Douglass
  • black codes, by the Editors Encyclopaedia Britannica
  • A Theology of Liberation by Gustavo Gutierrez
  • The Strange Career of Jim Crow by C. Vann Woodward
  • Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman
  • The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois
  • Letter from Birmingham Jail by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • City of God by St. Augustine of Hippo

Resources from Dr. Sandra Donnay (on how to talk to children about race): Pursuant to the request by one of the attendees, below are some resources for talking to children about race provided by Southern Poverty Law Conference (SPLC).

https://www.embracerace.org. (Support for parents who want to hold discussions with their children about racism).

https://www.teachingforchange.org. (Recommended Social Justice Books)

https://raceconscious.org. (Resources for talking with children about racism)

 

Support and Pray for Ukraine

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

 

Our parishioners have been very generous in responding to the collection for the suffering and dying people of Ukraine. We have been praying for Ukraine every day at our Masses daily.

Here’s an impassioned prayer that Pope Francis prayed, asking God to have mercy and bring peace to the war in Ukraine during his Wednesday general audience on March 16. We can use it in our prayers:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners.

Lord Jesus, born under the bombs of Kyiv, have mercy on us.

Lord Jesus, who died in his mother’s arms in a bunker in Kharkiv, have mercy on us.

Lord Jesus, sent at 20 years old to the front, have mercy on us.

Lord Jesus, who still sees armed hands in the shadow of your Cross, have mercy on us!

 

Forgive us, Lord, if, not content with the nails with which we pierced your hands, we continue to drink from the blood of the dead torn apart by weapons.

Forgive us, Lord, if these hands that you created for care have been transformed into instruments of death.

 

Forgive us, Lord, if we continue to kill our brother, if we continue like Cain to remove the stones from our field to kill Abel. Forgive us if we continue to justify cruelty with our toil, if with our pain we legitimize the cruelty of our actions.

Forgive us the war, Lord.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, we implore you: Stop the hand of Cain!

“Women in Conversation”

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

March 8 was International Day for Women.

As Catholics, we believe that our church is called to be God’s agent of social change. Women have played and continues to play a pivotal role in the life of the church. RENEW International, a very evangelizing Catholic movement, is offering a wonderful webinar on Wednesday, March 16 at 2 pm, titled “Women in Conversation” with Genevieve Mougey, the Director of the Office of Social Concerns in the Archdiocese of Washington. Click here to register.

Inviting the Men of Our Parish to Consider

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

ARE YOU BEING CALLED TO THE DIACONATE?

The Diocese is looking for men who are interested in becoming Permanent Deacons. A new diaconate formation class is about to begin. Applications for that class will be accepted near the end of this summer; prior to applying, interested men must attend an Information Meeting. A General Information Meeting will be held at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center in Piscataway on Tuesday, March 29, 2022 at 7:00 PM and again on Saturday, April 9, 2022 at 10:00 AM. If you are between the ages of 35 and 60, and you believe you are being called to this ministry, you, your wife and your pastor are cordially invited to attend one of these meetings.

If you have any questions, or wish to advise that you will attend, please contact the Diocesan Diaconate Office at (732) 562-2457 or diaconate@diometuchen.org.

SYNOD Listening: Last Chance for Those Who Wish to Respond

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

Pope Francis wants to hear from you! Yes, he wants input from everyone! The participants at the Synod on Synodality in 2023 will consider these ideas to make our church a more listening church. Besides the deanery-wise listening sessions that our Diocese organized, we did our own parish listening sessions here at St. Matthias. For those of us who could not attend any of these sessions, here’s the last chance to send in your ideas and concerns by answering the questions online. Click here to fill out the St. Matthias Synod 2023 survey

SPECIAL COLLECTION FOR UKRAINE

Posted on by Nathalie Godet

Yesterday we received information that our Bishop has directed all the parishes to take up a special Ash Wednesday collection. Though a short notice, it is for helping Ukraine and the surrounding countries of Eastern Europe with humanitarian aid. Hence please bring your contribution to church this Sunday or bring/mail it to the parish. If a check, you can make it out either to St. Matthias Church OR to the Diocese of Metuchen, but with Ash Wednesday Collection in the memo line.  You may also “Text-to-Give“ on your phone by texting smukraine to 44-321, and using your credit card or bank account.

Kindly click here for the letter from the Diocese.

To view a video of the Major Archbishop of Kyiv (with English subtitles) recorded on Sunday, February 27, in Kyiv, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nF9y2lMrIA&t=272s