St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church

March 6th will be the First Friday of the Month. 7:00 pm, Stations, followed by Healing Mass and Anointing.

March 7th will be the First Saturday of the Month. 8:00 am Mass, followed by Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

The practice of receiving Holy Communion on nine consecutive First Fridays in reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is derived from revelations made by Christ to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690). See First Friday Devotion.

Those who practice the First Saturday Devotion receive Holy Communion on five consecutive First Saturdays, receive the Sacrament of Penance within an octave of this reception, recite five decades of the Rosary and make a 15-minute meditation on one of these mysteries. This devotion traced to St. John Eudes gained momentum after Our Lady of Fatima (1917) requested it, promising her intercession for final perseverance at the hour of death to all who would be faithful to it. See First Saturday Devotion.

EDGE Classes: March 1st, 22nd, 29th

Life Teen Classes: March 22nd & 29th

Confirmation Interviews Begin: March 22nd

Confirmation classes: March 22nd & 29th

S.T.A.Y. CONNECTED @stayministry.com

 Rome, Italy, Feb 26, 2015 / 07:13 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The number of ISIS hostages in Syria has increased to at least 250 after continued attacks on Christian villages, and civilians fleeing to the Turkish border have been stranded when not allowed to cross.

“There are 200 families who were running away and trying to escape to Turkey, but the border is closed for Syrians. No Syrian can cross into Turkey,” Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo told CNA Feb. 26.

Archbishop Hindo oversees the Syrian archdiocese of Hassake, which is located in the Al-Hasakah region of Syria. The region sits between both Turkey and Iraq.

The archbishop told CNA that ISIS has continued its assault in the area, raising the number of hostages to more than 250 after an estimated 90 were kidnapped during attacks earlier this week.

Archbishop Hindo expressed his concern for fate of the ISIS hostages, particularly the elderly, women and children, as well as that of the families who fled to the Turkish border, which has been closed to all Syrians.

Although the U.S.-led international coalition, which has backed Kurdish forces against ISIS, carried out a series of attacks Tuesday near Tal Hamis that killed 14 ISIS fighters, Archbishop Hindo said military invention from the West over the last few days has been sparse.

Come half an hour before all Masses on the FIRST and THIRD weekend of the month and before all weekend Masses in May and October when different ministries at STA lead the Rosary.

The Rosary is also prayed after 8 am morning Masses and before the 6:45 pm Wednesday Our Lady of Perpetual Help Novena and Mass.

Pious tradition teaches that Our Blessed Mother gave the Rosary to St. Dominic with instructions to popularize its use, and she has repeatedly asked in church-approved apparitions to pray the Rosary for peace in the world!

In his 2002 Apostolic Letter on the Rosary, "Rosarium Virginis Mariae," Pope St. John Paul II added the Luminous Mysteries to the traditional Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious to give the Rosary "fresh life and enkindle renewed interest in the Rosary's place within Christian spirituality." He asked that the Rosary be prayed for the cause of peace in the world and the cause of the family.

The Rosary is not a dry and boring exercise, the Saint reminds us, but a way of concentrating the mind on the particular mysteries and "remembering" with Mary as we pray to Christ and listen in the Spirit to the Father's voice.

The Divine Mercy Chaplet is prayed in the chapel after daily Mass and the Rosary for the conversion of sinners, for those who will die that day, and for the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Saying the chaplet for the dying at the 3 pm Hour of Mercy is especially powerful and a great Spiritual Work of Mercy.

 A copy of the original image of the Divine Mercy in our chapel. 

Fr. Santy Kurian, M.S.F.S., celebrated his first Mass as pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas on Tuesday, July 1, 2014, and was officially installed by The Most Reverend Bishop George Sheltz at the 9:30 am Mass on Sunday, July 20, 2014..

Fr. Santy is a member of  the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales, a religious order. He has served as a Catholic school principal for seven years, a pastor for four years, and as a parochial vicar in India and the U.S. for eight years. A native of Kerala, South India, Fr. Santy came to the U.S. in October 2007.

Ordained a priest on May 2, 1995, Fr. Santy notes that "Priesthood is meaningful only when rooted in the Eucharist."

O God our Creator, from your provident hand we have received our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. You have called us as your people and given us the right and the duty to worship you, the only true God, and your Son, Jesus Christ.

Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society.

We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty. Give us the strength of mind and heart to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened; give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.

Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters gathered in your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, so that, with every trial withstood and every danger overcome—for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all who come after us—this great land will always be “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.