St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church

Wednesday, eleven days before the bulletin date. Submit items to lcordova@stasugarland.com.

Join the Catholic Daughters and the Legion of Mary in praying the rosary half an hour before weekend Masses.

The St. Thomas Aquinas Cares Campaign will address several parish needs and contribute to our mandatory share in the Archdiocesan Ignite Campaign.

The monetary goal is $2.5 million, to be used as follows: parish needs and improvement: $1,960,000; Archdiocesan Ignite Campaign: $540,000.

The Campaign will officially commence with a Kick-Off Celebration on Sunday, October 7, 2018,  and culminate on Commitment Weekend, Sunday, November 18, 2018.

For details on the planned improvements to the parish, as well as the campaign, please read the "Campaign Messenger" insert in the parish bulletin. A visual presentation will be made at weekend Masses. 

St. Thomas Aquinas parish is served by the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales.

Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales, also known as Fransalian Missionaries, is an international missionary religious congregation, founded in France in 1838 by Fr. Peter Mermier, under the patronage of  St. Francis de Sales, to bring about the renewal of Christian life.

Fransalians are now in Europe, North and South America, Africa, India and in many other parts of the world dedicated to the renewal of Christian Life by preaching parish missions, evangelization, education and other pastoral ministries. The pastoral ministry and lifestyle of the Fransalians witnesses a spirit of simplicity, gentleness, optimism and availability in service in the local Church. 

Fransalian missionaries have been present in the United States for more than forty years. At present, fifty priests are in pastoral ministry in different dioceses in thirteen states. 

 St. Francis de Sales  (1567 –1622)  is noted for his deep faith and his gentle approach to the religious divisions resulting from the Protestant Reformation. A Doctor of the Church,  he is known for his writings on the topic of spiritual direction and spiritual formation, particularly the Introduction to the Devout Life and Treatise on the Love of God. 

"LOVE DEEPLY, SERVE GENEROUSLY, PRAY INTENSELY."

"At three o'clock, implore My mercy, especially for sinners; and, if only for a brief moment, immerse yourself in My Passion, particularly in My abandonment at the moment of agony. This is the hour of great mercy for the whole world. I will allow you to enter into My mortal sorrow. In this hour, I will refuse nothing to the soul that makes a request of Me in virtue of My Passion...." -- Private revelation of Jesus to Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, #1320, Diary

Encourage souls to say the Chaplet which I have given you. ... Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. ... When they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying person, not as the just Judge but as the merciful Savior. ... Priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My infinite mercy. I desire to grant unimaginable graces to those souls who trust in My mercy. ... Through the Chaplet you will obtain everything, if what you ask for is compatible with my will (687,1541,1731).

Submission deadline: Tuesday the week of announcement, 5 pm. Email Verna at vpatout@stasugarland.com.

Tuesdays, 9:30 am, Siena Room.

If you or someone you know is suffering from an abortion in your past, whether it was a day ago or 25 years ago,
There is Hope:
Project Rachel

St. Thomas Aquinas holds conversational English classes for adults. Classes are available Monday and Wednesday, mornings from 9:00 until 10:30 am and evenings from 7:00 pm until 8:30 pm in the Aquinas Center.

STA also partners with our neighboring parish, St. Theresa in Sugar Land, to offer Saturday classes from 9:00 am until noon. 

If you would like to learn more or volunteer (no teaching experience needed and new volunteers are paired with experienced ones), contact Ben Idowu at learnenglishministry.sta@gmail.com or STA office at 281-240-6721.

DSF brings Christ's comfort and care to the many pressing needs that cannot be addressed by one parish alone.

Our parish number is 7946. Our parish goal is $78,000.

To give online, visit http://www.archgh.org/dsf/.

Eternal Word Global Catholic Network makes available Catholic TV, radio, internet, apps.

Nine networks on cable and satellite. To find local channels for EWTN and EWTN Espanol:

LISTEN TO GUADALUPE RADIO, 1430 AM

In Memory of: Mother Mary Angelica of the Annunciation, Foundress of EWTN, who was called home by her bridegroom, Jesus Christ, on March 27th, Easter Sunday, during the Marinite Rite vigil of the Annunciation.

We host year-round Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Learn more about the Catholic Faith and explore the possibility of becoming Catholic.  Inquiry sessions are held after the 9:30 a.m. Mass every Sunday in the Thissen Education Building, 2nd Floor. FMI: Scott Sabol, 832-265-3473, scott1sabol@gmail.com.

Come half an hour before all weekend Masses to pray the rosary with the Catholic Daughters and the Legion of Mary.

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.

FROM NEWSWEEK, JANUARY 2018

The persecution and genocide of Christians across the world is worse today “than at any time in history,” and Western governments are failing to stop it, a report from a Catholic organization said.

The study by Aid to the Church in Need said the treatment of Christians has worsened substantially in the past two years compared with the two years prior, and has grown more violent than any other period in modern times.  

“Not only are Christians more persecuted than any other faith group, but ever-increasing numbers are experiencing the very worst forms of persecution,” the report said.

The report examined the plight of Christians in China, Egypt, Eritrea, India, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Turkey over the period lasting from 2015 until 2017. The research showed that in that time, Christians suffered crimes against humanity, and some were hanged or crucified. The report found that Saudi Arabia was the only country where the situation for Christians did not get worse, and that was only because the situation couldn’t get any worse than it already was.

Whether prayer is expressed in words or gestures, it is the whole man who prays. But in naming the source of prayer, Scripture speaks sometimes of the soul or the spirit, but most often of the heart (more than a thousand times). According to Scripture, it is the heart that prays. If our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain. -- Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2562.