Church of the Sacred Heart

Christmas Tribute Trees

P E — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 18:50:11 +0000

This is a wonderful opportunity to honor a loved one (living or deceased), celebrate an organization or group, or share a personal family Christmas greeting on a plaque to be displayed on our real Christmas trees. Each tree, available for $200, will be showcased around the Sacred Heart Campus.

The lighted trees, standing 6-8 feet tall, will feature a printed tribute sign with your message in front.

Embrace the spirit of Christmas throughout the Advent season. Join us for our inaugural Christmas tree lighting on December 7, 2024, immediately following the 5:00 p.m. Vigil Mass. More details to follow.

Since the number of trees is limited, be sure to reserve yours today. Also, please share this opportunity with your family, friends, and business associates who might be interested in participating.

Christmas Concert

P E — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 17:00:20 +0000

Online Ticket Sales will close end of the day Friday, November 30th but you will be able to purchase tickets the day of the concert at the front door.

Family Oktoberfest

P E — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 16:27:30 +0000

Knights of Columbus announce charity fund has surpassed $100 million in grants

P E — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 14:27:44 +0000

By Daniel Payne

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 27, 2024 / 16:45 pm

The Knights of Columbus Charitable Fund (KCCF) has exceeded $100 million in awards given since the project was founded five years ago, the fraternal organization said in a press release this week.

The fund “has crossed a significant milestone” in surpassing the six-figure mark, the organization said in the release. The charity, founded in 2019, is run out of the Knights’ New Haven, Connecticut, headquarters.

The charity on its website says it is meant to “inspire a legacy of generosity within the Catholic Church.” The organization ensures that “all charities supported by the fund are deeply consistent with the values and teachings of the Catholic Church.”

Among the causes to which the KCCF awards grants are “higher education, evangelization, religious formation, and pro-life apostolates.”

Dennis Gerber, the president of the fund, said in the press release this week that the $100 million milestone is “a dream realized.”

“And for KCCF to achieve this charitable impact in just five years is very encouraging for our work going forward,” Gerber said.

“While this is an outstanding milestone, we believe it is just the first of many in our work of building a powerful new engine for supporting the Church and our communities.”

The fund has more than $120 million in assets under management, the press release said. It has “distributed over 11,000 grants to more than 2,000 organizations” across North America as well as Europe and Asia.

Among the group’s initiatives include the Ukraine Solidarity Fund, which works to provide shelter, food, medical supplies, and other necessities to Ukrainian families amid that country’s war with Russia.

The charity works with the Christian Refugee Relief Fund, which offers humanitarian assistance to Christians at risk of persecution, particularly in the Middle East.

The fund also supports the housing initiative Habitat for Humanity, as well as the Special Olympics and the American Wheelchair Mission.

Also notable among the Knights’ charitable works is its ultrasound purchasing program, in which the organization buys ultrasound machines for pregnancy centers.

The program helps save unborn lives by “giving [mothers] the opportunity to view their unborn children on ultrasound machines at pro-life pregnancy centers,” the Knights say on their website.

The Knights further offer broader assistance to pregnancy centers — including material and spiritual support — through the Aid and Support After Pregnancy (ASAP) Initiative.

Gerber this week said that St. Paul’s admonition to be “a cheerful giver” is “a driving force behind what we do with KCCF.”

“Our goal is to help provide the tools to inspire Catholics to give more generously and have a larger impact on organizations that are doing great work,” he said.

Daniel Payne is a senior editor at Catholic News Agency. He previously worked at the College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.

Knights of Columbus announce charity fund has surpassed $100 million in grants | Catholic News Agency

Pope Francis on Prayer for Creation Day: Caring for the environment is an ‘act of love’

P E — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 14:23:29 +0000

By Daniel Payne

CNA Staff, Jun 27, 2024 / 14:20 pm

Pope Francis this week called on the faithful to a conversion of heart that extends Christian charity to all of God’s creation and urged them to commit themselves to protecting the environment.

The Holy Father made the remarks as part of a papal message delivered ahead of the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. That observance, established by the pope in 2015, is held on Sept. 1 every year.

Christians, the pope said, bear witness to their faith in part “by caring for the flesh of suffering humanity.” Christianity acknowledges that “everything is ordered to the glory of God,” Francis said; the spirit of “universal fraternity and Christian peace,” he argued, “should also be extended to creation.”

The Holy Spirit “guides us and calls us to conversion,” Francis said, “to a change in lifestyle in order to resist the degradation of our environment and to engagement in that social critique which is above all a witness to the real possibility of change.”

Care for creation, the pope said, is not merely an ethical issue but a theological one, one that is marked by the “act of love” in which God created human beings.

“To hope and act with creation, then, means to live an incarnational faith, one that can enter into the suffering and hope-filled ‘flesh’ of others, by sharing in the expectation of the bodily resurrection to which believers are predestined in Christ the Lord,” the pope said.

By living out this imperative, “our lives can become a song of love for God, for humanity, with and for creation, and find their fullness in holiness,” he wrote.

The theme for the 2024 day of prayer is “Hope and Act with Creation,” with the motif drawn from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans.

The pope said in 2015 that the day offers the faithful “a fitting opportunity to reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live.”

The establishment of the day in 2015 was also seen as a sign of unity with the Orthodox Church, which established Sept. 1 as a day to celebrate creation in 1989.

Daniel Payne is a senior editor at Catholic News Agency. He previously worked at the College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.

Pope Francis on Prayer for Creation Day: Caring for the environment is an ‘act of love’ | Catholic News Agency

Summer Book Club

P E — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 19:33:00 +0000

Enjoy a good read? Join the parish book club!

July: The Miracle of Father Kapaun: Priest,
Soldier and Korean War Hero, Roy Wenzl

August: The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of
St. Therese of Lisieux

Discussion dates: Tuesday July 30, 7:00pm and
Tuesday August 20, 7:00pm in the Annex. Hybrid
meeting with Zoom and in person at the same time.

2024-2025 Religious Education Program

P E — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 14:42:01 +0000

Our Religious Education Program is a flipped classroom approach. Families learn at home electronically, then return to the parish to practice what they are learning about the Faith. In a traditional classroom, the teacher presents material and children go home to practice by completing homework. In the flipped classroom, children learn at home, then return to practice what they learned.

Details for preparing for First Communion and Confirmation will be provided separately.

Benefits
We’ll be following Church law and guidelines. Religious Education standards and practices are actually set by Church law, something that many people don’t realize. For example, Church law says that if someone isn’t practicing the faith (ie, going to Mass) and doesn’t plan to, the sacraments (First Communion, Confirmation) shouldn’t be celebrated for that person. Not only a period of preparation is required, but participation in the Faith is required as well. (Church Law §§226, 773-777, 843)

Families will actually experience how great it is to be Catholic, not merely hear about it. Limiting children to Religious Education class but never having them experience parish life (such as Mass and other liturgical celebrations) is similar to telling a child they’ve joined a soccer team, but they’re not allowed to play soccer. We don’t go it alone in our relationship with God. Catholics have the spiritual richness of the Sacraments and the parish community to help us grow closer to God and have more fulfilling lives.

But Wait, There’s More! Adult Faith Formation
Opportunities for adults to study Scripture and learn more about being Catholic are offered by access to Formed.org, to which all parishioners have a free subscription, and small group discussions via Zoom, for convenience sake. Look for information in the parish bulletin.

8th Grade Graduation Celebration at Holy Savior Academy

P E — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 18:24:11 +0000

Holy Savior Academy proudly celebrated the graduation of its 8th-grade students, marking a significant milestone in their academic journey. As a Catholic institution, Holy Savior Academy School is dedicated to the holistic education of each child, addressing their academic, social, spiritual, and emotional development. This year’s graduation ceremony highlighted the students’ achievements and growth, emphasizing the core values of justice, peace, compassion, and respect for all individuals.

Through a collaborative effort between the school, families, and the broader community, the graduates were encouraged to strive for academic excellence and embody the principles of Disciples of Christ. The celebration was a testament to the supportive and nurturing environment that Holy Savior Academy School fosters, preparing students not only for higher education but also for their roles as conscientious and compassionate members of society.

Congratulations to the Holy Savior Academy School 8th-grade graduates on this remarkable achievement!

Easter is a time to recall God’s great love for us

P E — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 16:36:35 +0000

by Bishop James F. Checchio

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Around the world we join with our brother and sister Christians proclaiming with joy Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead. We exult in the Resurrection because, as St. Peter tells us, Jesus “gave us a new birth to a living hope … to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4).

Indeed, Easter holds out the promise of reversibility. Not even death is final. In that graveyard in Jerusalem, Sts. Peter and John and St. Mary Magdala with some women, found hope and faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ. What had happened was shocking, something no one could have expected. Naturally their reactions were mixed – fear, doubt, confusion, but then came belief and joy. Jesus was alive again; he had walked away from the tomb. Nothing like that had ever happened before. There was hope again.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is an object of faith and in a sense a test of our faith. What it means is that we believe that Jesus is still living now in time, in history, He is out there somewhere; He is here with us.

Easter offers a new note of hope and faith that what God did once in a graveyard in Jerusalem he will repeat on a grand scale. Against all odds the irreversible will be reversed. We believe in our own resurrection from the dead, the resurrection of our beloved dead and in the life of the world to come. Incredible, but we believe; what a gift!

Easter is, of course, more than one day. In fact, it is a full season on the Church’s calendar. We even think of every Sunday that we gather for Mass with our fellow disciples as its own “mini-Easter.” So, we remember and rejoice in the Resurrection all year long, but as you gather this Easter Sunday with family and friends, remember to give thanks for the gift from God the Father of being deeply loved by Him. Please know I, too, love you and give thanks to God for you and promise you a place in my prayers at Mass on Easter Sunday and during the year! May you and your loved ones be blessed by our Risen Lord today and during the Easter Season. Please remember me in your prayers as well.

Blessed Holy Week and Happy Easter!

Most Reverend James F. Checchio, JCD, MBA
Bishop of Metuchen

Parish Family Movie Night!

P E — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 17:27:54 +0000

Cabrini

Mother Frances Cabrini was the first naturalized US citizen to be canonized a saint.

Regal Hadley Movie Theater, Hadley Center, Stelton Rd., South Plainfield, NJ

Sunday, March 10

Dinner afterward at Carmen’s Trattoria, Aldi and LA Fitness Shopping Center, Oak Tree Rd., South Plainfield. Carmen’s will donate to our parish 25% of the profits from those dining in at the restaurant on Sunday, March 10th. Funds will go to the upkeep of parish buildings. You will need to present the flyer at the restaurant for the church to receive the donation. You can pick up a flyer at the Sacred Heart Church, the parish office, or download it here below and print it out.

https://tinyurl.com/cabrini-flyer

907 Oak Tree Ave, South Plainfield, NJ 07080

908-822-1424