FOR THE PAST DECADE, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving has been recognized as Giving Tuesday, a time for people to remember during their holiday shopping to set aside donations for charitable organizations. In preparation for this year’s event, which arrives Nov. 29, the Diocese of Trenton’s Catholic schools plan to focus attention on the value of a Catholic education and issue an appeal for support within the Catholic community and beyond.
BISHOP O'CONNELL HAS SHARED THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE AS WE BEGIN THE LITURGICAL SEASON OF ADVENT. It is always a wonderful coincidence that our celebration of Thanksgiving occurs before the First Sunday of Advent as it has this year. Although not technically a liturgical feast, it is appropriate on Thanksgiving that we bowed our heads in grateful prayer to God before beginning a new Church year.
BISHOP O'CONNELL HAS SHARED THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE AS WE BEGIN THE LITURGICAL SEASON OF ADVENT. It is always a wonderful coincidence that our celebration of Thanksgiving occurs before the First Sunday of Advent as it has this year. Although not technically a liturgical feast, it is appropriate on Thanksgiving that we bowed our heads in grateful prayer to God before beginning a new Church year.
Give thanks to God for all his gifts, especially faith, family, and friends. With grateful prayers and best wishes this Thanksgiving! Most Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M., J.C.D., Bishop of Trenton
GIVE THANKS TO GOD FOR ALL HIS GIFTS, especially faith, family, and friends. With grateful prayers and best wishes this Thanksgiving! Most Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M., J.C.D., Bishop of Trenton
AFTER TRAVERSING THE DIOCESE’S FOUR COUNTIES SINCE OCT. 29 in multiple parish and school communities, inspiring prayers to the Blessed Mother, the Antorchas Guadalupanas – Torches of Guadalupe – will complete their seventh annual pilgrimage in Lakewood Dec. 3 during a procession throughout the town.
ON Nov. 15 BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., issued the fifth and final installment in catechetical series on the Eucharist. An excerpt follows: Part Five of this “Catechesis on the Holy Eucharist” presents some of the words, terms and expressions used in the Catholic Church to describe or refer to the Holy Eucharist or things associated with its celebration. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list by any means. There is ample literature published or online that can be consulted to supplement this list.
THE CATHOLIC CAMPAIGN FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT – the national anti-poverty program of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops – will conduct its annual collection in parishes nationwide Nov. 12-13.
ON Nov. 8 BISHOP DAVID M. O’CONNELL, C.M., issued the fourth installment in his five-part catechetical series on the Eucharist. An excerpt follows: At the Last Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Savior instituted the eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is eaten, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us (art. 47).
A message from Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., for National Vocation Awareness Week The word “vocation” means a “call” and it presumes someone calling and someone called. As Catholics, of course, we identify “the caller” as God himself. In our faith, we believe that God has a plan for each of us and that God calls us, invites us to consider that plan and, hopefully, accept it. Different from merely a job, a “vocation” is all-encompassing, requiring a free and willing response and total commitment to the One who calls and to what is asked of us in that call.
A message from Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., for National Vocation Awareness Week The word “vocation” means a “call” and it presumes someone calling and someone called. As Catholics, of course, we identify “the caller” as God himself. In our faith, we believe that God has a plan for each of us and that God calls us, invites us to consider that plan and, hopefully, accept it. Different from merely a job, a “vocation” is all-encompassing, requiring a free and willing response and total commitment to the One who calls and to what is asked of us in that call.