http://www.saintjames-nb.org

Mass for the New Bedford area Vincentians at 7 p.m. followed by a meal in the church hall.

for all parishioners who would like to help with the pancake breakfast.

For well over 60 years St. James Church has sponsored a Penny Sale to raise additional revenue for the parish and to promote community within the parish family.

THANKSGIVING FOOD BASKETS

FOR THE POOR OF NEW BEDFORD

Our St. Vincent de Paul Society invites parishioners to bring food to the church next weekend so that "baskets" can be made to give food to tour needy parishioners and the poor of the city. Please place your food offerings in the bins at the entrances of the church. Thank you.

We welcome all the deacons and their wives to our parish this weekend. Deacon Larry and ten other deacons are celebrating their twentieth anniversary of ordination to the first step in the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

The Second Vatican Council restored the Permanent Diaconate to the Church. The Church has been enriched by the ministry of these and so many other deacons. This weekend is a time to thank them for this service of being deacon.

We at St. James Parish are most grateful for the diaconal ministry that Deacon Larry exercises in our parish. We want to thank him and Jackie, his wife.

Larry’s special diaconal ministry in our parish includes the special preparation of couples for marriage by giving them the inventory called FOCUS. Larry spends many hours with each couple looking at the strengths and growing areas of their relationship. I am very happy that Larry works with the couples. His being husband, father, and grandfather along with his training as deacon gives him a wonderful background to help prepare these couples for marriage.

Larry is an ex officio member of the Parish Pastoral Council and the Parish Financial Council.

Deacon Larry also prepares parents who ask for their child to be baptized. In his baptismal instruction of a video presentation and discussion, the couples are helped to see the importance of Baptism in the lives of their children.

I and we do hope that Larry will stay in our parish for many more years to come and that he will have many more years of diaconal ministry in the Diocese. Ad multos annos.

renew

Schedule of Faith Sharing groups:

In the gathering area you will find a basket decorated with fall decorations. We invite parishioners during these six weeks to write one area of their spiritual lives that they would like to renew (prayer, quality time with others, better communication, reconciliation, etc.). You don’t write your name just the area of renewing. We will pray for these intentions during the second phase of renew.

You will notice this weekend that the RENEW Banner is in its place of honor. It will remain there during these six weeks of RENEW. The rose is a symbol of our lives. The new buds on the rose symbolize our growth in the life of God during these six weeks. The hand symbolizes the hand of God from which this flower grows.

The lettering on the bottom of the banner dates the centennial of our Diocese.