Parish Organizations, Committees and Activities

St. Vincent de Paul Society

St. Vincent de Paul Society is an organization that has 14 active and 3 associate members. Their purpose is to serve the needy and the poor within the parish. As part of the district of Greater New Bedford, they assist those in need outside the parish as an ecumenical outreach source for emergencies, providing clothing, shelter, etc.

For many years, St. James has cooperated with the diocese and other churches in its ministry to serve the Catholics and people of other faiths in the South End. The St. Vincent de Paul Society serves the many families in need in the area. Parishioners are constantly contributing food to keep the food pantry filled. Special drives at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and during Lent have replenished the food given to the needy. Members of St. Vincent de Paul meet regularly on the parish, regional, and diocesan levels.

Parish Finance Council

The parish financial council was first established in 1991, but not active until September of 1994, when it was reorganized and has been meeting on a monthly basis ever since. The financial council consists of 7 members who were appointed by the pastor.

Council Members

Ex-Officio  -  Reverend Richard D. Wilson   and   Reverend Deacon Lawrence A. St. Onge

Annette Dwyer             Janice Lord                  Gil Moniz

Linda Moniz                 Rose Marie DaCruz      June Silva

The Council reports the collections each month. Each month the parishioners are advised that the parish needs to collect $3,000 each week in the offertory collection to pay all the bills.

The activities that raise money for the parish are: the Booster Club, the Penny Sale, the supper before Lent, and the Parish Festival. Special recognition needs to be given to the workers of Bingo. For the last thirty years this has been a major source of income for the maintenance of our merged parish school and parish.

The major projects during the past four years were:

• the painting of the church, chapel, sacristy, and church hall.

• the resurfacing of the side parking lot.

• a new boiler for the church.

• replacement of the ventilator windows in the stained glass windows.

• the installation of a new door at the side entrance of the church hall.

• new roof on the church.

• vinyl siding the exterior of the rectory.

• the repairing of the stained glass windows in the church.

Each year the members of the Financial Council give a report of the revenues and expenses of that fiscal year. The following is a summary of the finances for this period of time.

Parish Pastoral Council

The Pastoral Council has also been re-activated in recent years although it has been in existence, on paper at least, for many years. The council consist of 10 members who represent the parish at-large. It will follow the format of electing half of the council on alternating years for terms of 2 years.

Council Members

Ex-Officio  -   Reverend Richard D. Wilson   and   Reverend Deacon Lawrence A. St. Onge

School Advisory Board

The School Advisory Board consist of 3 members of the parish along with three members from St. John the Baptist Church. The board meets four times a year and advises the pastors and the school's principal.

United Interfaith Action

In 1994 Catholic and Protestant clergy (including Fr. Ed from St. James) from New Bedford and Fall River met to discuss how the Church could help address some of the problems that the two cities face. (Violence, racism, unemployment, etc.) Lou Finfour of Organizing Leadership Training Center in Boston met with the clergy to provide the proper direction. The St. James Pastoral and Financial Councils gave approval for St. James to join this new group provided that more information would be shared as it was received.

A committee of Catholics, Protestants and Jewish clergy from both cities was formed and called the Fall River and New Bedford Organizing Committee. There first goal was to try to get other congregations to join in a future coalition. Members of various congregations went for a special weekend of training in community organizing. Three of our parishioners, Brian Sylvia, Trix Whalen, and Sue Braga have already attended this training session.

With twenty eight congregations willing to join this new coalition the original name was changed. This new coalition is called United Interfaith Action (UIA). Monthly meetings are held for representatives of the member congregation. Five people from St. James regularly attend these meetings. United Interfaith Action's first task as a coalition was to sponsor a drive to get more people within the two cities to register to vote. The next major task of UIA is to hire two full time community organizing people whose job it would be to help the coalition select the issues that they would like to study and act upon. The funding to pay for these full time community organizers will come from donations from member congregations and from special funding agencies.  

UIA is made up of Protestant and Catholic congregations in Fall River and New Bedford who are working together to address some of the needs that our two cities have. Presently the Catholic Churches in New Bedford that are part of UIA are : St. John the Baptist, Our Lady of Assumption, and St. James. Hopefully members of Our Lady of Guadalupe will join us.

Fernanda Souza is working with some of the churches in the north-end of the city to try to get them on board.

The more churches that we can get , the more influence and voice we will have to speak for the needy of our two cities.

UIA is a wonderful way of putting our faith into action.

Pro-Life Committee

St. James Parish has an active pro‑life committee which works with both the Diocesan pro‑life and also the Massachusetts Citizens for Life. Its members are committed to the pro‑life cause and have a strong communication line in the parish, getting many important messages to parishioners through a telephone tree.

Liturgical Committee

The Committee would like to continue:

v To work on Holy Week.

v With the decorations for the liturgical seasons.

v They will plan the music for each season.

v They will continue to provide handouts for Advent and Lent.

Health Committee

Since its inception circa October 1997, the Health Committee has sponsored a number of parish projects and activities relating to health issues. These include, blood pressure clinic, Walking club, Mass for the Sick, blood bank, newsletter, library, emergency telephone, First Aid kit, CPR training, Health Care Proxy presentation, Caregivers training, visits to nursing homes, and cards to shut-ins. 

Discussion has also been under way about sponsoring a container to collect old eye-glasses for distribution to the poor in third-world countries, along with doing more to make people aware of the attempts to legalize Physician Assisted suicide, which is contrary to Catholic teaching, that all life is God given and has value. To this end the Health Committee has inserted nine flyers into our parish bulletins explaining why the Catholic Church is against Physician Assisted Suicide.

Future plans in this regard are to show a video that the bishops of Massachusetts have prepare on this issue to help parishioners understand more deeply the moral issues involved with this subject.

Education & Vocations Committee

The Committee would like to continue:

v The monthly adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

v The devotion of the rosary in the months of October and May.

v To sponsor the annual presentation by Marian Desrosiers.

Hospitality Committee

They would like to continue:

v To work on the Mass for the Sick, the Mass for the deceased and for Holy Saturday.

v To sponsor the special Mass for the newly baptized babies.

v To send the welcome packets to new parishioners.

Religious Education

In these past four years many of the policies of the past were continued:

Ø 24 sessions of class

Ø Two years of preparation for First Communion (Those who go to Catholic Schools come to class for a half of year in the second grade.)

Ø Three years of preparation for Confirmation.

Ø Grades 7,8, and 9 come to Mass each Sunday before their classes.

Ø All the grades of children come to Mass once a month.

Ø Marian Desrosiers from the Pro-Life Office of the Diocese comes each year to give a presentation on Pro-Life questions or on chastity. Parents of these young people come to the presentation.

Ø A day of retreat is required for confirmation.

We have about two hundred children in our present program.

Children attend the 9:30 am mass on the first Sunday of each month as part of their CCD program. Children do the readings, making celebration of the Eucharist a participatory event rather than another grown-ups' presentation to be endured. While it is noted that there was a comment that "the children's participation is overdone - disrupting at times", it is absolutely necessary for them to have a place in the mass as they are the future of this parish and of the larger "church". We cannot operate under the old idea that "children should be seen and not heard". There has also been inclusion of girls as altar servers. This happened as soon as the Bishop authorized their inclusion.

RCIA

On an as needed basis, a team of three parishioners and the pastor meet weekly with the candidates to share in the lectionary catechesis. The ceremonies of anointing and blessings are celebrated with them at parish Masses at the appropriate times. The role and participation of sponsors needs to be developed.

A weekly class for about three months is given to those adults who need to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Those children of catechetical age who need to receive the Sacraments of Initiation attend the regular CCD classes of their grade level. The pastor meets with them weekly to prepare them for the reception of the Sacraments. The ceremonies are done within meetings with the children of the CCD program.

Parish Festival

Penny Sale

Other

Although not a parish project, there are about ten people who volunteer their time in the Pastoral Care Program at St. Luke's Hospital. This program is under the Diocesan Department of Pastoral Care for the Sick. These parishioners serve in various capacities, such as Eucharistic minister, sacristan, and secretary. The program involves the hospital, The Oaks Nursing Home and Bristol‑Mediplex I. The duration of service of these volunteers ranges from ten to two years at this point, with each person reporting on a weekly basis, and spending from one to two hours at the site. Possibly our parishioners have volunteered for this ministry because several of the hospital chaplains have been in residence here at St. James over the years.