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Mass Times for Christmas and the Solemnity of Mary Christmas Eve Masses at 4 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. Christmas Day Mass at 10:30 a.m. New Years Day Masses at 9 a.m. and 12:15 p.m.

The Giving Tree has been a project for many years at St. Catherine’s. Each year we receive many wonderful cards and letters of gratitude as this ministry spreads joy to many in our community. As the years pass by, we like to reflect on how the Giving Tree affects our parish and our community and make sure we are helping the community surrounding us in positive and joyful ways. The Giving Tree supports many groups and agencies in our local community and beyond. These groups include local nursing homes, groups that support marginalized youth and adults in our communities, the youth of Dominican Republic and individuals in our community. Each have different needs in this season and throughout the year. Your gifts will help support the agencies and families in each of their own unique needs. The Giving Tree is also the main support for the St Catherine’s Helping Hands – a supply of grocery cards available for people in times of need throughout the year to come. We are excited to have both on-line sign ups and tags on the trees again this year! Volunteers will be available after Masses to assist as needed. The link for the online signup is below and at this site you will see the list of available item requests and you simply sign up for those that speak to you. Gifts will still be real and can be returned to the parish center. There will be bins available to place your gifts at the Masses the weekends of 11/30-12/1 and 12/7-8 or during parish office hours. We will also have the following drop off times during which volunteers will be there to accept your gifts: Sunday 12/8 from 12pm-4 pm and Wednesday 12/11 from 6-7pm. The gifts will be sorted and delivered to agencies in a safe manner. It will be very important that gifts are labeled with the description listed on the Sign up site or attach tag, as well as your email for any clarification needed. Please take a few minutes to look through the Sign up sheet or the trees at church and prayerfully consider what works best for you and your family and know that these gifts, no matter the size, bring joy to many in this Christmas season and beyond. We hope this brings you a feeling of connection to our community and joy! ​ Giving Tree online: https://signup.com/go/GSJMqHR

The Adult Faith Enrichment (AFE) committee) is proud to present a FREE showing of the documentary DIVISIBLE, a film about the history and ongoing impacts of Redlining in the United States. The event will be held on Monday, December 10th , beginning at 6 P.M. in Mahler Hall, starting with a simple pizza dinner. Please bring your own drinks and a few dollars to contribute to pizza and movie snacks for yourself or to share. Lizzy Barrett, director, producer, cinematographer, and founder of Equity Media, a production company dedicated to creating compelling visual contact at the intersection of media and social justice will be present at the event to lead an important Q&A after the showing. Open to all, bring a friend, spread the word!

Magnificat Rochester invites all Women & Men to a meal at St Pius X Parish Center (new venue) 3010 Chili Ave. on Saturday, December 7th; the program begins at 9:30 am until noon. Seating begins at 8:30 am. Our speaker is Fr. Ted Auble. He has served in many parishes in the Rochester area as well as in the Peace Corps. Father is an artist, published author and known for proclaiming the Gospel by memory! Please join us to hear this warm & interesting priest share his story. Reservations $25.00 (new price!); Student $20.00; deadline to register is November 30th. Registration required; no tickets sold at the door. To register, mail check to: Magnificat Rochester, PO Box 24787, Rochester NY, 14624; include your name, address, phone number and email address. You can also register via PayPal on our website at www.MagnificatRochester.org. For more information: call Diane Hayes at 585-943-4759, or send an email to: [email protected].

Masses for All Saints Day will start with a Vigil Mass on October 31st at 5:45 p.m., followed by Masses on November 1st at 9 a.m., 12:15 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. All Saints Day is a Day of Holy Obligation.

​Daily Mass this Monday, October 14th will be at 9 a.m. instead of 5:30 p.m. The Parish Office will be closed as well for Indigenous People's Day.

This Saturday, October 5, after the 9 a.m. Mass, will be our Annual Pet Blessing in honor of St. Francis of Assisi. Plan on meeting at the front circle of the church around 9:30 a.m. with your pets on leash or in crates.

The American Red Cross will be holding a Blood Drive this Tuesday, October 1st from 1-6 p.m in the Parish Center. Please come, roll up your sleeve and help those in need! First time donors are especially welcome. Sign up at Red Cross.

Our Parish now has a benefactor's challenge fund that will donate $25 to St. Catherine's offertories for each submitted Act of Kindness (AOK), and after being matched 1:1, will total $50 per AOK. The definition for an AOK is determined by the parishioner who does a good deed for another person. You can access the instruction sheet for submitting an Act of Kindness here, or by visiting the table in the Parish Center atrium. Thank you for submitting your AOKs—your involvement will impact our parish now and for the future.

Our Task Force has implemented a Strategic Plan to increase offertory giving. You can read the plan here. 

We are looking ahead to next year's faith formation and youth ministry programs, and we are in need of volunteer catechists! We need catechists in all age groups: Children's Liturgy of the Word, Children's Faith Formation, Middle School Youth Group/Confirmation Preparation, and High School Youth Group. Please pray and consider how you might be called in any of these areas. If you are interested, or for more information, please contact Rich Rasmussen at [email protected] or 607-257-2493. Thank you!

We would like to bring back monthly social hours at St. Catherine's and we need your help! The Pastoral Council is asking each of the social, service, and prayer ministry groups to consider hosting one monthly social hour after a weekend Mass. Hosting the social hour can be easily managed by a family or 2–3 volunteers. Please see the available dates and consider signing up here. Thank you!

We have our regular Adoration at 7–8 p.m. on Wednesdays. All are welcome! If this practice is new to you or you would like to learn more about Adoration, this article is a good introduction to this lovely practice.

It's time once again for the Catholic Ministries Appeal (CMA). The CMA helps those in need throughout the diocese. The money raised in the appeal allows the diocese to take care of the poor, the troubled, the battered, and the addicted through 10 regional Catholic Charities organizations, including our own in Tompkins County. It supports chaplains for colleges, hospitals, and jails; provides Catholic school tuition assistance and youth retreats; trains catechists; and prepares our seminarians for ordination. The CMA also makes our parish ministries here at St. Catherine's possible. Please prayerfully consider making a gift. If you haven't received an envelope in the mail, you can get one at the Parish Office, or you can donate online at donate.dor.org. Thank you in advance for your generosity!

It's time for the annual Catholic Ministries Appeal. The CMA helps those in need throughout the diocese, and also helps to make our parish ministries possible here at St. Catherine's. This video tells you more about the importance of the appeal. We hope you will prayerfully consider making a gift. If you have not received an envelope from the diocese, you can pick one up in the Parish Office. You can also donate online at donate.dor.org. Many thanks for your consideration!

The Parish Office has new hours! Beginning Monday, September 19, our hours are: Mondays from 1–4 p.m.; Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m.–4 p.m.; and Fridays from 9 a.m.–12 p.m. Thank you for your cooperation—we really appreciate it.

A huge thank you to all who helped us answer questions from the synod. Whether you answered in writing after Mass or in person at the synod gatherings, we truly appreciate your feedback! The Adult Faith Committee has taken great care to compile the responses and put together reports for the diocese. Please visit our synod page to see an explanation of how the reports were written, as well as a summary for each gathering. 

The Tompkins County Health Department has suspended the local mask advisory as the spread of COVID has slowed. Therefore, masks are no longer required at St. Catherine's, but we encourage you to continue wearing a mask for the safety of your neighbors. Choir members will continue to wear masks and the plexiglass around the cantor stand and ambo will remain in place, since aspirants from singing can travel more than 20 feet. We continue to pray for healing for all those who are sick and for an end to this long pandemic.

Some parishioners have received emails purporting to be from Fr. Joe, usually asking for gift cards. Please know that these emails are all scams. Fr. Joe will never ask you for gift cards or any gift over the internet. These emails do not originate from Fr. Joe's official email address ( [email protected]). Please discard and block these emails from your inbox.

Due to the prevalence of the Covid-19 Delta variant, we respectfully require that everyone attending Mass or meeting in the Parish Center wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status. We pray for the health of the community and for an end to the pandemic.