Being in the Place where They lived

Posted by Arul Rajan Peter on 12/06/19

On November 4, 2019 night was still young when Norwegian Air 787 Dreamliner took off from JFK Airport, NY. I was sandwiched between Fr. Albin Roby and Fr. Percy Joseph as the plane was lifting us above the clouds toward Europe. Traveling with a group of 37 Catholics from ... Read More »

Confirmation Students and Parents meeting

Posted by Arul Rajan Peter on 10/27/19

Murtha Hall was graced with the presence of Confirmation students and their parents on Sunday October 20th evening. Fr. Peter, Director of Religious Education Joyce Leach and teacher Paul Brucker welcomed them all. All parents were there except one who had been sick. The purpose of the meeting was ... Read More »

Catholic - A 'Universal Christian'

Posted by Arul Rajan Peter on 9/29/19

I have heard people saying, “S/he is not a practicing Catholic; but s/he is a true Christian.” Implication of this statement leads to this question: Is a Catholic Christian or not? Catholic Church’s roots trace back their origin to the very beginning of Christianity. The Church is built on ... Read More »

Above the clouds

Posted by Arul Rajan Peter on 9/13/19

My first airplane journey was in 1990 from Chennai to Singapore. From inside the aircraft I could feel the thuds of rain fall. Flashes of lightning and peals of thunder shattered the atmosphere. As the plane was taking off, my verbalized gut feeling was ‘what if it falls?’. The ... Read More »

Our New Parish – Our Patron Saint

Posted by Arul Rajan Peter on 8/30/19

Someone asked me, “What is a patron Saint?” A patron saint is a canonized saint designated to a parish, region or country as a special intercessor with God and the proper advocate. The practice of adopting patron saints goes back to the building of the first public churches in ... Read More »

Back to School

Posted by Arul Rajan Peter on 8/23/19

Teachers, parents, and students are already on their ‘back to school’ preparations. Business firms seem to be more excited than anybody else:  “You are one in a million – make your school bag truly yours.” “Head – to – toe fashion.” “Find wear-on-repeat faves and sweet first-day looks.” “We’ve ... Read More »

Our New Parish - I saw Mother Teresa

Posted by Arul Rajan Peter on 8/12/19

I came to know about Mother Teresa when I was in my 7th grade. In the catechism text book there was a lesson on Mother Teresa – an incident in her life. One day mother was attending to an elderly man who was at the point of death. She ... Read More »

Our New Parish - Catholics and Pews

Posted by Caitlin Riley on 7/27/19

For pastors, one of the unsolvable mysteries is this: Why are the first pews empty during Mass? or rather why do people prefer the last seats? Could it be that our parishioners literally practice the words of Jesus in Luke 14:10 – ‘take the last seat?’

Another interesting feature ... Read More »

Our New Parish - What is a parish?

Posted by Arul Rajan Peter on 7/13/19

We have a new parish. What is a parish? According to Canon Law 515-1, a parish is a certain community of Christ's faithful stably established within a particular Church, whose pastoral care, under the authority of the diocesan Bishop, is entrusted to a parish priest as its proper pastor. ... Read More »

Our New Parish - One Parish with Two Churches

Posted by Arul Rajan Peter on 7/10/19

Since July 1, 2019, St. Teresa of Calcutta Parish, duly established according to Church and State laws, has two churches namely St. Joseph’s Church, Chester and Our Lady of Sorrows Church, Essex.  How are we, the people of God, going to run one parish with two worship sites or ... Read More »