Prayer for Memorial Day.

Every day we enjoy the blessings of living in our great country.  Those blessings came to us at a high cost. Today we stop and spend some quality time in solemn remembrance for the men and women who gave everything so that we could be free.

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Seniors and others who are Homebound 

A message from Msgr. Ryan – It has come to my attention that some of our seniors are unable to follow us on the mass on our website. I am working with the parish staff at this time to develop some way of getting a weekly spiritual message to all those who may not have the use of a computer or a tablet. Hopefully, we will be able to bring a spiritual gift through a CallingPost message. If you know of someone who is homebound and does not have the use of a computer or tablet, please watch the bulletin for further information! 

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Public Masses to Begin – On May 11th, Bishop Caggiano announced that the outdoor public celebration of Mass will begin on May 21, the Ascension of our Lord. You can read his announcement here.

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Friendly Call to our Senior Members 

You may soon receive a phone call from George Zamary from our parish office. We are making personal and friendly phone calls to our senior parishioners. We want to touch base and share our concern for you and prayers. I ask you to welcome George’s call. It will be helpful in planning our ministry for the future. Thank you for your kind consideration! 

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Food Share 

We have created an outreach to our families who might be encountering some food instability because of the pandemic. If you need some groceries, please contact Denise Bartelson at 203-375-6133. 

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ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIP: A $500.00 scholarship is offered annually by the Council 13228 to young men who were high school seniors, graduated high school, or completed a GED Course (General Education Development) during the 2019-2020 school year, is parishioner of Our Lady of Grace, Stratford, CT and who will be a full-time college student or trade school student in the school year 2020-2021. 

Scholarship Rules and Application Forms are available for downloading beginning this weekend by visiting https://msgrmooneycouncil13228.weebly.com/scholarship.html. Scholarship application with attached essay must be submitted on or before 2:00 p.m. Sunday, June 14, 2020 to: Mr. Terry Morgan C/O Our Lady of Grace, 497 Second Hill Lane, Stratford, CT 06614. Completed applications and essays may also be sent as attached pdf files to paxterry@gmail.com. 

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Annual Catholic Appeal 

We have received several calls from parishioners regarding the 2020 Annual Catholic Appeal. The appeal is being taken up within the Diocese. We here at Our Lady of Grace are not involved in the annual appeal this year. Come the fall we will be involved in “We Stand with Christ” which was a program that had begun late in 2019. It was to start here in the parish the week when the pandemic struck. More information will be forthcoming later in the summer! 

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Parish Registration 

There have been a number of inquiries regarding parish registration by those who have been attending Our Lady of Grace Parish. People have been disconnected from the parish during this pandemic time. We invite you to add your name to the list of our parishioners on the parish census by completing the welcome form in the bulletin, fill out this Become A Parishioner form which can be mailed in, dropped it in the Drop Box by the rectory, emailed as as attachment to StaceyBreyan@olgstratford.com or by calling the parish office at 203-377-0928 x13. 

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Death of a Loved One 

The pandemic crisis has caused our parish to have to create a new direction and outreach during this time of grief and sorrow for many of our parishioners. We hope to be able to resume funeral masses and to serve the people who have lost a loved one. If there are any questions which arise because of the very different way of dealing with death at this time please do not hesitate to call George Zamary at 203-377-0928 x9. 

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Blue Heart Prayer Campaign 

In these past days I have spoken to you through calling post and the parish email about the blue heart prayer campaign. In sharing my thoughts with the staff, we thought that this might be a way for us to bring our community together in a unified way during this coronavirus emergency. We need to put back into the conversation the idea of the sacred and the need for us to seek help from God to overcome the horrific virus. The Blue Heart Prayer Campaign is a way to rededicate ourselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary by placing a blue heart in your front window and the blue heart will have on it BVM Pray for us. You will join your heart with other parishioners by praying at least a decade of the rosary each day. We will unify our parishioners in a prayer that “our Mother Mary always hears!” A prayer where caring concern is heard and answers are given to her children as she is the Intercessor with her Son Jesus Christ that healing may be given and the cure may be found for this coronavirus. Blue hearts will be available with the bulletin on Thursday morning. You could also click here for a heart. 

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