The Communities of Saint Theresa and Saint Mary
Henniker and Hillsborough NH
Google our website: St. Theresa Henniker NH or St. Mary Hillsborough NH
June 3, 2020 Weekly Email Update
 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________

• This coming week-end, parishioners are invited to return to week-end and then week-day Masses, while following the protocols meant to keep us all safe from being infected with or infecting others with the corona virus.  Live-streaming a week-end parish Mass has ended, at least for now.                                                                                                                    
• The summer schedule begins:                                                                                                                                                        St. Theresa        4:00 p.m. Saturday Vigil, 8:00 a.m. Sunday, 10:00 a.m. Sunday                                                                                                Weekdays: 8:30 a.m. Mondays & Wednesdays   

                   St. Mary              8:00 a.m. Sunday, 10:00 a.m. Sunday          
                                              Weekdays: 8:30 a.m. Tuesdays & Thursdays
                                

• Parishes are limited to 40% of capacity.  Many Masses are usually less than half full, so the parish should be able to accommodate all who attend.                                                                                                                                                      
• All are expected to wear a face mask.  You may bring your own.  Disposable masks, courtesy of state government, are available at Church.                                                                                                                                                                     
• Hand sanitizer is available at the Church entrance.                                                                                                                    
• Missallettes are available for everyone to take home.  This will be yours.  If you take a Missallete, please do not return it for someone else's use.  Returned Missalettes will be discarded.                                                                                                    
• Individuals, couples and families are asked to maintain a distance of six feet from the next individual, couple or family in or near their seats.                                                                                                                                                                           
• On entering, processing to and from communion, and on leaving, please maintain a distance of six feet.                                   
• There will be no Sign of Peace.  There will be no communion from the cup.                                                                              
• Please consider attending a week-day Mass instead of a week-end Mass if you find the need for further distancing from fellow worshippers.                                                                                                                                                                         
• Please stay home if you have any symptoms of infection.  Many have allergies, so please make a point of sneezing into your sleeve, not into your hands.                                                                                                                                                            
• Helpers are needed to thorourghly clean the parish property after each Mass.                                                                                                                                                

• Helpers are needed to greet those who come to Mass, to assist some people to finding a pew, and to help everyone to maintain a distance of six feet at all times.

The Communities of Saint Theresa and Saint Mary
Henniker and Hillsborough NH
Google our website: St. Theresa Henniker NH or St. Mary Hillsborough NH
May 27, 2020 Weekly Email Update
 

             A hard copy of this weekly email update is being sent to parishioners for whom we do not have an email address.                        For those who receive this mailing, please let us know if you have a computer and an email address, by sending            us an email.  In the future, this will save us a 55 cent stamp.  

• Due to technical difficulties, we will no longer attempt to embed the live-streaming of the 9:30 a.m. Mass on the homepage of the parish website  We will continue to transmit the Mass to the parish     Facebook page.  One way to reach that page without having to open a Facebook account:  go the parish website, click on the Facebook icon at the top of the page, and then scroll down to the Mass that is about to begin.                                                                                                                    
• This coming Sunday, at the request of Bishop Peter Libasci, Holy Communion will be distributed at St. Theresa parish, between 11 a.m. and noon.  After watching Mass on a computer or on TV, all are    welcome to come receive Holy Communion.  Those who do come are asked to wear a mask.  The state   of New Hampshire has provided disposable masks, which will be at the entrance to the Church, for     those who need one.  Hand sanitizer will be provided as well.  When communion is given to you, please step to the side, remove the mask enough to receive communion, and then leave by one of the two side entrances to the left.  Feel free to drop off a donation to the parish, unless you are already giving online, and pick up a parish bulletin.                                                                                                                                           
• I would like to provide a one-hour outdoor Catholic revival meeting in the towns our two parishes serve.  We need some help.  Please let me know of the availability of a town park or gazebo or other    central location where participants can sit on their lawn chairs and stand to sing, sit for readings and a  biblical message, and listen to a lay witness tell their story of faith. Our prayers would be offered for an end to the pandemic. Anyone available to help can contact me at marcelnh25@gmail.com and via my   cell phone: 657-5283.                                                                                                  
• BLOOD DRIVE JUNE 30TH     The American Red Cross contacted our Knights of Columbus Council,  requesting help to host another Blood Drive.  As elective surgeries resume in our hospitals, the need for blood is pressing.                                
• Helpers are needed to help with cleaning tasks on week-ends.  Please let me know if you can offer us this form of community service.

St. Theresa and St. Mary are open for private prayer
Sundays 11 to 4 
Mondays-Thursdays 9 to 3
(Wednesday extended hours
  at St. Theresa 9-9)
Fridays closed
Saturdays 9 to 3

The Communities of Saint Theresa and Saint Mary
Henniker and Hillsborough NH
Google our website: St. Theresa Henniker NH or St. Mary Hillsborough NH
May 20, 2020 Weekly Email Update
 

•  Bishop Peter Libasci has issued a “Decree Establishing Liturgical Norms during COVID-19 Pandemic”.  He reminds us     that “The public celebration of Mass remains suspended”.                                                                                                                    
• The Bishop continues by stating that “No later than Pentecost (Sunday, May 31, 2020), each pastor shall make arrangements for the distribution of Holy Communion outside of Mass in accordance with the current directives issued by me to preserve the sacredness and reverence of receipt of the Sacrament while promoting the health and safety of the Faithful.”                                                                                                                                                                                       
• The Bishop further states:  “Holy communion may be distributed by a priest, deacon, or an extraordinary minister so long as the person distributing Holy Communion has not been affected by nor is symptomatic of COVID-19.  Receipt of Holy Communion may be standing or kneeling, on the tongue or in the hand, at the choice of the individual person (General Instruction of the Roman Missal #160).  Because the distribution of Holy Communion takes place outside of Mass and it is forbidden to reserve the Precious Blood at any time, the Precious Blood is not to be distributed.”                                            
• The guidelines that have been provided, which basically has people park their vehicle, enter the Church, with the doors  ajar so that door handles are not touched, wear masks until those receiving communion in the hand step off to the side, and then remove their mask, receive communion, put their mask back on,   and exit the Church through a side door, while offering a prayer of thanksgiving to God.  Plastic or other gloves are not to be worn either by those distributing or those receiving Holy Communion.  No one is to remain in Church so as to allow others to receive Holy Communion and not cause delay for others.                                                                                                                                                                
• Offering this service safely at St. Mary in Hillsborough would be almost impossible at this time, given that the stairs off the second exit to the side are in disrepair.  A contractor will soon begin that project.  The plan would be to invite all who wish to receive communion to do so at St Theresa Church in Henniker on Sundays, between 11 a.m. and noon, starting        May 31.                                                                                                                                                                                        
• The Ascension Holy Day Mass will be live-streamed tomorrow at 8:30 a.m.                                                                                 
• We continue to live-stream the 9:30 a.m. Mass on Sundays.                                                                                                              
• Please consider contributing 10% of your stimulus check to the parish.                                                                                     
• Offer a prayer to the Holy Spirit each day from this Friday until Pentecost.

The Communities of Saint Theresa and Saint Mary
Henniker and Hillsborough NH
 
Google our website: St. Theresa Henniker NH or St. Mary Hillsborough NH
 
May 6, 2020 weekly email update
 
 

• Happy Mother's Day!  To mark this event, individuals, couples and families are invited to                                                 come to our Church parking lots to receive a blessing and a gift this Sunday.  Orange cones                                              will be set up, and someone will be directing traffic to the location where the blessing will                                                  take place.  It will include a prayer, sprinkling with Holy Water, and the gift of a container                                                      of Holy Water and a flower for every Mom who comes.                                                                                                              
•  St. Theresa Church: Saturday, May 9, 2 to 3 p.m., 5 to 6 p.m.                                                                                                                                     Sunday, May 10, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.                                                                                                 
•  St. Mary Church:      Sunday, May 10, 10:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.                                                                                                  
•  Confirmation/First communion with Bishop Peter Libasci has been rescheduled for next                                             spring.  Our 3rd and 4th graders will be sharing that celebration.                                                                                                           
• The Summer Mass schedule will begin on Memorial Day week-end.  Father Maurice will be                                             back to join us.  Attendance at all Masses will continue to be restricted to 10 people.  That                                          includes the celebrant, deacon, musician, and lector.  Online sign-ups will be begin on                                                      May 18th.  Please allow others to sign up in the weeks that follow.                                                                                                   
• The 8:30 a.m. Holy Day Mass, on the Feast of the Assumption, May 21, will be live-streamed, through Facebook and embedded on the homepage of the parish Website.

The Communities of Saint Theresa and Saint Mary
Henniker and Hillsborough NH
Website Google: St. Theresa Henniker NH or St. Mary Hillsborough NH
April 22, 2020 weekly email update




                           The Bober Family Enjoying Family Time
 

• This past Sunday, we had the smoothest and clearest live streaming of the Sunday Mass to date.  The day will come when our community of faith will gather together at St. Theresa and St. Mary around the table of the Word of Life and the table of the Bread of Life.  

•  The Divine Mercy Chaplet is a great form of daily prayer.  I encourage everyone to memorize it and to pray it often.  I find it a great prayer to offer after reciting the rosary, or sometime later in the day.

• I plan to keep posting a short video message on the video section of the parish Facebook page.  No need to have a Facebook account.  From the parish website, click the Facebook icon at the top of the page and scroll down to videos.

• Many thanks to all who have found ways to financially support both our parishes, and those who have sent in some extra help.   

• Most parishioners should by this time have received a second phone call from or team of callers.  Other parishioners have delivered the remaining Photo Directories.  Extra copies are available.  Let me know if you would like one.

• Individuals, couples and families are encouraged to find community service opportunities in your towns.  Roadside cleanup, delivery of food and dry goods to each one's local Food Pantry, and checking in on elderly neighbors are some ways to express our faith in the God who calls us to serve one another.

• Please return your Baby Bottle donations to St. Theresa and St. Mary during scheduled open hours.  All proceeds will go to the Pregnancy Center of Greater Concord.

• Families with children 18 and under were sent a special religious activities "Bingo" card.  Once you completed five (5) X’s in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal row…. email your completed card to parish.office@tds.net with the subject line “FFF BINGO” to win!

To: All Fellow Parishioners
From: Father Marcel

C.S. Lewis was a Christian writer and deep thinker, well known for his work The Chronicles of Narnia.  He once wrote:  “I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give.  I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.”
In light of all that we have all received of graces and blessings from God in these very trying times in which we live, there is a call to give, of ourselves, our time, our money, and our love.  Here are some ways we can resolve to give to others in light of what we all have, and of all that we continue to receive:

• Our local food pantries can use some help.  Very few food donations are being dropped off at our parish churches.  How about dropping off some non-perishables to the food pantry nearest to where you live.
• April 22 is Earth Day.  In light of Pope Francis’ call to all Christians to demonstrate good stewardship, why not do some spring cleanup on the street or roads near where we live.
• With everyone being so isolated, why not check in on a neighbor and ask:  Is there something I can do?
• Older folks, especially with underlying health issues, would welcome a note card with a personal message.  Postage stamps are only 55 cents each.
• While we are at it, why not pick up some thank you cards to send to people whose efforts on our behalf we truly appreciate
• Serving the spiritual needs of our households could include scheduling a time to pray together…..a rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, the Jesus Prayer, a biblical reading, spontaneous prayers of petition and thanksgiving
• Going to Mass is not currently an option.  How about following Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire daily Mass online?
• Your continued financial support through online or by mail is greatly appreciated.

• Holy Thursday, April 9 at 7 p.m.  Mass of the Lord’s Supper at St. Theresa
• Good Friday, April 10 at noon.  Seven Last Words of Christ at St. Mary
• 3 p.m.  Stations of the Cross at St. Theresa
• 7 p.m.  Good Friday Service, at St. Theresa
• Easter Sunday, April 12 at 9:30 a.m. Mass at St. Mary
• Throughout the Easter Season the 9:30 a.m. Mass at Saint Mary

For live stream events go to the parish website: www.showerofroses.org.
Scroll down on the Home Page
 

Date:  April 1, 2020

To:  All Fellow Parishioners

From:  Father Marcel

May the Peace of Christ which is beyond human understanding fill your hearts today.

Following a couple of stressful days when measures to reduce the spread of the coronavirus began to seriously escalate, our parish staff began to forge full steam ahead to provide for the spiritual needs of our parishes.  We have also engaged ourselves in assuring the financial needs of both St. Theresa and St. Mary parishes.  Thanks to all who have persisted in prayer, who have joined us online, and who have provided weekly donations to help us pay our bills.

Most parishioners have by now been contacted by one of twenty callers to check on how you’re doing.  Almost all of those helping out live in the same towns as those who they are calling.  We have received inquiries, new email addresses, and notices of people who have moved away. 

We are communicating not only through phone calls but with emails.  A hard copy in the mail will not follow this email being sent out today.  We are also using our parish Website and Facebook page to “stream”, or broadcast “live”, Stations of the Cross and one of the Sunday Masses.  

We will live stream the Palm Sunday Mass, April 5th, 8 a.m. at St. Theresa

Blessed palms will be available for pick up at both churches after 1 p.m. on Sunday.

The following events for Holy Week will live stream:

• Holy Thursday, April 9 at 7 p.m.  Mass of the Lord’s Supper at St. Theresa
• Good Friday, April 10 at noon.  Seven Last Words of Christ at St. Mary
• 3 p.m.  Stations of the Cross at St. Theresa
• 7 p.m.  Good Friday Service, at St. Theresa
• Easter Sunday, April 12 at 9:30 a.m. Mass at St. Mary

St. Theresa and St. Mary are open for private prayer:

Sunday 1 to 5, Monday-Thursday 9 to 3, (Wednesday St. Theresa has extended hours until 9), Closed on Friday, Saturday 9-3

Please join us for any or all of these gatherings of prayer.  May the Holy Spirit keep us all together in a bond of love that lasts forever.

Date:  March 25, 2020

To:  All Fellow Parishioners

From:  Father Marcel

I thank God every day for our faith in God that sustains us during these difficult times. Be assured that my celebrations of week-day and week-end Masses has not stopped.  I pray for you and for all those whom you hold dear.

• Please take advantage of our parish website to keep up with new developments  

in each of our parishes.

• A team of parishioners from each local community will be making phone calls to check on how you are doing.
• We are using the Parish Facebook page, which is easily accessed through our parish website as well as your own Facebook account, for the live celebration of Stations and a week-end Mass, including:

Stations of the Cross, Fridays, 6:30 p.m., March 27 and April 3

        March 29, 9:30 a.m.  Sunday Mass from St. Mary in Hillsborough. 

April 5, Palm Sunday, 8 a.m. Mass

Holy Thursday Mass April 9 at 7 p.m.

Good Friday Service April 10 at 7 p.m.

Easter Sunday April 12 at 9:30 a.m.

Other timely notes

• Our Knights of Columbus council will host a Red Cross Blood Drive on Friday, April 24 at St. Theresa, 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.  To schedule an appointment call  

1-800-733-2767 or visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter: STTHERESANH

• The next Family Formation session will be on May 2, 4-7:15 p.m.
• Please help support the parish through online giving, or by mailing in your weekly contributions.  For assistance please contact the parish bookkeeper

Dolly Megens, at megens-dolly@tds.net or 428-3325.

• If you are not receiving emails updates from the parish office, please forward

your email address to parish.office@tds.net.

Churches are open

St. Theresa Church is open for private prayer: Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m., Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 9 to 3, Wednesday 9 to 9. Closed on Friday

St. Mary Church is open: Sunday 1 to 5 pm, Monday-Thursday 9 to 3, Saturday 9-3 Closed on Friday

Photo directories & envelopes can be picked up during these times.

March 24, 2020

The public celebration of Masses throughout the Diocese of Manchester is suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mass is suspended in the Diocese of Manchester.
In response to directives given by the President, the Center for Disease Control, and the Governor, to limit groupings to no more than 10 people, Bishop Peter Libasci has declared that, effective immediately and until further notice, there will be no Masses available for the general public in our diocese.  The obligation to attend Mass is dispensed.

*  Parishioners are asked to stay home and to pray at home.
*  Mass is available on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) and
    on other channels, and on the Web, e.g. Bishop Robert Barron
*  Stations of the Cross, the Rosary, and the Divine Mercy Chaplet can be
    offered at home.
*  The Sacrament of Reconciliation continues to be available, as posted in
    our parish bulletin, on our parish website, and by appointment.
*  The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick available upon request.
*  The Bishop is directing priests to continue to celebrate daily
    and Sunday Mass, but privately.
*  All are asked to please continue offering the parish your financial
    support through online giving, or by mailing in your weekly
    contribution.
*  Anyone needing help, like grocery shopping, allowing them to stay
home, can call the parish at 428-8576 or 517-404-8588 and leave a message.

St Theresa will remain open for private prayer on:
Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Wednesday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (Adoration)