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St. John Bosco Parish

What's New

 

CLICK HERE to read the full letter from Archbishop Blair, announcing the new Prayer for Priestly Vocations to be recited at the end of each weekend Mass beginning the First Sunday of Advent.

CLICK HERE for the Women's Group Poinsettia Sale order form, due by December 4th for pickups on December 17th! NEW this year, you can choose to donate plant(s) to a local nursing facility.

 

ESCA TREE & WREATH SALE

CLICK HERE to download the ESCA Tree & Wreath Pre-Order form.

ADVENT GIVING TREE

CLICK HERE to donate online towards the purchase of Walmart, Stop & Shop, and Big Y gift cards, or leave your donated gift cards in the offertory boxes at either church by December 19th!  

FAITH FORMATION 2022-2023

A New Direction
Registration Past Due!  

Faith starts in the family and grows through the Mass. These two simple truths are driving our new 2022-23 Faith Formation program because our families and our faith matter, and a program that that supports these two things matters. We are streamlining our schedule and prioritizing the basics:
 
  • Families will attend Mass and Class together once a month
  • Children K-8 will learn and grow in faith alongside their parents
  • Families will learn and share practices that help faith stick
  • Materials will focus on the weekly Mass and gospel
  • A Family Mass on Sunday morning will provide a separate Children’s Homily once a month
  • Youth will be invited to participate more actively in the Mass
  • An additional Family Sunday Evening Mass will be offered once a month with music by parish teens.
     
Click here to visit the Faith Formation page for more information and registration. 

FAMILY MASSES

FAMILY FAITH FORMATION MASSES
9AM St. Therese & 6:30PM St. Mary

December 18

Once a month, our Faith Formation & Confirmation preparation families will attend a parish Mass together as part of their class. Please welcome them and make some extra room when you see them! Sessions A & B will attend the 9:00 AM Mass at St. Therese, and Session C/Grade 9 will attend an extra 6:30PM Mass at St. Mary.

*All parishioners are welcome to attend this 6:30PM evening Mass once a month, with music led by a guitarist! 

FAMILY MASSES
9AM St. Therese & 10:30AM St. Mary

December 4

We invite all families to attend these Masses on the 1st Sunday of the Month in addition to your monthly Faith Formation Masses, where a Children's Liturgy of the Word will be offered. During the first half of Mass, children PreK-Gr4 will be invited into a section of the Hall for an engaging and age-appropriate discussion of the readings and Gospel, along with a fun craft! They will then rejoin their families in the church. *COVID seating in the Hall will still be available and will not be affected.

Middle School children Gr 5-8 will be invited to our Teen Bible Chat after these Masses during Coffee and... in the Hall to discuss the Gospel and their Faith Formation weekly packets.  

 
LIVE-STREAM MASS

For those who still need to watch from home, live-stream Mass every Sunday at 9:30 AM on our parish Facebook page or YouTube channel or watch anytime thereafter. 

If using YouTube, be sure to chose 1080p on the settings wheel for best video quality! You can also stream to a smart TV using YouTube or Facebook Watch apps, or plugging your phone/iPad into your smart TV using a HDMI cable. 

WORSHIP AIDS!

Click here to download our Advent & Christmas Seasons 2022 Worship Aid!

The churches are open for individual prayer during the following hours: 

St. Therese
9:00 AM to 3:00 PM (Mon-Fri)

St. Mary
7:00 AM to 6:00 PM (Mon-Sat)
7:00 AM to 3:00 PM (Sun)

The Parish Office is also open to in-person visitors
8:30 AM to 4:30 PM (Mon-Fri)

COVID UPDATE

The Archdiocese of Hartford has relaxed its liturgical COVID restrictions. Masking and social distancing is now up to the discretion of the individual. Socially-distant seating during Mass in the St. Mary Hall is still available for those who choose, and live-streaming of Sunday Mass will continue.

As of Saturday, May 22, 2021, the General Dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass in person on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation was lifted.

OFFERTORY -
ONLINE, MAIL IN, OR DROP OFF!

The archdiocese urges that during this time parishioners who are absent from Mass make alternative provision for their weekly contributions since parishes depend on them for operation.  You can mail your offertory to the Parish Office (731 Main St.), drop off to the offertory box in the vestibule of either church during open hours, or sign up for Online Giving to make a recurring or one-time donation at https://www.saintjohnboscobranford.org/onlinegiving. 

 WELCOME TO
ST. JOHN BOSCO PARISH 

Logo.pngOn June 29, 2017 the three Catholic parishes of Branford (St. Mary, St. Therese, and St. Elizabeth) were united into one parish named St. John Bosco Parish. This new, united parish will have the use of two church buildings: St. Mary Church and St. Therese Church. While St. Elizabeth Church will no longer have any regularly scheduled Masses, the parish family of St. Elizabeth will be a vital part of the new parish of St. John Bosco. We look forward to all the opportunities this merger will provide as our churches join together to form a more vibrant and prayerful Catholic community here in Branford.

 We are excited to welcome the patronage and guidance of St. John Bosco into the Branford Catholic community. If you would like to know more about our new name and the patron saint of our new, united parish, CLICK HERE to find information about his life and service in the Church.

 

DEC 4 — II SUNDAY OF ADVENT

DEC 8 — IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

DEC 11 — III SUNDAY OF ADVENT

DEC 18 — IV SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Upcoming Funerals

There are no funerals currently scheduled at St. John Bosco parish.

Please note that all masking and social-distancing guidelines have been relaxed, and are optional.

Evangelus

EVA.US/JOHNBOSCO

We have adopted a new way of communicating with you! You may receive an email or text message from the parish sent from our new system, Evangelus, run by the same company as our Parish App. This is not spam. We encourage you to open the message and follow the link to create a profile and select your preferred form of contact. Get emails or text messages directly to your phone during this time of social distancing, such as the link for live-streamed Mass each week. There will also be groups for you to join, just like on the Parish App. Visit eva.us/johnbosco to sign-up and let us know if you prefer to receive emails or text messages from us!

FORMED

Our Christmas present from the parish to you this year is a FREE subscription to FORMED, a premier online platform filled with over 4,000 Catholic studies, movies, talks, e-books, and cartoons for children. You can watch online, on an app on your phone, or on a smart TV/device. Start by watching some of the Advent content this season!

You can also get the free app by searching for FORMED Catholic in the app store. 

How to Watch Daily Mass

The television Mass is broadcast seven days a week at 10:00 AM on WCCT-TV (WB20) and WCTX-TV (MyTV9). It can also be seen Saturday and Sunday at 5:00 AM on WCCT-TV. The Mass can also be found streaming live at these times on http://www.ortv.org/streaming/streaming.htm.

RCIA & ADULT CONFIRMATION

Do you know of anyone who is interested in learning more about the Catholic Church, or who is baptized but would like to complete their sacrament(s) of First Communion and/or Confirmation? In September our parish will begin hosting sessions for the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) and Adult Confirmation. Click here to learn more about RCIA, and Contact Nadine Toren at 203-671-8002 or [email protected] to register.

ESCA Virtual Tour

Archbishop's Annual Appeal

Find Us On Social Media!

ST. JOHN BOSCO PARISH

Evangelus


MyParish App


www.facebook.com/saintjohnboscobranford

www.youtube.com/saintjohnboscobranford

St. John Bosco LifeTeen Instagram

ARCHDIOCESE OF HARTFORD


@ArchbishopBlair


@ArchdioceseofHartford


www.facebook.com/ArchdioceseofHartford

 

Bible in a Year

Click here to see more information and links about "The Bible in a Year" Podcast by Fr. Mike Schmitz! 

Visit www.growandgo.com to read the Synod 2020 Concluding Report and watch videos from both the Closing Mass and the Synod Weekend itself.

Recent Scam Emails

Across the Archdiocese, some parishes have reported email scams which appear to come from the Pastor asking for money. At quick glance the email resembles a valid email address but in fact it is not. These email phishing scams falsely identify themselves as the pastor of the parish and may even reference his actual name. Under no circumstances do parishes or pastors ask for donations in this way and reference buying gift cards, wire transfers, or Bitcoin.

Parishioners in Branford have reported getting emails and even text messages from people appearing to be Fr. Keefe or Fr. Glen, asking for donations of gift cards. THIS IS A SCAM. If you have responded to any of these messages, consider changing your email passwords to ensure your own account safety. CLICK HERE to download a document "How to Tell if an Email is a Scam" to help you understand how to determine if an email is legitimate in any situation.

Promise to Protect

Please visit https://promise.archdioceseofhartford.org/, the Archdiocese of Hartford's website dedicated solely to responding to the sexual abuse crisis within the Church. Read the Archbishop's statements, watch video messages, find resources for the Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance and Reporting, and download prayers.

Staff