St. John Bosco Parish

FAITH FORMATION 2022-2023

A New Direction
Registration Past Due!  

• 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.
  
   

NEW MASS SCHEDULE

FAMILY MASSES

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

September 25
October 23
November 20
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

October 2
November 6
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.  

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.

 
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 Sep 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)

BIBLE IN A YEAR

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

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!

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 

On 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.