Welcome to St. Dorothy and St. Thomas Churches!

Join us in the celebration of Word and Sacrament as we continue to grow in our Catholic faith and as a faith community. We welcome all to join us as we seek to follow Christ, to come alive in His Spirit, and to share His love with one another.

Parish Office: 11 Harnden St., Wilmington 978-658-4665
Faith Formation Office: 126 Middlesex Ave., Wilmington 978-658-6040

We continue to encourage ALL parishioners and visitors to our parish buildings to wear masks when attending daily Masses, Communion Services, and weekend Masses, as well as attendance at other parish events. We have a supply of masks available at both churches. We hope you'll support our emphasis on masks as one that makes the most pastoral and practical sense for this faith community. Should you have any questions and/or concerns, please feel free to reach me directly at 508-344-4387. BLESSINGS! Tom Griffin, Pastoral Associate

This year All Saints Day is a holyday but not a holy day of obligation.
This Monday, November 1, is All Saints Day which is traditionally one of the 6 holydays in the U.S. However, the bishops in this country in the millennium announced that if certain holydays fall on a Saturday or a Monday then the “obligation” to come to Mass is removed. All Saints Day is one of those designated days. If you would like to celebrate this holyday with us, you may join us at our 9:00am Mass at St. Dorothy Church.

For the Month of October the Parish Women’s Club will be collecting new socks for Helpis (Help me help someone, Inc.). HMHS is a social Network that promotes and encourages kind and charitable deeds. One of the many different things they do is to collect socks for the homeless, children in hospitals and shelters, veterans etc, the list is endless. They are in need of all size socks for both male and female. Any way you could help support this organization would be gratefully appreciated. Thank you in advance. There will be boxes at the back of each church and the CCD office where you will be able to leave the socks. If you have any questions please feel free to call Kathy Catanzano @ 978-658-9189 or Diane Ward 978-658-5697.

The Parish Outreach Commission will be collecting gifts cards for use at local supermarkets or monetary donations, of any amount, to prepare our Thanksgiving Dinner baskets for those in need within our parish. We will be preparing 40 baskets for Thanksgiving dinners. The collection will take place at each mass on the weekend of November 6 and 7 and donations of any amount will be greatly appreciated. We will be at the back of the Churches at the end of each Mass that weekend. Those who cannot attend Mass that weekend are welcome to place their donation in the collection basket in a marked envelope for "Outreach." Please feel free to contact Deb Casey at 978-658-6040 if you are in need. All information is strictly confidential - we are here to help.

A NOTE FROM FR. COYNE

Friends,

When Catholics are unable to come to Church, what they miss most in many cases is the Eucharist. The sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ is paramount to our celebration of the Faith. Prior to the pandemic, many parishes offered the Cup to those receiving Communion if they chose to drink after receiving the Host. That practice has not continued due to COVID. History can be liberating. Historically, it all began for us as Christians at the Last Supper when Jesus shared both his Body and Blood with all those at the table (His disciples). His followers then continued that tradition whenever they gathered to remember Christ and celebrate their faith. It was Jesus’ intention that all those at the table have the choice of receiving both his Body in their hands and drinking from the Cup.

Christianity is now over 2000 years old. For the first 1000 years all those gathered, were offered both the Bread and the Cup. So now a little background – After 1000 years they began to realize that some of those at the table were not consuming the Body of Christ but taking it home and building shrines in their houses to contain it and worship it. This was considered an abuse because it was not what Christ intended so Church authorities put a stop to it. They forbade the congregation from continuing to receive Communion in their hands and removed the Cup from being received. So, for the next 1000 years we were all taught that we couldn’t touch the Eucharist or drink from the Cup because we were unworthy. This is not what Christ believed. So, we grew up believing that only the priest could touch the Eucharist or drink from the Cup because his hands were blessed. “He was worthy, we were not.” That’s the same time when altar rails were built in our churches to separate the unworthy congregation from the worthy minister. That was not Christ’s intention. This is also the time in our history when we were taught that we had to receive Communion on our tongue (so we wouldn’t take it home) and had to kneel at the altar rail as a sign of our unworthiness. Again, this was not the intention of Christ. I even remember closing my eyes as a child because I wasn’t worthy to even look at “The Host”. It never entered our minds why we couldn’t drink from the Cup.

This was also the time when we were constantly reminded that because of our unworthiness, we had to go to confession before even thinking of going to Communion. Again, this was not Christ’s intention, but it became church teaching which we believed was the way it always was, but it wasn’t.

The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) looked at Church history and teachings to assure that we were being faithful to what Christ taught and intended. So in 1979, in the Archdiocese of Boston, we were all once again given back the right to receive Communion in our hands and to drink from the Cup. The Church did not force us to do either but wanted us to return as truly as we could to our history dating back to the Last Supper.

I am thrilled that many more Catholics come to Communion whenever they come to church to celebrate Mass. I am grateful to our parishioners who are Eucharistic Ministers and assist us distributing the Eucharist. You are all welcome at the table. As Pope Frances says, “Communion is not a reward for being good, it is food for the journey”.

Enjoy Life!

Fr. Ron.

SACRAMENTAL EMERGENCY 781-229-5283

CATHOLIC TV DAILY AND SUNDAY MASS

Cardinal Seán encourages Catholics to participate in the daily and Sunday Masses broadcast from the CatholicTV chapel.

Daily Mass airs live at 9:30am and is rebroadcast at 7pm and 11:30pm.

Sunday Masses air throughout the day at 10am, 4pm, 7pm, and 11:30pm.

The Sunday Spanish Mass airs live at 8am and is rebroadcast at 5:30pm and 10pm.

Viewers can watch these Masses on demand at any time at www.WatchtheMass.com. For more information about CatholicTV and where you can watch it, visit http://www.catholictv.org/.

FINANCIAL REPORT 2018-2019

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