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

The Parish Christmas Concert will be held on Sunday, December 12, 3:00pm, at St. Thomas of Villanova Church. Please come and enjoy some wonderful Christmas music!

The Giving Tree - We are collecting $20-25 gift cards to help families in need this Christmas. Please help us to provide Christmas Gifts for those in need by selecting a gift wish from our Giving Tree. Due to COVID restrictions and staffing issues it has been requested that we collect only gift cards again this year. We are hoping to return to actual toys and presents in 2022. All gift cards will be distributed to individuals in need within our Parish as well as individuals being assisted by Catholic Charities, My Brother's Table, and Heartbeat Pregnancy Help Center. All gift cards should be returned by December 12 to Church or the Parish Office.

Christmas Dinner Food Drive to aid families from St. Dorothy’s and St. Thomas in need will be collected at all Masses on December 11 & 12. Grocery Store Gift Cards in any denomination are needed for each dinner basket and would be much appreciated. Also: Lasagna noodles/Spaghetti or Ziti; Pasta Sauce; Grated Cheese; Instant Potatoes; Canned Vegetables & Fruit; Quick Bread or Muffin Mix; Pancake Mix & Syrup; Brownie, Cookie or Cake Mix & frosting; Coffee, Tea, or Hot Cocoa; Christmas Candy; Monetary donations (if by check, please make payable to The Parish of the Transfiguration) or gift cards can be brought to the Parish office, CCD office, or placed into the offertory marked “Christmas Dinners”. The need for assistance within our Parish has nearly doubled since last Christmas. Any and all support will be sincerely appreciated. Merry Christmas and thank you for helping those in need within our Parish!

Christmas Eve 2:00 PM at St. Thomas AND 2:00 PM at St. Dorothy 4:00 PM at St. Thomas AND 4:00 PM at St. Dorothy Midnight (12:00 AM) at St. Thomas

Christmas Day 8:00 AM at St. Thomas 10:00 AM at St. Dorothy (NO 4 PM Mass on Saturday, December 25

DUE TO THE ANTICIPATED LARGE CROWDS AT CHRISTMAS WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE ALL TO WEAR A MASK AT MASS.

A NOTE FROM FR. COYNE

Friends,

Many times we come across people who will say they are a product of Catholic education. Some are very proud to tell you they’ve had 12 years or even 16 years of Catholic education (including college). Until recently we could pretty much know what that meant, and we could assume that the person speaking was probably a faithful church goer. Practically speaking: those Catholic schools that we are talking about were fully staffed by nuns (women religious) if they were parish elementary schools; if they were high schools they were staffed by either brothers (Catholic Memorial), priests (BC High) or nuns (Bishop Fenwick). Colleges were also staffed by the above, e.g., Emmanuel, Regis, Boston College.

After the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) many of those in the priesthood or religious orders decided they could serve the Church meaningfully in other ways and pursued other vocations (including marriage). Many of us then attended Catholic schools but the number of religious men and women at the faculty decreased and “lay people” got the opportunities to teach in the Catholic school system. These schools on every level (elementary, high school and college) continued to pursue a strong Catholic identity even while the atmosphere changed. In more recent years, the number of religious present among faculty and staff at our Catholic schools has diminished so that many of these institutions have no religious (nuns, priests, or brothers) present in the school. We now have Catholic schools that are “sponsored” by the Sisters of St. Joseph or the Christian Brothers of Ireland while their presence on campus is negligible. Years ago, parish elementary schools and parish high schools were subsidized greatly by the parish itself but as time passed and salaries and benefits increased, the parishes could no longer offer financial support to the school. That lead to increased tuition and school closings in rapid numbers.

You have to wonder how those years of Catholic education affect the Catholic population over the long term. As Catholic school alumni who are now parents, grandparents, and great grandparents more apt to go to Church today? Are Catholic school graduates more confident and competent when they are speaking about God, the Church, and their faith? Are former Catholic school students more Christian when it comes to making moral decisions and judging others who may challenge what they learned in Catholic Schools? Do you think all Catholic school products vote the same way?

Since the Second Vatican Council, courses in world religions became very popular as our minds were broadened, and our hearts were opened to those who thought and believed differently than we did. This caused many educated people to look at “the truth” from various perspectives. The word “conscience” began to have a major role in determining what impact that Catholic education was going to have in my life.

Full disclosure: I attended public school grades K-5, Catholic elementary grades 6-8, Catholic high school grades 9-12, and then Seminary for 4 years of college and 4 years graduate school. I believe it is safe to say that Catholic education will continue to be affected as more and more Catholic schools are unable to survive or thrive financially.

Now to my point: I have ordered a book and am awaiting its arrival. It is written by Thomas Groome, a theology professor at Boston College. I was hoping to have it read by now but decided to write this message anyway and hopefully write part 2 after reading the book. The book is entitled “What makes Education Catholic?”.

I think that’s a great question!

Enjoy life,
Fr. Coyne

CHRISTMAS FLOWERS
All those who receive Church envelops received a special envelope for a contribution to enable us to decorate the Church and the Sanctuary for the Christmas Season. The donations can be made in your name or in memory of deceased loved ones. For those who do not receive Offertory envelopes at home, we will have Christmas Flower envelopes at the Church by the vigil lights and church entrances. These envelopes may be placed in the baskets as the ushers take up the collection throughout the weeks of Advent leading up to Christmas. If we receive over the amount needed to cover our Christmas decoration expenses, we will use the remaining donations to decorate the Church during weekend liturgies.

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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