By Paulina Angulo The weather was perfect for the 89th Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 11, celebrated with the Saint Brendan the Navigator Community. The community, formed by four parishes -Saint Joseph Church and Saint Mary Star of the Sea Church in New London, Saint Paul Church in Waterford and Our Lady of Grace Church on Fishers Island is under the direction of their pastor, the Reverend Mark O’Donnell. Jubilant parishioners gathered at Saint Mary Star of the Sea Church to venerate Our Blessed Mother in a solemn Mass with the main...

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Archbishop Fulton Sheen, beloved American television catechist in the 1950s and 60s, has moved closer to becoming a saint. On July 12, Pope Francis approved a miracle attributed to the Archbishop, making his beatification possible. The Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints promulgated the decree approving Sheen’s miracle on July 6. According to the Catholic News Agency, the miracle involves the unexplained recovery of James Fulton Engstrom, born apparently stillborn in September 2010 to Bonnie and Travis Engstrom of the Peoria- area town of Goodfield. He sh...

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Archbishop Sheen, beatification, miracle

by Mary-Jo McLaughlin Is family prayer a part of your family’s life? I have vivid memories as a child kneeling beside my family as we prayed the Rosary. I would look out the window and see neighborhood children playing in their yards and I longed to be with them. Instead, I was cooped up inside participating in something that I saw as little more than a burdensome chore. When I was 11 years old, my mother died and family life as we knew it changed drastically. So many activities that we once did as a family were gone, the family rosary among them. It’s ...

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At the 2018 Connecticut Catholic Men’s Conference, the featured speaker was Bob Kroll of With All Your Heart Ministry (www.withallyourheart.org). Bob talked about the Father Wound and the struggle men have to overcome the hurts that our fathers leave in our lives. At the end of his presentation, he and the men prayed the Prayer for Inner Healing. That prayer led to deeper sharing among the men following the talk. This is the power and presence of the Holy Spirit that lives and moves among the men at the conference.   PRAYER FOR INNER HEALING Loving Fathe...

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2019, Catholic, Conference, Connecticut, Men's

By Suzanne Henderson The 2019 Annual Lay Carmelite Retreat was held at Enders Island in June. Forty-five retreatants from communities throughout Connecticut and New York enjoyed four conferences on the Psalms presented by Father Francis Amodio, Provincial Delegate for the Province of St. Elias in Middletown, New York.  “Jesus prayed the Psalms, and as a Church we pray the Psalms as we pray the Liturgy of the Hours. This is the prayer of the Church. The Psalms are written by and for the people of God,” stated Father Francis. As Carmelites, we are calle...

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Lay Carmelite Retreat

By Andrea Hoisl More than 100 young people from throughout the diocese traveled to New York July 19-21 to pray, worship and celebrate the gift of faith during the annual Steubenville NYC Youth Conference. The theme for the weekend was “Belong,” and youth from the diocese donned special T-shirts celebrating the theme.  During the first day of the retreat, MC Chris Padgett told hilarious stories about each of us belonging to Christ, and rapper Righteous B- Bob Lesnefsky, shared a moving story about himself and his son that highlighted the trust of a ...

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Catholic, Youth, Steubenville, NYC

“We are very grateful to you and your orchestra for sharing your music with us.”, said Bishop Michael R. Cote as he accepted a check from Maestro Toshiyuki Shimada, conductor and music director of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra.  “While I am pleased to receive this check for St. Vincent DePaul Place in Norwich, please know that the bigger blessing is your music.  What it does for our people spiritually is such a great, great gift.” The $1362 check was the result of donations made by attendees of the ECSO Palm Sunday concert a...

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ECSO, Symphony, SVdPP, BishopCote

By Ryan Blessing Diocesan youth and chaperones attended a special Mass on July 19 at St. John Church in Old Saybrook, concelebrated by the Most Rev. Michael R. Cote, D.D., Bishop of Norwich, before traveling to the Steubenville NYC Youth Conference at St. John’s University in Jamaica, Queens for the weekend. Several priests heard confessions for the teens and adults before the Mass. The theme of the 2019 conference was "Belong," and referenced 1 John 3:1, “See what love the Father has bestowed on us, that we may be called children of Go...

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Norwich, Mass, Steubenville, East, Conference

Natural Family Planning Awareness Week July 21-27th The slogan for this year’s Natural Family Planning Awareness Week is: Love, Naturally! Cooperating with God’s design for married love.  Natural Family Planning is medically safe with no harmful side effects, is 99 percent effective at achieving or postponing pregnancy without the use of chemicals, is easy to learn and use, and is in keeping with God’s design for married love.  Read more about NFP at www.foryourmarriage.org or www.ccli.org. Or, for more information, call the Catholic Family Se...

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Marriage, NFP, Natural Family Planning

With an expected heat wave set to blanket the region this weekend, it's a good time to remind all that the St. Vincent de Paul Place food pantry, at 120 Cliff St. in Norwich, is available for those seeking a cooling center. The pantry/soup kitchen is open from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily, except Sundays. The Rose City Senior Center at 8 Mahan Drive is another local cooling center option, and it will be open 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Friday and from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Saturday. Forecasts call for temperatures in the high 90s Saturday and ...

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st. vincent de paul, cooling, heat

July 10, 2019 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: These past months have been marked by escalating tensions at our southern border.  Most recently we were confronted with the tragic images of the drowning deaths of Óscar Martínez and his 23-month-old daughter, Angie Valeria, who were fleeing the dangers of El Salvador for the safety of the United States.  Other immigrants have crossed the border with their lives, but have been captured and are now detained in overcrowded conditions as a result of political gridlock in our nation’s capital. We, the ...

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immigration, CTBishops, Reform, ImmigrationReform, ICE

By Mary-Jo McLaughlin Faith Sparks…. Ignite Your Faith is a new column that the office of Faith Events (OFE) will premier in the August issue of the Four County Catholic to help engage parents, grandparents and families in their faith. “One of the focuses of our new Diocesan faith formation curriculum is to get adults involved in learning more about their faith along with their children,” said Andrea Hoisl, OFE director. “This new column will help people become more aware of the nuances of their faith so that they in turn may be a living witne...

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By Eileen Betz Aithanh Nguyen graduated from the Academy of the Holy Family in Baltic, Connecticut on June 4, 2019. When first attending the Academy, Aithanh was not sure whether it was the right place for her to develop into the person God wanted her to be. However, these doubts didn’t last long. “The Academy is the place where I truly started caring about my education. I found myself focused on my work, doing well in school, and actually wanting to learn more,” Aithanh said. “The smaller student body size and one-on-one attention helped me t...

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My Dear Friends, Our pre-kindergarten to grade 8 schools and high schools have successfully completed another academic and spiritual year in the Diocese. Our students are self-disciplined, self-motivated, responsible, athletic and creative. It is truly a time to celebrate their accomplishments and to thank you for supporting our Catholic schools. Please join me in congratulating and praying for our high school graduates from the class of 2019. I am proud to announce that the extremely high college acceptance rate of our seniors reflects the dedication of the admin...

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We Can Help To report inappropriate contact of any kind by a representative of the Diocese of Norwich or for assistance for victims, please call The Diocesan Reporting Line @ 1-800-624-7407 If the incident involves a minor (persons under the age of 18), you must also call: State of Connecticut Department of Children and Families Care Line 1-800-842-2288 –OR– State of New York Child Protective Services 1-800-635-1522 Incidents involving abuse of vulnerable adults aged 18-59 should be reported to: Connecticut Department of Developmental Serv...

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