Monthly Newspaper • DIOCESE OF BRIDGEPORT

BRIDGEPORT—Foundations in Education is pleased to announce applications to the Innovation and Leadership Grants Program open September 15.

The grants program promotes excellence in Catholic education by supporting teachers’ innovative and creative classroom projects and professional development. Grants funded through this program are for transformative initiatives that may benefit multiple grade levels and have a long-term impact on student learning.

Now in its seventh year, this competitive grant program was the first of its kind in the diocese to offer innovation and leadership grants to Catholic school teachers and administrators.

To date, Foundations in Education has funded 104 transformative grants totaling nearly $770,000.

Educators within the Diocese of Bridgeport Catholic Schools are encouraged to submit grant proposals from September 15 through October 31.

A grants committee of Foundations’ Board of Trustees carefully reviews each proposal. Their recommendations are presented to Foundations’ Board of Trustees for approval. The committee is chaired led by Dr. Julie McNamara, President Emerita of Albertus Magnus College and include Foundation Board members George Coleman, Henry Rondon, Paula Summa and Sister Mary Grace Walsh, ASCJ, Superintendent of the Archdiocese of New York. They are joined by Foundations in Education Executive Director Holly Doherty-Lemoine; Immaculate High School alumnus Fraser Randolph; and Director of Innovation for the Diocese of Bridgeport Catholic Schools, Al Barnicle.

“Generous donors passionate about quality education help make this program possible,” Doherty-Lemoine said. “As a committee, we are exceedingly grateful for the opportunity to work together to consider projects that are innovative, creative, and likely to have tremendous impact on student learning. Dr. McNamara leads us in thoughtful consideration of each application taking great care to evaluate each grant according to set criteria as part of this competitive grant process.”

Grant awardee and AP Physics and Computer Science Teacher at Immaculate High School, Anthony D’Ausilio, was awarded grant funds this past year to upgrade data collection devices and sensors in his physics lab.

“My goal was to enhance my students’ skills and instruct them on how to collect and interpret raw data using an Application Program Interface and computer code that they develop, rather than using a software package,” he said.

Deploying this equipment elevated student labs to the college level, which enabled the students to meet the requirements of a UCONN Early College Experience Physics class. Class grade averages surged to 95+ on the UCONN final exam as a result of the experience with the new equipment.

“This grant proved that we can go beyond high school in challenging our students,” D’Ausilio said. “It also taught me that having labs that have accurate data collection with an error rate less than one percent has a major impact on students’ understanding the science of physics.”

Foundations in Education is an independent non-profit initiative created to assist the Diocese of Bridgeport’s ongoing mission to support Catholic education in Fairfield County by supporting innovation in academic programs and fostering opportunities for the professional development of school leaders and providing tuition assistance to families in need.

(To read more about the grants funded by Foundations in Education, or to contribute to this extraordinary initiative, visit www.foundationsineducation.org/innovation-leadershipgrants.)

By Theresa Sciallo

FAIRFIELD—When Alvaro Ramos was growing up in Madrid, he asked his parents if he could learn to play golf. They encouraged the 13-year-old by buying him a set of clubs and letting him use the backyard.

Eventually, they got him a membership at a golf course, where he encountered other kids his age—but they weren’t hitting the links. They had left school to support their families by working as caddies, groundskeepers and janitors.

It was this privileged young man’s first exposure to poverty—a vision that stayed with him and ultimately inspired him to change his life.

“Even at my age, I saw it was very unfair, and it stayed in the back of my mind,” he recalled. “I realized I needed to take advantage of opportunities. I was playing golf with lawyers and bankers and entrepreneurs. On the other hand, I realized I had been lucky. I wasn’t special. I was just in the right place at the right time.”

And he took advantage of those opportunities by earning a JD from the Jesuit University of Spain and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduating, he carved out successful careers as a corporate lawyer, investment banker, private equity executive and social entrepreneur.

Today, however, Father Alvaro Ramos is on a different path. He is a Catholic priest in Tegucigalpa, serving the poor in Honduras by coordinating the mission Association, Collaboration and Effort, which helps 12,000 marginalized students from kindergarten to college make a better life through education.

“I want to help people who did not have the opportunities I had,” he said. “Becoming a priest allowed me to partner with God to help the impoverished with the best business plan possible—changing the world.”

Ordained in 2018, he is assigned to the parish of St. Teresa of Calcutta in the capital of the second poorest country in the Americas, where he lives in one of the city’s impoverished neighborhoods.

The mission, which is supported by some 30 volunteer groups and parishes in Spain and Canada, is managed by the high school and college students it sponsors.

Father Ramos, who recently spoke at Iona College, Seton Hall University, Sacred Heart University and Regis High School, said, “We are creating a new generation with a mindset to take care of the whole country. They must undo the corruption and help people who need food, proper education and a sense of responsibility.”

Father previously worked in international law, advising clients in the United States and the United Kingdom, in addition to a position in the investment banking division of Bank of America. During those years, he pursued some initiatives to eradicate poverty by sending funds to organizations in Latin America; however, his philosophy evolved and he came to the conclusion that he could use his business skills better as a priest. And he gets no salary for his work with the mission.

“I always tried to find partners in different enterprises, but they were often afraid of doing business with the poor,” he said. “Then, I realized God is my partner. If you want to help the poor, Jesus is going to be by your side. I have experienced that myself. When I started to read the Gospel, it resonated. I realized God was guiding me in the right direction.”

He eventually entered the seminary in Honduras and teamed up with Father Patrecio Larrosa, who went there from Spain to found the mission, which he continues to lead 30 years later.

“I realized the best way to help the poor is to live with the poor as a priest,” he said. “It took me some time. I learned that in order to change the life of the poor, you need to live with the poor, and I couldn’t do that by myself.”

The mission, which works in 11 regions of the country is involved in more than 100 projects with the goal of filling the gap between what the government does and what families do, Father said. The projects allow students in rural and marginalized areas to go to school from kindergarten to college.

“Our idea is to educate students early on and for the long term,” he said. “The students run the organization, and we only help them as long as they help others. They learn and they give back. Real poverty isn’t lack of money. The real problem is when people don’t help each other, and this is something that needs to be taught.”

One thousand people, including 400 from the community and 500 university students run the operation. The youngest ones work in the dining room, and by the time they reach high school, they start assisting with administration. The oldest students are leaders in the mission.

When Father talks to college students in America, he tells them: “You could make a lot of money, but a lot of people need your help, and at some point in your life, you will have to stop thinking about making more money and having an easy life. It’s not fair for me to live in a world where I have plenty and people are starving. At the end of the day, if you want to be happy, you won’t be happy making money or getting power; it will be in the love you share.”

Katherine Friend of St. John Church in Darien was a classmate of Father Ramos at the University of North Carolina and has helped him spread his message about the Honduras mission in Fairfield County.

“When we sat next to each other in business school, I really had no idea about his vocation or his faith,” she said. “It’s been such a grace to witness how he has used education and business experience to answer his call to holiness and … to bring people out of poverty in one of the poorest countries in the Americas.”

For more information about Association, Collaboration and Effort, whether to volunteer, sponsor a student or offer assistance, contact Father Ramos at alvaroramos@acoes.org

n his homily during the Consistory for the creation of 21 new Cardinals, Pope Francis reflects on unity and diversity in the Church, highlighting the importance of synodality under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the “master of walking together.”
By Lisa Zengarini

“The College of Cardinals is called to resemble a symphony orchestra, representing the harmony and synodality of the Church.” Pope Francis made this remark as he presided on Saturday at the Consistory for the creation of 21 Cardinals in St. Peter’s Square.

Diversity in one Catholic Church
In his homily addressed to the College of Cardinals and its new members (including 19 archbishops and bishops, and two priests), the Pope reflected on the reading from the Acts on the story of the Pentecost, in which the Apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit and experienced the gift of tongues as they preached the Gospel to Jews of different nationalities in Jerusalem (Acts 2, 1-11).

The gift of being evangelized in our own language
He drew attention to the similarity between all those Jews of different nationalities and languages who heard the Apostles preaching to them and the Bishops and Cardinals of our time hailing “from all parts of the world, from the most diverse nations”.

Seen in this perspective, Pope Francis noted, the story of the Pentecost should make us “think back with gratitude on the gift of having been evangelized and having been drawn from various peoples who, each in their own time received the Kerygma, the proclamation of the mystery of salvation, and in welcoming it, were baptized in the Holy Spirit and became part of the Church” who “speaks all languages, is One and is Catholic.”

He therefore pointed out that before being “apostles”, before being priests, Bishops, Cardinals, pastors should remember that they are “Parthians, Medes, Elamites etc” like those Jews, and should be grateful for having received the grace of the Gospel among their respective peoples of origin and in their own language, through their grandparents and parents, catechists, priests, and religious.

“In the ‘flesh’ of our people, the Holy Spirit has worked the wonder of communicating the mystery of Jesus Christ who died and rose again. And this came to us ‘in our language’ (…). The faith is transmitted ‘in dialect’ by mothers and grandmothers.”

Evangelized evangelizers, not funtionaries
“Indeed – the Pope said – we are evangelizers to the extent we cherish in our hearts the wonder and gratitude of having been evangelized, even of being evangelized, because this is really a gift always present, that must be continually renewed in our memories and in faith, because, he emphasized, “We are evangelized evangelizers, non functionaries”.

Remarking that “the Pentecost is not a thing of the past”, but” a creative act that God continually renews”, and that “the Church, and every baptized member, lives the today of God, through the action of the Holy Spirit”, Pope Francis reminded the Cardinals receiving the biretta today that their new role renews in them their “vocation and mission in and for the Church”.

Working for an ever more symphonic and synodal Church
He clarified this mission with the image of the orchestra which embodies simultaneous diversity and unity “representing the harmony and synodality of the Church”.

“Diversity is necessary; it is indispensable. However, each sound must contribute to the common design. This is why mutual listening is essential”, the Pope said, adding that the conductor of the orchestra is called to help “each person and the whole orchestra develop the greatest creative fidelity”.

Hence the call to the College of Cardinals to work for “an ever more symphonic and synodal Church” confiding in the Holy Spirit who “creates variety and unity and “is harmony itself.”

“We entrust ourselves to his gentle and strong guidance, and to the gracious care of the Virgin Mary,” Pope Francis concluded.

ALSO SEE: https://www.usccb.org/news/2023/pope-names-21-cardinals-including-us-born-archbishop-prevost

By Lisa Zengarini @ vaticannews.va

By Brian D. Wallace

NORWALK— “This is a man of great faith, of great prayer, a man who listens very deeply. But of all the qualities of Father Hoffman, the one that I find the most endearing and the one that he put to use most beautifully when he was Vicar of Clergy, was that he was a man of deep compassion,” said Bishop Frank J. Caggiano on September 23 at the Installation Mass for Father Frank Hoffmann as pastor of St. Matthew Parish in Norwalk.

The bishop told parishioners that Father Hoffmann, who most recently served as Vicar of Clergy for the diocese, is a man who is sensitive to others feeling and to the needs of those around him.

“Whether it’s times of joy, times of challenge, in times of sorrow, he listens with his ears, but he also listens with his heart. And in a family as big and diverse as you have here in this wonderful parish of St. Matthew’s, I could not imagine someone else doing that for you in the years ahead,” the bishop said.

At the end of the installation Mass, the Bishop also acknowledged Father Jeff Couture, former pastor, who was in attendance. Father Couture resigned as pastor in May 2023, as he continues to receive treatment for a chronic autoimmune condition, which originates in the spine. While his health has improved in recent months, Father Couture has much more treatment ahead of him in the recovery process.

“I’m grateful to Father Jeff for his leadership when he was here. And we’re praying for your good health that it continued to remain good.,” said Bishop Caggiano.

In his homily for the Mass of Installation, Father Hoffman reflected on the life and ministry of St. Matthew, and on his own vocation to the priesthood and the vocation of the laity.

“I believe that God’s call to the priesthood for me was his way of saving me, maybe the only way of saving me: that my salvation lay in becoming a priest of God,” he said. “I’ve thought a lot about that. And I think that God has chosen all of us too, out of his boundless love and mercy, that we too may be saved. And we know he suffered and died for us on the cross because of this great mercy. But the manner in which each of us has been called is different in many different ways.”

He said that God’s call most often comes “in ordinary ways and ordinary things but we do know that the answering of it in faith will have huge consequences for us in the future. It could be our call to married life, or single life or parenthood, religious life, clerical life. It can be a variety of careers that we have chosen if they are careers where we benefit others and make Christ more present in the world. And if they’re not, we may do that anyway. It can be in the ways we give of our time outside of work furthering Christ’s presence in the world today, we reminded that like St. Matthew, Christ has seen each and every one of us through the eyes of mercy and has chosen us and said, follow me.  He continues to mercifully choose us, calling us to show follow him every single day. We each know in our own ways how we’ve responded to him in the past. How will we continue to respond to that call in the future?”

Following the Mass, Bishop Caggiano blessed the new Father McGivney playground located behind the church.  Members of Knights of Columbus Council 14360 in Norwalk completed construction of the playground in September.

Plans for the playground were set in motion when Father Couture recognized that the demographics of the parish were changing and there were more and more young families joining St. Matthew’s.  Labor for the project, which included clearing and preparing a suitable space, assembling the playground equipment, building a sur- rounding fence, and laying down mulch, was provided by many different members of Council 14360, along with their family members. The playground was self-funded by members of the council, generous donors, and parishioners of St. Matthew.

Father Frank Hoffmann was appointed by Bishop Caggiano to serve as pastor of St Matthew Parish effective July 1, 2023. Father Hoffmann had served as the parish’s parochial administrator since January 1, after Father Couture took medical leave. At the same time, Father Hoffmann continued serving in his full-time position as Vicar for Clergy and Religious in the Diocese of Bridgeport, a post he held since 2020.

Father Hoffmann earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Fairfield University in 1977, as well as a Master of Arts in religious studies from Sacred Heart University, a Master of Divinity in pastoral ministry from Seton Hall University in 1991, and a Master of Art’s in theological studies from Seton Hall in 1991. He served as pastor of St. John Parish in Darien from 2014 to 2020, and as parochial vicar at St. Catherine of Siena Parish for nine years.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The Knights of Columbus announced today that it has been named to the Forbes America’s Best Insurance Companies 2024 List, marking the third consecutive year it has received this prestigious recognition. The award is presented by Forbes and Statista Inc., the world’s leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider. America’s Best Insurance Companies 2024 were identified in an independent survey based on a vast sample of over 15,000 participants across the nation. Knights of Columbus ranked 22nd on the Forbes list among life insurers which issue permanent life insurance — up four positions from 2023.

“Knights of Columbus insurance is once again honored to be recognized by Forbes and Statista,” said Knights of Columbus CEO, Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly. “More than 140 years ago our Founder, Blessed Michael McGivney, built the Knights in part to provide for the financial security of Catholic families, particularly widows and orphans. Today, we continue our mission of providing the families of our members with the best Knights of Columbus insurance products for their needs.”

The survey considered customers’ overall recommendations, their general satisfaction, and six sub-dimensions: financial advice, customer service, price/performance ratio, transparency, digital services, and damage/benefit ratio. A loyalty score was calculated based on a series of questions about the customer’s likeliness to keep their insurance policy under different circumstances, and the total length of time that consumers have held policies with the same insurer. The awards list and survey details can currently be viewed on the Forbes website.

For additional information about the Knights of Columbus insurance program, please visit www.kofc.org/insurance.

DANBURY-  What a day for a budding young golfer! The Immaculate Varsity Golf Team’s freshman Desmond Bremner of Redding had his first hole-in-one during a match on September 19 against Stratford’s Bunnell High School at Richter Park Golf Course in Danbury.

According to Golf Digest, the average golfer has a 1 in 12,500 chance of making a hole in one. It happened at Hole 5 with a 6 iron at a distance of 165 yards. Bremner’s playing partner was Senior Captain Aiden Henn of Danbury.

Immaculate has reported Desmond’s achievement to the CIAC. They keep a record of every varsity ace ever made.

“We are incredibly proud of Desmond and our entire golf team,” said George Bielizna, Immaculate’s golf coach. “The hole was cut top-right, the most difficult pin location on Hole 5 by a large margin. So this was no easy feat!”

Immaculate’s Varsity Golf Team’s record is now 7-1.

By Joe Pisani

WEST HARTFORD — Nearly 600 men, who came together for the 16th annual Connecticut Catholic Men’s Conference, were told to support priests at a time when the Church faces one of the greatest challenges in its history with diminishing vocations.

The theme of Saturday’s conference was “The Priesthood: God’s Gift and Our Responsibility.” Speakers urged the men to support their priests by offering up suffering, attending Eucharistic adoration, fasting, praying the Divine Office, the rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy and “doing anything you can for our priests.”

The daylong event was held at Northwest Catholic High School in West Hartford and concluded with a Vigil Mass for Priesthood Sunday, celebrated by Archbishop Leonard P. Blair with a homily by Bishop Juan Miguel Betancourt.

The conference included nationally known speakers, confession, Eucharistic Adoration and a procession of 30 first-class relics, including St. John Vianney, patron saint of the priesthood.

In his homily, Bishop Betancourt said secular society pushes us away from God through distractions like the media, social networks, technology, and even our friends “who are eager to tell us what to think and what to do.” As a result, “We seek guidance from anyone and anything but God,” he said. “That way of life cannot last long before isolation, depression and despair settle in the soul because it lacks God’s presence.”

He said, “The priest, like Christ, is mediator between God and his people and has been entrusted with the duty to remind us of the relationship between us and God our Father, and to proclaim that the Lord is near to all who call upon him.”

He urged the men to support their priests through daily prayer and to give them encouragement and gratitude, and volunteer their time and talents for their parishes.

Fr. Anthony Federico, director of vocations for the archdiocese, speaking on behalf of his colleagues in the other dioceses, said: “I am here today because I am not satisfied with empty churches, and I am not satisfied when Holy Mother Church is degraded because I do not believe the Son of God died on the cross for what we see today.”

Every night he goes before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and “begs him for total renewal in our Church.”

“I ask you to beg with me and beg the Lord for new priests in our Church,” he said.

In recent months, he has visited dioceses that have been attracting men to the priesthood, which he said share common characteristics:

1. A widespread culture of Eucharistic adoration.
2. Parish vocation committees to encourage men to discern for the priesthood.
3. They teach young people how to pray and have a personal encounter with Jesus.
4. They have priests and nuns teaching in their high schools.

Since the archdiocese began praying for priestly vocations at every Mass, 31 men have expressed interest in the priesthood.

Deacon Rick Lawlor of St. Mary Parish in Ridgefield, a member of the leadership committee, said it was important to have the conference dedicated to the priesthood during this year of Eucharistic Revival.

“Our priests are God’s gifts,” he said. “Without our priests, we wouldn’t have the Eucharist. That’s why we want to promote vocations to the priesthood. God has helped us for two millennia, and we have to take responsibility as well and promote the priesthood to our sons and neighbors.”

Conference speakers included Father Larry Richards, author, radio show host and founder of The Reason for Our Hope Foundation; and Father Glenn Sudano, CFR, one of the founding members of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, who is priest-in-residence at Holy Family Farm, which offers formation for men between 18 and 30.

Also, Kevin Wells, speaker and author of “The Priests We Need to Save the Church,” along with Matthew Leonard, author and founder of the Science of Sainthood, an online platform for spirituality.

Ken Santopietro, director of the conference, said he was pleased with the turnout and that Fr. Richards was speaking at his third Connecticut conference.

“He is the crux of the men’s conference movement in America and having him here tells the guys we’re doing it right,” Santopietro said. “This is orthodox Catholicism, and we’re happy to have the support of the Connecticut dioceses and hundreds of men who came to get a spiritual booster shot.”

In his talk, Fr. Richards urged the men to spend time with “the Word of God every day” so they can listen to Jesus rather than “the echo chamber of people we agree with” in our highly politicized society. During his 34 years as a priest, he has never before seen such division in the Church; however, he told the men the Church needs unity and that we’re called to love even the people with whom we disagree and never to judge them.

He said he knows 29 priests who left because they were lonely and not supported in their ministries — and not because of scandal. He said priests need encouragement and prayer and to know they are “loved by you and not judged by you.”

Kevin Wells, author of the bestselling “The Priests We Need to Save the Church,” described eight characteristics of a good priest, based on the lives of saintly priests throughout history: “He adores the Eucharistic Jesus; he is devoted to Mary; he prays devoutly; he assumes a victimhood; he is a father; he is persistently available; he preaches divine truth; and he dives into souls at a moment’s notice.”

Matthew Leonard urged the men to greater sanctity, assuring them sainthood is attainable and that some of the greatest saints like Augustine were “notoriously sinful.” However, with God’s grace they can “have their face on a holy card” because with God, all things are possible.

The son of a pastor and a convert to Catholicism, Leonard said sainthood begins by getting to know Jesus Christ personally. He recommended three steps: “You have to learn how to love…True love demands we give of ourselves to other people and true love is sacrificial.” Receive the sacraments often, especially the Eucharist, which is “the medicine of immortality.” And commit to developing a relationship with God through frequent prayer.

Fr. Glenn Sudano, CFR, said we are living in difficult days that are “going to get more difficult” and that “persecution will come in quiet, sinister ways.” He encouraged the men to gather together in faithful groups that pray together because they “cannot stand alone in these dark times.”

However, he cautioned them against complaining and casting blame about the Church and urged them to pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance and then take action.

Using the traditional metaphor of the Church as a boat, he said, “I’d rather be seasick than overboard. I’m not going anywhere because I want to be where Christ is.” He urged them to avoid the extreme right and the extreme left — and even the middle — but instead go below deck to “the center, the heart, where Christ is.”

Fr. James Sullivan, chaplain of the conference and rector of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Waterbury, brought 30 relics from the basilica’s collection.

“Having the relics here is a very special way to inspire the men to go beyond themselves,” he said.

The selection included saints who were priests, such as Blessed Michael McGivney of Waterbury, St. John Bosco, Pope Saint John Paul II, Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, whose feast day it was, St. Augustine and St. Benedict, along with women saints — St. Monica, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Teresa of Avila — who played important roles in supporting the priesthood. Men venerated the relics and touched their rosaries and medals to them.

Father Sullivan also said that throughout the day, some 17 priests heard the confessions of an estimated 300 men.

Deacon Brad Smythe of St. Joseph Church in Shelton was joined by his grandson Michael Kupson, who manned a table for Notre Dame High School in West Haven.

“As Catholic men, we need to be taken by the shirt and shaken and asked, ‘Are you willing to live the way the faith calls you to live?’” he said. “What we’ve heard today is very inspiring, and these are messages we need to hear from the pulpit more often.”

Deacon Rick Scinto brought 30 men from St. Rose of Lima in Newtown to the conference. “It’s a great fraternal gathering,” he said, “We have a tight-knit group of men at St. Rose, who are here to show their devotion to the Church and to Christ in the Blessed Sacrament … and be with their brothers.”

Photos by Joe Pisani

Greg Pin of St. Edward the Confessor in New Fairfield, said: “The priests are so few and have such a demand on their time. I often want to invite a priest friend to a fire pit or dinner, but I don’t want to burden them by making them feel like someone else is asking for their free time.

However, I think I’ll write them, let them know how much they mean to me and my family, give my cell phone number, and let them know they are welcome in our house and family.”

Chris Pasquale of Watertown was accompanied by his son Luke, a high school sophomore, who stood up when the audience was asked whether any men were thinking about the priesthood.

Pasquale was clearly proud of his son’s witness and said, “It’s a great thing when fathers bring their sons here. It’s well worth the sacrifice to come for the day.”

Gerald Brown Jr. of St. Joseph in Shelton, said, “The conference was a rally call to Catholic Men. We need to support our parish priests, not just financially but emotionally, physically and spiritually.”

Catholic blogger Bill Dunn of (merrycatholic.com) said, “In our secular world, as a Catholic man, you often feel you’re on an island. We have to come together and remind ourselves we’re all together in this.”

The 40 Days for Life fall campaign of prayer and fasting and community outreach to end abortion will be a 960-hour around-the-clock vigil at three locations in Fairfield County from September 27 to November 5.

“We want to reach people in a peaceful, prayerful way,” said Maureen Ciardiello, Coordinator of Respect Life and Project Rachel Ministry for the Diocese of Bridgeport. “The campaign will bring awareness that there are other options than abortion. We hope to work on hearts and minds one at a time.”

In Bridgeport, the campaign is being led by Barbara Grabowski, and the vigil will be held at the public right-of-way for Planned Parenthood at 4697 Main Street. In Danbury, the campaign leader is Don Mallozzi, and the vigil will take place at the public right-of-way for Planned Parenthood at 44 Main Street. In Stamford, the campaign is led by Monika Twal and Sal Constantino, and the vigil will be held at the public right-of-way for Planned Parenthood at 35 Sixth Street.

Interested people can sign up for vigil hours for their community by going to (http://www.40daysforlife.com/en/), according to Mallozzi, who said, “Forty Days for Life is a worldwide mobilization to end abortion through prayerful vigils, and as Catholics, it’s important that we give visible witness to life because the Gospel of Christ is the Gospel of Life….By praying in public, we hope that many hearts will be changed and women who are choosing to abort their pregnancies will choose life instead.”

Since it began 20 years ago, 40 Days for Life now has 1 million volunteers in more than 1,000 cities in 63 countries.

According to the organization, since 2007 more than 23,500 lives had been saved. The slogan for the group is “Ending abortion where we live,” and the campaigns in spring and fall are possible through the efforts of people of different faiths, including Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians and Evangelicals, who “seek God’s favor in turning hearts and minds from a culture of death to a culture of life.” Volunteers do not approach people individually and the signs they carry have positive messages with the goal of spreading the message of God’s love, mercy and forgiveness.

“Saving a baby’s life is the most important reason that we are out there on the sidewalk,” Grabowski said. “Our always peaceful, prayerful presence offers hope to the moms-to-be that they have alternatives to abortion that they may not have considered. We offer compassion, resources and support to women who are facing anxiety over their pregnancies.”

She said that the Bridgeport campaign is blessed to have many clergy and pro-life groups willing to spend hours praying at the sidewalk vigil.

“If only one baby is saved, it is worth it,” she said. “We are the voice of the baby out there, since they have no voice yet. We are the hands and feet of Jesus, as Mother Teresa said.”

Sal Constantino who leads the Stamford campaign with Monika Twal, said: “We hope to see even more faithful Catholics and others participate this year on the sidewalk as witnesses to the sanctity of human life in the womb. Participants, young and old, men, women and teenagers of various denominations, will engage in prayerful and peaceful vigils, saying the Rosary and other prayers on behalf of the unborn.”

He said there are an estimated 660,000 abortions each year in America. “Abortion also harms women emotionally, psychologically and even physically,” he said. “The killing of innocent human life is always morally wrong and must be opposed by all of us, not just privately in our hearts and homes, but in public.”

He hopes the 40 Days For Life campaign will soften people’s hearts and change their minds and that more participants will join the group in their sidewalk ministry to end abortion.

The national organizers say that minds have been changed and that during the sixth 40 Days for Life campaign in Bryant/College Station, Texas, Abby Johnson, who was Planned Parenthood’s employee of the year, saw abortion in a new light and “turned to the 40 Days for Life team for encouragement as she left her job.”

FAIRFIELD- Kerry Alys Robinson, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, is holding a leadership roundtable entitled “Co-Responsibility and a New Culture of Leadership in the Church,” as part of SHU’s College of Arts & Sciences Human Journey colloquia and Center for Catholic Studies lecture series. Topics of discussion will be the role of the Church in confronting and emerging from the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and how the church can fulfill its potential.

WHO: Kerry Alys Robinson is president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA. She is the second layperson and second woman to guide the organization. A sought-after Catholic writer and speaker, Robinson is the prize-winning author of Imagining Abundance: Fundraising, Philanthropy and a Spiritual Call to Service. Her work also has appeared in America Magazine, Chicago Catholic and other leading Catholic publications, and she has been quoted extensively in the Catholic and national media.

WHERE: The Dr. Michelle C. Loris ’70 Forum at the Frank and Marisa Martire Center for the Liberal Arts, Sacred Heart University, 5401 Park Avenue, Fairfield

WHEN: Wednesday, October 11, at 2 p.m.

SPONSOR: Sacred Heart University’s College of Arts & Sciences

TICKETS: The event is free and open to the public.

PRESS: Media coverage is welcomed. Please contact Deb Noack at 203-396-8483 or noackd@sacredheart.edu for further information.

By Joe Pisani

NORWALK — Carolyn Killian, Director of Bereavement for the Diocese of Bridgeport, believes our society often ignores people who are grieving because death is an uncomfortable topic.

“Many people have difficulty associating with someone who has suffered the loss of a loved one,” she says. “Society tends to ignore them, and this only adds to their pain. As part of our ministry, we are continuing outreach to grieving people to let them know we support them during this difficult time in their lives.”

The bereavement ministry of Catholic Cemeteries began offering the New Day bereavement program in the spring of 2022, and since then more than 100 people have taken it and the Emmaus retreats. New Day is currently being offered in seven parishes throughout the diocese and will be in 10 by the spring, when it will be given in Spanish for the first time.

In upcoming months, New Day will be offered at:

1. St. Mary’s, Bethel
October 18 – December 20th (no session Nov. 22)
Wednesday afternoons 2:30 – 4:00pm
 
2. Bridgeport session
Location to be determined
Wednesday Evenings 7:00 – 8:30pm
 
3. St. Thomas More, Darien WAIT LIST ONLY
October 3 – November 28
Tuesday afternoons 2:30 – 4:00pm
 
4. St. Michael the Archangel, Greenwich WAIT LIST ONLY
September 27 – November 29
Wednesday afternoons – 4:00 – 5:30pm (no session Nov. 22)
 
5. St. Catherine of Siena & St. Agnes, Riverside
October 10 – December 5
Tuesday afternoons 4:00 – 5:30pm

6. Church of the Holy Spirit, Stamford 
October 10 – December 5  
Tuesday mornings 10:00 – 11:30am.

7. Church of the Assumption, Westport  
October 4 – December 6
Wednesday afternoons 2- 3:30pm (no session Nov. 22)
  
Killian said New Day has distinguished itself for decades as a highly successful faith-based, small group support program, which provides a structured pathway so people can have an opportunity “to find a place of healing and feelings of peace and comfort.”

“We have seen young people and old people in deep grief,” Killian said. “We’ve seen many, many parents who have lost children. There are so many people struggling to figure out how to go forward with incredible loss, and this offers a way to see where God is in their grief journey.”

The nine-week program meets once a week for 90 minutes. The format includes prayer, Scripture reading, journaling and sharing responses to directed questions in a confidential setting. It is based on “The New Day Journal” by Sister Mauryeen O’Brien.

The participants are guided to accept the reality of the loss, experience the pain of grief and find a way to remember the deceased while embarking on the rest of life’s journey, Killian said.

“We rely on the comfort provided by our Lord, and the compassion extended by fellow participants, to meet the life-changing challenges presented by loss,” she said.

“New Day,” with materials in English and Spanish, is based on a textbook written by psychologist J. William Worden, a foremost authority on grief. The late Dominican Sister Mauryeen O’Brien, who had decades of experience as a grief counselor, put his work into a Catholic framework and developed “The New Day Journal: A Journey from Grief to Healing.”

The author of several books, Sister was a longtime coordinator for the bereaved at the Family Life Office of the Archdiocese of Hartford.

People are urged to register soon because the sessions fill up quickly. For further information, they should visit the website ctcemeteries.org/bereavement-support or call Carolyn at (203) 404-0023.

In addition, Killian said that next spring there will be another Emmaus retreat for grieving parents. The Emmaus Ministry for Grieving Parents is solely focused on the pain a parent feels at the loss of their child. Unlike most recovery programs, the Emmaus Ministry believes there is no healing without God.  
  
Since its inception, this ministry has helped participants initiate, regain, and/or reinvigorate their relationship with God, and so begin their healing process. The retreats are offered by Emmaus Parent Companions, working with Catholic Clergy, Deacons, Pastoral Associates, and Spiritual Directors.

The bereavement ministry of Catholic Cemeteries also offers daily reflections for those who are grieving. Each morning, a Healing Journey message is sent by email to support people with their grief. The messages are not only for the newly bereaved but also those who have been struggling a year or many years after the loss of a loved one. For more information or to sign up to receive the free service, visit ctcemeteries.org/bereavement-support.