Tagaste Newsletter
Province of St. Nicholas of Tolentine
OAR
December, 2020
_______________________________________________

Advent greetings to all our Secular Augustinian Recollects, Guild members, and the Hispanic Committee as well as our parishioners at Sacred Heart Church!

Pre-Thanksgiving food distribution. On Saturday, November 21, the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Sacred Heart was assisted by C.C.D. students and many dedicated volunteers under the direction of Chris Schnabel and Janis Batewell, in giving out approximately 75 boxes of food to families in the Suffern area. In addition to a turkey, each box contained an assortment of staples including cereals, soups, vegetables, rice, coffee/tea, and desserts. Generous donations from the community as well as the Crotty Foundation and the Ancient Order of Hibernians helped make the food drive a success. That same day the Vincent Linguanti chapter of the Sons of Italy also distributed bags of food to families in need, using the parking lot of Tagaste Monastery to coordinate their annual food distribution project.


                Food project: Fr. John Gruben (l) joins members of the Vincent de Paul Society and
                C.C.D. students on the parking lot of Sacred Heart Church on November 21, 2020

Thanksgiving Day, 2020. Fr. Michael Rafferty, assisted by Frs. John Gruben and Eric Crelencia, celebrated Thanksgiving Day Mass at 9:00 AM on November 26 with a fairly good crowd in attendance. Everyone was celebrating very low-key Thanksgiving get-togethers due to the most recent surge of the pandemic. The friars enjoyed a simple take-out dinner (the traditional turkey and sides) among themselves in the rectory. Unfortunately, plans to visit with Fr. John Oldfield later that day had to be postponed due to an ongoing lock-down at St. Joseph Villa where Fr. Jack continues in residence; the community stays in touch with Fr. Jack by phone.

  Thanksgiving Day Mass: Frs. Eric, Michael, and John
  at the conclusion of Mass at Sacred Heart, already
  decorated for the Advent season

Advent begins. On Sunday, November 29, the First Sunday of Advent, the parish held a Christmas wreath sale and succeeded in selling out almost all items, which included classic wreaths, grave blankets and crosses, centerpieces and greeting cards. Later that same afternoon the drawing was held for winners of the annual Sacred Heart Raffle. Prizes were: 1^st Prize--$10,000; 2^nd Prize--$1000; and 3^rd Prize--$500. In a wonderful show of support for the parish, all 250 tickets were sold out one week ahead of the drawing. Congratulations to our winners!


         Advent wreath sale (l to r): Janis Batewell, Larry and Patt Chester, Fr. Michael,
         and Barbara Bernstein

    Raffle drawing: Frs. Michael, John, and Eric join with Sacred Heart parishioners
    in drawing of tickets for prize winners in annual raffle held in the school gymnisium.
    Screen in the background is used  to project the Mass on Sundays for those seated
    in the gym when the church reaches capacity for Covid safety regulations


               Advent Prayer Service:Frs. Eric, Michael, and John stand before a “Jesse Tree”
               candelabra at the conclusion of the service at Sacred Heart Church, Dec. 10

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”. The parish held a prayer service on the evening of December 10 consisting of 15 Old and New Testament readings, unfolding Salvation History and pointing to the coming Messiah. The readings, proclaimed by the friars and lay readers, were interspersed with traditional Advent hymns and periods for silent reflection. Although the number of attendees was fairly limited, the service was live-streamed and a number of parishions watching from home phoned in to express appreciation for the broadcast. The candelabra was one of the many wonderful constructions of Br. Joseph Joly, OAR (+2014) for Tagaste Monastery. Marcy, O’Brien, SAR, painted the images on each of the plaques corresponding to the readings.



Guadalupe Blessing. Fr. Michael Rafferty blesses children and their
parents attending the evening liturgy honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe
at Sacred Heart on December 11

Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe. A Vigil Mass was held on December 11 at Sacred Heart to honor the Patroness of the Americas. For safety sake, singing, which was conducted by several choir members from the balcony, was restrained but nevertheless lively. Fr. Michael was the main celebrant assisted by Frs. John and Eric. The following morning, the day of the Feast, Las Mañanitas was held in the gymnisium with a new image of Guadalupe in illuminated stained glass donated to the community through the kindness of St. Zita’s Villa in Monsey, New York.

Safety First! We are grateful to our parish community for continuing to carefully follow Covid safety guidelines of the State and the Archdiocese at a time of increasing virus infection in Rockland County and New York State in general. Since reopening in May, Sacred Heart has restricted seating to 25% of the church’s capacity with additional seating in the school gymnisium. Continued vigilence, however, is absolutely necessary during the days ahead. We continue our prayers for all those who are sick and all our parishioners who have died during 2020.
SAR and Guild activities. We come to the conclusion of 2020 without the customary end-of-the-year SAR and Guild celebrations. Our hope and prayer is that sometime in the New Year, 2021, we will be able to return to those get-togethers which build and celebrate our Augustinian Recollect family. A reminder to check our parish website: www.sacredheartparish.org for activities during the pre-Christmas and Christmas seasons as well as the schedule for Masses and Confessions. Note especially that Sacred Heart will join with the Archdiocese in holding a day of reconciliation on Monday, December 21, with Confessions from 4-8 PM.

Christmas greetings to all the members of the Order and our Province of St. Nicholas of Tolentine, especially during this 400 Year Anniversary celebration, as well as to the friends and benefactors of Tagaste Monastery and Sacred Heart Parish!

Into Eternal Life: Please pray for Fr. José Luis Garayoa Alonso, OAR, (68) of the US Vicariate, stationed in the community of Santo Ángel, and pastor of the parish of The Little Flower, El Paso, Texas, who died of the Covid virus on November 24, 2020.   


                                                Gaudete Sunday at Sacred Heart Church

Fr. John Gruben, OAR, prior
Theresa Giampaglia, SAR president
Connie Montanye, Guild president