Entries for April 2020

We have begun an online prayer list for Frontline Responders and Essential Workers.  If you or your family member is an Essential Worker who would like to be included in this list, please send your/their name and occupation to Cindy.StThomas@live.com.  If you would like, you might also send a picture of yourself at work (or elsewhere) so that we can put a face with your name - but this is not required.  To view the list, click here.  We thank you and pray for your good health and safety as you continue your important work during these challenging days.

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Msgr. Maniscalco offers Mass for all those in our community who have died since the parish has not been able to celebrate funeral Masses. The Mass will be on our website starting Thursday, April 30 at 10:00AM. Please view the Mass then and pray for those we will remember by name and also those whose names we do not yet know.  The Mass  will remain on our website and in our video archive for viewing at other times as well. 

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During these days when so many parishioners are isolated at home, the parish staff has been reaching out by phone to offer an opportunity to touch base and chat.  If you would like to receive a Tuesday phone call from a parish staff member, leave a message with your name and phone number at the Rectory Office (516-489-8585).

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If your loved one has passed, please accept our sincerest condolences and contact the Rectory at 516-489-8585 with their information. We will put your loved one's name on our Memorial web page (click here), and Irene Peplinski, our Director of Human Services, will reach out to you and your family to offer grief support.   Due to the pandemic, funeral Masses have not been permitted. However, we wish to help our families that have lost a loved one by offering a Memorial Mass at a later date.    In addition, our priest can bless the coffin en route to the&...

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If you need Mass Cards, call the Rectory Office at 516-489-8585 and we can make arrangements to mail for you.  Leave your name and phone number and you will get a return call. To learn about other opportunities for remembrance at St. Thomas the Apostle such as Purgatorial Society memberships, bell ringing dedications and the Memorial Garden, click here.

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Catholic Health Services of Long Island is currently hiring at all of its facilities.  For information about these career opportunities - along with links to other useful resources from Catholic Health Services concerning your physical, mental, and spiritual well-being during the COVID-19 crisis - click here.

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As you know, due to the pandemic our pantry has been closed.  We are still helping our families in need by mailing them supermarket gift cards.  They are, also, referred to Island Harvest for food.  If you wish to donate, supermarket or fast food gift cards can be dropped into the Rectory door mail slot.  This will help us to continue mailing gift cards to our families in need.  Food or monetary donations to Island Harvest (click here) would also be extremely helpful...thank you for your support and generosity during this difficult time.   Stay safe, stay healthy and pray!...

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Spring is such a happy time in our parish as our young people complete their initiation into the Christian community with the Sacrament of Confirmation and other young people continue it by receiving First Holy Communion.   Before calamity struck, I was able to celebrate special Masses for you, the candidates for both sacraments. At those Masses we looked forward to these happy celebrations and how each sacrament brought us closer to Jesus and strengthened us to follow his example.   Unfortunately, very soon after the Mass for our Confirmation candidates, the COVID-19 crisis postponed Confirmation whi...

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“Sometimes in our lives We feel a great deal of pain Because we lose someone special...” ~Amber Carrico Our Spring Bereavement Program was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, April 28.  Due to the impact of COVID-19 we regret we are unable to provide the Spring program this year.  Our Facilitators mourn the loss of your loved ones with you and are keeping you, your loved ones, and your families in their prayers.  The Team is planning a program to gather together, remember those who have died, and share resources.  Details will be posted in the church and on the St. Thomas the Apostle...

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The liturgies of the Sacred Triduum will be available on the St. Thomas the Apostle Parish website according to the following schedule:   Holy Thursday (April 9) Morning Prayer: 10:00AM Mass of the Lord's Supper: 9:00PM   Good Friday (April 10) Morning Prayer: 10:00AM Celebration of the Passion and Death of the Lord: 7:00PM   Holy Saturday (April 11) Morning Prayer: 10:00AM   Easter Sunday (April 12) Easter Mass: 10:00AM

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This is Monsignor Frank Maniscalco. In the past I have called you during Holy Week to invite you to our church's most beautiful and important celebrations. It is with the greatest regret I am not able to do so this year due to the COVID-19 crisis. But we can still be united in spirit and through the media which we hope have been bringing our services into your homes and will continue to do so. We have prepared celebrations of morning prayer for the next three days and are planning services for Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. In the midst of financial hardship hitting so many of you so severely I w...

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With the current health crisis affecting so many of our parishioners we thank all those who are keeping up their support. For all those who are not able to do so, our prayers are with you that you will be restored to fiscal health as our nation recovers its physical health.   Faith Direct offers a safe and secure means of supporting our parish.  For those who do not use Faith Direct, our Diocese has developed its own Text to Give Program.    Here’s how it’s done: Text keyword 063parishstthomas to (516) 271-3338   Anyone with a mobile phone with the ability to text c...

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To assist the Faithful who may be struggling during this crisis, Bishop Barres has issued a general dispensation from the law of abstinence (refraining from eating meat) for Good Friday 2020.  All are reminded however, that Good Friday remains a day of fasting and penance.

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Pastors have received the following instruction from the Diocese: "Do not plan to distribute Palms or make them available. There is no way to safely do this and guarantee that crowds will not form or that the virus will not be passed on amidst the palms. If possible, hold the blessed palms for possible distribution after the crisis has ended." In this parish we have canceled our order of palm. We plan if possible to bless palm and distribute it in September in connection with the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.  

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