St. Elizabeth & St. Brigid Parish

Confessions:

Saturday  3:30 PM - 4:15 PM 

          St. Brigid Parish Library (located in the Parish Center) or on the St. Brigid Church plaza (weather permitting) and by mutual arrangement.

Saturday Vigil Mass:  4:30 PM - St Brigid Church 

with live streaming via website 

Sunday Mass:  7:30 AM- St. Brigid Church
                           9:30 AM - St. Brigid Church 
                          11:30 AM - St. Brigid Church

Sunday 10:30 AM Distribution of Holy Communion:

St. Brigid Church by St. Anthony of Padua near the brook.    (Remember to wear face masks and put your car in PARK when receiving Holy Communion).  Weather Permitting.

Daily Mass Schedule:
Monday-Friday
9 AM St. Brigid Church, Peapack

PLEASE NOTE

If you feel sick or are aware that you are positive for the COVID 19 virus, please stay home and do not come to church. For those who are elderly or those with other health conditions, you may also choose to remain at home and watch the Mass on our website www.sainteb.org or on television (EWTN).

Please note that admittance to Mass will be based on a “first-come, first serve” basis and ALL are expected to wear personal face masks upon entering the church. 

Please bring sanitizers to use for your personal space in the church.

Once you have arrived at your seat, please use personal discretion to distance yourself from others safely about 6 feet in every direction.  Take note of designated sitting areas.  Of course, this “distancing” does not apply to family members or those who accompanied you to church. 

Missalettes and Hymnals have been removed as per Diocesan regulations to avoid multiple people touching the same book.  There will be disposable worship aids with the readings available in the back of Church.  Please discard after use. 

It is also suggested that the congregation not sing so as to minimize the amount of breath/saliva expelled while in church. 

Holy Communion will be distributed immediately following Mass.  As you approach the sanctuary for Holy Communion, please allow 6 feet between yourself and the person in front of you. As you come up the aisle and arrive at the Communion station, please remove your mask when you are next to receive.  When the host is placed on the palm of your hand and you receive Our Lord in Holy Communion, please place your mask back on.  You may then leave the church in silence.

Until further notice, Altar Servers will not serve Mass. Hopefully their role will be restored soon.

If you wish to chat with friends and fellow parishioners, kindly make your way out of the church and speak outdoors.  

Other miscellaneous directives will be added as necessary. Please pay attention to bulletin announcements as well as information sent via e-mails and on our parish website at www.sainteb.org.

Thank you,

Monsignor Puleo

No Greater Love, You Will Experience the Unconditional Love Christ Has for You
No Greater Love is a biblical pilgrimage that reveals Christ’s amazing love for us. Best-selling author Edward Sri guides you through the last hours of Christ’s life. Every step of the way, Old Testament prophecies, messianic expectations, biblical symbolism, and historical context shed light on the mystery of Christ’s suffering and death. Experience a deeper understanding and appreciation of God’s immeasurable and unconditional love for you—grow closer to Jesus than you ever have before. 
In No Greater Love, You Will Experience the Unconditional Love Christ Has for You We often hear about Jesus’ passion and death, but imagine experiencing them for the very first time. In No Greater Love: A Biblical Walk Through Christ’s Passion, we are going to walk step-by-step with Jesus on his journey from his agony in the garden to his crucifixion on Calvary. Along the way, we will unpack the biblical background to these events, the prophecies, and most especially, the ways Jesus is inviting us to walk more closely with him today. No Greater Love is a five-part Bible study program that will meet every Tuesday in March from 7 PM to 8:30 PM beginning Tuesday March 2, 2021.  For more information contact Sister Paulina Navarro at reledoffice@sainteb.org, or call at (215) 397-0320. To register please fill out the registration below and return to the Parish Office by February 15, 2021. 
Cost:  $25 for the workbook which includes online access for one year. Scholarships available for those in need of financial assistance. Due to social distancing, we will only be allowing 10 people to meet in person, the rest may join remotely via Google Meet.
Participant Information:
Name:                                                                                             

Address:                                                                                         

City:                                                                                                

State:                                       Zip:                                                 

Email:                                                                                              
 

Year of Saint Joseph Prayer

Dear Saint Joseph,
guardian of the Holy Family,
watch over our human family.
With Mary, our heavenly Mother,
keep us safe in God’s care.

Although divided and distracted,
by many ungodly preoccupations,
including the destruction of precious human life,
we seek a path that leads back to God.

Glorious son of David and just son of God,
protect us as you once protected Mary and Jesus.
Inspire us in ways that will help us
overcome our transgressions.

Rekindle in the souls and arouse in the minds
of all who have turned away from God,
the joy of loving and serving Him;
as you did most perfectly as husband and father
for Mary and Jesus.

As you cooperated with God’s grace
and lived your life virtuously,
enable us to follow your example,
giving of ourselves to God and neighbor,
all the days of our lives.

We ask this through Christ Jesus Our Lord,
Amen.

Imprimatur:           
Most Reverend James F. Checchio, JCD, MBA
Nihil Obstat:         
Reverend John G. Hillier, Ph.D
22 January, 2021
 

Excerpts from:

Statement on the Inauguration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., as 46th President of the United States of America from Most Reverend José H. Gomez, Archbishop of Los Angeles, President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

January 20, 2021

“... as pastors, the nation’s bishops are given the duty of proclaiming the Gospel in all its truth and power, in season and out of season, even when that teaching is inconvenient or when the Gospel’s truths run contrary to the directions of the wider society and culture. So, I must point out that our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender.”

“Our commitments on issues of human sexuality and the family, as with our commitments in every other area — such as abolishing the death penalty or seeking a health care system and economy that truly serves the human person — are guided by Christ’s great commandment to love and to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters, especially the most vulnerable.”

“For the nation’s bishops, the continued injustice of abortion remains the “preeminent priority.” Preeminent does not mean “only.” We have deep concerns about many threats to human life and dignity in our society. But as Pope Francis teaches, we cannot stay silent when nearly a million unborn lives are being cast aside in our country year after year through abortion.”

“Abortion is a direct attack on life that also wounds the woman and undermines the family. It is not only a private matter, it raises troubling and fundamental questions of fraternity, solidarity, and inclusion in the human community. It is also a matter of social justice. We cannot

ignore the reality that abortion rates are much higher among the poor and minorities, and that the procedure is regularly used to eliminate children who would be born with disabilities.”

“Rather than impose further expansions of abortion and contraception, as he has promised, I am hopeful that the new President and his administration will work with the Church and others of good will. My hope is that we can begin a dialogue to address the complicated cultural and economic factors that are driving abortion and discouraging families. My hope, too, is that we can work together to finally put in place a coherent family policy in this country, one that acknowledges the crucial importance of strong marriages and parenting to the well-being of children and the stability of communities.”

Lenten Prayer and Reflection
Wednesday, February 24 in St. Brigid Church, Peapack
Lent: The journey to renew our Baptismal Promises (Thoughts by Michael Himes)
Join St. Monique and Sr. Paulina for Prayer and Reflection from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM in St. Brigid Church.  Limited seating available in Church.  The event will be Live Streamed on our parish website at www.SaintEB.org. 
 

Lenten Prayer With The Sisters of Life
Wednesday, March 17 in St. Brigid Church
Lenten Prayer and Reflection 12:30 PM in St. Brigid Church

Limited seating available in Church.  The event will be Live Streamed on our parish website at www.SaintEB.org. 

 

The Catholic Church believes and teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death. For that reason, we, the Bishops of each of the dioceses in New Jersey, join in voicing the strongest possible opposition to the “Reproductive Freedom Act.”

Without minimizing other serious threats to human life and dignity evident in contemporary American society, the Catholic Church consistently maintains that “the threat of abortion remains our preeminent priority because it directly attacks life itself, because it takes place within the sanctuary of the family, and because of the number of lives destroyed.” (USCCB, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, “Introductory Letter,” 2020).

When informed of the text of the USCCB document early in 2020, Pope Francis observed that the right to life of the unborn “is the most fundamental right. This is not first a religious issue; it is a human rights issue.” (Pope Francis to American Catholic Bishops, USCCB Region IX, January 16, 2020).”

As the Catholic Bishops of New Jersey, we urge all Catholics and people of good will to reject this proposed legislative initiative in our state and to contact your State legislators to vigorously express opposition to its passage.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R. Archbishop, Archdiocese of Newark
Most Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M. Bishop, Diocese of Trenton
Most Reverend Dennis J. Sullivan Bishop, Diocese of Camden
Most Reverend Kevin J. Sweeney Bishop, Diocese of Paterson
Most Reverend James F. Checchio Bishop, Diocese of Metuchen
Most Reverend Kurt Burnette Bishop, Eparchy of Passaic
Most Reverend Yousif Habash Bishop of Our Lady of Deliverance of Syriac Catholic Diocese

October 5, 2020

New Jersey Reproductive Freedom Act (RFA) S3030

Reproductive Freedom Act (RFA) S3030 was introduced in the New Jersey State Senate and has been referred to the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. The Assembly version of the bill is A4848.

If passed, the RFA would codify into New Jersey law the findings of Roe v. Wade, meaning that abortion would remain legal in New Jersey even if the case was overturned by the Supreme Court.  It is unconscionable and perhaps unconstitutional to permanently prohibit future legislatures from amending a radical abortion law. The RFA would also strip safeguards and regulations on the abortion procedure, making New Jersey a more dangerous place for women and their unborn babies.  Specifically, the following are key provisions of this bill:
 

• Establishes that a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under the laws of this state;
• Permits abortion up until birth and partial birth abortion;
• Violates First Amendment provisions for religious freedom by forcing insurance providers,  employers and subscribers to pay for procedures that violate their conscience;
• Eliminates New Jersey’s long standing conscience protection law for healthcare workers that do not want to perform or assist with abortion because doing so would violate their religious beliefs.
• The law also applies to non-New Jersey residents and encourages, by having such funding provisions, the attraction of more human traffickers to New Jersey to force women to have abortions;
• Allows non-physicians such as a physician assistant or certified midwife to conduct abortions and places vulnerable women at even greater risk of physical and mental harm.

For more information, visit:  https://njcatholic.org/reproductive-freedom-act.  To express your immediate opposition to this bill before it moves closer to becoming law, please contact your state legislators now to oppose this measure; here is an email for you to send to your representative(s):

_________________________________________________

Dear (see below*):

As a New Jersey resident, taxpayer and faithful Catholic, I am writing to you, to adamantly oppose Bill numbers S3030/A4848. I believe these bills violate First Amendment provisions for religious freedom and advocate infanticide behind the protective cloak of Roe v Wade rights.  We must protect all human life as God’s children and not support “choice” at the expense of a life!  Please vote against these bills!
Sincerely,
Name

*Legislator representatives by District/location:

Peapack/Gladstone and Bedminster (District 23):
Senator Michael J. Doherty ---email is doherty@senatenj.com
Assemblyman John DiMaio----email is asmdimaio@njleg.org 
Assemblyman Erick Peterson—email is asmpeterson@njleg.org

Far Hills (District 21):
Senator Thomas H. Kean, Jr-email is tomkean@senatenj.com.
Assemblyman Jon M. Bramnick-email is asmbranmick@njleg.org
Assemblywoman Nancy F. Munoz-email is asmmunoz@njleg.org

If your residence is not in the above Districts, you can follow the below links to identify your legislator representatives.  Thank you!

https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/abcroster.asp
https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/municipalities.asp

FOOD DRIVE February 6-7
Benefiting the Somerset County Food Network Food Pantry
Canned and Non Perishable items needed.  Monetary donations accepted.
 

 © Reverend John G. Hillier,  March 10, 2020

Jesus reminds us that there is no greater live than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends; if we do so our joy will be complete. Have you ever considered giving yourself to the service of your sisters and brothers as a priest or religious? If so, call the Vocations Office @ (732) 562-2453 or e-mail us at vocations@diometuchen.org. Or you can visit our website at www.diometuchen.org/vocations. Turn your life over to the Lord today.