St. Rita St. Patrick’s Day Family Affair

Scenes from the St. Rita Church Saint Patrick’s Day Family Affair, sponsored by the St. Rita Knights of Columbus.

Archbishop’s Annual Appeal

The Archbishop’s Annual Appeal supports many important ministries and programs. Your gifts are allocated towards religious education programs, youth ministries, local charities, the education of our seminarians, our retired clergy, and all of the services provided by the Archdiocese. Even this list does not touch upon all the elements of the Appeal. If you have not yet made your gift or pledge, please pray about your decision and consider making a pledge or one-time gift. Join us, your Catholic community, as we share our blessings as we join in Returning the Lords’ Goodness.

St. Rita KofC Free Throw Competition

Watch a video from the first-ever St. Rita Church Knights of Columbus free throw competition.

Fr. Paul’s Farewell Homily and Final Challenge

Watch Fr. Paul Gotta read the Gospel, then give his farewell homily to the parishoners at St. Rita Church as he heads off to his new assignment. He issues one last challenge to his parish family, and even surprises everyone with yet another waffle iron from his mother’s basement.

St. Rita Multicultural Luncheon

A festive, multicultural luncheon was held in the St. Rita Church Donnelly Parish Center to celebrate the diversity of our parish community, featuring ethnic foods, folk music and a fair trade sale of coffee, tea and chocolate from Catholic Relief Services.

Christmas Children’s Mass

Watch the 6pm Children’s Christmas Mass from December 24th, 2009.

“The Ethics and Spirituality of Respecting All Life”

Brian Stiltner is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Sacred Heart University. His teaching and research interests include bioethics, ethics of war and peace, Catholic social ethics, and the role of religion in democratic public life. Brian gives a presentation on the teaching of the Catholic Church regarding love, dignity, ethical and social responsibilities, and the everyday spirituality of saying “yes” to life.

Recorded in the St. Rita DPC on October 22, 2009

“The Power of Giving: Stories of Volunteerism” – Story #8

Sophie Tworkowski, Greg Seaman, and Lois Smith are the leaders of a group of volunteers from the Unitarian Universalist Society in Hamden who have been helping to re-settle a refugee family from Iraq in a co-sponsorship arrangement with Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS). Sophie and her group provided the Iraqi family with a temporary home when they first arrived, found and renovated an apartment, and continue to provide on-going support by providing ESL lessons, childcare, shopping trips, doctor visits, as well as help locating educational and employment opportunities. Sophie states, “This refugee family is no longer a church project, they are truly a family to us now.”

Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network – © 2009

“The Power of Giving: Stories of Volunteerism” – Story #7

Jeff Rich is a 16 year-old sophomore at Stamford High School. While a seemingly typical teenage boy, one year ago he began a teen volunteer program at the Richard L. Rosenthal Hospice Residence (run by Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care of Southwestern CT, Inc.). Jeff’s grandmother had been a resident there when he was 8 years old and the experience of visiting her there had a big impact. For Jeff, the hospice isn’t a place for people to go to die, but for people to live out their final days in dignity. Jeff volunteers there every Sunday and has organized a team of ten other teen volunteers, who undergo training and commit to four hours of service a month. Jeff also volunteers as a weekly playmate for a teen-age autistic boy. Jeff Rich was recently named a 2009 Hero by the American Red Cross of Lower Fairfield County.

Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network – © 2009

“The Power of Giving: Stories of Volunteerism” – Story #6

Brooks Sumberg is a 59 year-old retired businessman from Westport who nine months ago voluntarily created The Connecticut Bike Project. Taking over various church parking lots on weekends in Fairfield County, he single-handedly runs “bike donation drives”, collecting scores of used bicycles, which he trucks to the St. Charles Urban Center run by Catholic Charities in Bridgeport.

There Roberto Sanchez, Director of the Food Pantry, and his two sons, fix and clean up the bikes, pump up the tires, and distribute them for free to men in the predominantly Latino immigrant community, who are in need of transportation to get to work and to find jobs, and to neighborhood children

Brooks experience digging water wells in rural Tunisia as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1972/1973 cemented his commitment to community service. “It’s important to do something that’s bigger than your self,” says Brook, who hopes to expand the bike project to other counties in Connecticut in the coming year.

Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network – © 2009

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