Dear Parishioners, 

Our liturgical calendar gives us a beautiful feast on September 8 – the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the birthday of Mary, the Mother of God. This year, at St. Valentine, we will celebrate this special feast together on Saturday, September 12, beginning with a procession at 5:00 p.m., followed by Holy Mass at 5:30 p.m. After Mass, we will gather for fellowship in the school gymnasium.

I warmly invite every one of you to join us for this beautiful celebration.

During the procession, we will carry a statue of the Blessed Mother. I invite each person to bring a flower, preferably from your own garden, as a simple and loving gift to Mary. During the celebration, everyone will have an opportunity to offer the flower to our Blessed Mother. What a beautiful way to express our love, gratitude, and devotion to the Mother who gave us Jesus!

As many of you know, I have celebrated this special feast wherever I have served as a priest, both here in the United States, Cayman Islands and in India. In India, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated with great solemnity. It is a solemn feast, and the celebration traditionally begins with a nine-day novena in honor of Mary, leading up to a grand celebration of the Mass on her feast day.

For me, this feast is more than simply a date on the calendar. It is a special opportunity to thank God for the gift of Mary in our lives. Through Mary, God gave us His Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. We have received so much through her loving example, her prayers, and her intercession.

I have personally experienced Mary’s intercession in a very profound way. While I was serving in Kumta, India, in 2021, I prayed earnestly for Mary’s intercession in a situation involving deadly cancer, and I came to believe deeply that Jesus granted a healing through her prayers. This experience strengthened my trust in Mary’s powerful intercession. I am sure that many of you also have your own stories of prayers answered and favors received through the intercession of our Blessed Mother.

We have invited our Family of Parishes to join us, and we are expecting many people to come together for this joyful celebration. Let us make it a truly beautiful parish celebration – a time of prayer, gratitude, faith, and fellowship.

So, with all my heart, I invite you: please come and celebrate with us! Arrive by 5:00 p.m., bringing a flower for Mary. Come with an open heart and a spirit of prayer. And please plan to stay after Mass for our fellowship and reception in the school gymnasium.

Let us honor Mary together and ask her to lead us ever closer to her Son, Jesus.

Happy Birthday, Blessed Mother! Pray for us and for our parish!

In Honor of Blessed Virgin Mother,

Fr. Theo Dcunha SAC

I am deeply touched by the overwhelming love and support you have showered on me through prayers, gifts, cards and kind words. The stack of cards on my desk is a testament to your thoughtfulness. I may not be able to respond immediately but please know that each card specially chosen with a special message is cherished very much.

Thank you also for taking part in the Eucharistic celebration on June 7^th and for the surprise party. I know all of you could not be part of it because of the number. But as you all know, every party needs to have a number to have things prepared from seating arrangements to dinner plans. I know it was a huge undertaking but everything was well arranged and well organized.

 I don’t know where to begin and whom to thank. But I know it was the Alexander’s who started the ball rolling and then many joined hands and I heard the whole community came together with plans on how to prepare and feed the crowd with no cost to the parish. Everyone contributed with the little you had and the multitude went home satisfied and still there were left overs. Just like the miracle of the loaves and fish. Besides all that donations that came in, I want to mention a special thanks to the Men’s Club and Women’s Club members; they supported this party in a big way, so thank you to all.

   I know there was a big attendance of clergy which was surprising but it was Lisa who gathered all the contact information from Fr. Henry and sent personal invitations. Even to my friends that came from New York it was Lisa who invited them. Thank God I had no prior engagements on the date the party was planned so secretly and I am glad I could be part of it.

From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of my family who enjoyed the shared memories through photos, I extend a heartfelt thank you. It was a celebration that will be remembered for many years. If plans are in motion for my 50th, please inform me of the date so I can mark it on my calendar and look forward to celebrating with you all once again. May the Lord Bless us all, now and forever.

Muchas Gracias,

Fr. Socorro

We thank Fr. Caetano for being here with us for the last 8 months and serving us wholeheartedly.  We thank him for his joyful attitude in his priestly ministry. He did all that he could by celebrating masses, preaching, doing the sacraments and he gave it his all! We wish him many blessings as he takes up another responsibility as a parish priest in Goa so that he could be closer to help out his mother during her time of illness. Father, we hope your ministry here, even though it was a short time, was a fruitful one for you and we hope that you can take something from this country and serve the people in Goa in a new way. 

 Be assured of our prayers and don’t forget the days you spent here with us. God bless you!

As part of the Archdiocesan Missionary Cooperation Plan, Reverend Peter Osuji, CSSp, will visit St. Valentine on September 23-24, 2023 to speak about the missionary work of the Church and in particular that of the Spiritans (Officially Congregation of the Holy Spirit). To learn more about the Spiritans, please visit their website at www.spiritans.org

This visit is part of a national program in which annually a representative of one of the missionary groups visits parishes of the Archdiocese to invite parishioners to share in the mission work of the universal Church. The Spiritans are an international community engaged in a wide range of missionary activity in over 60 countries throughout the world. This weekend’s missionary, Fr. Peter, is a missionary priest from Nigeria.

When Jesus said: “You shall witness to me in Jerusalem and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth,” He made the spread of the gospel an essential party of our Catholic life.

1. Be thankful for God’s blessings. Keep a gratitude journal.

2. Develop small, daily, life-giving habits.

3. Ponder a little bit of Scripture each day.

4. Stay close to the sacramental life of the Church.

5. Don’t feed your mind with junk food. Be discerning about what you read, view.

6. Stay focused on persons not things; on Jesus, not religious ideology.

7. Raise your children according to God’s teachings of love.