Faith Formation Registration and Classes

After prayerful consideration, St. Thomas Parish has decided to offer Faith Formation for the Fall Semester as an “at home” experience. We do this with great sadness, as we believe that in-person classes offer many benefits. However, a major concern of the parish is the health and safety of our students and catechists. We hope that we will be able to offer in-person classes next semester. St. Thomas will provide materials for home study that are grade appropriate. The materials will be from Pflaum Publishing.

• St. Thomas will provide hard copies of the materials as well as the opportunity to access the materials on-line.
• The details of the hard copy distribution are still in progress.
• Registration is still required. Registration is available on-line or by telephone. There will not be any in-person registration. Registration forms are available in English and in Spanish on the parish website.
• Telephone calls are welcome to the Parish Office during regular business hours.
• There will not be any fees for Faith Formation this semester.

We appreciate your understanding of this decision. The Coronavirus Pandemic is a very serious health concern, and a top priority of the parish in this regard is the safety and health of all concerned.

Blessings,

Fr. Ray

Registro y Clases de Formación de Fe

Después de la consideración orante, la Parroquia de Santo Tomás ha decidido ofrecer la Formación de Fe para el Semestre de Otoño como una experiencia “en casa”. Hacemos esto con gran tristeza, ya que creemos que las clases presenciales ofrecen muchos beneficios. Sin embargo, una de las principales preocupaciones de la parroquia es la salud y la seguridad de nuestros estudiantes y catequistas. Esperamos poder ofrecer clases presenciales el próximo semestre. Santo Tomás proporcionará materiales para el estudio en el hogar que sean apropiados para el grado. Los materiales serán de Pflaum Publishing.

• Santo Tomás proporcionará copias impresas de los materiales, así como la oportunidad de acceder a los materiales en línea.
• Los detalles de la distribución de copia impresa todavía están en curso. El registro sigue siendo obligatorio.
• El registro está disponible en línea o por teléfono. No habrá ningún registro en persona. Los formularios de inscripción están disponibles en inglés y en español en el sitio web de la parroquia.
• Las llamadas telefónicas son bienvenidas a la Oficina Parroquial durante el horario comercial regular.
• No habrá ningún cargo por la Formación de Fe este semestre.

Agradecemos su comprensión de esta decisión. La pandemia de coronavirus es un problema de salud muy grave, y una prioridad de la parroquia en este sentido es la seguridad y la salud de todos los interesados.

Bendiciones,

Padre Ray

Special Announcements

Sympathy

St. Thomas Parish offers our sympathy to Mary Reid Howard on the death of her mother Edith Merle Reid. .  May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. 

Letter from Father Ray 

April 8, 2021

Dear Parishioners,

Thank you for your kindness in following the directives of the parish for Church attendance during the time of this pandemic. We are grateful for your cooperation.

We are still dealing with the pandemic, but there has been much progress.  Many people have received their vaccinations, and the number of COVID-19 cases has declined in our area.  We are blest that many people are now comfortable with a return to in-person worship. 

With this return to in-person worship, we are experiencing the challenge of accommodating the number of people who seek to worship with us each weekend.  Thus, Bishop Raica has issued a decree permitting the modification of parish safety measures due to COVID-19. This decree grants permission to remove the ropes that cordon off pews in up to half of the available seating area.

Thus, St. Thomas will offer normal seating in half of the church and seating in alternate pews in the other half of the church.  This change will begin on Wednesday, April 14.  The pews closest to the entrance of the church will offer seating in alternate rows.  The pews beyond the middle aisle will offer seating in every pew.

We will continue to offer the opportunity for worship from the courtyard on Sunday mornings, and we will continue to live-stream the Mass on Saturday evenings.  The     Saturday Evening Mass will be placed on the parish website on Sunday.

We will continue to require face masks for the attendance at Mass, and we will seek to social distance as much as possible.

We have begun to sing a final hymn after the final blessing.  We would ask you to remain in church for the singing of this hymn.

Again, thank you for your cooperation during this difficult time.

Blessings,

Father Ray

Safe Environment 2020-2021

In this time of transition, while we are adopting new safe environment training materials for minors, it has been decided that the deadline for returning report forms be moved to Monday, February 1, 2021.  It is our hope this will be good for our students who will receive training earlier, and should help leaders to get the information turned in to our office without too many reminders.  This will also help our offices collect this information earlier for the diocesan audit.  The link to the safe environment information on the ORE website is below https://bhmciorg.wixsite.com/bhm-ore/safe-environment.