Support members of our Music Ministry: Cathedral Performance of Beethoven's Mass in C Minor 4/28 at 8pm

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Come support members of the STA Music Ministry as they join 70 other singers from parishes all over the Archdiocese for The Archdiocesan Choral Festival with New Jersey Symphony.

They will be singing the Mass in C Major by Ludwig van Beethoven in the beautiful Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark.

The concert is on Friday, April 28th at 8pm. Doors open at 7pm. Parking and security available. Free-will Offering.

Get your tickets for the 300 Club Now! Less than 100 remaining!

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UPDATE: Fewer than 100 tickets remain!

St. Thomas the Apostle Parish presents: 300 Club!

St. Thomas the Apostle and your Finance Council invite you and your friends to participate in our raffle. You will find that this raffle is better than State Lotteries, Casino Slots, or Bingo.

Here is how it works:

  • ONLY 300 TICKETS WILL BE SOLD!!!

  • Prizes are as follows:

    • First Prize is $ 10,500.00 or 35% of tickets sold

    • Second Prize is $ 3,000.00 or 10% of tickets sold

    • Third Prize is $ 1,500.00 or 5% of tickets sold

  • The Raffle will be held on Thursday May 25, 2023 (winners need not be present)

  • Click the button below to download the form with full instructions.

Reserve your tickets now!

Can you take photos and videos for STA Church?

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The Communications Committee is seeking individuals who can help create visual content for STA's online presence by taking photos and videos of church events and parish life!

Individuals should be available to commit to attending church events as they are able to take photos and videos, and are ideally a hobbyist or professional photographer. They must be comfortable interacting with people to obtain consent forms as needed, and digitally sharing photos and videos. Light photo editing skills are helpful.

Please email the Communications Committee at communications@stachurchbloomfield.org if you are interested.

Marriage Anniversary Mass Saturday, May 20th (Calling all married couples celebrating a milestone year!)

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Are you celebrating a marriage anniversary milestone this year (1, 5, 10, 25, 40, 50+ years of marriage)?

We would love to help you celebrate your marriage milestone with a special Marriage Anniversary Mass here at St Thomas the Apostle Church on Saturday, May 20th at 5pm. The Anniversary Mass is a special way in which the Church can continue to honor sacramental unions and celebrate couples on their special milestone.

Please email patrice.maher@stachurchbloomfield.org or contact the Parish Center at (973) 338-9190 x135 if you would like to be part of this special celebration by May 15th, 2023.

Deacon Tom's Homily for Sunday, April 16th - The Second Sunday of Easter

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IMAGINE THAT ST. THOMAS THE Apostle is speaking to us here this morning. “Hi, Everybody. Everybody good? Nice Church!

IN TODAY’S GOSPEL, I’M CALLED “Didymus” which means “twin” in Greek, because I do have a twin. Each one of you here today is my twin!

I’VE BEEN TOLD YOU HAVE THREE questions for me. First, on that first Easter Sunday evening, why wasn’t I there in that locked room with the other Apostles? Second, why didn’t I believe what the others told me about that evening? And, third, what was it like to put my fingers into Jesus’ nail marks and into His side?

WELL, FIRST OF ALL, THE REASON I wasn’t in the upper room with the others was because everything I believed in, everything I gave myself to had collapsed! My Beloved Leader had just been arrested and horribly crucified! How could God allow this man who showed only compassion and forgiveness, who taught only kindness, how could God let Him be brutally executed as a common criminal?

I WAS DEVASTATED, COMPLETELY overwhelmed. I just had to be alone.

TO ANSWER YOUR SECOND question, when the other Apostles told me that Jesus had appeared to them that first Easter evening, it was just too much to be believed! Impossible! No one had ever come back from the dead! Were they out of their minds? I refused to believe it unless I saw it with my own two eyes! But, deep down, a part of me was hoping beyond hope that it was really true!

AS FOR THE EXPERIENCE OF placing my finger into Jesus’ wounds, each of you will one day have this same experience when you first enter heaven. You will see the Risen Jesus standing there in front of you, dressed in a long white garment, His Glorified Body aglow. His voice is surprisingly familiar as He says: “Peace be with you.” You feel His Peace entering your heart, just as I did, filling you with His Gentleness, warming you, calming you, healing you. His Hands reach out to you and you see His Glorious Wounds.

BUT IT’S WHEN YOU LOOK INTO His eyes, my twin, then you will finally understand everything. You too will see God there. This changes everything! As you fall to your knees, these words will come rushing out of your mouth, just as they did out of mine, “My Lord and My God!”

RCIA Blog: Enlightenment and Illuminations

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Enlightenment and Illuminations are words that describe the weeks before Easter in the RCIA process. Easter is the culmination of our enlightenment. They are ancient in their use and meaning. They convey the power in the sacramental life of the Church and acceptance of Jesus Christ as redeemer. It is no accident that the historical period ushered in with the scientific revolution and renaissance was labeled the ‘Enlightenment’. The sacramental term, enlightenment means the power of the light of Christ entering our body and soul. It conforms us to Christ. The historical period, ‘Enlightenment’, had both revolutionary ideas and great beneficial impact on all lives that followed, but did not enlighten the soul. That ‘Enlightenment’ preferred to distance us from the personal and loving God who Jesus preached.

We cannot ignore the amazing progress made during and after the historical period called the ‘Enlightenment’. We all benefit everyday by the inventions and sciences championed then. What we can do is to discern what evils it propelled forward once the Medieval mindset was found lacking in the face of scientific discoveries. The medieval mindset was generally unanimous, that is, generally accepted throughout Christendom, and was hierarchical. God at the very top and man at the near bottom. In a sense our only true path was up. It was believed as a physical reality as well as a metaphysical one. The thinkers and writers of the ‘Enlightenment’ showed clearly that it in no way did the Medieval worldview represent nature’s reality. What followed was the aggressive dismissal of all Medieval understanding of the world and our place in it. The metaphysical reality reflecting what Jesus taught of the true order of the universe, was dismissed as not scientific and therefore not true.

This is an over simplification but useful. The tactic used successfully by ‘Enlightenment’ writers, still used today, is to falsely equate unequal things as if they were equal.

False Equivalence works by emotional persuasion, plays on feelings and lacks logical rigor. That is why it is successful and will always be in play. It is very widely used in politics and by every political activist. It is helpful to recognize it and then see it for what it is: a tactic.

Some examples of False Equivalents:

  • Christians believe in an invisible soul. Science believes in observed reality. Therefore, Christians don’t believe in reality. Taken another step, If you are a believing Christian, you cannot believe in the truth of scientific findings.

  • Women deserve a safe method of healthcare. Abortion is women’s healthcare. Therefore, Anti-abortion advocates are against safe healthcare for women. Then next step, Anti-abortion advocates are anti-women.

  • The Catholic Church refuses to accept the reality of gender identity independent of physicality. Failure to accept gender fluid people is hate based ignorance. Therefore, the Catholic Church is an international hated based organization.

Each of these popular statements are False Equivalents because:

  • They draw false conclusions by carefully omitting information.

  • They are used to provoke emotional response.

  • They do not bear up under scrutiny but they provide quick and easy arguments that appeal to people on an emotional level.

  • They are very powerful and sow confusion in the faithful.

It is no wonder Jesus prepared his disciples to face such seeds of lies and confusion.

“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.” (Matt 10:16).

God bless and Happy Easter!

Frank Miller