The crowds asked John the Baptist, “What should we do?” This week in the Gospel we meet John the Baptist once more. His followers ask three times: “What should we do?” Each answer is a window into what Jesus (who will soon begin his own ministry of preaching the Kingdom of God) will ask of His disciples. Here are John’s answers translated into the expectations of Jesus: True believers in Jesus are willing to downsize and then give freely to take care of others. True followers of Jesus conduct all their business (and their living) honestly and without giving into

As we move quickly toward Christmas, I am pleased to offer an update on the Kosenko Family whom we sponsored at the beginning of the war in Ukraine. In addition, I want to invite you to hear a progress report on our parish building and renovation project. As the bombs were dropping in Ukraine, our parish family was given the opportunity to assist a family from Ukraine who was seeking respite in the U.S. The Kosenko’s have settled into Stamford and have been thriving thanks to your generosity! Andri and Maria have found gainful employment, and their daughters Varvara and

Advent (a new Church Year) begins this weekend, and I’ve put together some recommendations to have a great Advent and truly prepare for Christmas. The list is inspired by the challenge to fast from our cell phones in order to strengthen relationships, wait in silence for Christ to enter our hearts, and reduce distractions from good prayer. 1. Make more room for Christ in your busy life. Create space in your heart for receiving the wonder of the Incarnation (God breaking into the world). Fast from what keeps you from prayer. Put your phone aside for a pre-determined amount of

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus says this to Pilate: “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Jesus walked this earth to speak the truth about the one true God and teach the world a way of living in truth. His kingship is more about serving, and he died because he wouldn’t waver from the truth. So, if Christ is King, then we are subjects to truth and love. This is the stuff of

As we move toward the end of the liturgical year, our attention is turned to the “end times;” that moment when Jesus will come back and take us to Himself. The scene as it is described in this Sunday’s Gospel is surreal and terrifying: “In those days after that tribulation the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” But the outcome is glorious: “And then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in the clouds’ with

Monday, November 11 marks the 106th Anniversary of Armistice Day, the end of World War I. Now known as “Veterans Day”, it is a moment to remember those who served to preserve freedom, and take the time to give thanks to God for their service and the sacrifice of their lives. We are thankful also to our brothers and sisters who serve today to protect us and enable us to enjoy the many blessings we have as a nation. Our grateful prayers can be inspired by the story in today’s Gospel of the widow who gave everything she had to

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus quotes the first reading: Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Jesus adds love-of-neighbor to the formula, and the result is a prophetic message that summarizes right living with God and humanity. To say it another way, if we love God with our entire being, we are in relationship with the One who loved us into creation and loved us through every good and bad choice. Such an understanding

The month of October is dedicated to The Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. The Rosary is a truly wonderful way to pray. Each prayer, every bead draws us deeper into the mysteries of our faith – the moments where God was at work through the life of His Son, Jesus, and Mary, His mother. I’ve always considered the Rosary to be the perfect prayer because it has it all – a statement of what we believe (the Apostles Creed), the prayer Jesus taught his disciples (Our Father), a prayer of praise (the

Lenny and Liza Paglialunga have been longtime faithful Saint Aloysius parishioners, but on Saturday October 19 at St. Augustine Cathedral, Bishop Caggiano will award them the Saint Augustine Medal for Service for their years of volunteer work at St. Aloysius. Time after time, ask after ask, Lenny and Liza have said an enthusiastic “yes” when their parish needed them to help. They have generously given of their time and talent in so many of our ministries including youth ministry, parish finance, religious education, and special needs ministry. Thank you, Lenny and Liza, for your inspiring energy, your faithful service, and

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, “You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. I am struck each time I read the parable of the rich young man at how attentive Jesus is to this soul who walks away sad because “he had many possessions”: “Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, ‘You are lacking in one thing.’”

I’ve been thinking and praying a lot about our world and how much of our world is at war. As I watched footage of the missiles soaring the night skies in the lands where Jesus walked the earth, I was profoundly saddened. My thoughts raced: so many innocent lives lost, so many young people who dreamed of a bright future living in fear, so many without a place to safely lay their head at night, so many anxious souls wondering about tomorrow. Then I thought about our brothers and sisters in Ukraine whose tragedies seem to be overshadowed by the

On Sunday I will travel up to northern Connecticut to celebrate the Jubilee Mass for New Canaan-born Sister Lorraine Tiani and several other sisters. Sister Lorraine is a religious Sister of Notre Dame de Namur who has served the Church as a sister for 50 years! Her story has its roots in Saint Aloysius parish and school, and I am delighted to share her story in this week’s column. Sister Lorraine Tiani, SNDdeN was born and raised in New Canaan, Connecticut, where she grew up in a large extended Italian family that nurtured her values of service and community. She

Taking a child, he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it, he said to them, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.” ~ Mark9:37 As we mourn the death of Elliott Knopf, the Lord challenges us this weekend with life-giving words that might be summarized this way: “Welcome children with love and you are welcoming me.” When a young person dies we are rattled with an almost incessant “Why?” A fair question, but our faith helps us to

We begin another pastoral year at Saint Aloysius, and each of our many ministries extends an invitation to everyone. Every section of our weekly bulletin offers an opportunity to learn more about God and Christ and the history of salvation, to support one another in moments of challenge and grief, to encounter Christ in an Emmaus Retreat, to live married life with Christ at the center, to draw closer to Christ through Mary, to feed the hungry, to create hospitality for friends and strangers, to pray and work for the protection of life from conception to natural death, and to

Then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” — And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly. He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. Did you ever wonder why Jesus often told those who witnessed his miracles not to tell anyone what they saw? This Sunday’s Gospel contains one of those moments. The deaf and mute man’s hearing is restored and his speech is clear because Jesus cured him. But

When I was a child, we had a little step stool that was placed under the bathroom sink so that we could wash our hands without having to be lifted up by Mom or Dad. The step stool had a painting of a carousel and below the carousel image there was an inscription that read: “Wash hands and face and do it well when you step on this carousel.” The fact that I can remember that sixty years after I first stepped on that step stool indicates that hand-washing was a daily ritual in my earliest years. Ritual and tradition

I would like to thank you all for welcoming me into your community at St. Aloysius. I have felt the support through the many interactions I have on a daily basis with parishioners. I have been able to share my story with some of you but my hope is to share a few more details of how I began my journey to seminary and what my experience has been like thus far. Before entering the seminary, I was a theology teacher at St. Joseph High School in Trumbull. I am an alum of the school, so it was a blessing

The feast of our patron saint is June 21. I thought it would be a good idea to tell his story one more time. Saint Aloysius, pray for us! –Msgr. Rob The Lord can make saints anywhere, even amid the brutality and license of Renaissance life. Florence was the “mother of piety” for Aloysius Gonzaga despite his exposure to a “society of fraud, dagger, poison, and lust.” As a son of a princely family, he grew up in royal courts and army camps. His father wanted Aloysius to be a military hero. At age 7 Aloysius experienced a profound spiritual

SAINT ALOYSIUS We Stand with Christ Campaign Thank you for your support! Dear Friends, My column this week is a thank you to the many of you who have contributed to the Saint Aloysius Building Campaign and an invitation to those who have not yet committed to helping to create a more vibrant parish life. This list of donors is presented with tremendous gratitude for sacrificial gifts. May their generosity inspire you to yours. Please Click Here to see the complete list of donors.

Msgr. Rob is away this week, so our “guest” columnist is Fr. John Foley, S.J. The Gospel for this 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time can be puzzling. For instance: Jesus is preaching, but his “relatives” come to “seize” him because “he is out of his mind.”(Mark 3:21) Picture it. Who are these relatives? They seem to be identified as “his mother and his brothers”! This raises the question whether Jesus actually had brothers and sisters, and whether they, and Mary, the blessed mother, think that he is crazy! First, did Jesus actually have brothers and sisters in our present-day sense?