The Christmas flowers and wreaths which adorn our church at Christmas are offered to honor the birth of Christ and to glorify God. Thank you to everyone who donated toward our Christmas decorations.

In Memory of:

Carlina Apolinaris Acevedo
Francisco Castro Astacio
Dennis and Kathy Borecki
Brown Family
Robert Carter
Bertha and Charles Degnan
Deceased members of the Diaz family
Thomas and Theresa Dolan
Mary Dunleavy
James Dunleavy
Michael Dunleavy, Sr.
Anna Dunleavy
Dunleavy Family
Caroline M. Fagan
Deceased members of the Fisco Family
Deceased members of the Foley Byrne and Quirke Walsh Families & Poor Souls of all times
Thomas Aquinas Gilbride
Joan Dorothy Gilbride
Ruth Anne Gilbride
Peter and Ferdynand Hanusek
Edward and Cecila Harlan
Liz Healy
Billy Heuser
Jane R. and Charles Janiak
Lizurej and Kolej Family
Ania Lozowska
Padre Santiago Mallen, CSSR
May Kathleen Mark
Richard Mark
Helen McKeon
Joan Melone
Lafcadio Molina
Rt. Rev. Paul Moore, Jr.
Bill and Morgan
Giti Neuman
George Lee Rexing
Victoria, Owen and Donovan Robertson
George Soresco
Paul Starzey
Anne Taylor
Kenneth Taylor
Suzanne Veljovic
Dorothy Wendt
Charles Wildes, Sr.
Jennie Wildes

And for the Special Intentions of:

Providencia Castro Apolinaris Gilbride
Michael Thomas Gilbride

The Bread and Wine for the Christmas Masses was donated in memory of:

Robert Carter

+

This is our season of prayerful hope and our time of remembering.

Yet, the pandemic is very much with us. Our solemn recall of Jesus’ birth during this time invites us to remember our sisters and brothers whose lives are touched by COVID-19.

For Christmas this year, we will add doves to our Christmas trees. Each dove is a symbol of our prayer, our hope, and our remembering.

We would like each dove to bear the name of a person who has died from the virus, those struggling with the virus, medical personnel, and essential workers. We will include one dove in each group for those who have no one to remember them.

We invite you to send names that you would like included on our tree this year. (We only have 150 doves.) The dove is a sign of peace.

Please submit names by December 21st.

May the peace Christ, whose birth we recall, be with you.

Fr. Tom, ofm

Even in a pandemic, we can celebrate the birth of Christ.

We might not be able to be with all of our loved ones in person this year, but we can be together in the spirit.  And whether you come to visit the church in person, or you join us on our livestream, we will still prepare the sanctuary to celebrate Christ’s birth. The Christmas trees, the wreaths and the poinsettias will again adorn our sanctuary this Christmas.  We offer them to honor the birth of Christ and to glorify God.

It is also a way to remember your loved ones and share the beauty of the season with the whole community.  We invite you to memorialize members of your family, friends or other loved ones with a donation for our Christmas decorations. Donations and the names of those received by December 18th will posted on our parish website for Christmas.

The Church of St. Francis of Assisi was temporarily closed to protect everyone after we discovered a potential exposure to Covid-19.  We have good news to report:  all the friars have tested negative and we are free to re-open our doors.

Confessions will begin again at 11:00 AM on Monday December 14th in the lower church and in person Mass will resume also on Monday, December 14th at 12:00 PM in the upper church.

See our special schedule due to the Coronavirus at the links below:

CURRENT MASS SCHEDULE                                       CURRENT CONFESSION SCHEDULE

Original Post of 12/9/2020:

Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Francis of Assisi Church,

May the Lord give you peace.

One of our staff members has tested positive for the Coronavirus. The friars are going to quarantine until after all of us have been tested. At this point, the friars are all healthy.

For the safety of all, we will suspend public services.

I will update you on Monday, 12/14.

Until then:

• The upper church is closed.   
• The daily 12:00 PM and 5:00 PM masses and the Saturday 4:00 PM, Sunday 11:00 AM, and 5:00 PM will be live-streamed only. They will not be open for congregations.
  
• We will live stream Vespers for Monday 12/14 at 5:45 PM.  
• Confessions are suspended as well.   
• The Lower Church will be open for private prayer from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM, Monday through Friday.   

I regret the inconvenience and hope to be back on schedule soon. Please continue to pray for all who are sick with the virus, for those who have died, those who mourn, for caregivers, medical personnel, and all essential workers.

Blessings,

-Fr. Tom, ofm

Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Francis of Assisi Church,

+

The friars and staff would like to wish all of our parishioners and visitors a very happy and safe Thanksgiving this year.

Our Holiday schedule is as follows:

Thanksgiving day:

Mass at 12:00 PM

There are no confessions Thanksgiving Day

Friday after Thanksgiving:

Mass at 12:00 PM

There are no confessions on the Friday after Thanksgiving Day.

Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Francis of Assisi Church,

May the Lord give you peace.

This weekend we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. This great feast invites us to consider the king, who reigns from the cross. In the judgment scene in Matthew’s Gospel, the criterion is simply compassion. We are presented with a king upon the glorious throne who gathers the nations and the people. Though unaware of their encounters with Christ, they are blessed. They fed, clothed, gave drink, and visited the ill or imprisoned. There is no question of their keeping the law, their religious observance, or their religious tradition. They are judged on the evidence of a life of compassion. They are not asked how they voted, prayed, or were respected by others. They lived the love of the one who sat upon the throne. This is a text that frees us to do the good, to make adult decisions, and to live in a broken world with a mission. Happy Feast to all! You are those who are blessed and sharers on God’s reign. You are the people blessed with compassion. Blessed, are you!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! 

Amid the pandemic, with rising numbers of cases being reported, we are invited to give thanks. We give thanks for God’s constant presence among us, in sickness and in health.

We give thanks for the vast number of medical professionals who continue to care for the sick, nurture the worried, and embody Jesus’ compassion.
We give thanks for the first responders and the many who work to ensure that health care facilities provide food, clean spaces, and often unseen yet essential tasks.
We give thanks for workers who go to their jobs, day after day.
We give thanks for parents and children, for teachers, their aids, and school workers.
We give thanks for all who check up on those who live alone and the elderly.
We are blessed in caregivers who selflessly tend our aged, lonely, and homebound sisters and brothers.
We give thanks for all who stay at home.
For whom do you give thanks?…….

In all of you and so many more, the love of God is realized for all of us.

We are also aware that we are on a mission this Thanksgiving. Our mission is to slow the number of infections from this pandemic. This makes our Thanksgiving celebration different from what we might usually have done. Like anyone on a mission, we are separated from some with whom we would typically gather. We can communicate in many ways but being physically present is not an option. When I was in Bolivia on 9/11/01, I was not able to return to the states. I wanted to pray with my brother friars at the death of our brother Mychal Judge. I also wanted to connect with family and friends, some of whom had lost loved ones. My mission was to be with the novices in Cochabamba. Let our mission this Thanksgiving slow the virus enabling future gatherings. Let us choose to gather via the internet, telephone, e-mail, and texts.

Next weekend, we will begin our season of Advent. This is our time to reflect on what it is to wait in hope. It is a time for our community to gather virtually and to pray with one another. Please join us for one of the many scripture sessions, for our retreat, for our Carols with the Choir. All of these will be available on-line so that we may be together and also be safe.  While we may not come together as in years past, we are called to join with one another to watch and pray. All of the details are available on our homepage.

Finally, I hope to get another camera for the church and create a link to stream 24/7 from the Lower Church. This would make a portal for anyone who wanted to pray in the church space at any time. Just click on the link, and through the internet, you are in the church. If you can help with this project, please let me know at tgallagher@stfrancisnyc.org.  We will soon resume Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament during the day. The camera will allow you to reflect on God’s goodness from your home, yet in St. Francis of Assisi Church.

Blessings and peace,

Fr. Tom, ofm

Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Francis of Assisi Church,

May the Lord give you peace.

This has been a tumultuous week. We need to pray for the healing of our nation. The divisions are extreme. In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, he reminds us that we are “no longer in the darkness, we are children of the light and of the day.” With that in mind, we look at Matthew’s Gospel and are reminded of our talents/gifts. The wise servants invested the talents, and the talents/gifts increased. We are no longer to hide our gifts, our often-invisible capital, in the dark, but to invest them in one another. We are each remarkably gifted by God and are bearers of the Spirit of God. God’s manifestation is realized in experiences of compassion, forgiveness, courage, wonder, goodness, strength, wisdom, and, most assuredly, love. We have everything we need to build bridges that ease anger, frustration, bitterness, and fear. I encourage you to pray and to invest your gifts in one another. Please try to join us each day for the mass at noon. It is live-streamed and available at home or at work.

The report on former Cardinal McCarrick was made public this week. For many survivors of clergy abuse, this is yet another moment of reliving their experiences of abuse.  This is yet another call to pray for healing and for listening to the cries of the survivors. Let us also pray for the Church; experiences of abuse tear the very fabric of our relationships and challenge us to create new ways of living the Gospel. We are called to a covenantal bond rooted in love. Pope Francis encyclical Fratelli Tutti invokes the Franciscan model of fraternity/sorority as a shift from the hierarchical model that puts one person or group of persons over others. Pope Francis invites us to consider the ways of exercising leadership and power in the Church.

Thanksgiving is almost here. This will be a very different Thanksgiving for many of us. Please stay safe. If you travel, be attentive to the recommended precautions. Take some time to give thanks for God’s presence with us throughout this pandemic and election-year politics. We will live-stream the Thanksgiving Day mass and hope that you can join us from wherever you are.

We are looking forward to Advent. Please check the Church’s website for updates on the many opportunities to pray for healing and peace during Advent. Join us for:

1. 1. Scripture sharing Zoom sessions planned for each week,
   2. creating your own advent wreath,
   3. weekly advent wreath blessing and candle lighting  (Please be careful with candles and fire.),
   4. the Advent retreat,
   5. weekly vespers,
   6. our annual “Carols with the Choir,” which will be live-streamed for everyone’s health and safety.

There are many opportunities to connect with one another and to share our gifts.

Good News! We will re-open the Lower Church for confessions and private prayer on Monday. We will offer exposition of the Blessed Sacrament very soon.

Finally, thank you to all for your commitment to St. Francis of Assisi Church. Together, we are the Church. Your participation enriches the lives of the friars and one another. Your shared talents foster peace, healing, and love in our world. Thank you for your faithfulness.

Peace and all good,
Fr. Tom, ofm

Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Francis Church,

May the Lord give you peace.

I thank everyone who joined us for the All Souls’ Memorial on November 2nd. It was good to have so many people present in person and on our live stream. We had many pictures of loved ones and were able to pray in gratitude for their lives with us. (Click HERE if you would like to see the video of the liturgy)

This has been quite a week. As I write, we are still awaiting the results of the national election. The record number of voters is a great sign of the participation in the democratic process. The uncertainty is painful. Many are particularly struggling at this time. It is important to support one another and support the process so that everyone’s vote is counted. Click HERE for link to a post-election prayer from the Education for Justice. I heartily recommend this site to you. It offers good content, prayers, and reflection on current issues through the lens of faith. Please pray for our nation and the people who are struggling with whatever the election results may be. We are a people of hope and support. Our Franciscan charism calls us to be attentive as sisters and brothers together in the journey of grace in God’s ever-present love. Unlike the “wise” virgins in this Sunday’s parable, we continue to share our gifts. We know that in God, there will always be enough of the oil of love, compassion, generosity, wisdom, and courage to nurture us on our way. We do not close doors; we create bridges that link us as sons and daughters of God-as sisters and brothers of Jesus.

Please join us on November 21st for a healing mass for all affected by suicide. We invite survivors, all who keep memory of someone who died of suicide, all who struggle with thoughts of suicide, all who worry about a friend or loved one, as well as anyone who wishes to participate. We will live stream the service. If you cannot join, please pray. The American Federation for Suicide Awareness and Prevention designates the Saturday before Thanksgiving as a day of prayer and awareness. They sponsor walks to raise funds for their work. Over the years, I have participated in 8 of the Over Night Walks, two here in the city.

On another note, we are looking to develop new opportunities for us to gather and pray. We will offer some sessions via Zoom as we enter into Advent. The Zoom forum allows us to come together from the safety of our homes, to share our faith, and to build our community. More information will follow in the next few weeks. My experience with Zoom has been good. I have seen people who saw each other at mass regularly but rarely had time to do more than greet each other begin to share their stories of life and faith.

Finally, I must admit that with the pandemic, we need of your financial support. I ask you to consider our online giving. If your means allow, please increase your regular contribution to the life of the Church. Thank you for all that you do for St. Francis of Assisi Church.

Peace and all good,
Fr. Tom, ofm

How livestreaming came to St. Francis of Assisi:

When the pandemic hit New York and we had to enter our shutdown, here at St. Francis we scrambled to figure out how to continue to reach out to and connect with all of you.  Streaming our Masses was the first priority.  Never having done this ourselves here, it was not easy to pull together equipment and expertise when everything was closing around us.  Within a week, and with relatively inexpensive equipment, we were able to stream our Lenten Masses, Holy Week, Easter and Mass ever since.

If you were with us from the beginning, you know that it was a rough start and we had to work out some issues.  We appreciate your patience and support, especially through our rocky beginning.

Where we are today:

Well, six months later, we are happy to bring you a new and improved livestream experience!  Many of you expressed how important these livestreams are, and have requested that we make this a permanent part of our ministry together.  We agree. Because of your encouragement and support we have invested in new and more appropriate livestreaming cameras, computer equipment and some training for our staff.

If you have been watching our noon time daily Mass you will see the difference our new system makes in the quality of the transmission.  This new system will allow us to bring you a much better prayer experience and we have made this a permanent part of our parish life together so that even after the pandemic passes, our people can join us for Mass online if you are away, if the weather is really bad, or if you are home sick.

Introducing St. Francis Live!

We have also created a new portal on our website to better organize access to all of our streamed liturgies.  We call it St. Francis Live!.  At St. Francis Live! you can see our Sunday and Feast day Masses, the Korean Community Sunday Mass, our Daily noontime Mass and special events.  They are all conveniently located on the same page.  You can scroll through past events to find a liturgy you may have missed.

A $15,000 investment in our ministry

We invested just over $15,000 on the new and improved livestream experience. Some of you have already donated toward this new way of keeping connected.  As you can imagine, the pandemic has impacted our collections, just as it has impacted many in our community.  For those who can, it would be very helpful if you would like to make a special contribution toward this new new part of our ministry.