Tag Archives: Church of the Sacred Heart

Holy Week with Bishop Checchio of Metuchen Diocese – Live streaming.

This year Holy Week will be unlike any we’ve experienced before. To help you decide how you would like to keep this holiest week of the year, here are some suggestions. Attached here is a PDF of suggested activities as well as Stations of the Cross for COVID-19. Please click to read.

Unfortunately, no gatherings are permitted at the church during Holy Week. There will be no confessions.

The diocese will be live streaming Bishop Checchio’s Holy Week services on the Cathedral website: https://www.stfranciscathedral.org/

We will be carrying it live here on our website too. Please scroll below:

Here is the schedule for the live stream Holy Week schedule:

Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020 10:30am (blessed Palms are not to be distributed under any circumstance at this time by order of our Bishop, but may be made available for distribution at a later date!)

Monday, Evening Prayer and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, April 06, 2020 4:00pm

Holy Thursday, Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, April 9, 2020 – 7:30pm

Good Friday, Celebration of the Lord’s Passion, April 10, 2020 – 3:00pm

Easter Vigil, April 11, 2020 – 8:00pm – Holy water fonts are to remain empty. RCIA sacraments will be re-scheduled.

Easter Sunday, Holy Mass, 10:00am

Available services from The Church of The Sacred Heart, South Plinfield.

Traditional devotions during this week include the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross. These can be viewed online at churchofthesacredheart.net at your convenience. See also the attached PDF for details on praying the Stations of the Cross at home.

Monday, April 6 – Daily Mass can be viewed online at our website, churchofthesacredheart.net

Tuesday, April 7 – Daily Mass can be viewed online at our website, churchofthesacredheart.net

Wednesday, April 8 – Daily Mass can be viewed online at our website, churchofthesacredheart.net

Holy Thursday, April 9 – Daily Prayer of the Church (Morning, Evening and Night Prayer) is available at our website, churchofthesacredheart.net

Good Friday, April 10 – Morning Prayer of the Church is available at our website, churchofthesacredheart.net

Holy Saturday, April 11 – Morning Prayer of the Church is available at our website, churchofthesacredheart.net

Easter baskets will NOT be blessed this year.

Easter Sunday, April 12 – The Mass of the Resurrection will be live streamed from our church and can be viewed online at churchofthesacredheart.net at 10:00 AM.

The Ecumenical Sunrise Service that normally takes place at Spring Lake Park will move to our own front doors. The brief prayer and more details will be available at the parish website, and in the Observer.

The church doors will actually be locked for the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday) and Easter Sunday to keep people from gathering. Stay home, Stay safe. The Easter Season is fifty days and please God before Pentecost we will be back to celebrate joyfully and properly decorate the church at that time as well.  

Fr. John Alvarado

The 10th annual Christmas program organized and managed by the youth wing of GCSofUSA.

The 10th annual Christmas program organized and managed by the youth wing of GCSofUSA.

 

“Gujarati Catholic Samaj of U.S.A” a not-for-profit organization established in 2010 had a grand and a highly successful celebration of “Christmas Garba / Dance Night 2019” planned and organized by Youth wing of Gujarati Catholic Samaj of USA.

GCS of USA’s vision is to bring our community together to unite, preserve and propagate and grow the rich cultural heritage of Gujarati Catholics from around the world. We organize various Programs, Events, Educational Fund-Raising Activities, and Education Developmental Projects for the community, Social Events; Various yearly Celebrations, Entertainments, Various Seminars on Social Awareness, Religious Awareness in Regards of Gujarati Speaking Catholics Residing in Unites States of America. To stay connected to families, relatives and friends back home to Gujarat, India.

On December 28th, 2019, Youth Wing of GCS of USA organized an annual Christmas program/Garba/Dance night. Fellow Gujarati Christians and friends from various Christian denominations were invited for the program. Key difference this year was newly formed Youth Wing of GCS of USA. The program was organized and managed by Youth wing from start to finish under guidance of the elders of the community. It was a great success.

The youth wing of Gujarati Catholic Samaj of USA

To encourage people to arrive on time, early bird surprise was announced. Professional photographs and framed prints were presented to all early bird guests. Thank you Mr. Ketan Christian.

At 7 pm the evening many dressed in typical and colorful Indian costumes created a distinctive and homely environment that many Indians miss in USA. 

Youth Wing made this event very interactive, connecting with the crowd such an enthusiasm and created a family get-together environment. Thank you Mr. Augustin Macwan for handling the photography and Mr. Ketan Christian for Videography.

Program commenced with a short speech by Mr. Shantilal Parmar (President of GCS of USA) followed by candle lighting ceremony.  Ceremony included lightning of five candles resembling hope, joy, love, unity and peace.

Rev Fr. John Alvarado-Pastor of Church of the Sacred Heart concluded ceremony with powerful prayer. All members and guests together prayed “Our Father, who art in heaven” in Gujarati.

We welcomed our guests from all Christian denominations.

  • Gujarati Christian Fellowship of Philadelphia 
    • VK Makwana
    • Pastor Dinkerrao Taylor
  • Gujarat Christian Federation of America, New York
    • Stevenson Borsada 
    • Sapna Gandhi
    • Royal Merchant

Our special guest was Rev Fr. John Alvarado- Pastor of Church of the Sacred Heart and rev. Fr. Pervaiz Indrias  Parochial Vicar of Church of the Sacred Heart. Thank you, Rev Fr. John Alvarado, for allowing us to use hall and cafeteria.

We also honored sisters from Sr. Chandrika’s Congregation (Cenacle Sisters of Sacred Heart) Sr. Chetna and Sr. Anjana. They have various houses in India like in Chandigarh, Punjab , Patna, Chhattisgarh. Recently open house is Fairview in New Jersey on 1st September 2019.

Among the others who were honored included the following  – Founder of Gujarati Catholic Samaj of USA- Dada (Mr. Joseph Parmer), President of GCS of USA,  Mr. Shantilal Parmer, Chairman of GCS of USA  Mr. Jagadish Christian ,Treasurer Eric Leo, GCS  of USA committee members Amit Macwan, Deepak Parmer, Kokila Russell, Anita Parmer, Raj Macwan, Alex Rathod, tireless supporter Ketan Christian.

Despite Garba being the highlight of the event, talented youth wing also added fabulous performances including a group dance, solo dance and melodious solo singing.

Delicious full course dinner was served accompanied with an open floor karaoke.Catering from Kokila Russell.  Also Thank you for Mango Lassi and Tea.

As Prakash Parmar, the Lead singer and all the musicians were making sure that the atmosphere stayed energetic and everyone was enjoying Garba. Mrs. Sapna Gandhi and Mrs. Neela Leo, as a designated judge were busy observing carefully to choose a male and a female winner best Garba players. Sejal, Sage, and Liza were declared winners in the female Garba category and 3 best male performers. Joy Christian, Eric Christian and Amit Macwan won the prizes. Female Winners were presented with $25.00 gift certificates and Male winners were presented with $25.00.

As the end was approaching, the energy level was at the pick and “Sanedo” and “ Punjabi” style was being enjoyed by everyone there. There were few who sat on the side watched this amazing display of celebrations.

TV Asia is a supporter of GCS of USA always cover our annual Christmas program. Mr. Madan Pal Singh of TV Asia covered the whole event. This year there was an addition of ITV Gold. Mr. Bhupendra Raja Bhaatty of ITV Gold also covered this event and a 10 minutes long segment was aired on “Vision of Asia – Voice of community on ITV Gold channel on December 31, 2019 and January 05, 2020. 

Everyone left with joyful hearts and suggesting continuing this type of celebrations!

May God bless all and see you all next year for another entertaining Christmas event. 

  • Report by Angelina the youth coordinator.
Report of the event in News India Times – January 17, 2020
Report of the event in Gujarat Times USA – January 17, 2020
Report in Akila.com – January 12, 2020

Please click here to read the article from News India Times in PDF format. 

Please click here to read the article from Gujarat Times in PDF format. 

Pictures of the event- Photographer Augustine Macwan and Sagar Macwan. Thank you very much for your services.

Silver Jubilee celebration of Priestly Ordination of Fr. Mari Joseph organized by GCSofUSA on October 12, 2019.

Silver Jubilee celebration of Priestly Ordination of Fr. Mari Joseph celebrated by Gujarati Catholic Samaj of USA on October 12, 2019.

Ten diocesan priests celebrated together the Silver Jubilee of their Priestly Ordination (1994–2019): Frs. Arulanandam Alankaram, Alex Clement and Savariraj Savrimuthu, from the archdiocese of Gandhinagar and Frs. Francis Kulandai, Lawrence Aruldoss, Lukas S., Maria Joseph, Peter Lopes, Xavier Amalanathan and Varuvel Gnanadhas from the diocese of Ahmedabad. As the ordination batch of 1994, they decided to have a common celebration of their Silver Jubilee on 27th January 2019 at Our Lady of Forsaken Shrine (Anathoni Mata Thirthadham), Khambholaj.

Fr. Mari Joseph has been visiting USA since 2009 and he has always spend few days with us and celebrated a mass for us. He was planning a visit to Lourdes to provide his services and then he included Canada and USA to his Itinerary. Fr. Salvador D’Britto also accompanied him to Canada and USA. He informed us that he will be with us for 3/5 days in New Jersey. So we decided to celebrate first ever 25th anniversary of a priest of our mother diocese Ahmedabad.
Mr. Ketan Christian arranged a church and a cafeteria hall for our celebration. On October 12, 2019 at 6:30 around 75 members of the Gujarati Catholic Samaj of USA gathered at The Church of the Sacred Heart, South Plainfield for a celebration of Eucharist. Fr. Mari Joseph was the main celebrant and Fr. Salvador D’Britto and Fr. Pervaiz Indrias, the parochial Vicar of The Church of The Sacred Heart, South Plainfield. On this auspicious occasion, Fr. Salvador D’Britto preached a meaningful and enriching homily. He explained that this type of celebration are not to glorify the priest or nun but God and only God.

At the end of the Eucharistic celebration all were asked to go to nearby school cafeteria for a dinner and felicitation program. The hall was nicely decorated with the a banner of Gujarati Catholic Samaj of USA and a special banner made for the 25th anniversary of priesthood ordination of Fr. Mari Joseph. People enjoyed the food and settled down. The program was started with welcome of Fr. Mari Joseph, Fr. Salvador D’Britto, Fr. Pervaiz Indrias, Mr. Shantilal Parmar, President of GCSofUSA, Mr. Joseph Parmar the founder and first president of GCSofUSA and a well-known preacher and bible study organizer Mr. Vinubhai Macwan from Vadodara. They all were greeted with a flower bouquet.

Fr. Mari Joseph was presented with a plaque of appreciation – “Fr. Mari Joseph Arogyapaa, Rejoice in your accomplishments! God is surely smiling on you today as you celebrate 25 years in service to our Lord! May God Bless you to continue His work in serving His people. Thank you for being part of our Community.” He was also gifted a wrist watch with his name and ordination date imprinted on it.

A nice decorative cake was cut by Fr. Mari Joseph with huge round of applause and cheers. He was very much pleased and appreciated the effort by GCSofUSA. He thanked everyone and assure all that he will cherish this moment throughout his life and will pray for all of the members of GCSofUSA. Fr. Salvador also thanked everyone and gave his blessings.

The program ended with a small 3 minutes of play played by four children Saloni, Alayana, Aaryan and Braxton called “ THREE DOLLARS WOTH OF GOD” .
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep,
but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk
or a snooze in the sunshine.
I don’t want enough of God to make me love a black man
or pick beets with a migrant.
I want ecstasy, not transformation.
I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth.
I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.
I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
— Wilbur Rees
Please find below pictures of the above event taken by Robinson Jones, Johnson MClin, Raj Macwan & Hensu Macwan. Thank you for your service. 

Bishop Checchio has designated the week of October 6-13 as our Diocesan “Week of the Rosary.”

Bishop Checchio has designated the week of October 6-13 as our Diocesan “Week of the Rosary.” During this week, all people of the diocese, young and old alike, are encouraged to pray the Rosary daily, confident that her intercession directs us to her Son, Jesus, and our call to discipleship.  What better way to show our love for the Blessed Mother?

We begin our Week of the Rosary on October 6th which is Respect Life Sunday. This is a day when people from across the Diocese will join others from across the nation to take part in Life Chain, a peaceful, prayerful, public witness in support of the sanctity of all human life.  This is an opportunity for us to pray to the Queen of Mercy, rosary in hand, for all those babies lost to abortion and for all those in our society who are vulnerable.
October 7th marks the Feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. Here at Church of the Sacred Heart, the Rosary will be prayed at the Marian shrine after the 7 pm. On this day and the days that follow, let us meditate on the mysteries of our salvation as we ask her to set our hearts on fire as we prepare to be consecrated to her maternal care.
On Saturday October 12th, after the 9 am Mass, please join us outside to pray the International Rosary – the Rosary prayed in different languages – highlighting our unity in turning to our Blessed Mother.
Our Week of the Rosary will culminate on Sunday, October 13th, which is the 102nd anniversary of the Fatima Miracle of the Sun.  Let us pray in solidarity with people across the country who will gather for Rosary rallies coast to coast (https://rosarycoasttocoast.com/) begging for the return of our nation to God and to holiness.
Together, let us pray that an ever increasing number of faithful turn to Mary as a means of growing closer to our Lord.  Mother of the Americas and Star of the New Evangelization, pray for us!