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LATEST NEWS

UPCOMING EVENTS

RECENT EVENTS

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LATEST NEWS

Bishop Lori installed as Archbishop of Baltimore on May 16, 2012

More than 2000 people and over 300 priests, bishops, and archbishops from around the country attended the ceremonies formally installing ArchBishop Lori as the 16th Archbishop of Baltimore. It is now expected to be 8 months or more before a new Diocese of Bridgeport bishop is selected and installed. Monsignor Jerald A. Doyle has been elected as administrator to to oversee the Diocese of Bridgeport until a new bishop is named.

Interior Restorations – Keeping St. Emery’s Church Beautiful!

In a major undertaking during this month (May), large portions of the interior Church nave ceiling (also alcoves and side walls), which have deteriorated over the years, have now been repaired to not only restore the beautiful Church interior,

but to also prevent the possibility of damage to the original 80 year historic ceiling paintings.

The work was carried out by Patrick Baker and Sons from Southington, CT.  Patrick Baker and Sons were responsible for

the extensive Church restoration work carried out 12 years ago (2000).

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Bingo

St. Emery’s Bingo reopened on April 12, 2012. Bingo will continued to be held every Thursday at 6:30 PM in the St. Emery Church Hall. The doors open at 400 PM. The jackpot varies from week to week up to $1,ooo when it must go. Come and join us for some fun.

A new Church outdoor Bingo sign has also been installed thanks to the efforts of parishioner Chris Bleggi.

Church Outdoor Sign

The new St. Emery outdoor sign has been installed. The old sign was badly in need of repairs and lacked information. A major part of the funding for the sign came through a very generous and anonymous donor. There were also contributions from the Seniors and several other parishioners.

The colors of the sign were selected to match the mosaic-blue above the front Church doors and contrast the brown brick tones of the Church. The top of the sign was designed to match the front contour of the Church roof and Cross. Sign Creations of Southport and Greenbriar Contracting of Fairfield built and installed the sign.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Victorian Tea for the Ladies  - April 29
(Coverage of this event is shown below on this web page under Recent Events)

Roast Beef Dinner – June 9
Contacts: Marie Kassay (203) 333-7534 or Barbara Chuga (203) 335-3575

St. Emery will hold a Roast Beef Dinner on Saturday, June 9, 2012 from 5:30 – 8:30 PM. The dinner will be held in St. Emery’s Church Hall.  The price of tickets will be $20 for each adult and $10 for each child under 12. Tickets will be on sale after every Mass starting May 12-13 and until June 2. Tickets will not be sold at the door so try to get your tickets early.

Come and enjoy both a delicious meal and great friends on Saturday night without having to cook. The menu will include; roast beef with gravy, garden salad, mashed potatoes, potato salad, baked beans, carrots , Hungarian cucumber salad, dessert, coffee, tea and soda. These dinners are very popular and usually a sold out event.

St. Padre Pio Chartered Bus Trip to New York City – June 2

Contact:  Mary Ann Corcoran (203-336-0618) or Henry Kutash (203-335-3575) from St. Emery Church or Pia Ramadanovic (203-378-5408) from St. Margaret Shrine.

Sold Out! 

The St. Emery chartered bus trip to visit the renown St. Padre Pio Shrine at St. John the Baptist Church in New York City (201 W. 31st St., 7th Ave) is confirmed for Saturday, June 2nd. St. Emery’s extended invitations include St. Padre Pio’s Society and parishioners of the St. Margaret Shrine.

The trip will include a visit to the St. Padre Pio Prayer Garden at St. John’s Church to view the largest collection of relics of St. Pio, which will be followed by a participation in the recitation of the Rosary at Noon.  Attend Mass at 12:15 PM and following Mass, a free guided tour of St. John Church. Afterwards, we will be driven to the Little Italy area in the City to enjoy lunch.

The bus will leave the grounds of St. Margaret Shrine in Bridgeport at 8:30 AM and arrive in NYC by 10:30 AM. St. Margaret’s Shrine is located on 2539 Park Avenue. We should be back at the St. Margaret Shrine by 5:00 PM.

Lunch is currently planned to be at the Grotto Azzura restaurant in Little Italy. The lunch there will be a two course Prix-Fixe menu. Lunch is included in the price of the ticket. The menu can be found by clicking-on the following web link. The menu is also located on the restaurant web site www.bluegroto.com under ‘Lunch/Dinner Menus’.

Groto Azzurra Menu (web link)

St. Padre Pio is renown for his remarkable recurring stigmata and was canonized a Saint relatively recently in 2002. Stigmata are marks corresponding to those left on Jesus’ body by the Crucifixion.

Points of interest in that NYC area include St. Frances Cabrini and the Church of the Precious Blood. St. Cabrini was the first US citizen to be canonized a Saint and is the Patroness of Immigrants. A Shrine to St. Mother Cabrini is on 701 Fort Washington Avenue. The St. Cabrini Medical Center in the City was also named after her although that is now closed.

The Church of the Precious Blood in Little Italy is known for the Shrine and Feast of San Gennaro, martyred Patron of Naples Italy. This Little Italy feast is held in September for 11 days and is said to attract over 1 million visitors.

Cost per person for the trip is $55.00 which includes bus transportation, lunch, tax and tip.

The St. Padre Pio Shrine in New York City website is:  www.padrepioshrine.com. The St. John the Baptist Church website is www.churchofstjohnthebaptistnyc.org

Deacon Rudy Trankovich’s 10 Year Anniversary at St. Emery’s
Contact:  Kathy Sherwood  (203-334-2565)                   

Deacon Rudy will be reaching his 10th year of service at St. Emery’s in June.  The Parish is in the early stages of planning an anniversary party for Deacon Rudy scheduled for July. Since the anniversary is expected to have a large attendance, it is tentatively scheduled to be held off-site. Stay tuned.

RECENT EVENTS

LADIES VICTORIAN TEA
Sunday, April 29, 2012

The St. Emery Ladies Victorian Tea was a delightful and entertaining affair. The Church Hall was transformed into an elegant setting with abundant fresh flowers and the traditional lace. The Ladies attendance filled the Church Hall on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. The Victorian Tea Menu was skillfully prepared and the service by the ‘British Maids’ was special. The entertainer, Kandie Carle, also known as “The Victorian Lady” was widely received and everyone enjoyed the performance.

Enjoy the following photographic tour of the event (click-on any photographic image to enlarge).

Church Hall – ‘British Maids’

Every table had beautiful fresh flowers, a formal tea plate setting and pastel colored table clothes with lace.

In keeping with the Victorian era, ‘British Maids’ were used to bring food and tea to the Ladies attending the affair. Clockwise seated, Veronica Dicso, Kimberly Scinto, Carol Ann Gladstone, and Nikki Bleggi.

Elegant Flower Bouquets, Lace and handmade window Topiary displays by Nikki Bleggi and Veronica Dicso.

The ‘British Maid’ in silhouette is Carol Ann Gladstone.

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Early Arrivals and Cast

The doors opened at Noon and the event started at 12:30 PM but many people arrived early. Our photographers were on-hand.

From left, Karen Adams and Barbara Chuga. Barbara was one of the four main planners along with Kathy Sherwood (President of Advisory Council), Marie Kassay and Mary Ann Corcoran.

Karen Adams was one of many volunteers that helped with set-ups, cleaning and the large amount of food preparation.

From left, Marie Kassay and Barbara Chuga, two of the main planners, and Maureen Chuga in the elegant Victorian Hat.

There were several door prizes and all table flowers were given to the person who had the oldest dated coin.

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Victorian Ladies Tea – Delicate Sandwiches, Tea and Deserts

“WELCOME to ST. EMERY’S VICTORIAN TEA”

A serving of a variety of delicate sandwiches, a wide variety of Tea selections and abundant deserts.

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Every table was served by the four lovely ‘British Maids’.

A choice of seven sandwich and pinwheel ingredients were offered. The sandwiches and pinwheels were all handmade by a group of several volunteers.

Special thanks to the Bigelow Tea Company for their donations along with Mary Horvath and Ethel Evan.

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The Ladies

Kathy Sherwood (left in red in front of the Hungarian flag) is the President of the Church Advisory Council and the one responsible for conceiving and leading this event.  Well done!

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Mrs. Pearl Pavel Bodnar (left bottom) with her family is St. Emery’s 100 year old Centenarian. She attends Sunday Mass quite regularly.

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Entertainment – Candie Carle, The Victorian Lady

Entertainment was provided by Kandie Carle, a lady who demonstrates the fine (and funny) art of dressing in Victorian era style clothing.

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Encore

All table flower bouquets were the prize of the person with the oldest dated coin on their person.

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Our young  ’British Maids’ made it through the party  —–

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Ladies Victorian Tea Volunteers

Twenty-Four people volunteered their time and effort to make the Victorian Tea a success. Many thanks to everyone.

Main Coordinators

Kathy Sherwood
Barbara Chuga
Mary Ann Corcoran
Marie Kassay

Volunteers
Carol Gladstone
Karen Adams
Barbara Fencil
Pat Hull
Marianne Scinto
Kimberley Scinto
Pat Dicso
Veronica Dicso
Mae Kassay
Wendy Bleggi

Nikki Bleggi
Betty Hasak
Helen Norton
Irene Olah
Mary Horvath
Maggi Gagyi
Doris Estock
Lureen Pekar
Mary Kocsis
Carol Ann Gladstone

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MILESTONE EVENT

SAINT EMERY 2011 MILESTONE
Welcome Dinner for new Priests – September 24, 2011                                                

In 2011, Saint Emery’s underwent a diocese organizational change marking a turning point in its history.  Formerly associated with the Franciscans for 79 years of religious service, St. Emery became a parish community under the diocese of Bridgeport, CT. and in close association with the Church of Holy Family in Fairfield, CT.

To acknowledge this event, St. Emery’s Parish Church Advisory Council and parishioners sponsored a formal dinner on September 24, 2011 to welcome the new priests.

Reverend Guido G.  Montanaro (Pastor and Administrator), Reverend John Paul Long (Resident Priest) and Reverend Balint (Hungarian Ministry) were introduced as St. Emery’s new Clergy.

Deacon Rudy Trankovich was the Master of Ceremonies introducing the new Priests to our parish.

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Barbara Chuga (left) and Kathy Sherwood led the planning and coordination of the dinner, along with several other parishioners who were involved in taking care of every detail.

The dinner took place in the Church Hall and was catered except for the abundant amount of homemade deserts.

Father Louis Pintye was pastor of St. Emery’s for the last 13 years (1998 – 2011)  and now serves at St. Joseph’s Franciscan Parish in Winsted, Connecticut.  Father Pintye was responsible for the beautiful restoration of the Church in 2000.

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(Click on any of the above photographs to enlarge)

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Following St. Emery’s extensive restoration in 2000, artistic handwoven tapestries from St. Stephen of Hungary Church in Bridgeport were discovered in storage a few years later by Father Pintye.

The tapestries were meticulously handcrafted to commemorate St. Elizabeth’s Altar Society (1917-1937) and to present the Monstrance, which displays the consecrated Eucharistic host. The letters IHS are the monogram of Jesus Christ.

(Click on tapestries and Crucifix to enlarge)

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This Crucifix located on the wall between the two tapestries was refurbished and remounted during the 2000 restoration..