St. Jerome Ministries
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Pastoral Council
The Parish Pastoral Council is a consultative body with the role of assisting the Pastor in developing a pastoral plan for the mission of evangelizing, forming in the faith and encouraging the active engagement of the entire parish community in the Church's mission.
The Pastoral Council is made up of committed members of the parish and should reflect the rich diversity of the parish. The members of the council are committed to collaborate and help the different ministries to grow inside and outside the confines of our own community. These ministries include worship, spirituality, evangelization, religious education, and service. New ministries are encouraged when specific needs arise to serve God's people.
Parishioners are encouraged to contact the Pastor or members of the Council should they wish to participate more actively in the life of the parish.
Steven Filizzola- Chairperson
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Finance Council
The Finance Council is responsible for maintaining the parish finances.
The finance council has a charter from the diocese, including detailed budget, financial accountability, and reporting requirements. The purpose of the finance council is to assist the pastor, be a good stewardship of the funds generously donated by our parishioners. The council has established small sub-committees to divide the focus and efforts.
The Council meets at least once per quarter. In advance of each meeting, we prepare by reviewing income and expense statements. During our meetings, we review financial reports and the budget moving forward, as well as any fund-raising efforts. The council focuses on making sure we spend funds carefully to keep the church, rectory, and grounds in a state of good repair. The council also offers advice with financial planning and strategic expenditures. The goal of this council is to help insure the financial resources that the parish needs to complete its mission of Evangelization now and for future generations.
Bill Sweeney - Chairperson
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Buildings and Grounds
The purpose of “Buildings and Grounds” is to assist and advise our pastor, finance council, and our office team at St. Jerome regarding the ongoing maintenance needs of all parish properties. This includes all the Church buildings, furnishings, equipment, and surrounding property and covers a large range of activities from performing simple day-to-day repairs that we determine we can handle on our own, right up to planning and making provisions for larger and more-involved equipment repairs and renovations.
The Committee is comprised of parishioners having basic household maintenance abilities or trade skills; however, having an in-depth knowledge for doing repairs is by no means necessary!
Joe Licek
203-847-5439
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Parish Raffle Dinner & Festival Team
The Parish Raffle Dinner & Festival Team plans & executes our once yearly Parish Dinner & Festival. The raffle is our biggest fundraiser at St. Jerome. The church relies on all of our generous parishioners to participate. The raffle proceeds are part of the operating budget for the church
Our festival always has wonderful food and activities for the whole family. We have a crack Festival Kitchen Crew that promises (and delivers) a wonderful meal each year.
We are always looking for helpers in either organizing the raffle itself or in the creation of our festival.
Jack O'Melia
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Men's Ministry
St. Jerome’s Men’s Ministry is a unique community of men who have chosen to take their spiritual journey through life together. Every Saturday and on special occasions such as Christmas Eve, the men’s group gathers in the Parish Hall or Sanctuary from 7:30 a.m. until 9:00 a.m. to reflect on and discuss our spiritual lives and build community. For those who cannot attend in person we have the option of participating over Zoom.
On a typical Saturday, the group will select a topic, sometimes a passage from scripture, sometimes a theme like humility, love, or anger -- and explore it together through questions and discussion. The group has evolved to become an authentic community of sharing and trust, where men examine with honesty their relationship with God.
Contact Alex Sgoutas
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Women’s Scripture Group
The Women’s Scripture Group hosts two Women’s Scripture groups each week at St. Jerome’s. One meets on Tuesday morning by telephone and the other meets on Wednesday evening by Zoom. Both meet once a week on a “join when you can” basis for prayer and exploration of the upcoming Sunday’s scriptures.
All women, whether from St. Jerome or not, are welcome.
Jeanne Tarrant
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Ambassadors Ministry
A caring outreach ministry of Faith Facilitators intent on welcoming people back to God and Church
The goal of the Ambassadors Ministry is to empower people to connect through faith and to bring God’s message of love, in its many forms, to others. We do this by intentionally reaching out and by encouraging others to do the same. We know that we are only as strong as our united commitment. Here at St Jerome Parish, we are truly blessed because we have a strong community spirit and that we are a people who strive to live the Christian call to be God's Presence in the world.
Growing a team of Ambassadors is not a new concept, but rather a fundamental tenet of Christianity. During the heart of the pandemic however, Bishop Caggiano initiated a revitalization of the calling and thus, Team Ambassadors was formed.
Shelli Lalime Sullivan
203-847-5439
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Music Ministry
Here at St. Jerome we provide music at all of our weekend Masses. We lift our hearts and minds as we sing praises to our Almighty God.
Our choir sings at the 10am Mass on Sunday mornings. We rehearse weekly on Thursday evenings to review repertoire and to learn new hymns for upcoming Masses.
If you love to sing, or are proficient at playing a musical instrument, please come share your talents with us. We would be happy to welcome you.
Lori Pearson, Music Director
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Social Concerns
The Social Concerns Team is rooted in the Gospel and Catholic social tradition. We strive to create educational and service opportunities with local and other areas by assisting those in need.
We always are delighted to have new members join our group of over a dozen parishioners. We have monthly meetings on the fourth Monday of the month from September thru June, where we plan our helping projects.
Some of our projects include:
- Monthly food drives to collect needed items for Person-To- Person, NCC Food Pantry, Norwalk High School Food Pantry, and Open Doors Food Pantry in Norwalk.
- Annual Christmas gift collection for Education and Hope to benefit Julie’s kids in Guatemala.
- Christmas gift collection for various groups in the local area.
- Back to School Supply drive to help the children who attend The Carver Center after-school programs in Norwalk.
- Collection of diapers and baby items for Malta House in Norwalk.
- Collection of gently used fall and winter coats, jackets, hats and gloves for the Mayor’s Coat Drive in Norwalk.
- Funeral lunch reception meals available to families.
- Special collections for national and international emergencies -- This year we collected clothing items which were shipped to the Ukraine.
- Responding to special needs of parishioners by helping with rides to appointments, phone calls for shut-ins during the pandemic, or special collections for residents at Notre Dame Nursing home.
Barbara Bagnato and Rebecca Sweeney
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Altar Servers
Altar servers assist the clergy in celebrating the Sacred Liturgy, especially the sacrifice of the Holy Mass. The various tasks of altar servers include leading liturgical processions, assisting with the Missal and the book of prayers, helping set the altar, and attending to sacred vessels after communion. Altar servers also help with the candles, incense, and processional cross.
At a minimum, two initial training sessions are required for new servers, and about 1-2 hours a month are dedicated to serving Mass. Altar servers at St. Jerome must be in 4th grade or higher grades to be trained. Please get in touch with the office if anyone wants to serve the Lord at the altar.
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Liturgy Committee
The Liturgy Committee meets periodically from the Fall through Pentecost Sunday to plan the liturgies for special occasions and to attend to the needs of Sunday liturgies throughout the year. We also plan special liturgies as the need arises, for example a healing mass or celebratory mass for the installation of a new pastor or a priest’s anniversary of ordination.
There is much that goes on behind the scenes of all these special liturgical celebrations. You don’t need any explicit training or knowledge to help out on the Liturgy Committee! Just a willingness to learn and help us make each liturgy as reverent, meaningful, and beautiful as possible. We welcome all new members and hope you will join us!
Suzanne Calnon.
Chairperson Liturgy Committee
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Liturgical Environment & Altar Flowers
The Liturgical Environment Ministry creates a pleasant and holy environment through the use of flowers, plants, and liturgical colors that follow the church’s liturgical year.
The commitment would be to check the plants and any flowers for watering on an as needed basis.
The altar table cloths are washed and replaced when needed and the small altar linen used for the Eucharist are washed, ironed are replaced weekly. In the past we have had a schedule of people willing to help with these linens.
Andrea Licek
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Mothers' Prayer Group
At ‘Mothers Prayers’, we get together to offer our children to the care of the Lord – asking Him for protection, guidance, gentleness and an always loving approach.
At the heart of our parish, a committed group of women praying as a heartbeat for our children – benefiting them, their communities and ours.
At the heart of every mom, the inner peace of surrender to God and the deep joy of motherhood.
We meet at the parish in the Youth room 3 Sundays a month from 9:00 to 9:45am, following the REACH grade 1-5 religious education calendar. If enough people are interested, we can form another Mothers Prayers group meet another time of the week that works better for them.
Catherine Gallup
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Ushers and Greeters
St Jerome Ushers have two important roles. First, they greet parishioners as they come into the church. Next, the ushers offer the collection. After the collection is completed, an usher brings the tithes up to the altar.
Greeters work collaboratively with the ushers by being a warm & welcoming positive presence at the doors of our lovely church. You would need to arrive 10-15 minutes before mass, and enjoy sharing a welcoming word with people as they arrive.
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Garden Ministry
Our garden ministry was started following a dream born during COVID. We asked for parish donations and were able to purchase the raised garden beds. We have a community event to fill and plant the beds.
We have a team to organize our plantings, and a schedule to weed, water, and maintain the garden. If we have a season that produces a bounty, we would love to share with the shelter.
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CONECT
Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut
CONECT is a collective of 37 churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and civic organizations from New Haven and Fairfield Counties. CONECT represents more than 30,000 people from different races, faith backgrounds, and living in both cities and suburbs.
St. Jerome has been a member of CONECT since the beginning. As a part of CONECT, we have been involved in very local issues, such as Norwalk schools Anti-Bias and Culturally Responsive Teacher Training to national programs like Do Not Stand Idly By, whose purpose is to reduce gun violence.
CONECT discovers critical issues to tackle and bring to local and state leaders. It has been involved in local, statewide and national campaigns to make a local impact on issues like criminal justice, health insurance, immigration reform, police reform, and gun violence.
Jack O'Melia
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Wondrous Deeds
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Please become a member of our wonderfully profound mission! As a member, you have no commitment. You will receive our monthly newsletter, and when you find a future event of interest, you can sign up to be a team member for that event. At any time, you can request to become an Event Leader or a member of our Advisory Board. And, at any time, you can contact us to share your ideas on missions we can undertake to Make a Difference in Our Society & in our World.
WHAT WE DO
- Plan and develop mission-based events to better our society through Kindness, Giving, and Compassion
- Inspire, Engage, and Connect with our child and adult parishioners to develop a joyfully passionate & gracious team.
WHO WE ARE
- We are a proud & inspired Ministry and Team with a Mission based on the profound & soulful Teachings of Jesus.
- Be Kind and Compassionate to One Another.
- Let Your Gentleness be Evident to All.
Our Leadership Team
Elie Elriachi Joanna Elriachi (youth leader)
Steven Filizzola Josh Elriachi (youth leader)
Our Advisory Board
Daniela O’Callaghan Shelli Lalime Sullivan
Carolyn Barrese Catherine Gallup
Jaren Mondry Angela Burston
Email us to Join: wondrousdeeds@stjeromenorwalk.org
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Funeral Ministry
The Funeral Luncheon Ministry at St. Jerome is undeniably one of the most remarkable expressions of compassion within the community. A dedicated group of women from St. Jerome come together to create a haven of solace for grieving families. Following the poignant rhythm of the funeral mass and cemetery service, families find solace within the Parish Hall, where they gather to honor the life of their departed loved ones. In this tender moment, the ministry members seamlessly blend with the mourners, offering unwavering support amidst their pain and loss. This unified presence resonates with the very essence of the parish's compassion. Attending these post-funeral gatherings is an experience both deeply heart-touching and transformative. The ministry extends an open invitation, beckoning others to join in this noble cause, to stand in solidarity with families undergoing loss. Whether through volunteering time or contributing nourishing food, these gestures weave a tapestry of comfort and care, ensuring that no one walks the path of bereavement alone. At St. Jerome, this ministry's embrace truly welcomes everyone.
Ministry Leaders: Francie Mansager, Annette Maiberger, and Domenica Gioiella
Email us to Join this Ministry: office@stjeromenorwalk.org