The Reverend Roland C. Cloutier Welcomes You to All Saints Catholic Church

All Saints Parish in Somersville, Connecticut is committed as a faith-filled community to meet the spiritual and temporal needs of those we encounter in all ministries of our faith. Through prayer, sacramental life and works of charity, in love and obedience to God, the Lord of all life. All Saints stands ready to proclaim the Good News in word, sacrament, and service to all.

If you know of anyone who is hospitalized or homebound and would like to receive the Eucharist, please contact the rectory office.

PARISH NEWS
last updated Monday May 20, 2013 @ 11:39am

NOTICE
The rectory office will be closed this Friday, May 24, and Memorial Day, Monday. May 27.

PASTOR'S NOTE
On Youth Ministry “The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they allow disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children now are tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.” (This quote is attribute to Socrates by Plato though research does not seem to find this comment in his writings.)

However, the above quote has been used many times over since it seems to be indicative of the behavior of the present day teen population (with obvious exceptions, of course). The quote also reminds us that the teenage years have not changed very much since creation. The psychic development of the teen years is the development of one’s own identity and uniqueness as an individual and the separation from parents.

This brings tension to bear in the parent-teen relationship. Every adolescent or teen is looking for that time when they can make their own decisions about how to live their lives. This includes when to go to bed, curfew time especially on weekends, what to watch on television and who to ‘hang around with.’ This is the time in their lives when children would rather spend time with their friends that with their parents.

This, of course, brings great anxiety to the parents who themselves remember their teen years and some of the stupid, and sometimes dangerous, things they did. They try to keep their children safe and make rules not to punish them but to be sure that they return home each day safe and sound. It was probably easier to do this in the day of Socrates and Plato; after all they did not have the internet and cell phones to deal with.

The tremendous good of the internet is balanced off by the tremendous dangers that it can bring to everyone, but especially adolescents and teens, who are desperately trying to find their own identity and purpose in life. The pervasiveness of sex crimes on the internet is astonishing. How often we read in the papers of someone trying to arrange a meeting for sex with an underage person. As their sexuality develops teens are particularly vulnerable to being manipulated into doing things that have far ranging and sometimes dangerous consequences. WHAT CAN WE, AS CHURCH, DO TO HELP DURING THESE CONFUSING YEARS?

We have a Youth Ministry Program run very effectively by Mrs. Susan King. However, the number of teens who participate is extremely small. I had hoped that over a year ago we might be able to rehabilitate the so-called “blue house” (which is now white) into a Youth Center giving the youth of our parish and our cluster parishes a place to call their own where they could meet with their chaperones and advisors (meaning Mrs. King and some parents) and enjoy their music and some games that we could provide for them: a pool table, a ping pong table, air hockey, along with some couches and chairs and a welcoming attitude to make them feel at ease and at home.

Since my arrival at All Saints that building has been empty and unused and shortly after I came the water was drained from the pipes to avoid damage to the building during the winter and to avoid having to heat it during the winter. Re-energizing the building as a Youth Center will require some funds and that has been the stalling point in getting this done. Lots of cleaning has to be done in the building as well as the filling of the oil tank, remodeling the bathroom, closing off access to the second floor and turning on the water as well as a lot of painting.

Some of this work I am sure could be done by the youth themselves and they would enjoy doing it to have this space to call their own. However, heating the building through the winter and the bathroom remodeling will cost some money which we do not have at the moment.

In the weeks to come you will be hearing from the Finance Ministry about our current financial situation here at All Saints. It is not critical at the moment but it is not good either. We are now relying on our savings to meet all of our bills and this is not a sustainable position.

Therefore, if some of you who have some construction background could volunteer to help put the place in shape we might be able to find others who would be able to finance the buying of the things we need to upgrade the building. If you can help with the financing or physical labor please call the rectory and let me know of your desire to help.

We speak of our youth as our future but they are here now. With so few attending Mass we need to reach out to them in whatever way we can so that we can have some impact on them in these, their formative years. The adults that will keep this parish alive in the future are our youth of today. All the evil in the world is out to get them. What can we as a parish do to keep that from happening? Maybe a Youth Center is part of the answer.

~ Fr. Roland. ~