The Catholic Parishes 

of Stoughton 

Thank you for your pledge of support!
 
There are still Commitment Envelopes
located at the entrance way of the Church.
You can also pledge right online!
It only takes a few minutes…

1. Go to www.stoughtoncatholic.org 
2. On the top of the website you will see an option for “Online Giving.” 
3. Select the Online Giving link for the Parish Campaign you would like to support. 
4. Select “Create a New Account” if you do not already have an online giving account.
5. Follow the step by step forms
to create an account. 
6. Connect your online account to either your bank account or credit card. 
7. Choose “Give a Gift” and select the
“With One Voice Campaign.” 

8.  Select the “Pledge” option, enter in the total amount of your pledge (which can be 
spread out over four years), the
monthly payment amount, and the date 
         you want the payments to start.                  

9. Press confirm and you are done! Your pledge payments will come out each
month directly from the bank account
or credit card you selected.

You can also contact the Business Office to make an appointment for us to help walk you through the online pledge system.
 

Peace be with you! 

Welcome to the Catholic Parishes of Stoughton. We are a Roman Catholic community of faith, nourished by the Eucharist and committed to living out our faith in service to others. It’s our hope that no matter where you are on your life’s journey, you will find a home here. Please join us as we worship our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the source of all our faith, hope, strength and joy.

                       Peace and blessings!
                       Fr. Joe Mazzone
                       Pastor of St. James & Immaculate Conception 

         
This weekend we kick off our Capital Campaign at St. James Parish. (Many of you will remember that we commenced our Capital Campaign at Immaculate Conception around this time last year. Our hope is to raise $500,000 to make much need capital improvements and updates to our facilities. The work               includes replacing our boiler and sewer pump, installing new doors at the front of the church and making much-needed upgrades to our kitchen and bathrooms. In the last few weeks, we hosted four receptions at the parish, giving parishioners an opportunity to ask questions and get detailed information on what we are hoping to do. These receptions were will attended and I am pleased to tell you that to date we have already raised over 30% ($150,000) of our goal. Two of our parishioners, Marcia and Jack Yates, were in attendance and have offered their support to our Capital Campaign. I received a letter from them last week and am delighted to share it with you.
 
Peace, Fr. Joe 
 

To the parishioners of St. James Parish: 
 
Many of you will remember the funeral this past winter for Bob Antonucci.  It was on a Monday, immediately after our church had been without electrical power for three days.  The Saturday and Sunday Masses were very moving and beautiful by candlelight, with everyone wearing coats and gloves, but it still was a great relief when we assembled Monday for the Mass of Christian Burial for Bob, and the heat and light had returned.  Beginning her eulogy for her Dad, Bob and Bunny’s daughter said, “There’s power in our church!”
Metaphorically as well as literally, Marcia and I have been so grateful for the power in our universal Catholic Church, and for the power in our little church, our Saint James Parish. By that power, in our four years here we have been welcomed, informed, inspired, challenged, illuminated, transformed.  
One of the things that has struck me as powerful in our Church, and this differentiates us from the way that many non-Catholic churches operate, is the way it embodies the principle of “free will offering.” There is no fee charged for offering a Mass, for offering prayers, for weddings or baptisms or funerals, there is only the invitation for us to offer whatever we can and whatever we will, a free will offering. Many other churches and other religious congregations do charge such fees; there are even some congregations that charge a fee to be a  member. As our Lord told the Apostles, “But it shall not be so among you.” Our relationship to our Church, and to the instance of our Church that is St. James Parish, is not a contract. It is giving and receiving gifts.
We offer financial support only by our free will. In these recent decades of challenge and threat to our Church, the greatest enemy of such free will offering may be fear. Should I contribute financially, especially in truly substantial ways, to a parish, which I fear might close? We hear whispers of these fears in our parish, even though it has been fourteen years since any parish in our archdiocese has closed, and no closings are planned.
Think about it: If we give in to such fears, they could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Our fears must be      conquered by love, of course -- perfect love drives out fear. Our love for the Church and for our church, and for our Lord, will drive out fear.  “The gates of the netherworld will not prevail against her.”
And our fears must be driven out also by courage. One archetype of courage we know is the that of the firefighter:  It takes courage to run into a burning building when others are fleeing. In more ordinary everyday ways, it takes courage for all of us to defend our Church when others deride it, and it takes courage for all of us to sustain our faith in the true Church when even some of its leaders may have betrayed it.  
We will not be discouraged. A visible and meaningful sign of our refusal to be discouraged will be our financial support for the Saint James Capital Campaign -- giving as much as we can, even giving a little more than is comfortable.
Please join us. Thank you.
 
Jack and Marcia Yates