St. Margaret of Cortona Parish
Serving the Catholic Communities of Little Ferry and Moonachie
in Ministry, Education and Service Since August 24, 1912
31 Chamberlain Ave Little Ferry, NJ 07643
Phone: (201) 641-2988 Fax: (201) 322-0172
Welcome to the Parish Family of
St. Margaret of Cortona
in Little Ferry
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Catholic High School Open Houses
The following are Open House dates for area Catholic High Schools:
Saint Peter’s Prep Jersey City (Fr. Kevin graduated class of 1978!)
Oct 20 from 1-4PM
Paramus Catholic HS Paramus
Oct 16 from 6:30-8PM
https://www.paramuscatholic.com/
St. Joseph Regional HS Montvale
Oct 29 at 6:30PM
https://www.saintjosephregional.org/
Bergen Catholic HS Oradell
Oct 1 6:30PM and Nov 6 1PM
https://www.bergencatholic.org/
Immaculate Heart Academy Washington Township
Oct 20 from 11AM–2PM and Oct 24 from 6:30-8:30PM
Blessing of the Animals
Friday - October 4, 2024
6:30 pm
Church Parking Lot
Mass Book
The Mass Book will be open on October 1, 2024
10 am - 11:30 am
1pm - 4 pm
Welcome New Parishioners
Register with us by filling up this form and dropping it in the collection basket or at the Parish Office. Click on the form below to download.
Music is an extremely important part of liturgy at the Parish of St. Margaret of Cortona and we are looking for enthusiastic music lovers and musicians to join our music ministry.
ALL ARE WELCOME!
St. Margaret of Cortona’s choir sings at the 12 noon Mass every Sunday and at other liturgies throughout the year. Rehearsals are held every Thursday at 7:30 pm beginning in September and through the month of June. No experience is necessary. Let us make a joyful noise to the Lord!
Call Eileen - 201-843-1097 or see her after Mass!
Jesus and the Eucharist
In this video, we’ll explore the beautiful truth that God has a good plan for our lives, even when the brokenness of our circumstances (or ourselves) seems to indicate otherwise. By diving into Scripture, we’ll discover how God’s Word helps us make sense of—and find hope in—our stories today.
Click on this link to watch the video: Jesus and the Eucharist | Session 1 | What’s Our Story? - Jesus and the Eucharist: A Small Group Series for Eucharistic Revival - National Eucharistic Revival
Jubilee countdown: Preparations for 2025 Holy Year
Click on the link to learn more: https://jerseycatholic.org/jubilee-countdown-preparations-for-2025-holy-year-move-into-high-gear
2024 Archdiocese of Newark Annual Appeal
Click here to view the Appeal Case Statement
To make a pledge or gift:
Print this signup sheet, fill up and mail to:
Annual Appeal
Archdiocese of Newark
Gift Processing
PO Box 7146
Kensington CT 06037-7146
Or click this linkg to go online Giving - Archdiocese of Newark (rcan.org)
Jersey Catholic
Jersey Catholic is the news site of the Archdiocese of Newark and brings you top news from around the Archdiocese, our Catholic schools throughout the U.S., and the Vatican.
Visit https://jerseycatholic.org/ for the latest local and global Church news.
Saint of the Day Podcast ~ A brief story about a Saint each day.
Donate to St. Margaret's
Here are some ways that you can help our Parish during these trying times:
GoFundMe - Click here to go the GofundMe website
ParishSoft - Click here to go to the giving site.
You can also give via text to (201) 689-5641, just enter the amount you want to donate in the message. You will need to create an account if you haven't done so yet. Click here if you need help creating an account.
Revival Starts in Your Heart
The Church cannot be renewed if we all move forward with business as usual. The Revival God longs to ignite in this world isn't something that happens outside of us... it begins in our own heart.
The Revival Spark Series is a simple, powerful way to allow the Holy Spirit to fan your desire for renewal into flames of love for Jesus and your neighbor.
Join thousands of Catholics as we spend nine days reflecting on this divine invitation and recalling the goodness of our God. Sign up to receive a daily email that leads you into moments of prayer and reflection, instilling a vision for the healing grace God wants to unleash in our world.
You can start your nine-day journey at any time, and it's absolutely free! All it requires is an openness to letting God speak and move in new ways.
Click here to experience revival: https://www.eucharisticrevival.org/
Step-By-Step Walk Through the Mass
Click on this link to go the website: https://www.eucharisticrevival.org/blog-categories/series-on-the-mass
SCHEDULES
Regular Masses
Saturday:
5:30PM
Sunday:
8:00AM, 10:00AM, 12:00PM
(From Memorial Day through Labor Day: Sat 5:30PM, Sunday 9:00AM & 11:30AM)
Weekdays:
Monday through Friday:
12:00 PM
First Saturday Mass
12:05 PM in the Church
Holy Days
(Except Christmas and Easter): 8:00 AM, 12:05 PM, 7:00 PM
Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession)
Saturdays 1:00 - 2:00 PM
Experience God’s Mercy. Celebrate the Grace-Filled Sacrament of Reconciliation
Contact Us
Parish Center (Monday through Thursday 10 am till 4pm. Closed on Fridays)
Tel: 201-641-2988
Fax: 201-322-0172
Rectory (By appointment only):
201-641-2988
Religious Education (Sunday to Thursday):
201-641-3937
New in the Area?
If you are new in the area, why not join our ever-growing Parish family. Stop by the Parish Center any weekday and register. Click on this link to download the form or call us at 201-641-2988
POSTER BOARD
October, Month of the Rosary
Current scholarship traces the development of the Rosary to the High Middle Ages period. The month of October each year is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary. This is primarily due to the fact that the liturgical feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated annually on October 7. It was instituted to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary in gratitude for the protection that she gives the Church in answer to the praying of the Rosary by the faithful
The feast was introduced by Pope St. Pius V (1504-1572) in the year 1571 to commemorate the miraculous victory of the Christian forces in the Battle of Lepanto
on October 7, 1571. The pope attributed more to the "arms" of the Rosary than the power of cannons and the valor of the soldiers who fought there.
Legend tells us that the Rosary as a form of prayer was given to St. Dominic (1170-1221) by Mary, the Mother of Our Lord, who entrusted it to him as an aid in the conflicts with the Albigensians. The Dominican pope, St. Pius V, did much to further the spread of the Rosary and it thereafter became one of the most popular devotions in Christendom. It was the same Pope St. Pius V, who in 1569 officially approved the Rosary in its present form with the Papal Bull, Consueverunt Romani Pontifices. It had been completed by the addition of the second half of the "Hail Mary" and the "Glory be to the Father" at the conclusion of each mystery.
Middle Ages where it came into being in various medieval monasteries as a substitute for the Divine Office for the lay monks and devout lay persons who did not know how to read. Instead of the 150 psalms, they would pray 150 "Our Fathers" counting them on a ring of beads known as the crown or "corona." With the growth of popularity of Marian devotion in the twelfth century, the "Psalter of the Blessed Virgin Mary" developed now substituting 150 "Hail Marys" in place of the "Our Fathers."
The 150 "Hail Marys" were subsequently subdivided into fifteen decades by the young Dominican friar, Henry Kalkar (1328-1408), with each decade referring to an event in the life of Jesus and Mary. The Dominican, Alanus de Rupe (1428-1478) further divided the episodes in the history of salvation into the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries. He also attributed the origin of the Rosary, then known as the "Psalter of the Blessed Virgin" to St. Dominic and thus spurred the Dominican Order to make the Apostolate of the Rosary their special concern. The Dominicans have, since then, promulgated the Rosary with notable results.
The practice of dedicating the entire month of October to the Holy Rosary developed toward the end of the last century. Pope Leo XIII (papacy: 1878-1903) strongly promoted the increase of devotion to the Blessed Mother by encouraging the constant use of the Rosary.
Beginning on September 1, 1883, with Supremo Apostolatus Officio, he wrote a total of eleven encyclicals on the Rosary, ending with Diuturni Temporis in 1898. We are currently celebrating the centennial of these papal encyclicals.
Many other popes have contributed to help increase devotion to the Rosary by their writings. In the recent past, Pope Paul VI ( papacy: 1963-1978) devoted the last section of his Apostolic Exhortation MARIALIS CULTUS to the Angelus and the Rosary (MC 40-55). In this document, he wrote that "the Rosary retains an unaltered value and intact freshness." (MC, 41)
The Rosary is primarily a scriptural prayer. This can be summarized by the traditional phrase used by Pope Pius XII (papacy: 1939-1958) that the Rosary is " a compendium of the entire Gospel" (AAS 38 [1946] p. 419). The Rosary draws its mysteries from the New Testament and is centered on the great events of the Incarnation and Redemption.
John Paul II called the Rosary his favorite prayer, in which we meditate with Mary upon the mysteries which she as a mother meditated on in her heart (Lk. 2:19) (Osservatore Romano, 44; 30 Oct. 1979).
In this month of October, let us consider this beautiful prayer of the Rosary as a means that we too can use in order to draw closer to Jesus and Mary by meditating on the great mysteries of our salvation.
The above article appeared in the Fairfield County Catholic January 1996.
The Very Interesting History Behind
the Feast of the Triumph of the HolyCross
September 14th is the feast day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, also known as the Triumph of the Cross or the Elevation of the Cross. This is the day the Church celebrates both the discovery and the recovery of the True Cross of Jesus Christ.
ST. HELENA'S DISCOVERY IN JERUSALEM
The Roman Emperor Constantine's mother, St. Helena, a convert to Christianity, went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to locate where the important events in the life of Jesus Christ occurred, and to preserve the relics of the Christian faith that remained there. One of her goals was to find the place of Jesus' crucifixion and the very Cross on which he was hung.
Through interviewing many locals, and with the assistance of the Bishop of Jerusalem, St. Macarius, she discovered the spot and found the True Cross which had been previously hidden by the Jews. According to the historian Rufinus, the identity of the True Cross was confirmed by a miraculous healing after St. Macarius recited this prayer:
"O Lord, who by the Passion of Thine only Son on the cross, didst deign to restore salvation to mankind, and who even now hast inspired thy handmaid Helena to seek for the blessed wood to which the author of our salvation was nailed, show clearly which it was, among the three crosses, that was raised for Thy glory. Distinguish it from those which only served for a common execution. Let this woman who is now expiring return from death's door as soon as she is touched by the wood of salvation."
The date of this discovery and miracle, according to tradition, was May 3rd, 326 A.D. St. Helena had a church built on the original site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial, and resurrection, known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Her son Constantine dedicated this church on September 13-14 in the year 335 A.D. Even today, the Stations of the Cross in Jerusalem, or the Via Dolorosa, end at this very spot.
THE FEAST DAY
The True Cross was considered a most valuable treasure of the Church and became a highly venerated object, and the feast honoring the Elevation of the Holy Cross has continually been celebrated until this day. It is celebrated on May 3rd on the old Roman calendar (the date of its discovery), and on September 14th in Jerusalem and on the new Roman calendar (the date the church was dedicated).
The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross - St. Helena discovers the True Cross and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is built by Constantine.
THE TRUE CROSS IS STOLEN
The Cross of Christ was kept by the Church in Jerusalem, but was absconded by Chosroas, King of the Persians, in the year 614 A.D. after the Persian invasion of Syria and Palestine. In the year 629 A.D. the Cross was recovered and brought back to Jerusalem by Emperor Heraclius of Constantinople. The relic of the True Cross was then restored to its place in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The date the True Cross was brought back to Jerusalem was September 14th! The anniversary of the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the date on which Jerusalem celebrated the feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross.
Tradition has it that Emperor Heraclius carried the Cross on his back, a public act of homage, in order to restore it to its rightful place; but, he was only able to move it after he had removed his royal garments and put on the humble garments of repentance instead.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS
326 A.D.: St. Helena discovers the True Cross in Jerusalem on May 3rd.
335 A.D.: Constantine dedicates the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on September 14th.
614 A.D.: Jerusalem is invaded by the Persians who steal the True Cross.
629 A.D.: The True Cross is recovered and brought back to Jerusalem on September 14th.
VENERATING THE CROSS
The Church has a long tradition of venerating the Cross, that's why Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches always have large crucifixes in prominent places. In the Catholic Church venerating the Cross is a liturgical tradition during Holy Week.
It's also why Catholic Christians and Eastern Christians keep crosses and crucifixes in their homes, usually on their wall or above their doorway. In fact, a cross or a crucifix put in a place of honor is a sure mark of a Christian home.
If you don't have a cross or a crucifix in your home, consider choosing one on this special feast day, have it
blessed, and place it in a prominent place in your home where it will be honored and venerated.