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Come, Pray the Rosary Online

Story by Joe Pisani    

St. John Fisher Parish invites the homebound to join in

Five years ago during the height of the coronavirus, Deacon John McKaig of St. John Fisher Parish in Marlborough was invited to join two parishioners to pray the rosary on a Zoom call.

“I was going through chemo at the time, and my wife Patty and I started joining them the following Monday,” he recalls. “Nine months later, my cancer was in remission.”

Every Monday at 8:30 a.m., the prayer community begun by Jennifer O’Neill and Kurt Filosa gathers online to pray the Scriptural rosary, and that half hour has been a source of solace for people who often can’t leave home.

“The big advantage,” says Gil Thompson, who hosts the prayer session, “is that if someone is too sick to come to church, they can sit at home with their laptop and pray with us. Some, who have cancer, can turn on their video and not worry about transportation. We could be anywhere in the world and pray together.”

His wife Laurie recalls a member of the church who suffered from Lou Gehrig’s Disease and was committed to praying with them.

“When he first joined us, you could see the impact it had on him,” she says. “He asked to do the responses, and tears would be flowing from his eyes.”

The community of 10 people was so committed they would often go to his home to get him up.

“He needed us and we needed him,” Laurie says. “It got to the point where he could no longer speak, but two weeks before he passed, his caregiver brought him on.”

The group prays for many intentions, including those who are sick, new babies, job seekers, graduates and people who have overcome illnesses.

“We pray for everything,” Gil says, “including our pastor, Father George Mukuka.”

Word of the online rosary ministry spread and parishioners often reach out with intentions.

“It’s fulfilling to pray for people,” Laurie says. “Parishioners who are ill are happy when they hear they’re in our prayers. And whether they’re here or not, they know we’re praying for them.”

“We’re starting our week with prayer and thinking about people who are less fortunate because of health issues or whatever,” Gil says, “And we think about them for the rest of the week.”

During the rosary, Gil reads the Scriptural verse for each Hail Mary, while Laurie prays the response and others recite it at home.        

“This method of praying the rosary keeps my mind focused on the Scripture reflections that the leader reads before each Hail Mary,” Deacon McKaig says.

The beauty of the rosary, he says, is that it offers Catholics a way to meditate on the life of Jesus and the Blessed Mother, starting with the Annunciation when Mary said “yes” to God’s invitation, and culminating in Jesus’ Ascension and her Assumption.

“When we join others in this spiritual practice, it’s a powerful way to live out our baptismal promises by living the Greatest Commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind and the Second Commandment, which is like it, to love our neighbor as ourselves,” Deacon McKaig says. “This lets us always remember it’s not about me. It’s not about you. It’s all about what we can do for someone else.”

To join the rosary prayer group on Mondays at 8:30 a.m., go to St. John Fisher’s website, stjfchurch.org, and click on the “Ministries” tile and then the link for “Online Rosary.”

Priest Keeps Christmas Spirit Alive with Nostalgic Tributes

Story by Joe Pisani

When Father Jeffrey Gubbiotti was in high school, five friends came over for pizza two days before Christmas, and while they were hanging out, someone mentioned caroling. That night, young Jeffrey, who had never seen carolers, began a lifelong tradition when the six friends went out singing Christmas carols in the Oakville neighborhood of Watertown.

He continued doing it every year through college, seminary and his priesthood, and now as pastor of Our Lady Queen of the Apostles Parish in Derby, he hosts the “Christmas Caroling Party” at St. Mary rectory followed by an open house.

“Over the years, you collect things that hold memories and evoke people you knew and events in your life,” he says. “I still have family ornaments from when I was young, and I put them on the tree now.”

For the priest, the season is also filled with religious symbolism.“To me, the Christmas tree symbolizes Christ, the source of life,” Father Gubbiotti says. “He’s the vine and we are the branches, and when you put lights on the tree, it’s a reminder he’s the light of the world. The ornaments represent me and my family members. Hanging them is a way of uniting my life and those I love to Christ’s life. It’s a prayerful thing.”

Part of the display in the rectory includes a Christmas village which has grown larger over the years. PHOTO BY JOE PISANI

There’s also another tree he displays that has special meaning. It’s a tree he bought for $3 15 years ago, which he decorates with New York Yankee ornaments. At the top is a star he got for 50 cents that blinks blue and white — the team’s colors. Sometimes, he says, friends surreptitiously hang Boston Red Sox ornaments on it when he’s not looking.

Father Gubbiotti’s largest of three Christmas trees displays many family heirloom ornaments, including one from his grandmother that is more than a century old, ornaments he crafted in Boy Scouts, several honoring popes, and others with photos of family members. PHOTO BY JOE PISANI

“From six of us in high school to as many as 70 in later years, I’ve tried to keep up the tradition,” he says. “The week before Christmas, we have an Advent prayer service, trivia games and caroling in the neighborhood, and later everyone is invited to the rectory to see the decorations.”

It’s a holy and nostalgic time for Father Gubbiotti, who cherishes reminders of past Christmases with his parents and sister — including the nativity set his mother Cindy made in ceramics class, still displayed although the camel’s head had to be repaired. Then, there was the merry-go-round carousel he got when he was 8 years old.

Among decorations in the rectory are figurines he acquired on pilgrimages, including a carved St. Nicholas when he attended the famous German Passion Play in the village of Oberammergau; a nativity from Assisi, where St. Francis created the first live nativity in 1223; a crèche from Mexico, where he studied Spanish early in his priesthood, and a Three Kings plate from Puerto Rico.

“They are things that have special meaning and remind me of people and trips I’ve made,” he says. “They also remind me to pray for them.” Most important of all, Father Gubbiotti says traditions like these are a way to spiritually prepare us for the birth of the Christ child. Throughout Advent, the parish had a full calendar of events, including a session for ornament-making, a tree lighting at St. Mary-St. Michael School in Derby, an evening of lessons and carols, a Christmas cookie sale by Ladies Guild, and a crèche reenactment on Christmas Eve.

“The things that we all do to get ready for Christmas can be overwhelming and a source of stress,” Father Gubbiotti says, “but they can also be a source of prayer and an encounter with Christ if we invite Jesus be a part of them — whether it’s decorating, baking cookies or writing Christmas cards.

A Sad — and yet joyful — Christmas

Story by Joe Pisani

Even though we say “’tis the season to be jolly,” “joy to the world” and all that other stuff, I approach the Christmas season with a measure of anxiety because I’m convinced I’ll be visited with some calamity or family tragedy. A lot can happen between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

For much of my adult life, I’ve been apprehensive that something unsettling will happen…and it usually did. Let me start with the small stuff.

There was the Christmas Eve my mother fell down the stairs carrying an armful of presents from the attic, and we spent the night in the emergency room.

There was the year my wife was nine months’ pregnant with our first daughter and fell while crossing a stream at the Christmas tree farm because I insisted we had to cut our own tree. She spent the holiday in bed.

There was the year I had to throw our half-decorated tree out into the snow, stinking of Raid, because my daughters discovered a spiders’ nest in the branches, and hysteria erupted. Pretty soon spiders — not to mention my four daughters and wife — were running for cover.

Then, there was the year the doctors told us my mother’s cancer had spread, and it would be her last Christmas. That was one of the saddest holidays ever. (Spoiler alert: She lived for ten more Christmases.)

Don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of Christmas joy, great presents and wonderful food, and the wondrous awe of Midnight Mass. But there was loss. One year, I spent the season alone in St. Petersburg, where we lived, because my wife and two young daughters returned home when her adoptive father died two days before Christmas. A year later her grandmother died on the same day.

Then, there was the Christmas Eve I got a call from my sister and learned my father had died while we were 300 miles away, stranded in a snowstorm. It’s crazy to be angry with God on Christmas, but I was.

My sister spent the night by herself in an empty emergency room. At midnight, a young minister saw her and stopped. He asked if she was OK, and she told him what happened. His first words, which I remember years later, were “What a wonderful gift to spend Christmas in Heaven.” At the time, I had my doubts.

Whenever I tell people that story, they have their own versions. Someone they loved died during the holiday season. 

For those who mourn, it hardly seems like a gift, but when you think about it, just imagine the majestic joy of celebrating Christmas in Heaven with the Baby Jesus, the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, the choirs of angels, the saints and everyone else.

However, for the families and friends left behind, the loss of a loved one can be a particularly intense sorrow over the holiday. The grief never entirely goes away, and you relive it every year.

Nevertheless, as a priest friend once told me: Christmas is always a source of joy and hope, even amid adversity.

The Christmas story, itself, is a story of trials. A young couple travels more than 70 miles to an unfamiliar village, arriving as she is about to delivery her baby. Human kindness is in short supply, and there’s no room at the inn, so they seek shelter in a cave with the animals, where she delivers her son and lays him in a manger. And yet there was joy and hope and peace on that cold and lonely night.

The tinsel-covered “holiday season” can never give us joy and hope and the peace. All it can offer are fleeting pleasures.

In a Christmas greeting written 500 years ago, a 16th century friar, Fra Giovanni Giocondo, understood all of this. He said:

“There is nothing I can give you which you have not; but there is much, very much that, while I cannot give it, you can take. No Heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take Heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace!

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. Take joy. There is radiance and glory in the darkness, could we but see. And to see it, we have only to look. …And so at this Christmastime, I greet you with the prayer that for you — now and forever — the day may break and the shadows flee.”

May the shadows flee for us all. Wishing you a joyful, peaceful and hopeful and  Christmas.

St. Lucian’s Residence Counts 100 Years of Senior Living with Spiritual Perks

Story by Shelley Wolf

Monsignor Lucian Bojnowski, who served as a pastor to the Polish community in New Britain beginning in 1895, was an enterprising priest who dreamed of many ministries to uplift the locals. As pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, he founded a congregation of religious women, two grade schools, an academy, an orphanage and a home for the elderly.

One of his creations that continues to care for God’s people to this day is St. Lucian’s Residence, a residential senior living facility, which celebrated its 100th anniversary this year (1925 to 2025).

“He had an incredible vision,” Robert Skarba, administrator of St. Lucian’s Residence, says of Monsignor Bojnowski. Today, that vision is summarized in St. Lucian’s Residence logo with the tagline “comfort, care and compassion.”

“The ministry of St. Lucian’s is a priority of the Daughters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception,” says Sister Mary Janice Zdunczyk, a member of the congregation and director of St. Lucian’s, who is in charge of providing that compassionate care. “It’s our mission to support St. Lucian’s financially, spiritually and socially.”

Today, six sisters make their home at St. Lucian’s Residence, a nonprofit residential senior living facility that welcomes people age 65 and above. The sisters live on one floor of St. Lucian’s Residence, while 15 lay people live on the floors below.

“I think our founder’s purpose was to found a community with a faith dimension,” Sister Mary Janice explains. “With that added spiritual dimension, the sisters are willing to share their community life with the lay people and vice versa.

“It’s amazing how many residents join the sisters in prayer, holy hours and at various prayer services,” Sister Mary Janice notes.

There is also a chapel, which draws the residents for daily Mass. Masses are celebrated by Father Lawrence Symolon, chaplain for the Daughters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception. While this spiritual legacy is being carried on, some things have changed.

Located on Burritt Street, St. Lucian’s Residence was built in 1925 and gained a new wing in 1986, followed by many upgrades. Residents enjoy private rooms but can mingle in sitting rooms on every floor, in the dining hall and in a large social activity room.

Father Lawrence Symolon, chaplain for the Daughters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception, dispenses the Eucharist to Superior General Sister Mary Catherine Sirotnak during the 100th Anniversary Mass and Celebration last September in the chapel at St. Lucian’s Residence. COURTESY DAUGHTERS OF MARY

Activities include exercise classes, bingo, movies and holiday parties. Meals, assistance with medication, laundry and other services are also available, if needed.

Resident Kasimier (Kaz) Marchut, a former long-distance runner, takes advantage of the weekly exercise classes. He also loves to read. “I’ve read every book in the library,” he says, of the small library with English and Polish titles. But he says the best thing about living at St. Lucian’s is “having good friends.”

In the activity room, an invited speaker discusses cultural traditions for the Easter holiday with the Sisters and the residents. COURTESY DAUGHTERS OF MARY

Luc A. Ouellette spent his working life as a Catholic school teacher at St. Ann Jr. High School and Sacred Heart School in New Britain, teaching reading, French and religion. He says he arrived at St. Lucian’s because “I needed some things done for me – laundry and food prep.”

Oullette loves everything about St. Lucian’s: “The schedule for meals, the quiet time in the building, the activities planned for us, the daily Mass and the rosary on Wednesday after Mass and on Sunday afternoons.”

Three years ago, Sister Mary Lucille Banach, one of the Daughters of Mary and a retired nurse, moved from Boston to become a resident. “The best is the socialization. There are people around to talk to – or not talk to,” she says with a laugh.

Avon Teens Join in Sending Gifts to Military for the Holidays

Story by Shelley Wolf

On a Saturday in November, 15 teens from St. Ann Parish in Avon spent their morning serving the men and women who protect our country far from home.

In the gymnasium of New Britain High School, they joined hundreds of other people from throughout Central Connecticut in wrapping and packing food gifts for military members in time for the Christmas holiday.

“It’s important to help. Some deployed members don’t have family looking out for them,” says Victoria Borisov, a St. Ann Youth Ministry member who is in the eighth grade. “A big part of our Catholic faith is helping others, and this fits with that. It’s a good cause.”

“Service work is important when you’re Catholic,” adds Henry Madison, a seventh grade youth ministry member. “We’re here to support the men and women overseas, so they can have the holiday spirit. I wish I could do more.”

This service activity is one of many good works performed by the St. Ann Parish Youth Ministry. The Avon teens were escorted by Caroline Mascoli, the new director of youth ministry for the parish as of last September.

Mascoli is encouraging the youth ministry members, especially those who are confirmation candidates, to put in at least eight hours of service for the year. “For confirmation candidates, we’re trying to follow the Corporal Works of Mercy and find events and activities related to that,” she says.

Students fulfill three categories of service: (1) individual, (2) with family and (3) with a group.

Mascoli chose the “Boxes to Boots” group event, which she had heard about from other high school groups. “It was top of my list because I knew it would be a great way to get kids involved in the community,” she says. “And, I have two brothers in the Marines, so it hits close to home for me and will for the students here as well.

Caroline Mascoli, second from left and director of St. Ann Youth Ministry, organizes the Avon teens in packing the gifts. PHOTO BY SHELLEY WOLF

The “Operation Cares 2025—Giving Thanks to Our Troops” event was sponsored by “Boxes to Boots,” a nonprofit started in 2015 by Karen Cote, a military mom in Berlin. At the 2025 event, the Avon teens and hundreds of others worked at 90 tables packing care packages of breakfast treats and snacks, and fun gifts such as Frisbees, for 1,800 to 1,900 service members.

Two of the teens write out greeting cards with Bible verses for service men and women serving overseas. PHOTO BY SHELLEY WOLF

“It was so nice that active military were here to make it even more meaningful,” Mascoli notes. Some local military members, such as the ROTC and the Connecticut National Guard, were present packing boxes, receiving boxes and loading the trucks.

Mascoli’s fiancée, Sean Murphy, accompanied the Avon teens. “It’s wonderful,” he says of the event, which also included a DJ playing popular dance music. “It’s such a fun way to get them involved with community and start them out.”

Mateo Garza, a senior in high school, recently joined the St. Ann Youth Ministry. “I just learned about this group and events and want to go to more. I felt connected to the people and the others but also to God himself,” he says.

“We were writing Bible verses on cards,” Garza adds, “and if one of those verses can get along to a soldier, it can bring faith to them as well.”

Built by Faith: How One Craftsman Uses His Skills to Glorify God

Story by Jim Tierney

For Omar Acosta, every nail driven and every beam aligned is an act of prayer. A self-employed contractor from Windsor and a third-year candidate in the Archdiocese of Hartford’s Diaconate formation program, Acosta views his craft as a way to glorify God—and to draw others closer to him.

This Advent, parishioners and passersby at Sacred Heart Church in Bloomfield will encounter one of Acosta’s most heartfelt creations yet: a handcrafted manger that stands as both an artistic and spiritual expression of love.

“I wanted to build something that pointed people to God,” he says. “Beauty can quietly draw the passerby—even for a moment—that’s what this is about.”

The manger at Sacred Heart is the third one he has built within the archdiocese—following earlier ones at St. Francis Church in New Haven and St. Gabriel Church in Windsor. Each is unique, but all share a singular purpose: to celebrate the mystery of the Incarnation with reverence and beauty.

Yet for Acosta, the story begins long before the first piece of wood is cut.

Born and raised in Hartford and a graduate of Prince Tech, Acosta’s childhood was framed by survival and grace.

“My faith is that of a peasant,” he explains. “I didn’t attend Catholic schools or have formal faith formation. But I was blessed with a relationship with God from the time I was 5 or 6. I spent so much time talking to him—it was truly a grace.”

This manger at St. Gabriel Church in Windsor is special to Acosta because he built it with fellow parishioner Mark Regan. SUBMITTED PHOTO

His early years were shaped by hardship—his father’s struggle with addiction and his mother’s quiet, heroic perseverance.

“My mother was the instrument God used in my life,” he says. “She was my hero. She showed us mercy by visiting strangers in nursing homes, just to bring them company. That planted something deep in me.”

This is another manger Omar built at St. Francis Church in New Haven.
SUBMITTED PHOTO

As a teenager, Acosta became an altar server and later a youth minister at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Hartford. A pivotal experience came when he attended the Steubenville retreat, hosted by Franciscan University.

“It was amazing to be surrounded by a couple thousand people in attendance radiating zeal for our living faith,” he says. “My heart caught the scent of something I wanted deeply more of. Soon after, I applied and took a road trip to visit the Steubenville, Ohio, campus. Months later, I was a student there. The greatest gifts that came of it were not even on my radar.”

Now married for 17 years, Omar and his wife, Julie, have five children—Analia, 13; Camila, 11; Mariela, 9; Lucas, 8; and Tobias, 1. Their home life, like his craftsmanship, is rooted in prayer.

“One of my vocations is living the sacrament of matrimony,” he says. “The other is my faith and both are grounded in service.”

That spirit of service has guided his 17 years working with people with disabilities in the Hartford area—helping others live with dignity, joy and faith.

Whether serving others or shaping wood, Acosta finds God in the work of his hands.

“I’m an artisan,” he says simply. “I dream of designing church furnishings, grottos, Stations of the Cross—anything that glorifies God through beauty. The manger is just one small way to offer that.”

As the Christmas season approaches, Acosta hopes his latest creation becomes a place of encounter.

“The idea of being able to build a manger is to capture someone’s mind, eye, and attention,” he adds. “They’re looking up at God whether they know it or not.”

How a Pilgrimage to Mexico Sparked a Priest’s Passion for the Guadalupe Feast

Story by Jim Tierney

When Father Joseph Keough, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Suffield, traveled to Mexico City earlier this month, he expected a meaningful pilgrimage. What he didn’t expect was how his visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe would impact him and shape his plans for the parish’s upcoming feast day celebration.

“It was something I always wanted to do,” he says. “My dad always had a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother. It’s an image of her I wanted to learn more about, especially the Miracle of the Tilma.”

Keough joined a group organized by Verso Ministries, traveling with two parishioners and others from across the United States. The group spent five days exploring the sacred sites connected to the apparitions of Our Lady to St. Juan Diego. To understand the significance of these sites, it helps to recall the story at the heart of the devotion.

In 1531, Juan Diego reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary on Tepeyac Hill in Mexico City, who asked for a shrine and proved her message by imprinting her image on his tilma when he presented miraculous winter roses to the bishop. The image — unchanged for centuries despite its fragile material — carries indigenous symbols, accurate constellations from the day of the apparition, microscopic human reflections in the eyes, and scriptural parallels, leading many to see it as a miraculous, divinely created sign.

 “What moved me most was seeing how the apparition brought unity,” Keough says. “Our Blessed Mother spoke to both the native people and the Spanish explorers, and her message – ‘I am your mother, and you are my son’– led to conversion and healing. It really was an important trip. Americans need to see this, experience it, and learn about it.”

In Mexico City is a display on the side of a hill where the roses appeared and a church was built per instruction by Our Lady of Guadalupe. PHOTO BY FATHER JOSEPH KEOUGH

He was also struck by the symbolic depth of the image.

“Everything on the tilma has meaning – the stars on her mantle reflect the night sky of Dec. 12, 1531,” Keough explains. “There’s a heavenly message embedded in every detail.”

Hundreds of people are dancing to drums in traditional native dress in the plaza in front of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. PHOTO BY FATHER JOSEPH KEOUGH

The experience inspired him to create a more intentional and joyful celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Sacred Heart this year on Dec. 12. Before leaving for Mexico, he asked parishioners if they had prayer intentions he could bring to the Basilica.

“More than 200 people responded,” Keough says. “When I came back, so many thanked me. There’s a real excitement about it in the parish.”

Sacred Heart Parish’s Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at Sacred Heart Church on Dec. 12 will begin with Eucharistic Adoration from 7:30 to 8 a.m., followed by Mass at 8 a.m., which will be livestreamed on the parish Facebook page. Father Keough will preach a special Guadalupe-themed homily, reflecting on his pilgrimage and the message of trust and closeness to Christ through the Blessed Mother.

An image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, provided by a parish family, will be displayed prominently.

In the afternoon, the parish hopes to host a brief devotional program highlighting key moments from the pilgrimage and the history of the apparition.

The simple, but profound message behind the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe resonates in the lives of parishioners today. “That message of trust and drawing closer to our Lord through his mother,” Keough adds. “I am your mother, you are my son.”

Decree of the Seventh Edition of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services

“The Spirit of Christmas” Offers Delightful Day at McGivney Pilgrimage Center

Story by Shelley Wolf

If your family is looking for a way to make the Christmas season more meaningful and joyful, the Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center in New Haven offers a free, faith-filled and fun outing.

This year the museum, operated by the Knights of Columbus, is inviting visitors to “The Spirit of Christmas” exhibit now through Feb. 1, 2026. The exhibit features crèches and other artwork from around the globe celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. In addition, this year the exhibit highlights traditions and feast days cherished throughout the Christmas season.

“This year’s exhibit is not just about Christmas. It talks about the Advent season all the way through to Candlemas,” says Bethany J. Sheffer, curator and registrar of the museum. “Other feast days connected to the season include St. Nicholas, St. Lucia, the Holy Family and the Epiphany.”

This year’s exhibit also offers an interactive Advent calendar. “We’ve built a larger-than-life Advent calendar. You can open some of its doors,” Sheffer says. “On Dec. 20, when you open the door, you might get a prize.”

The Advent calendar measures 8 feet tall and 20 feet wide. “It’s big and exciting. When you open the doors, it lights up. It’s the first thing you see,” she adds.

Visitors will also be greeted in the entrance hall by a decorated tree with a French nativity tucked underneath its branches. “Our French nativity is a personal favorite,” Sheffer says. “It’s surrounded by poinsettias and is very pretty.”

This peasant crèche with animals from Mougères, France, is created from dolomite stone, resin and polychrome. PHOTO BY AARON JOSEPH
This peasant crèche with animals from Mougères, France, is created from dolomite stone, resin and polychrome. PHOTO BY AARON JOSEPH

Among 50 crèches and works of art in adjoining rooms, visitors will find some new nativities this year from Australia, Germany and Denmark. “The Australian creche is a simple wood carved piece but, with that, we now have nativities from six out of seven continents,” Sheffer says.

This round and colorful nativity from Japan is crafted in polychrome and wood. PHOTO BY AARON JOSEPH
This round and colorful nativity from Japan is crafted in polychrome and wood. PHOTO BY AARON JOSEPH

Other intriguing crèches include one from Haiti made of coconut shells. “One of my favorites is the Three Kings,” Sheffer adds. “It’s Spanish and is porcelain with figures 18 inches tall. They are beautiful. They’re at the very end of the exhibit.”

A second exhibit, “Away in a Manger,” includes the crèche of St. Mary Church set in 19th-century New Haven – in the era of Blessed Michael McGivney.

This exhibit also incorporates the Neapolitan crèche, an annual favorite, which is large enough to encompass three main structures and 150 animal figures. “There’s a turtle I move around every year,” Sheffer says. “People can try to find him.”

Additionally, visitors are invited to free weekend events: Tempus Adventus Concert, a choral concert by Canticum Novum, Nov. 30 at 2 p.m.; St. Nicholas Day with live music from Craig Calistro and the Christmas Tree Festival decorated by 20 Connecticut Catholic schools, Dec. 6 from 12 to 3 p.m.; the Advent Calendar Giveaway, Dec. 20; and Christmastime Family Day with live music from Joyful Noise, Dec. 28 from 12 to 3 p.m.

Before You Go

Blessed Michael McGivney Pilgrimage Center, at 1 State St., New Haven, is open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission and parking below the museum are free. For more information and the complete schedule of events, call 203.865.0400 or visit online at michaelmcgivneycenter.org.

Catholic Transcript: Winter 2025