A six-film Lenten-themed “Faith on Film” series will start on February 17 at 2pm at St. Vincent de Paul , Albany in Meeting Room 1 (downstairs in the Church). These films cover an array of situations and provide food for thought as we journey through Lent: February 17 – Chocolat (PG-13 – some violence), February 24 – The Grapes of Wrath (no rating), March 2 – St. Vincent (starring Bill Murray) (PG-13 – mature themes, language), March 9 – Field of Dreams (PG), March 16 – Brooklyn (PG-13 - language), March 23 – Jesus of Montreal (in French, with subtitles) (R) Admission is free. Donations to their Food Pantry are welcome.

Our young church shared leadership at the 10am Mass, Children's Liturgy of Word restarted through May, RCIA continues to meet, Bagels and Board Games was huge hit during Hospitality, double Baptism (God Bless!) and an afternoon of Stress Busters: for our young church emphasizing Self Care: Sleep, Humor, I (Jesus "Iesous" the Center of all,) Nutrition, Exercise. Special shout out to our Reader Garbriel, and our young church for leading, our guests: Mary Flynn for sharing tips on Nutrition, Mary DeTurris Poust for leading our meditation/ yoga session and our volunteers Alice and Casey! Thank you St. Thomas for supporting our young Church. We had the most amazing SUNDAY! For more photos, click here to view our photo albums.

A phone training for new volunteers for the Gabriel Project is scheduled for Saturday, February 3 from 10 - 11:30 am. The Gabriel Project® is a pro-life and parish-based program offering assistance to women experiencing difficult circumstances during their pregnancy. To register and receive the call-in number and code, or for more information, please contact Louise Schrecongost at lschrecongost@stthomas-church.org or call 518-439-4951.

In this new year, give your spouse a gift. Attend a Worldwide Marriage Encounter Experience. You can find one by looking up WWME.org. Some of the dates to sign up are: January 26-28, 2024 in Derby Line, VT; February 8-March 21,2024, Virtual (evenings twice a week); and February 9-11, 2024 in Huntington, NY. Worldwide Marriage Encounter sponsors a variety of in-person and virtual marriage experiences, some on weekends and some on seven weekdays. Couples explore their relationship with each other, God, and the Church. Registration is limited; there is a $100 application fee. For more information or to apply, call Frank & Margie Pearson at 860-337-2447 or visit https://wwmectw.org/.

The Diocesan Mental Health Awareness Committee, along with others in the Diocesan community, are intensely aware of the importance of mental health in these times. Our hope is to serve as a resource for everyone in our diocese for mental health. Please visit the diocesan webpage for Mental Health: https://www.rcda.org/offices/mental-health. Our facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/DioceseofAlbanyPeoplewithDisabilities (Please like it).

9 Days for Life is a novena for the protection of human life. You can get daily prayers, reflections, and more by email or text message January 16-24. Sign up today at https://ow.ly/p5VW50QoVnk!

Together we shared kindness and love with our neighbors at St. John's Outreach Center, St. James Food Pantry, Veterans Miracle Network and our homebound here in our parish family. We prayed together, celebrated Mass, Adoration, and we had FUN! Special thanks to all our Tuesday Drive Elves, our Clynkers, our Pueblo to People Committee, Creation Care Team, Friday Bible Study Group, our young church and volunteers who lead our Christmas Agape Latte Mingle, Middle School Faith & Fun Night, Santa's Workshop and all who decorated our Church for Christmas plus everything in between! "God Bless us everyone!" Merry Christmas! Click here to see a photo album.

HO! HO! HO! Special thanks to our young church for sharing some Christmas spirit with our Elementary Faith Formation Students at our Santa's Workshop. Together we enjoyed the movie The Star, decorated Christmas cookies, made angels and more! Wishing you all the grace, and love of that first Christmas night today and every day! Merry Christmas! Click here for our photo album

You may have noticed a difference in the quality of our livestream recently. We have upgraded our equipment. If you would like to be a part of this ministry please contact Rose Ann Garry to set up a time to be trained! Thank you to our current livestream ministers who bring our liturgies to our homebound every week.

We thank our Pueblo to People Committee, Fr. Tom Hayes, Fr. Matt, Fr. Rick, and all those who joined us to honor our Mother Mary at Our Lady of Guadalupe Celebration. Thank you for a beautiful evening of prayer, solidarity with our Sister Parish in Mexico, and fellowship. Muchas Gracias! See our photo album here

St. Thomas faith community will once again be participating in the Bethlehem Senior Services luncheon. We are looking for volunteers to prepare meals for 35 people for the program. Generally, this includes a main dish, vegetable or salad and dessert. We are on the schedule for Monday February 26, 2024. We will do 2 lunches a year give or take. The luncheon is from 12-1pm and then 1-1:30pm there is entertainment or a presentation. Please contact Julie Bablin here if you can help or call the parish office.

Have you ever wanted to make a spiritual pilgrimage to Italy? Imagine visiting St. Peter’s Basilica or walking the cobblestone streets of Assisi, eating fresh pasta under a Tuscan sun or maybe sitting in a gondola and watching Venice slide by. Fr. Matt Duclos and parishioner Mary DeTurris Poust invite you to join them on the journey of a lifetime Sept. 30 to Oct. 11, 2024, when they take a pilgrim group to Rome, Orvieto, Assisi, Siena, Florence, Padua, and Venice for 12 amazing days. Mary will serve as tour leader and Fr. Matt as priest chaplain on this pilgrimage operated by Select International Tours & Cruises. If you’d like to learn more, grab a brochure from the Gathering Hall or visit the Select website: https://selectinternationaltours.com/mary-deturris-poust/

A very special Christmas with the Chosen: Holy Night will happen in theaters December 12-17. Musical Guests include: Andrea Bocelli, Matt Maher, Phil Wickham, Brandon Lake, Zach Williams. Join St. Matthew's parishioners on December 17 at 12:40pm at Crossgates Mall! Let st.mattswelcome@gmail.com know if you will be joining the group at the theater. You may purchase your tickets online or at the theater. For those unable to attend the theater date above, St. Matthew's will be showing "Christmas with The Chosen: The Messengers" on December 9 at 1pm.  We will only be viewing a short portion of the worship music just prior to the beginning of the movie The Messengers. We will have dessert, beverages and of course discussions after the viewing! Please let the above email know if you will be attending this event.

Recently there have been scam emails with Fr. Matthew Duclos' name attached to them. Fr. Duclos' email is matthew.duclos@rcda.org. If you receive an email from any other address, consider it spam and delete. Thank you

Fr. Leskovar has moved and would love to hear from you. Visitors are welcome! To reach him: Fr. Richard Leskovar, Teresian House, Room 119, 200 Washington Ave., Ext. Albany NY 12203. Phone number: 518-456-4209

St. Thomas you are a gift to our neighbors this Thanksgiving. Not only did you fill the Catholic Charities St. John/St. Ann's Outreach Center's van but we shared a van load of food with our neighbors down the street at St. James Food Pantry too! A double blessing! Thanking God for you! Happy Thanksgiving! Click for more photos

HO! HO! HO! We thank all of our Elf Angles for your kindness in packing Santa Joe's truck with 45 Blessing Bags for homebound seniors served at St. John/St. Ann's Outreach Center! We thank our young church for packing our bags, Faith Formation families for coming through at the last minute with needed items to make the bags even and our Preschool parents for participating too. Check out more photos here

The Alzheimer's Association is offering a free Caregiver Conference on Nov 28 from 10-3pm at the Saratoga Springs City Center. Please RSVP by Nov 21 and register at alz.org/CRF or call 518-675- 7214.