Thank you St. Thomas for showering items needed for blessing bags made by the Christ Child Society of the Albany Diocese, for women and childern who are forced to flee their home because of domestic abuse. Your donation of toiletry items, child activity books and cuddly push toys are most appreciated. Special thanks to our young church for sorting and greeting. Thank you all for your kindness and prayers for those experiencing the unthinkable. Click for more photos!

Special thanks to Creation Care Team members Amanda LoBue, Barbara Leonard, and friends Dave and Scott for putting the finishing touches to our Little Library by adding a bluestone path and plantings in front of Church. Your energy and time is most appreciated! Thanks too to all of our Clynkers who covered the cost of materials. Wonderful team work! Happy Reading! Click for more pictures!

Middle School and HS Faith Formation made 300 ham sandwiches, 300 trail mix bags, decorated 200 sandwich bags and colored Easter Dinner Placemats for the Capital City Rescue Mission, packed 100 toiletry Blessing Bags with an inspirational message for St. James Food Pantry and also St. John St. Ann’s Outreach Center, folded Clynk Bags ,tied blanket for food pantry, and came together in prayer. Reminded that we are all called to Help Others, Pray and Encourage one another and in doing so we follow the Great Commands to: Love God, Love others and ourselves. To see the many pictures from the week, click here.

The powerful winds of March were no match to you St. Thomas! You left Fr. Sean O’Brien, Coordinator for St. John St. Ann’s Outreach Center, SPEECHLESS as he gave witness to your generosity in our overflowing packed truck. “I am humbled by your parish’s generosity.” shared Fr. Sean. We thank all of our faith supports who come out every week to share what they can and all of our new friends who met Fr. Dan’s Challenge to pack the Gathering Hall! God bless you St. Thomas for making a difference! Click to see more photos!

Chef McKnight of the Capital City Rescue Mission thanks all who dropped off needed items before the storm and after the storm this past week! There is no stopping the generous hearts of St. Thomas! Special thanks to our young church for organizing our collection! To see more pictures click here.

Thank you St. Thomas for pulling together 21 Bags of Love filled with household items, treats, soup, peanut butter, festive kitchen towels, napkins and MORE! Our Bags of love our finding their way to our homebound seniors during home visits with our Pastoral Care Associate, Julie Bablin and her wonderful volunteers. Special shout out to our young church and all who shared warm greetings of love in the form of homemade cards. We thank our Creation Care Team and all you Clynkers for purchasing the bags. Excellent work TEAM LOVE! “Everything should be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:14. Click here for more photos.

Thank you St. Thomas for continuing to make a difference in the lives of our neighbors! Our Regift it Christmas Drive was so successful that items donated were not only given to Sr. Maureen Joyce Center but were also shared with their neighbors at the Interfaith Partnership for the Homeless! Rob from Miracle Network drove off with a van full on needed items for their weekly food boxes for Veterans! Special shout out to our young church, Savannah, Laney and Luke for sorting and greeting! Thank you St. Thomas for warming the hearts of our neighbors this January! For more pictures, click here.

Blessings to all who participated in our Advent Night of Service at home. Together we created 20+ blankets, 30 Christmas Goodie bags for Personal Care Residents, 60 favors of Senior Luncheon, adorable pine cone trees, Christmas Cards & Gift Tags, decorated clothes pins as clips, tied scarves, braided pillows and shared so much JOY & LOVE with our parishioners served in our Pastoral Care Ministry. God bless you for your gift of time and for Shining HIS LIGHT! Merry Christmas! Click here to see more photos

A Blue Christmas Celebration is a service to attend if, despite all the decorations, the cards, the music playing in the shops, the concerts and parties and the advertisers who want you to believe that you can buy wonderful, you don’t really feel very much like celebrating. Somewhere to come if the idea that a Merry Little Christmas is all you need for your troubles to be miles away has a decidedly hollow ring to it. Join us on December 20th at 7 pm at Christ the King Church.

The Diocese of Albany is coordinating a series of Hope and Healing Masses, one each month in each of our seven Vicariates. The purpose of these Masses is to acknowledge that each person experiences trauma, abuse, or grief at different points in their life. Many people suffer in silence. It is the goal of the Diocese to assist all who struggle, to offer them Christ’s healing presence in the Mass, and to provide mental health support and resources for those who may need them. Please join us for the Hope and Healing Mass in the Beverwyck Vicariate: Sunday, December 18, 2022, 10:00am Mass St. Pius X Church 23 Crumitie Rd. Loudonville, NY 12211 Bishop Edward Scharfenberger, Celebrant and Homilist Afterwards, members of the Diocesan Hope and Healing Team will be available to talk, as well as local counselors and mental health professionals. For more information and local resources click here.

“The warmth of one kind soul can melt a thousand icy hearts.” Robert Clancy. Catholic Charites Sr. Maureen Joyce Center Coordinator Sally Zgolinski and volunteers’ thank you for sharing warmth with their guests this winter. Your gifts of warmth will warm the hearts, hands, feet and heads of our neighbors this winter! Special shout out to our young Church for greeting and all of you for spreading the warmth of kindness.

Blessings to all those who assisted in preparing 45 Christmas bags for our homebound senior neighbors served at St. John St. Ann’s Outreach Center! Special shout outs to MS Faith Formation Students for packing the donated household items and personal care items, all of you Clynkers and our Creation Care Team for the donated Christmas Bags!

Thank you for the diapers, cozy blankets, bottles, and other wonderful baby items collected for RISSE, who serves Migrant & Refugee neighbors new to the area. Your generosity was so overwhelming that we were able to also share items with Catholic Charities Community Maternity Services too! Special thanks to Alaina for organizing the items and greeting! God Bless you for supporting LIFE! Click here for more photos.

Diocesan Cemeteries appreciated the scrubbing power of our young church for refurbishing historic tombstones at Calvary Cemetery on their day off from school. Thank you for honoring and respecting those buried in this holy sacred place. Click here for photos!

Blessings overflowing! Together we created 20 Blessing Bags with lots of goodies and thinking of you cards for our homebound Parishioners. Extra items were shared with St. Francis Food Pantry. Smaller individual items are perfect for our young church to create Halloween Goodie Bags for our Personal Care parishioners. Special shout out to our young church for greetings, sorting, counting and bagging. Thank you St. Thomas for letting our seniors know they are in our thoughts and prayers! Click here for photos.

WOW, over 100 and still going strong! Thank you St. Thomas for your kindness and generosity to our neighbors and family at our weekly drives. We started back in March of 2020 in response to wanting to do something to assist our neighbors when so much uncertainty and fear surrounded us! The drives gave us an opportunity to share what we could. It also gave us an opportunity to gather to see one another. We gathered with no masks, with masks, with social distance, in the rain, in the snow and the sunshine. We collected in the parking lot, in Father’s garage, in front of the church and in the Gathering Hall. Some came with their four legged friends or with a friend. Some of you joined us once or twice, others have never missed a drive! Thank you, St. Thomas, for giving witness to what being a Roman Catholic means. Sharing with our homebound, reminding others that they are thought of, helping families and veterans on a tight budget, and allowing our young church to know what it means to be the hands and feet of Christ in our world. Click here for 100 pictures from our drives!

Christ the King parish is hosting Mass (the Luncheon has been canceled) to pray for and honor Breast Cancer Survivors and their loved ones on Sunday Oct. 2nd at 11 am.

Thank you St. Thomas for encouraging “new Trees” to spring forth from your kindness and generosity at home and in the community. Together we collected $675.00 worth of gift cards for our own Parish Meal Ministry! Your kindness will provide comfort to a parish member who may be in mourning the loss of a loved one or juggling the joy of a new baby or simply just to let someone we care and are praying for them. St. James Food Pantry thanks you too for the reusable bags and food donations. Please see the next news posting for their need for donations again. The Interfaith Partnership for the Homeless was blown away by the amount of new and gently used men items that were collected. Jon Romano Coordinator for the Clothing Pantry at Community Connections made three trips to unload the van! He thanks you for assisting to cloth their guests our neighbors. Click for pictures

On September 24th from 10-1pm there will be drop off boxes in the parking lot (weather permitting) of St. James, 16 St. James Place Albany or alternatively you may drop off any non perishable food item at the food pantry window. They are very munch in need of 1 lb. bags of rice, cereal, spaghetti sauce, jelly, toilet paper, paper towels, and hygiene products. If you can give, they would be greatful!

Heartfelt thanks and gratitude are extended all who participated in our drive for St. John St. Ann’s Outreach Center. Staff and volunteers at the center were most appreciative of our van load of supplies. They are only receiving about half of their typical order because the Food Bank is low on supplies or totally out of some items. Your kindness will go a long way in supporting a neighbor who is having a tough time making ends meet. Special thanks to Eli for sorting and greeting! Click for more photos