We Lovingly Offer our Prayers for You
The cloistered Carmelite Sisters of Rochester New York have adopted our parish.
Sisters of Life
St. Paul the Apostle Convent is home to a community of the Sisters of Life.
The Church’s Greatest Treasure
02-14-2021The Church’s greatest treasure is the sacrifice of the Mass and the Presence of Christ in His Church, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, true God, true Man. The Church’s greatest crisis has been in this latter days where Catholics no longer recognize or understand the meaning of the Mass and the Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist and that He is God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, as well as Man taking flesh from the Virgin Mary. In the midst of this crisis which was going on during the Second Vatican Council and which metastasized after it. Pope Paul VI issued perhaps his most profound encyclical called Mysterium Fidei, the Mystery of Faith, in 1965. In it is a primer on the Church’s teaching on the Mass and the Holy Eucharist. Below are highlights from this great encyclical:
READ MOREAnnouncements & Events
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Additional Mass during Lent
Mass will be held at 7:30pm each week night during Lent.
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2020 Contribution Statements
Tax statements for your church contributions are available, at your request, at the rectory. Please call the rectory weekdays before 12:00pm or preferably email stpaulyonkers@gmail.com your request and a statement will be mailed to you.
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2021 Cardinal’s Annual Stewardship Appeal
Our goal is $52,000. Gifts can be made in the ordinary manner or online at cardinalsappeal.org.
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Bible Study and more!
Go to stpaulyonkers.formed.org and register which gives you access to quality Catholic on line programs, movies, audios, and books.
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Easter Flower Offering
Please consider memorializing a loved one during this Easter season by donating $20 for a pot of lilies. Envelopes are available in the rear of the church.
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Knights of Columbus Prayer Group
Our Knights of Columbus council encourages and welcomes you to join their daily prayer group as we continue to connect and pray for an end to the current pandemic, for those who are sick and for those who have died.
The Cardinal's Annual Stewardship Appeal 2021
Our goal is $51,000. In these trouble times we are very grateful for your sacrifice and generosity. God bless all of you and keep you safe.
We have begun the 2021 Cardinal’s Annual Stewardship Appeal. For those of you who are loyal supporters of the Appeal, I thank you! Your generosity has supported ministries and apostolates across the archdiocese, through which so many people have come to know and love our Lord more deeply. Our goal is $51,000. We’re at $7,465 at this point, 14% of goal. In these trouble times we are very grateful for your sacrifice and generosity. Gifts can be made in the ordinary manner or online at cardinalsappeal.org God bless all of you and keep you safe.
Yours in Christ, Father Leonard F. Villa
The Equality Act
02-23-2021Our bishops ask us to oppose The Equality Act which discriminates against people of faith and threatens unborn life. Tell Congress to oppose it. To contact your representatives click here.
Timeless Wisdom and Teaching from Pope Leo XIII An Architect of Catholic Social Teaching
01-24-2021These paragraphs from the encyclical, Diuturnum Illud, On the Origin of Civil Power (1881) are particularly relevant to the situation facing Catholics in the U.S. today:
READ MORENote On the Date of Christmas
01-10-2021A common assertion is that early Christians derived Christmas from pagan celebrations, and that these feasts are therefore pagan (though overlaid with a thin veneer of Christianity). How much truth is there in this assertion? Since the Western Christmas (25 December) falls near the Winter Solstice (21 December), it occurs at the same time of the year as certain pagan solstice feasts. One such feast was the Roman celebration of Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (Nativity of the Invincible Sun), which commemorated the birth of the sun god Mithra. After Emperor Aurelian declared Mithra/Sol Invictus to be the patron of the Roman Empire in 274 AD, this feast in his honor became very popular. Some say that the Christians invented Christmas, a feast in honor of Jesus' birth, as an alternative to this popular feast of Mithra's birth. Others claim that Christmas was never a separate feast, but is the feast of Sol Invictus itself, continued and adapted by pagan converts in the fourth century, after Constantine forced them to become Christians. Unwilling to abandon their beloved Mithraism, they changed Dies Natalis Solis Invicti into a feast of Christ's Nativity (since no one knows for sure what day Jesus was born).
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St. Paul the Apostle Parish Mission
The Parish of Saint Paul Apostle under the guidance of the Holy Spirit informs the response of the believer to the presence of Jesus through conversion. In this process strengthened and maintained by prayer, worship and catholic action, individuals become Christ in this twenty first century.
At Sunday Eucharist all gather to hear God’s Word in the Scriptures. Gradually an understanding of life’s make-up deepens and the rich meaning of living through union with Jesus opens a fuller connection to His focal work at Calvary. Through God’s unfolding grace the purpose of faith is being fulfilled by our incorporation with Him in our Eucharistic – “this holy and perfect sacrifice: the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation.” Conversion or being awakened to the mystery of His Death and Resurrection calls for the essential supports necessary to live out this process. Through prayer the Holy Spirit accommodates believers to the revelation of the Loving Father whom Jesus introduces. Worship offers depth of awe reflected in the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Catholic action flows from the desire to make God’s Love real to others in this life.
Our Patron Saint
Paul the Apostle commonly known as Saint Paul and also known by his Hebrew name Saul of Tarsus was an apostle (although not one of the Twelve Apostles) who taught the gospel of Christ to the first-century world. Paul is generally considered one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age and from the mid-30s to the mid-50s AD he founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe. He took advantage of his status as both a Jew and a Roman citizen to minister to both Jewish and Roman audiences.
According to the New Testament book Acts of the Apostles (often simply called Acts), Paul persecuted some of the early disciples of Jesus, possibly Hellenised diaspora Jews converted to Christianity, in the area of Jerusalem prior to his conversion. In the narrative of Acts, Paul was traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus on a mission to "arrest them and bring them back to Jerusalem" when the resurrected Jesus appeared to him in a great light. He was struck blind, but after three days his sight was restored by Ananias of Damascus and Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God. Approximately half of the book of Acts deals with Paul's life and works.
In Catholic tradition whoever has St. Paul the Apostle as patron also has St. Peter the Apostle as patron as well. In the traditional liturgy on a feast or votive Mass of St. Paul a prayer to St. Peter is always added and vice versa.