My dear family of Holy Trinity Church.

The Diocese of Rochester (therefore, Holy Trinity Church) is starting the Catholic Ministries Appeal this weekend for 2024-2025. “Begun more than forty years ago in 1981-1982 as the “Thanks Giving Appeal,” the purpose of the CMA is to raise money to support diocesan-wide ministries and outreach. The fund was renamed in 2006 to better reflect the appeal’s intent: helping to support crucial outreach and ministries of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester and the mission of each of our parishes”. (Details)

This year’s mission theme is “Extending Christ’s Mission through the Catholic Ministries Appeal.” This theme encourages us in our call to be modern disciples to teach, serve, and spread the Gospel message. This theme is especially fitting as we enter the third year of our three-year national Eucharistic Revival.”

Last year, our parish family of Holy Trinity did extraordinary work, almost achieving last year’s goal proposed by the Diocese of Rochester. Last year, our CMA goal was $185,000 dollars, and we were $1,160 short. The Diocese of Rochester made up that difference from excess amounts donated by other parishes so Holy Trinity Church did not need to pay that amount from parish funds. Even though we could not make the CMA goal, the CMA committee of the Diocese was impressed with our participation rates in CMA. Any participation in this campaign is very important, even if it is a small one.

All of this was possible because of you. Your participation and hard work during the 2023-2024 CMA reflects your commitment to the Lord and our parish family of Holy Trinity Church. I ask you to continue your donation and, if it is possible for you, to increase it. I hope we can reach the 2024-2025 goal for CMA as soon as possible, hopefully by the end of this year, by Christmas.

Our goal for CMA has increased for this year. Our goal for 2024 – 2025 is $192,000 representing an increase of $7,000 dollars.

You and I will receive a letter from Bishop Matano asking you to participate in this campaign. My wish is that each member in our great family of Holy Trinity Church participates in this campaign. I know that you have a wonderful and beautiful spirit of service and generosity. Let us work together to achieve our goal for CMA.

Remember, The Parish that we dream is the Parish that I help to build.

God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Fr. Jorge Ramirez

GIVE A GIFT ONLINE TO SUPPORT YOUR PARISH

My dear family of Holy Trinity Church.

The Diocese of Rochester is currently in the process of carrying out a census initiative. The purpose of this census is to gather accurate and up-to-date information about all our registered parishioners, as well as those Catholics not yet registered in our parishes. By conducting this comprehensive survey and obtaining accurate contact information, we aim to strengthen pastoral care, stewardship, and enhance communication by having a reliable means of informing you about events, programs, ministries, and greater opportunities for spiritual growth at your parish and throughout the Diocese.

Kindly be assured that all information provided will be handled with the utmost confidentiality. The data collected will be used solely for pastoral, stewardship, and communication purposes.

Action Steps

Over the coming months, every Catholic in the Diocese will be asked to participate in the census. In the coming days, you will receive an email with a link asking you to complete the digital census. This email is not spam, and I encourage you to complete it. The email is from me, but it will not be from my DOR email address. Should you feel uncomfortable completing the census shared in the email, we will have opportunities over the next few weeks to complete the census form in digital or paper format.

Should you have any questions about the census process, please contact the parish office at (585) 265-1616. I appreciate your participation in this initiative.

Remember, “The Parish that we dream is the parish that I help to build.”

God bless you and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Fr. Jorge Ramirez

Hello my family of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity.

Even though I am not an American Citizen yet (I hope to become a citizen in a couple of years), I understand that this period of election is chaotic and stressful for some people. Some parishioners have come to me and expressed their concerns for these coming elections and the referendum that is on the general ballot for this coming November. I do not know anything about American politics. It is not my job to talk to you about politics or if some elements of this referendum are correct or not, or who is the best presidential candidate for the future of the United States of America. However, my position is the same position that the Lord Jesus took when He got a political question, and He answered, “repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” (cf. Mt. 22:21). In other words, we need to be good citizens and good Catholics.

We need to know what is happening in our country. We need to think about the future of our nation and state. We need to realize how, from my Catholic perspective, I can help in the construction of a better society and world. Therefore, I invite you to read this message given to us by the Diocese of Rochester through Mrs. Elizabeth M. Johnson, Coordinator of Life Issues & Cultural Ministries.

Remember, “The Parish that we dream is the parish that I help to build.” God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Fr. Jorge Ramirez

For us, for Catholics, September is the month of the Bible because in this month, the Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of St. Jerome (September 30th), who translated the Bible from Arameic, Hebrew, and Greek into Latin, the Vulgata, which means “popular.”

According to fundamental theology, God reveals Himself through the Sacred Scriptures, the tradition in Jesus Christ, and the teachings of the Church. Believing that God talks to us through the Bible, we consider it as the Word of God. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God who is always present in our lives and wants the best for us.

Some people come to me asking how to start to read the Bible. My answer is simple. Start to read the Gospels, especially the Gospel of Mark. Why the Gospels? Because all of the Bible (Old and New Testament) points to Jesus. He is the center of the Holy Scriptures. Why the Gospel of Mark? Because it was the first Gospel written (circa 70 AD), it is the shorter Gospel (it has 16 chapters), and talks about the life, passion, death, and of course resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. For instance, the Gospel of Mark 1:1 says, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ [the Son of God].” From the first verse, Mark identifies Jesus as the Christ, that means the Messiah, and the Son of God. In addition, Mark is saying that this is the beginning of the Gospel, that means the beginning of the life of Jesus and the beginning of the preaching of Jesus which is the Gospel, the Kingdom of God.

Some other people have said to me that they are reading the Bible from Genesis, and even some of them say that they have read the entire Bible (from Genesis to Revelation) several times. This is wonderful; however, not many people are able to read the complete Bible.

Questions: How often are you reading the Bible? Are you reading one of the Gospels or another book of the Bible? Are you following a podcast, videos on Formed, EWTN, YouTube, reading magazines, articles, or participating in Bible study to understand better the Word of the Lord? Here at Holy Trinity Church, we have a Bible study. They meet every other week on Wednesdays at 6:30 pm or Thursdays at 10:00 am in Trinity Hall. This is a great element that our parish offers to all of us to understand much better the Holy Scriptures. If you want to participate, you can check the bulletin to be sure when the Bible study meeting is.

Our Church is giving us many tools that help us to understand the Holy Scripture. September reminds us of the importance of the Holy Scriptures in our lives; hence, let us always pray to the Holy Spirit to give us knowledge and wisdom to comprehend the word of God every time that we read the Bible. God has a wonderful message for each one of us.

Remember, “The Parish that we dream is the parish that I help to build.”

God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Fr. Jorge Ramirez

Hello my family of Holy Trinity Church. During this first year that I have been your pastor, I started to implement the theological method (watch, judge, and act) in my pastoral plan for Holy Trinity, and I started to identify the necessities of our community. For this reason, I am pleased to introduce you to a new member of our parish staff. She will work very closely with our youth. But, I would like Tricia Kull (Mrs. K), our Faith Formation Coordinator, to introduce you to the great addition to our family.

“Holy Trinity Church has a new Youth Minister! When sharing the top priorities of our parish with Fr. Jorge over this past year, we quickly identified the growing need to reach out to young people. In order to accomplish this goal, we knew we would need to hire a dedicated Youth Minister. We have since been praying for God to call someone to serve as a role model and leader to create an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere where all young people feel valued and accepted. God responded! I am very excited to welcome Michelle to our Faith Formation Ministry, and I look forward to partnering with her to provide a space where our children and youth can explore their faith and actively participate in the life of the Church. Thank you, Michelle, for answering God’s call with enthusiasm and joining our faith community!!”

– Mrs. K –

Michelle Schultheis is our new Youth minister. Now, Michelle will introduce herself to each one of us.

“Hi everyone! My name is Michelle Schultheis and I’m your new Confirmation and Youth Ministry Coordinator. I am so excited to meet you!

I have been working with families and youth over the past several years at various churches and have enjoyed walking with people on their faith journeys. I hold closely to my heart the quote by Kid President, ‘Be somebody who makes everybody feel like a somebody.’ I believe that we, as the body of Christ, are called to love others and to remind them of their inherit dignity.

In my free time, you’ll find me playing volleyball, dancing, and spending time with loved ones. I also enjoy spending time outdoors, especially by lakes and beaches. I am so blessed to be welcomed by you and I look forward to getting to know you!”

In Christ,
Michelle Schultheis

Welcome Michelle to our wonderful family of Holy Trinity Church.

Remember, “The Parish that we dream is the parish that I help to build.” God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Fr. Jorge Ramirez

My dear family of Holy Trinity Church,

It gives me great joy to share with you that our parish now has a subscription to FORMED, a premier online platform filled with over 4,000 Catholic studies, movies, audio dramas, talks, ebooks, and even cartoons for our children. FORMED has content from over 60 apostolates, including Augustine Institute, Ignatius Press, and the Knights of Columbus, with material that is professionally produced, engaging, and solid in its catechism. Best of all, this material is free to you.

Holy Trinity Church will be using the material on FORMED to support our ministries and provide continuing education for staff members and parishioners, as well as outreach for our sick and homebound members. Much of FORMED’s content is available in both English and Spanish.

You have easy access to all of the material on FORMED to support your own faith journey and that of your family members.

You can enjoy FORMED on your computer or on your television with an inexpensive Roku device or Apple TV. You can even listen on your phone as you commute to work or do chores. My hope and prayer is that the content on FORMED will enrich, deepen, and inspire your faith. Please pray for our benefactors who have made a FORMED subscription a reality for our parish. Please pray for the people at the Augustine Institute who create this wonderful and muchneeded Catholic content for our people.

To gain access to all of FORMED’s content, follow these simple steps:

That’s it! You’re in. Now you can get the free FORMED app for your phone by searching FORMED Catholic in your app store.

God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Fr. Jorge Ramirez

Greetings everyone here present. I shall begin with a short song:

The Sisters of St. Therese of the Child Jesus of Cameroon, Africa, is a group of Consecrated women founded in 1963 whose main purpose is to glorify God through our lives in the service of his Church. We were founded mainly to raise the status of women and those living on society’s margins. This we do through our apostolates of health services, education at all levels, and socio-pastoral care.

At this moment in our history and the history of my country Cameroon, there is an ongoing political crisis that started in 2016 and has caused so many lives (about 6,000 have lost their lives as of July 2023), many have been displaced (about 638,400 internally to the Frenchspeaking regions of the country), and 64,000 to neighboring Nigeria. All these statistics can be verified on the Human Rights Watch website. I personally watched people’s houses being burnt down, people being shot dead, schools closed down, and hospitals burned down.

Many displaced young people have resorted to prostitution as the easy way out to survive. Four years ago, the sisters took the bull by the horns and rented a shelter in one of the Frenchspeaking towns where they gathered some girls, and mothers with babies and tried to provide feeding and education for the young. So far, about 5 girls have graduated from high school already. Two of these girls lost their parents during the crisis and have nowhere to go.

Our vision is to construct a bigger shelter that can accommodate at least 100 and begin some training in skill acquisition such as poultry, fish farming, weaving of baskets, dressmaking, etc which can benefit everyone. We managed to purchase land and now need about $285,000 for construction. To keep a child in the shelter for one year costs $250. To send a child to school for one whole year costs $266.

Every one cent donation will be very much appreciated and well accounted for, and will go a long way to relieve the suffering of these beloved children of God and put smiles once more on their beautiful faces distorted by so much suffering.

God bless you all.
Thank you,
Sister Vera Ndifoin, SST

For more information, please visit their website: sevfoundation.org

My dear brothers and sisters.
I hope everyone is doing very well.

I am very sad to tell you that Clare Schreiber, who has been working in our parish as our Liturgical Music Director, is leaving her position because she is retiring. She has been working for our parish family since 2007; however, she has been involved in the parish life since she was 10, helping her mom and volunteering in the music ministry. I would like to express all my gratitude to Clare for all that she has done in the parish. Even though she is retiring from her position, she will continue to be around, volunteering in the different liturgies of our parish community. Please, express your gratitude to Clare when you see her. Clare, ¡Muchas gracias! Thank you very much for everything. God continue to bless you and your family.

Hence, I want to introduce you to our new Liturgical Music Director. Her name is Lauralynne Davis. She is very well prepared in music and has worked in other churches. Lauralynne is very excited to work with each one of us. If you see her, give her a warm welcome. Lauralynne wants to share some words for us. She says,

God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always

Fr. Jorge Ramirez

According to scientists, our planet’s surface is covered by water. About 71% of the world has water, and the oceans retain 96.5% of all the Earth’s water. Water is also present in the air as vapors, clouds, ice, and glaciers. We have rivers and lakes as well. If you want to see water, just go, and visit our Lake Ontario, about 10 minutes away from our parish.

Water is an essential element for the lives of all nature and creation. All of us need water. Animals, plants, and human beings need this precious element of creation for living. For instance, the Greek philosopher Thales of Milletus, remembering as one of the first philosophers who talked about Cosmos and his originating principle (Αρ†χη φψσισ – Arche physis), says that water as the essence of all matter. Everything has water and needs water to exist. Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato sì, highlights the importance to care for water because it is a great resource provided by God. Water is not only for our generations, but for all generations to come.

The book of Genesis in its first chapter says that the Spirit of God was over the waters (cf. Gen. 1:1). God created Adam (humans) from dust (earth and water). God used the image of water in the creation to tell us the importance of it for all of us and the necessity to use it for our own benefit. In the Gospel, Jesus has a conversation with the Samaritan Woman. Jesus said to her that He is the living water (cf. John 4:10). If the Lord Jesus said to this woman, and He is saying to us, that He is the living water, and we know how important the water is for our lives, why do we not go to drink from the water who is giving us the eternal life? The Lord Jesus is the living water who will calm our thirst for righteousness, justice, and love. Once we received water in our baptism, but we need to come always to receive more of this living water in the reception of the sacraments, especially the sacrament of Reconciliation and Eucharist.

Imagine yourself walking through a desert without water. How many miles can you walk without the necessity to drink water? In the same way, we cannot walk in this world without the living water. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can calm our thirst.

Hopefully, all of us really understand the real importance to care for the water of our planet, and the im- portance of receiving the living water, Jesus Christ.

God bless you, and may the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always!

Fr. Jorge Ramirez

WHERE GOD GUIDES…HE PROVIDES!!

Thank you to all campers, volunteers, families, parishioners, and staff who helped make our 2024 VBS ~ God is Good!! A blessed experience for everyone!!

Our gymnasium was transformed into a beautiful garden last week with walls featuring murals of several Bible stories as we enjoyed discovering that WHERE GOD GUIDES…HE PROVIDES! Our days were full of fun and faith as we created Rainbow Art to learn God’s Promises, God’s Blessing Spy Bottles to help remember all that we are thankful for, played Moses Croquet in the Wilderness collecting Manna, made Stained Glass with our Blessed Mother, challenged ourselves with an Obstacle Course learning how we can Trust God in All Things, and created a beautiful Monstrance as we discovered the peace of spending quiet time with Jesus in Adoration.

A special word of thanks to all those who gave their time and talents before and during VBS…we have an AMAZING team of adult and youth volunteers who brought this year’s VBS to life. And we thank our entire parish family for the generosity with donating materials for our activities, enthusiastically responding to our Wish List needs, and for being a Church who believes in the importance of loving and educating our children in faith. We are blessed to be a part of such a community.

Thank you to all who donated to our VBS “Military Care Packages” to help fill the loving packages to be sent by the Rochester Chapter of Blue Star Mothers of America to our deployed men and women in our US Military overseas.