Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Our Mass Schedule:

Saturday:
8:00 a.m. & 5:30 p.m.

Sunday:
7:00, 8:30, 10:00 a.m. & 12:15 p.m.

5:30 p.m. Sept-May

Weekdays:
7:00 a.m. & 12:05 p.m.

Holy Days:
5:30 p.m. Eve before
7:00 a.m.
12:05 & 7:30 p.m.

National Holidays:
9:00 a.m.

Sacrament of
Reconciliation:

Saturday
4:15 to 5:00 p.m.
or by appointment

ASSUMPTION PARISH MINISTRY DIRECTORY

OUTREACH MINISTRIES

Assumption Parish is dedicated to helping the poor and needy – whether they are close to home or far away. This commitment is evident in our many ministries and programs designed to help the poor. Besides the specific ministries listed on the following pages, following is a partial listing of our ongoing outreach commitments:

Each year during Advent we take a special collection for Holy Trinity Parish in Passaic (our adoptive “sister” parish) to help offset their operating expenses. Several clothing drives have also been run to help Holy Trinity parishioners.

Each year we host several fundraisers for Africa Surgery Inc, a non-profit charity started by lifelong parishioner, Tom Johnson, who works to provide much-needed medical care and surgery for citizens in Sierra Leone. We have also recently begun to support the work of parishioner Joe Collins and From Houses to Homes, which provides housing to Guatemalans in need.

Each year we send over 50 teens and their leaders on a mission trip to repair and rebuild homes in Appalachia or the Gulf Coast region.

Assumption parish also has a special relationship with another “sister” parish in Carthage, Mississippi. Each month, we attempt to help offset operating expenses at St. Ann’s Parish by making a financial contribution. Donations in the past have helped establish a new day care center and allowed Sr. Pat Godri to make much-need repairs and improvements to various parish buildings.

One Sunday per month is designated as Christian Service Sunday. Dedicated collection envelopes are placed in the pews and parishioners are encouraged to place $2 (or more) in the envelope to help the poor. Funds raised help offset Assumption’s many efforts to help the poor and needy in our area.

In the weeks leading to Thanksgiving, designated “Turkey” envelopes are placed in the pews. Parishioners are encouraged to donate $15 for those in need. The funds collected in these envelopes are used to fund non-perishable food items for approximately 15 food baskets given to local families each Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. This collection also funds our year-round food voucher program, in which we are able to give A&P food vouchers to countless local residents who come to us in need of fresh food.

In August of 1992, our Parish Ministry to the homeless was extended to include a project known as the Adopt-A-Family Program. Through this program, our parish assists families that have recently relocated out of the homeless shelter network.

In recent years, Assumption parishioners have joined with neighboring parishes to provide food and household items in the Food Drive for Haiti .

Assumption also has an Endowment for the Poor set aside to help those in need, and overseen by a Board of Directors who decides how and when to distribute the interest from the fund.

Outreach Ministries click here to download PDF

Food pantry

Frozen Dinners

Giving Tree

Interfaith Homeless Shelter

Community Soup Kitchen

Knights of Columbus

CYO Basketball

Scouting

FOOD PANTRY
The Food Pantry at Assumption has a long history in the Morristown community. Assumption has answered the call to feed the hungry for many years. Those who come to us in need are helped by your generosity. The numbers became so great throughout Morristown, that a meeting of the churches was held in 1994. The result was the creation of the Interfaith Food Pantry. Since it’s inception, the Interfaith Food Pantry has received Assumption’s wholehearted support with food and funds. Concerts, fund-raisers, volunteers and food have helped meet the ever-growing needs of our community. The Interfaith Food Pantry has now moved to a donated facility on West Hanover Avenue.
At Thanksgiving our on-premises Food Pantry supplies families in Morristown and Paterson with dinners and food coupons. Funds donated at Thanksgiving are used for coupons, which help us to continue this work throughout the year. At Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, volunteers assemble food baskets which are picked up or delivered to families in Morristown. Every weekend Assumption parishioners volunteer to shelve the food that is so generously donated.
Assumption’s school and Religious Education program remember our Food Pantry and have drives during the school year to support this work. Just recently donations were received from the Scouts and the Knights of Columbus. As a community, we strongly support our onpremises food pantry and the Interfaith Food Pantry. Through the Food Pantry, some of the dinners that are collected by Bob Rohr, and Assumption Scouts, are distributed to our Morristown families who are grateful for them.

To learn more call Claudia Nardi at 973-539-2141 extension 19. Top

FROZEN DINNER PROGRAM
Several times throughout the year, parishioners are invited to bring an empty food pan home and return them the following weekend – filled with a nutrition frozen meal for working poor families. We distribute 10% of what is returned to families we know in Morristown. The other food pans are delivered by Assumption’s Boy Scouts to the Father English Center in Paterson. Most of the recipients are not on welfare because they work 2-3 minimum wage jobs, but high rents and lack of health insurance limit their ability to provide good nutritious meals for their family.

For more information please call Bob Rohr at 973-539-2693. Top

THE GIVING TREE
Assumption Parish adopts 12 organizations and provides gifts to approximately 1200 needy children and adults at Christmastime. In August, organizations are contacted and asked to supply the names and needs of people within their organization. Tags are distributed at church in mid- November and parishioners buy gifts for their designated person. Gifts are then collected after masses during advent, and organizations receive their presents in mid-December. Volunteers are used after all masses during advent, to collect and check-in gifts, bag gifts for organizations, and buy any gifts which are still needed.

For more information, contact Chris Dario at 973-540-9065. Top

INTERFAITH HOMELESS SHELTERS
For more than ten years, volunteers from Assumption Church and other local congregations have been participating with the Interfaith Council for Homeless Families of Morris County (ICHF) in operating a network of emergency shelters for homeless families.
Each year, on four occasions, Assumption parish volunteers assist in hosting a week-long emergency shelter at the Church of the Redeemer in Morristown, along with volunteers from the Unitarian Fellowship and the Church of the Redeemer. As a result of this program over the past ten years, 254 homeless families have received shelter, and 40,000 shelter beds have been provided to 729 homeless family members, more than half of which were children.

Learn more by calling Terri Maier at 973-267-4859. Top

THE COMMUNITY SOUP KITCHEN
The Community Soup Kitchen of Morristown, Inc., is a concerted effort on the part of 34 congregations throughout Morris County to follow one of the mandates of the Lord, and that is to “Feed the Hungry”. Volunteers from Assumption contribute toward that end by providing and serving complete meals for 80 to 160 hungry men, women and children who appear at the Church of the Redeemer daily at noontime for a hearty meal. By Our volunteers staff the Soup Kitchen on the 3rd and 4th Mondays of each month.

Please call Annaliese Rush at 973 455-0391 for more information. Top

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS
The Knights of Columbus is a fraternity of Catholic men, founded on the principles of Charity, Unity, Fraternity and Patriotism. It is a wonderful opportunity to meet and become involved with individuals who are dedicated to the same Catholic ideals as you are. Our activities are centered around support of the Church, Family, Youth, Community and our Council. We are especially attentive to the struggles of the poor, providing food and clothing. We support these endeavors through a number of events we sponsor and through financial contributions. We also maintain a life insurance program. If you would like to grow in your faith, meet like-minded Catholic men and their families and give something back to society, give us a call. All we ask of each member is that he contribute at least five hours a year.

For more information, please call Bryan Williams 973-605-1497. Top

CYO BASKETBALL
C.Y.O. (Catholic Youth Organization) Basketball addresses the essential aspect of exercising not only our Spiritual side, but also our physical bodies. CYO Basketball consists of boys and girls in grades 5 through 8. There are approximately 110 children in the program, forming nine teams, four Junior Varsity and five Varsity. This organization is open to all children of Assumption parish, and also to the neighboring parishes that don’t have C.Y.O. Basketball. Our ministry has 36 volunteers which include coaches, score keepers, time keepers, and team mothers. Registration is at the end of September. The season opener is Thanksgiving weekend and comes to an end in the middle of March. All games are played on Sunday afternoon, with practice twice a week.

For further information, contact Pat Burke 908-510-6677. Top

SCOUTING
Assumption Parish is proud to host Boy Scout Troop and Cub Scout Pack #34, who meet in our parish center and provide opportunities for service to the young boys and men of our community. The scouts host several fundraisers (i.e. Christmas wreaths and Mother’s Day plant sales) each year and are always available and willing to contribute to any need that arises within the parish and lend a helping hand to many of our service projects.

For more information contact Mike Kelly (boy scouts) at 973-292-9604
or Jim Guider (cub scouts) at 973-292-3658 Top

Assumption parish also holds an Annual Boy Scout Sunday in February and a Girl Scout Sunday in March in which scouts of the parish are awarded special badges and recognition for learning more about their faith.