A Few Announcements 

This weekend our parish is happy to welcome Mr. Colin Firda who is a seminarian studying to be a priest of our diocese. Colin will be with us for a couple of months, during which time he will be helping out by serving Mass, writing a short weekly reflection for the bulletin, and moving heavy things that Fr. Mariusz and I don’t want to move. Please be nice to him. 

Next weekend, summer will unofficially begin in Stamford when our next-door neighbors at the Greek Orthodox Church host their annual carnival. Like last year, we will take advantage of the presence of the extra foot traffic on Friday and Saturday night to invite people to come and say a prayer in the makeshift adoration chapel we will set up in the vestibule of St. Cecilia Church between 7-10pm. Be sure to stop by and light a candle before enjoying the fair. 

Finally, after almost six years as our Director of Music Ministry, Michele Schule will be leaving her position with the parish. During her years with us, Michele has been a faithful servant of our community and an always friendly presence. Her last day as a member of our staff will be Sunday, June 15. Please join me in thanking her for her years of dedicated ministry to our parish. 

Meet Colin Firda 

Hello, my name is Colin Firda and I am a seminarian of the Diocese of Bridgeport. I grew up in Monroe, CT and my family have been members of St. Jude Parish my whole life. I graduated from St. Joseph High School in Trumbull last June and entered St. Charles Borromeo Seminary outside Philadelphia last August, where I study with about a dozen other Bridgeport seminarians and over a hundred other seminarians from other dioceses and religious communities from around the country. I just completed my first year in seminary (just eight more to go!) and this will be my first summer assignment. 

I first felt a call from the Lord to the priesthood as a student at St. Joseph High School. At the end of my freshman year, our chaplain Fr. Eric Silva invited me to serve Mass for the first time in my life. Being so close to the priest offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and seeing the beauty of it really inspired me to consider priesthood. During my sophomore year, I really felt in my heart a pull towards serving the Lord in this way. Since then, I have discovered a deeper relationship with our Lord in prayer and in receiving the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist and Confession. My senior year, I applied to the seminary program and was accepted by Bishop Caggiano to enter formation for the priesthood. So far it has been a great start to this journey with Christ, and I cannot wait for what is to come. May God bless all of you here at the Parish of St. Cecilia-St. Gabriel. I will keep you all in my prayers and I ask you to please keep me in yours as well. 

posted 5/24/25