President’s Message

Dear TCA Members, I hope all of you had a great summer. We are celebrating the birth day of Mother Mary and a special mass for our children who are starting a new school year on Sep 10, 2017. We will have a special prayer for our children. So please plan to attend and receive the blessings. Along with the mass, we are very happy to celebrate the Baptism of Meryl Christhuraj as well as the First Holy Communion of Anto Sushin. We have been celebrating the first communion & Baptism of our TCA kids for the last three years. Please reach us if you plan to celebrate the holy Sacraments of First Holy Communion or Baptism for your kids. As you know, this will be a great experience for the kids, parents, friends and family. We will have our next Mass on Oct 22nd at St Cecilia Roman Catholic Church, Monmouth Junction. Youth Group coordinators have planned some wonderful activities for our TCA children. Please see EC Youth group coordinators Rachel Anantha , Shanthi Thangaraj, Immaculate Sahayaraj and Roselyn Joseph to engage your Youth kids and be part of the discussions. The last event happened on June 18th at Abundant Harvest Community Kitchen –Montgomery ,NJ. We will have special prayers for the victims of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma . Agnel Bestus Arockiaraj President, TCA

September2017Newsletter

The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

By Athalya Joseph

Mary has always been a holy figure in the Catholic Church. Not only did she

conceive our Savior, Jesus Christ, but she has also appeared in front of many people, and

performed miracles to help those in need. Her existence has brought so much happiness and

peace into the world and is a reason September 8 is a day we should celebrate.

The Bible does not have any record of Mary’s birth, but various religious sources

and documents, show the circumstances of her birth. The traditional fixed date of our Blessed

Mother’s birth is September 8. The story of her birth is one that isn’t commonly spoken of, but is

of great importance. Her father, Joachim, and her mother Anne were longing for a child they

weren’t able to have for a long time. So, Joachim and Anne devoted their lives to God and

prayed that they should be blessed with a child. Just as an angel came to Mary for Jesus’ birth, an

angel came down to Anne and told her, “The Lord has heard your prayer, and you shall conceive,

and shall bring forth, and your seed shall be spoken of in all the world.” That angel’s words were

true, as we praise and glorify Mary as our mother. Not only for her birthday should we be

thankful, but for our own as well because it marks another year of well-being and peace from the

graces Mary bestows upon us.

St. Joseph of Cupertino

By: Anusha Mathias

Nearly every student's nightmare in school is tests. The night before a test is spent

scrambling to cram our heads with all the information we need to know for the exam and the

next day is spent endlessly bubbling in answers. Thankfully, for us there is a patron saint who

will help alleviate the stresses of test taking. His name is St. Joseph of Cupertino.

St. Joseph of Cupertino was born June 17, 1603, Cupertino, Italy to Felice Desa and

Francesca Panara. As a child he was not a very bright student and was often thought as

incompetent in simple tasks. First, he tried to become a shoemaker but couldn’t. Second, he

joined the Capuchins but eight months later, they sent him away because he was incapable of

doing things properly. Finally, he became a servant at the Franciscan monastery where he took

care of horses. He was then able to enter the Franciscan order to study for priesthood. Although,

he still had a very hard time with studies, during his seminary exams, he prayed that only

questions that he knew the answers to should be asked. The night before, the Holy Spirit guided

him to memorize one passage from the Gospel of Luke. The next day he was only asked one

question and it was about the passage he had memorized. Joseph passed the exam and was

ordained a priest. Because of this great miracle and many others, Joseph was beatified and

became St. Joseph of Cupertino on February 24, 1753.

In this school year when we are faced with challenges such as tests we seek knowledge

and wisdom from the Holy Spirit and guidance from St. Joseph of Cupertino, they will lead us to

a school year filled with success

TCA Celebrations

We are so happy to celebrate the holy sacrament of Baptism for Meryl Christhuraj and

the First Holy Communion of Anto Sushin! TCA wishes the children and their parents our best

wishes!

Congratulations to Christhuraj Joseph & Lourdu Rose Pauli Arockiam for the

Baptism for their daughter Meryl Christhuraj!

Born January 29, 2017

Congratulations to Anto Sunil Srinivasan & Antony Louis Sibi for the First Holy Communion of their son, Anto Sushin!

Born February 17, 2004

Hey Kids! Want to Participate in the TCA Newsletter?

By: Angelin James

Looking for a way to showcase your writing skills? Or simply want to expand and improve the quality of your writing? Then look no further than the TCA newsletter! Write about topics ranging from saints to the birth of Christ. Expose yourself to the world of journalism by receiving valuable feedback on your writing and connecting with new people. Make new friends, all while presenting interesting information to the vibrant community of TCA.

To contribute to the TCA newsletter, feel free to email us at tamilcatholicsusa@gmail.com or antonfernand@gmail.com. A few weeks before for the TCA mass, one of our editors, will email you and assign you an article or other contributions for the newsletter. If you are unable to complete the assignment or would prefer a different assignment, our editors will be happy to fulfill your needs. Soon, on the day of the TCA mass, you will see your article published in the issue of the TCA newsletter. So what are you waiting for? Join the TCA newsletter team.

What do we love about school?

“I appreciate school because they allow us to choose some of our classes. I find it convenient to be able to simply take courses after school ends. Our school has newly implemented the ELB period; it happens during our extended reading block at integrated writing and reading periods 4 and 5.”

-Shaan Antony Raja

“I love the diversity of my school the most. Everybody is unique in their own way and everyone has a dream or goal they want to reach. The best part about school is that it is a place where everyone can come together and help each other make our dreams come true.”

-Rislyn Ferona Raja

“What I love most about school is the fact that we are welcomed and it is like our home away from home. It enriches our educational skills and helps us sharpen our minds to become a more sophisticated person. What I value most are our wonderful teachers, who use their time to teach others, so that we may become scholars and succeed in our lives.”

-Jenocent

BirthdaysAadhavanIrudaya 8/18AadhishKennethRajesh 8/13AashikaGopal 9/13AdvikaGopal 9/13AjayBenno 9/11AlexAmirtharaj 8/6AntoInigo 9/2AntonyBabu 8/6AntonySGeorge 8/11AnushaIgnatius 8/12ArockiasamyMedabalimi 8/25BertillaJoe 8/26BryanJesudas 9/30EmeraldMichael 8/25FrancisKennedyJoseph 9/25FrankAntonysamy 8/20GeraldPSebastian 9/30HannahMelner 9/10HaringtonJoe 8/16HenitaSharonLawrence 8/23HerswinRaj 9/26IsabelFrancis 8/18JadenPaul 9/1JayaRaj 8/15JeffreyPravin 8/16JehoashMelwynLeo 9/27JencyMonica 8/27JenocentEdward 9/7JessicaFrancis 9/28Jockim 8/10JohanFritz 9/17JohnThangaraj 9/10JuanEthanVinoj 9/4JudyStephen 8/3JustinRaj 8/20KathlynAntony 8/3KayalvizhiThomas 9/18LourdesAnnieNirmalaJayarayan 9/14MargaretMahipan 8/29MariaTinaBenno 8/6MarioJayakumar 9/8MaryGraceFrancis 9/15MaryLawrence 9/21MichaelKarthikAntonyraj 8/20NirmalaArockiasamy 8/5

BirthdaysPaulJayakumarChristopher 8/10PravinJerome 8/23PrecillaRaj 9/16PriyaVinodh 8/8RachelAnantha 8/28RachelArockiasamy 9/19Rev.SahayaJustus 9/17ReyaSuresh 8/19RheaTitus 8/12RicardoStephen 9/22RyanVincent 9/5SalvinaPeter 9/5SamDavid 8/14ShaffinaAntony 9/6ShaliniCrescentia 8/6SibylMedabalimi 8/1StanleyGnana 8/12SuthaUbakarasamy 8/3TeenaBose 9/16UshaMariaSelvam 9/14Victor 8/5AnniversariesAlexAmirtharaj&AnuAlex 9/15AnandGaspar&MariaDominique 9/10AntonyPalaniswami&LindaRose 9/8AntonyRajan&AgnesRitaRajan 9/4BennoAFrancis&VijayanthiBenno 9/30EbenezerImmanuelDevasahayam&SheebaRajarethnam 9/5FrancisKennedyJoseph&IsabelFrancis 9/20FrankAntonysamy&MaryPreethaFrank 8/20IrudayaJesurajan&NancyPoornamFrancis9/2JamesRethinam&AhilaSelvaraj 8/30KarthikGabriel&DeepthiValentine 8/27LawrenceKandasamy&MaryLawrence 8/22LeoJohnson&Kavitha 8/24PeterRajeshSelvaraj&AnithaJayabalan 9/15RensilinPathrose&PremilaJuliet 9/29RubanSoundrapandyan&SahayaraniAntonyDasan 9/10Victor&Jenitta 8/27