SAINT MARY CATHOLIC CHURCH

(Queen of the Apostles Parish)

715 Hawthorne Street, Avoca. Pennsylvania 18641

Mass Schedule:

Weekend Masses: Saturday Vigil at 5:30 PM, Sunday at 8:00 AM

Holy Day Masses: 5:30 PM on the day

Weekday Masses: 9:00 AM Tuesday, Thursday

THE LIGHT IS ON FOR YOU: on Mondays of Lent, Confessions
will be heard in church from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on these dates: Feb.
23 (SM), Mar. 2 (SH), 9 (SM), 16 (SH), 23 (SM). The deanery
penance service will be on March 30, 6:30pm at St. John the
Evangelist Church, Pittston

Stations of the Cross will be prayed in common each Friday evening throughout Lent at 7 p.m. You are invited to walk with Our Lord along the Way of Sorrows. Do not miss the opportunity to be drawn closer to Him. The Stations schedule is as follows:
Feb. 27 (7:45pm at SM), Mar. 6 (SM), Mar. 13 (SH), Mar. 20(SM), Mar. 27 (SH), Apr. 3 (SM)

Cash Bingo in Avoca! You are invited to a Cash Bingo Fundraiser
on Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Queen of the Apostles Parish Hall.
Doors open at 11:30 a.m. Bingo begins at 1 p.m. Players must be 18
years of age or older. Cash prizes range from $50–$200 per game.
Admission: $25 in advance. $30 at the door. Food and non-alcoholic
beverages will be available for purchase. Individual game sponsors,
donations of baskets for a basket raffle, and volunteers to help work
the event are now being sought. For more information, to volunteer,
or to purchase tickets, please contact John Labrosky, 570-881-3959.

Homemade Milk Chocolate Easter Eggs made by the CCM of
Sacred Heart will be available for purchase Saturday, March 21 from
1 to 5pm and Sunday, March 22, from 9:30am to noon, in SH church
hall. Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter and Milk Chocolate Coconut
Cream eggs will be available. Small eggs: 6 for $12 or 12 for $24;
Large eggs: $8 each. Eggs will be sold first come, first served.
Orders will not be taken. Cash payments only. Volunteers are
needed for molding and dipping on Sunday, March 14, from 9am to
3pm. To volunteer, use the sign-up sheet in the narthex or contact
Tina Petcaugh at 991-2114 or Marie Ferretti at 905-0384.

Easter Food Basket donations for the needy are now being sought. The SM St. Vincent de Paul Society is in the process of creating food baskets that will be blessed and distributed on Holy Saturday in Queen of the Apostles Hall. Monetary donations are requested so that food can be purchased for the baskets. Please place your monetary gift in an envelope marked “Easter Food Baskets” and either drop it in the collection baskets or mail it to the parish office. If you or someone you know needs food for their Easter Sunday meal, please contact the SM parish office as soon as possible. The baskets will be arranged in the SM hall in preparation for the 1 p.m. blessing, after which they will be distributed

Events Calendar

A Lenten Soup and Hoagie Sale will be held by SM Altar & Rosary
Society on Friday, March 20 in Queen of the Apostles Parish
Hall. Potato soup or vegetable soup will be available for $12 a
quart. Also available will be tuna hoagies for $8 - please specify
with or without onions. To order, call Mary Ann Gilchrist (570)
561-7940, Patricia Kwiatkowski (570) 457-7117, or Jane Maxwell
(570) 335-8678. Orders can be picked up in the parish hall on March
20 between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., and between 4 and 5 p.m. Last day
to order is Tuesday, March 17.

A St. Brigid & St. Patrick Irish Tea will be held by SM Altar & Rosary Society on Sunday, March 15 after the 8 a.m. Mass in Queen of the Apostles Parish Hall. Donations of Irish soda bread, scones, or any other baked goods for the social are now being sought. Please call Jane Maxwell (570) 335-8678 to either donate or volunteer. Reservations are not required. All are invited to attend.

Gorzkie zale, the traditional Polish-language Lenten devotion
known as the “Bitter Lamentations,” will be held on Sunday, March
22, at 3 pm in our church. The devotion is a sung reflection on the
Passion of Christ and his Sorrowful Mother. Our choir will lead us
in the singing. Msgr. John Sempa, pastor of Corpus Christi Parish,
West Pittston, will be the guest homilist. A light reception will
follow in the church hall. All are invited to attend.