Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

To all TCA Families

Priest Message

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Merry Christmas

December 2015 Newsletter

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President’s Message

Dear TCA Members,

On behalf of the executive committee, I welcome you all to the TCA USA's annual Christmas

celebrations 2015. We have achieved many things as one family this year in TCA. As a new

initiative, we had a spiritual retreat in October this year which was welcomed by all members and

other Catholics.

I thank all of you for your full participation in all of our events. Without you, we couldn't have

come this far. As a catholic nonprofit organization, our backbones are our beloved priests and I

thank them for their continued support especially our counselor, Fr. Albin Roby.

I thank Mr. Christian Mahipan, who is leaving EC this year for his contribution to our organization.

The Election Commission has identified Mr. Anantha Susairaj as new Trustee for our Executive

Committee. Congratulations and welcome to Mr. Anantha Susairaj to TCA EC.

Below will be the new EC in 2016

Mr. James Rethinam - President

Mr. Xavier Rajesh Vincent -Vice President

Mr. Clement Antonysamy - Secretary

Mr. Ilango Rajarathinam- Joint Secretary

Mr. Agnel Bestus - Treasurer

Mr. Benno Anthuvan - Financial Secretary

Rev. Fr. Albin Roby - Counselor

Trustees

Mr. Anton Fernando

Mrs. Immaculate Antony

Mr. Joe Arulanandham

Mr. Peter Rajesh

Mrs. Roselin Joseph

Mrs. Shanthi Thangaraj

Mr. Anantha Susairaj

Wishing you all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2016 !

James Rethinam

President TCA USA

What does Christmas Mean to You?

Is it the irresistible food, the glittering decorations, or is it just the essence of Christmas? Of

course, we know that we celebrate Christmas because it was the birth of our Savior, Jesus

Christ. But there is so much more to Christmas than the religious aspect of it. I believe that

the reason why we all feel giddy around holiday season is because there is many things that

make us feel content at this time of year. Every time you turn on the radio in your car, and

you hear Jingle Bells and Silent Night, don’t you get a warm, lighthearted feeling? I know

that walking into Church on Christmas Eve, has a totally different sensation than any old

Sunday morning. When you think about it, Christmas covers up all of the flaws of winter.

Bare, boring, pine trees get all dressed up. The unfriendly, frigid weather doesn’t really affect

us when we see the beauty of the sparkling snow, fresh on the ground. The sky doesn’t look

so dark anymore once we see the golden star on top of our trees. And most important of all—

the kids are engaged with the lovely carols in Church, instead of falling asleep! I think of

Christmas as the light, in a cold, dark, winter.

-Athalya Joseph

Who is Santa Claus?

We all know who he is, the one who stuffs our stockings every year with our favorite

presents. He’s the one who gobbles up the cookies and milk from under the tree. But who

really is Santa Claus? One of the most common ways people say he came from is St. Nicholas

of Myra. He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity.

He was known for his generous gifts to the poor. During the Middle Ages, often on the

evening before his name day, the 6th of December, children were given gifts in his honor.

Slowly, the date was moved to December 24th and 25th and St. Nicholas became Santa Claus.

So now you know how Santa Claus came to be and why you receive gifts on Christmas.

-Angelin James

Tamil Class

TCA Tamil School had another great year under the guidance of Mrs. Hema Rajappan.

Four students attended Tamil Virtual University Intermediate exam and one student

attended Basic exam. All of them passed the exam with distinction. Congratulations to all

of them. We are also starting new batch for very young kids to learn basic Tamil. Basic,

Intermediate and Advance classes are being conducted online and in classrooms.

Intermediate Students

Basic Students

TCA USA’s 2015 Year-At a Glance

February World Marriage Day Celebration-2/8/15

Mary Mother of God Church, Hillsborough, NJ

March Palm Sunday Celebration & Lenten Meditation-3/29/15

St. Bernard Clairvaux, Bridgewater, NJ

April Tamil New Year Celebration & Divine Mercy Mass-4/12/15

St. Cecilia Church, Monmouth Junction, NJ

May Tamil Class Basic and Intermediate Exam

June Blue Army Pilgrimage-6/27/15

Blue Army Shrine, Washington, NJ

August TCA Picnic-8/23/15

Woodlot Park, Monmouth Junction, NJ

September Children’s Mass-9/13/15

St. Cecilia Church, Monmouth Junction, NJ

October Month-Long Rosary by RAP Team

Assumption of Mother Mary Feast

25th Anniversary to the Priesthood for Rev. Fr. Theesmas Pankraj & Rev. Fr. John Berkmans-10/11/15

Mary Mother of God Church, Hillsborough, NJ

Catholic Charismatic Retreat by Divine Mercy Prayer Center, NJ-10/25/15 St. Cecilia Church, Monmouth Junction, NJ

November Month-long Prayer for All Souls by RAP Team

Newark Archdiocese Multicultural Vesper & Concert-11/22/15 Sacred Heart Cathedral, Newark, NJ

December Christmas Celebration-12/6/15

St. Phillips Apostle Church, Saddle Brook NJ

Technological Achievements

Pope’s Homily in Tamil

TCA is in Facebook with 600+ followers

TCA is in social media like Twitter and Youtube Channel

Editor’s Note:

Dear TCA Members,

We hope you enjoyed

this special Christmas

issue!

Have a safe and happy

New Year!

TCA Sponsors

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Platinum Sponsor

Gold Sponsors

MoneyForCollege2020@gmail.com Presented by: Sr. Mei Zhou-Rehman & Team

Date: Sunday December 6th, 5:00PM-8:00PM (732) 925 7526

Bronze Sponsors CitiAirTravel-Mr. Prakash

Bronze Sponsors Yupp TV

Our Sponsors (cont.)

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsor

Re-living the historical event of Pope Francis’ visit to the city of Brotherly Love of Sept.

27th, 2015.

(By Velankanniraj and Hema)

Are you ready to reenact and re-live the historical event that took place on Sept. 27th, 2015 (Sunday) in

the City of Brotherly Love (Philadelphia?)

We boarded our buses in Downington around 9:45 that day. There were 11 buses all lined in the parking lot

of St. Joseph’s Church in Downington, PA. The buses reached the Lincoln Financial Field parking lot around

11:15am where 10,000 other buses were arriving. As soon as we disembarked from the bus, we could

already start feeling the spirit of Pope Francis in the air—everyone was excited, all of them walked briskly

towards AT&T train station, and boarded the SEPTA train.

After we reached the Spring Garden station, we were directed to take different routes based upon

whether we had Papal Passes for the Mass or not. We reached the security point around 12:30pm. It took

us only ten minutes to get through security screening. Now the time was around 1:45pm and there were

rumors going around that the Holy Father will be coming around in his Pope Mobil in a parade around

3:30pm. That was enough to get the crowd rejoicing and up the mood.

We had prepared two posters—one in Tamil and one in Italian. The Tamil one read, ‘Arut Kadale, Varuga!

Vazhga!’ and the Italian one read, ‘Via il Papa.’

When we held up both the posters, it was very interesting to see many people in the crowd trying to read

it. Then they realized that these were in foreign languages—so they started recording and taking pictures

of the posters to google them later. Few of the people came up to us and asked us what they meant. It

was a proud moment for us to explain to them about the Tamil language and the meaning of those two

posters. The Tamil one meant, ‘Your Holy Grace, Welcome!’ and the Italian one meant, ‘Long Live the

Pope.’

Although the Holy Father was initially expected to come in a Parade around 3:30pm, word leaked out that

he may be there early. There was another interesting question that everyone raised, ‘Pope Francis, how

does he manage to do this? He is 78 years old. He has been away from Vatican for the past nearly nine

days—he was in Cuba a week ago—all these places are in different time zones, different food, different

weather conditions, different rooms, different cultures, different languages, different people—how does

he manage to keep up his enthusiasm and spirit at this age thus making everyone feel happy and blessed—

how does he catch up on his sleep? I cannot even sleep when I go down to Florida although Florida is in the

same time zone.’ Immediately, we could hear a senior voice from the back saying, ‘He is young at heart

and the Holy Spirit is with him.’

It was around 3:05pm and we suddenly heard loud music, cheering from the crowd, motor bikes, and

flashing lights on the other side of the Parkway circle. ‘He is coming—it looks like the parade is starting,’

someone on the other side of the circle shouted. All our attention was drawn towards the jumbotron,

which was placed in the middle of the parkway circle. Within ten minutes, around 3:15pm, my daughter

shouted, ‘I see him.’ It was our turn to get a good glimpse of him now. The long awaiting moment was

nearing. Once again, the 1.5 million people started chanting, louder and louder, the Holy Father’s name

as the white colored fully open (no bullet proof this time on the sides) Pope Mobil was getting closer.

The spirit in the air was soaring high when to our huge privilege, the Pope Mobil stopped 15 feet away

because the Holy Father saw another baby in the audience and wanted to get down to get closer to the

baby. But then, the security personnel, went over to the audience, got the baby from the mother’s arms

and brought it to the Pontiff, who gave a hug and a kiss. We recorded all this and felt very blessed since

we were able to see the Holy Father in person for a longer period of time. The Mobil started getting

closer and closer and finally he was right in front of us, within 5 feet, when he gave the general blessing,

and we received it in the silence of our hearts amidst the loudest cheering of the crowd with these

repeated words, ‘Oh my God. Here he is. Pray for us Pope Francis. Pray for us. We love you. He is great.

He is a rock star. Praises to you. God bless him.’ As the Pope Mobil was moving away, slowly, the secret

services blocked our views following him in their highly polished and well equipped cars.

The time was around 4:40pm when the Mass began on the stage with the Holy Father in procession,

accompanied by melodious singing. There was a huge transformation among the crowd of 1.5 million

people. The whole crowd that was cheering on top of their voices until just a few minutes for the past

one hour, became quiet under a pin drop silence and turned towards the stage, where the Mass was about

to begin. My friend whispered in my ears, ‘Did you observe that everyone has become silent?’ Can you

imaging 1.5 million people coming together on a highway and becoming silent and praying? That was

unbelievable. For the next two hours, the whole crowd was united in prayer and underwent a memorable

spiritual experience with an inspiring sermon and wonderful singing. The other notable observation was

that the priests distributed Holy Communion for all 1.5 million people. The mass ended with a final Papal

Blessing. As per the dogma of the church, the whole crowd received the special Papal Blessing with the

Plenary indulgence from the Holy Father.

After the Holy Mass, we started walking back to the station, talking to the people from different states

and countries. We reached the station, got onto the train, reached the Lincoln Financial Field, searched

through hundreds of buses to identify our bus, boarded the bus and reached back to Downington around

10:30pm. Everyone felt happy and contented that it was a happy, safe and blissful day! It was truly a

historical and memorable day!

Happy Birthday…

Adlin Savio 12/9 Agnel Bestus 12/15 Alistair Ryan Andrew 11/18 Allen Thevarajah 12/22 Anantha Susairaj 11/27 Anitha Bethusamy 12/8 Anton Anthony Arockiasamy 11/18 Antonica Rowona Rajan 11/28 Arockiasamy Diraviam 12/9 Arokia Rajan Sundaram 12/12 Bridget Joseph 12/31 Catherine Juana Leo 11/4 Cecil Deepika Brito 11/22 Chris Gerald 12/20 Christian Mahipan 12/28 Duke Harrison 11/21 Esther Jayakumar 11/30 Ethan Lazer 12/27 Gopal Sriramadoss 11/24 James Rethinam 12/19 Janelle Cross 12/19 Jason Cross 12/13 Jennifer Francis 11/12 Jennifer Gerald 11/9 Jenniston Francis 11/17 Jessica James 11/8 Joanna Jesudas 12/10 Johnathan Ligo 12/25 Jovitha James 12/23 Julianne 11/9 Kevin Gerald 11/25 Kevin Joseph 12/6 Kingslee Rethinam 12/20 Melvin Joseph 12/4 Naomy Ignatius 12/5 Nirmala Robert 11/16 Prakash Raj 12/13 Rev. Bala Belavendiram 11/21 Rithvikka Prakash 11/2 Roseline Joseph 12/12 Ruban 11/29 Ryan Pius 11/22 Saharikah Sahay 11/15 Shahira Innocent 12/27 Sharvanand Thirunavukkarasu 11/6 Sheeba Abraham 12/14 Sherin Fernando 12/30 Simpson Joseph 12/1 Siphina Peter 11/1 Stephan D. Alex 11/28 Steve Charles 11/25 Thami 11/25 Thevaraj Pathinathan 12/4 Veniesha Majella Arockiasamy 11/9 Vijay Arockiasamy 12/8 Xavier Rajesh Vincent 12/4

Happy Anniversary…

Anbu Benziger & Jenis Anbu 12/27

Antony Sagayaraj & Immaculate

Sagayaraj 11/30

Christian Mahipan & Tresa Mahipan

11/28

Francis Xavier Francis & Mary Grace Francis

12/30

Harriet Michael & Michael Manoj 11/29

John L. Jesurajan & Daphne Christine

Joseph 11/13

Joseph Cruz Durai & Roseline Joseph

12/14

Kingslee Rethinam & Usha Maria Selvam

12/1

Maria Antony Pius & Femila Nayagam 12/28

Michael Antonyraj & Deepthi Baskar

12/27

Patrick GabrielPillai & Raji GabrielPillai 11/21

Raymonds Vijay Edmund & Jerine

Arputha Peter 12/9

Robert Ligo & Thilagam Ligo

12/30

Terryne Edwardraj & Shahira Innocent 12/29

Thomas Amutharasu Mathias & Anita

Jayasingh Mathias 11/3

2015 Gallery Walk

Kids Page The Nativity Story

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See how many words you can find!