St. Margaret Church stands on Academy Street in Madison, Connecticut, at 24 Academy Street, with the Parish Center and its formation rooms next door at 39 Academy Street. It is a Roman Catholic parish of the Archdiocese of Hartford, and the community it describes is built around four things: Liturgy, Education, Youth and Social Action. Sunday worship centers on two Masses, 8:30 and 10:30 in the morning, and parish life reaches from a Tuesday class for three-year-olds to a high school Confirmation program, from Thursday morning adoration to food drives, rides to medical appointments and Christmas gifts for families in New Haven.
Mass on Academy Street and the Weekday Rhythm
Weekend Masses are celebrated at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, with a Saturday vigil Mass at 5:00 p.m. Morning Mass is also celebrated at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Thursday carries a second rhythm: Mass at 8:00, then the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament for Eucharistic Adoration, which begins as soon as Mass ends and closes at 9:30 a.m. Confessions are heard on Saturdays from 4:15 to 4:45 p.m. in the church, and by appointment during the week.
Parish offices in the Parish Center at 39 Academy Street are open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The parish telephone number is 203-245-7301, and its mailing address is St. Margaret Parish, 24 Academy Street, Madison, CT 06443. Newcomers are invited to register as parishioners, and announcements for parish events and pulpit notices can be submitted through the parish communication request form, where the parish administrator reviews each submission before publication.
Liturgy, Education, Youth and Social Action
St. Margaret calls itself 'a welcoming community rooted in Christ, dedicated to deepening our faith, serving others with compassion, and nurturing spiritual growth.' Its mission is to serve God and one another through loving ministries of Liturgy, Education, Youth and Social Action, to reach 'members of God's community, near and far, through unique talents, dedication and compassion of our parishioners,' and to inspire 'piety and devotion to our shared faith, and to encourage awareness of Almighty God in our lives.'
Faith Formation Begins at Pre-K
Formation at St. Margaret starts before school age and runs without a break into middle school. The parish describes faith formation as 'more than just a weekly class,' a journey that includes 'our entire parish community and invites families to grow in faith together.' The program year runs from October through May.
The Pre-K and K program serves children ages 3 to 5. Classes meet every other Tuesday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Faith Formation Room of the Parish Center, and coordinator Maureen Bloom brings a background in early childhood education and years of experience helping young children build social, compassionate and joyful groups. A separate sixteen-week program of religious education for children ages four and five, the Pre-School and Kindergarten Sunday School, begins each October and takes place during the Sunday 10:30 a.m. Mass.
Children in grades 1 through 6 meet every other week on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Parish Center, and families choose the day that fits their schedule. The program pairs class sessions with family Masses, family events and Whole Family Formation, in which families learn, share, discuss and grow together at three drop-in gatherings across the school year, one each in fall, winter and spring. The year's gatherings turn toward prayer and ways to connect with God, holy habits in the home, and a service project that gives families a way to give back together.
Sacramental preparation is built into the elementary years. Children entering second grade prepare for First Reconciliation with a parent information meeting, a parent and child retreat and rehearsal time during class. Children entering third grade prepare for First Communion with a parent meeting, a retreat and required rehearsal days. Parents receive take-home resources along the way, including an act of contrition, an examination of conscience for children, a child's guide to what happens at confession, and suggestions for preparing for Communion.
Confirmation in Transition
Confirmation at St. Margaret is in the middle of a real change. Archbishop Christopher Coyne has announced that the sacrament will move from the high school years to eighth grade, an archdiocesan initiative meant to strengthen middle school formation. The aim, the parish says, is to help students 'encounter Jesus in meaningful ways, engage more deeply in parish community, and deepen their faith during this important stage as they begin to make faith their own.'
Under the new schedule, eighth graders will receive Confirmation in the fall of their ninth-grade year and seventh graders in the spring of their eighth-grade year. The middle school program meets once a month on a Monday or Tuesday evening from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. in the Church Hall or Parish Center, and the opening gathering brings a parent and a middle school student together for a candle lighting ceremony, an overview of the new program and refreshments. A transition year means the middle school program and the high school program run at the same time.
The high school program, Confirmation PLACE, stands for Passionately Living As Catholics Everyday. It is a two-year course that meets at the Parish Center on Sunday evenings twice a month, mixing parish worship with small-group work and service. First-year students attend an orientation and a candle ceremony Mass, go on a retreat with their sponsor, hear a talk on sacred stewardship and a Catholic speaker's session, join an Ash Wednesday prayer service and teen Stations of the Cross, and complete at least five workshops. They also take part in a 'Heart-to-Heart with Jesus' holy hour of adoration, a confession review class, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Service is built into the program rather than added to it. Every student serves a morning at Loaves and Fishes, the food pantry at St. Paul and St. James Church in New Haven, and takes on a second project of their choosing. First-year students make their Confirmation in the spring, and the parish celebrates with them at the 10:30 a.m. Mass, followed by refreshments in the Church Hall. Written work is required too: 'My Sponsor Is...', a sponsor affirmation form, a Confirmation or saint name, and a Loaves and Fishes reflection.
Cantor, Choir, Lector, Server
Music carries a large share of the parish's worship. Cantors sing the responsorial psalms and lead the congregation in hymns and parts of the Mass, and a brief meeting and audition are required. The music ministries include the Traditional Choir, the Contemporary Choir, which sings twice a month at the 5:00 p.m. Saturday Mass and at other times alongside the Traditional Choir, the Resurrection Choir, the Youth Choir and a group of instrumentalists. Elizabeth Stone is music director.
Other liturgical roles belong to parishioners. Lectors proclaim the scriptural passages and lead the congregation in prayers at weekend and weekday Masses. Altar servers include adults at weekday Masses and young people in fourth grade and older at weekend Masses. Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion distribute at weekend and daily Masses, at local convalescent homes and to homebound parishioners. Ushers and greeters welcome people and oversee the offertory collection at weekend Masses. Once a month from October through April, the 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass is a Family Mass, and families take part in the service itself by bringing gifts to the altar, reading from scripture and greeting parishioners.
The Sacraments and Family Milestones
The parish's description of the sacraments begins with a definition from Mother Angelica: 'A sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible reality.'
Baptisms are celebrated on Sundays and are understood as a gift given to children on the basis of their parents' faith and their commitment to raise them in the faith they profess. Reconciliation is offered on Saturday afternoons and by appointment, with First Reconciliation prepared in Faith Formation classes. First Communion is for candidates in third grade who have been enrolled in Faith Formation. The Anointing of the Sick is offered to anyone with serious illness from sickness or old age, serious mental or emotional illness, elderly people noticeably weakened, and those facing surgery because of serious illness, and it may be repeated when a serious condition returns or grows worse.
Weddings are scheduled at St. Margaret on Fridays and Saturdays, and either the bride or the groom must have an affiliation with the parish. The parish asks for documentation and for confirmation that both are free to marry in the Catholic Church before a date is set, and couples are asked to begin the process at least six months ahead. Men who feel called to the priesthood or permanent diaconate are welcome to speak with the parish priest, and funeral arrangements are coordinated through the parish office, with a funeral ministry booklet and music suggestions available to families.
Food Drives, Gift Sharing and Helping Hands
St. Margaret's outreach is specific and neighborly. Two food drives are held each year, around Thanksgiving and Easter, and the donations go to the food pantry operated by Madison Community Services and to Little Miracles. A monthly soup and tuna collection is held at the church on the first weekend of each month and is brought to the Madison Food Pantry and Little Miracles. Little Miracles, the parish's respect life volunteer Christian ministry, is dedicated to the care of families and of single parents with children up to the age of six, providing material support with the goal of helping the families it serves achieve a stable family life.
The Family to Family Gift Sharing partnership with St. Martin de Porres Church in New Haven began in 1978 to provide Christmas presents for inner city families with limited means, and many families consider it the start of their Christmas season. Parishioners select a family in November, shop, wrap and box the gifts, and bring them to St. Margaret on a Friday night and Saturday morning in December. Volunteers load a truck and deliver them to St. Martin de Porres, where a team sets up the distribution. The Knights of Columbus handle the heavy lifting, and a volunteer team begins organizing in September. The partnership was started and shepherded for 40 years by John McDonald.
Helping Hands, a volunteer ministry of the Knights of Columbus, provides free services to neighbors who need them, from minor home maintenance such as changing a light bulb to rides to medical appointments within Madison and surrounding towns. The Sacred Heart Council also raises money for VISTA and SARAH, works with Habitat for Humanity, funds scholarships for students entering Catholic high schools and colleges and for those studying for the priesthood, and supports the Madison Food Pantry and Operation American Soldier.
Students add their own hours at Loaves and Fishes, which began in 1982 when its founder stocked the St. Paul and St. James office with food for neighbors and grew into the largest food pantry in the Greater New Haven area, adding a clothing closet a decade later. Other ways to serve include singing or playing in the music ministry, reading at Mass, serving as an altar server, leading a grades 1 through 8 Faith Formation class, collecting and sorting food for the seasonal drives, receiving the holy oils at the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral, assembling Box of Joy gift boxes for children in third world countries, and making rosettes from palms for distribution on Palm Sunday.
Groups That Gather at the Parish Center
The Parish Center at 39 Academy Street is the busy hub of the parish's adult life. Bible study meets there on Monday mornings at 10:45 for an hour and a half to work through books of the Bible, and again on Wednesday evenings from 7:30 until about 8:30 from September through May or June. The Wednesday session opens with a reading from Hebrew scripture, includes a song chosen for the theme or day, and closes with prayer, and members choose the biblical book to study and follow prepared discussion points. The parish also offers the Great Adventure Catholic Bible Study program from Ascension Press, with more than ten structured courses in a typical school year.
Other gatherings are less formal. The Afternoon Book Group meets every other Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. to discuss Catholic spiritual books that 'guide us in living closer to God in the later stages of our lives.' The Bridge Group meets Tuesday afternoons from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. The Women's Fellowship, open to all women of the parish, holds monthly general membership meetings for religious, educational, social and fraternal purposes, supports parish events and takes part in outreach. A Library Committee keeps the parish library in the Church Hall organized and visible, and parishioners may borrow from it.
Support and prayer groups fill out the calendar. The Addiction Parent Support Group meets on the first and third Mondays of the month at 6:00 p.m. in the Faith Formation Room on the first floor of the Parish Center. It is open to any parent of a child struggling with substance use disorder, mental illness or co-occurring disorders, is independent of any specific recovery program, and asks only that what is heard in the meetings stays in the meetings. The parish also lists a prayer line, a prayer cenacle for priests, a rosary at St. Margaret, and a spiritual wellness ministry.
Adults entering or completing the Catholic faith can join the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults, led by Deacon Robert Macaluso, which welcomes those not baptized, baptized in another Christian tradition, or who have not received First Eucharist and Confirmation. Engaged couples prepare through PreCana, a combined ministry with St. George Parish offering three five-hour sessions each year for couples across the diocese. Walking with Purpose, a Catholic women's ministry, offers Bible studies for adult women, young adult women and girls that draw on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and carry the imprimatur of Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore. High school students are welcome at St. John Bosco's youth ministry groups in Branford for age-appropriate Bible study and activities, with no registration required.
Pastoral Team and Lay Leaders
St. Margaret is served by Pastor Reverend George S. Mukuka, born in Zambia, who has lived in the United States for the past eighteen years. He earned a post-master's degree in theology from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell in 2011 and was ordained on May 14, 2011, by Archbishop Henry Mansell at St. Joseph's Cathedral in Hartford. He began as a transitional deacon at Sacred Heart Parish in Bloomfield, served as parochial vicar at Saint Francis of Assisi in Naugatuck and as a temporary chaplain to the Sisters of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Hamden, and was pastor of Saint Joan of Arc in Hamden from 2012 to 2015. He completed a licentiate in canon law at the Catholic University of America in 2014 and worked in the chancery and tribunal of the Archdiocese of Hartford from October 2014 until June 2025.
Reverend Deacon Robert J. Macaluso has been a deacon of St. Margaret since February 2025. Deacon Bob's formation began at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Grammar School in Forest Hills, New York, where he served as an altar boy and then a lector, and continued through the Brooklyn Diocese seminary system at Cathedral Prep High School and Cathedral College before he transferred to New York University for degrees in philosophy and political science. After marrying Karen Dewar in 1979, he worked as a home furnishings representative for Schumacher and Scalamandre, then returned to seminary formation in 1999 and was ordained a permanent deacon in 2004. He has served at parishes along the Connecticut shoreline since then.
The Most Reverend Christopher J. Coyne is the Sixth Archbishop of Hartford. He was welcomed to the Archdiocese as Coadjutor Archbishop at a Solemn Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph on October 9, 2023, and began his episcopal ministry on May 1, 2024.
The parish staff includes Elizabeth Stone as music director, Nancy Hoban as coordinator of Faith Formation for grades 1 through 8, Chris McSweeney as coordinator for the PreK-8 program, Maureen Bloom for Pre-K and K, and Ed and Joanne Arrandale as coordinators of the Confirmation program. St. Margaret also co-sponsors East Shoreline Catholic Elementary School with St. George Parish in Guilford and St. John Bosco in Branford. The school follows a STREAM model, succeeds Our Lady of Mercy and St. Mary Schools, gives high priority to educator training, learning, leadership and 21st century skills, and guides children's developing relationship with God in accordance with the Catholic faith within a rigorous learning environment. Its principal is Cheryl Panzo.
Giving and the Two Buildings on Academy Street
Parish life is supported by the Sunday Offertory, the Annual Parish Collection and a monthly collection, and the parish thanks parishioners who 'give freely of both their time and treasure.' Online giving is available through the parish's Ways to Give options, including the weekly offertory, monthly collection and Annual Parish Collection, and it is especially useful for parishioners who spend time away from Madison and want to keep supporting the parish. Gifts are tax deductible as provided by law. Donors can direct a required retirement account distribution to the parish or make a qualified charitable distribution, with a check payable to St. Margaret Parish and mailed to 39 Academy Street, and those with a specific intention for their gift can contact the parish office.
All of this takes place in two buildings on Academy Street in Madison: the church at 24 Academy Street, where Mass, adoration and confession are held, and the Parish Center at 39 Academy Street, with its classrooms, library, meeting rooms and offices for formation and outreach. The parish's stated hope is to inspire 'piety and devotion to our shared faith,' and its community is built on serving God and one another through Liturgy, Education, Youth and Social Action.