Newtown Congregational Church has announced plans for its Advent series — four Sunday services leading up to Christmas Eve as well as three Thursday night Alternative Worship Experiences.

Once a year, the stable on the ground of St Rose of Lima parish, 46 Church Hill Road, comes alive in the tradition started by St Francis of Assisi. Shepherds, angels, wise men, and live animals greet the weary travelers Mary and Joseph as they reenact the evening of Jesus’s coming more than 2,000 years ago.

As part of the renovations underway at St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, an exciting addition for the expanding sanctuary arrived on November 7: a new steeple.

The Reverend Leo McIlrath encouraged those who attended the Interfaith Thanksgiving Gathering on November 18 to take time to give thanks. It was a reiteration, he admitted, of things that had been said already that evening, but it was the point of the entire gathering. It was a point, he said, worth repeating.

Newtown Ecumenical Workcamp Servants is hosting a holiday fundraiser that will put live poinsettia plants into homes and officers while raising funds for the group’s 2019 service trip.

Newtown Congregational Church host a Community Holiday Concert on Saturday, December 1, at 7 pm.

Did Santa babysit the baby Jesus? Why were the Three Wide Men so lost? What did the holiday classic "Silent Night" first sound like? Answers to these questions and others will all be answered on Saturday, December 1, when St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church hosts a performance of the hit comedy "Christmas Bingo: It's A Ho-Ho-Holy Night."

St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church will have the honor of hosting this year’s interfaith Thanksgiving gathering of prayer and song. Newtown Interfaith Association will again sponsor the annual service, which will begin at 7 pm.

The next Friday Bingo Night at St Rose of Lima School is scheduled for November 16.

Grace Family Church celebrated a big step last week in the construction of its new church building, which is being built off Covered Bridge Road in Hawleyville.