Dec 27, 2023

Greetings!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

After a whirlwind of activity these past few weeks, it will be a quiet week at St. Sebastian Parish. Here are some things for you to know:

OFFICES CLOSED: The parish offices will briefly open on Saturday, December 30 from 8:30 - 11am. The offices be closed in commemoration of the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, otherwise known as New Year’s Day. The offices will reopen for regular hours on Tuesday, January 2 at 8:30am.

NO HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION: Because this feast day falls on Monday, it is not a holy day of obligation. However, for those who wish to attend Mass on New Year’s Day, please know that Mass will be at 9am.

ADORATION AND CONFESSIONS: The regular schedule for adoration and confessions will take place on Tuesday, January 2. Adoration is in the church following the 8am Mass until 8pm in the evening. Confessions are held from 7 to 7:30pm Compline (Night Prayer) and benediction will be held at 7:40pm.

IN OTHER NEWS:

THANK YOU: Congratulations and thank you to Lynn Steward and our choir for a magnificent Candlelight Christmas Concert this year. In attendance was one of the largest audiences we have ever had for a concert! What a wonderful evening.

Also, thank you to all of you who volunteered to come in and set up the Christmas trees and wreathes under the direction of Terry Tolson so that they would be up in time for the concert. Generally, I dislike having Christmas decorations up in advent, but this year was a special occasion, not only because of the wonderful concert but because after the fourth Sunday in advent, there would only be four hours to decorate the entire church before the first Christmas Masses! Everything looks spectacular. Thank you so much.

The reason we have so many wreaths hanging outside is because after about two decades of use, a kind and generous parishioner replaced the ones used inside the church and we relegated the rest to decorate the outside. Thank you for that!

Thank you to all our ministers who helped make our Christmas celebrations so special. It takes hundreds of people to pull off what we do here at St. Sebastian. Of special note is our intern, Ryan Arto and our two seminarians home on Christmas break, Christopher Villarreal and John Scantling. Thank you to our servers, MCs, readers, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, ushers, musicians, schedulers, decorators, sacristans, polishers, candle changers, cleaners, those who lock and unlock the building, those on standby to shovel snow if needed, those who prepare bulletins, counters, our staff, Fr. Ian Kelly who joined us for Midnight Mass, and all of you who participate, pray and support your parish.

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck