Mar 09, 2023

Greetings,

Starting this Sunday night is our Parish Lenten Mission! Fr. Michael Denk of The Prodigal Father Ministry will be presenting this year’s series based on his book, “Pray 40 Days.” Fr. Denk will be our guest homilist at all Masses this weekend, in order to give you a taste of what you can expect over the course of the following three days.

The Mission starts on Sunday night and continues through Tuesday night beginning at 7pm each evening. The Mission is free and open to the public, so feel free to bring family, friends and strangers that you meet on the subway on your ride to the parish. Most importantly, bring yourself as part of your faith journey this Lenten season. I look forward to seeing you there!

IN OTHER NEWS:

NO CONFESSIONS TUESDAY: Due to the mission, there will not be confessions, compline and benediction this Tuesday night. There will, however, be adoration all day until 6pm. At that time the Blessed Sacrament will be reposed in order to be able to set up for the Mission.

NOT A SERVER?: One of our newest seminarians and Fr. Valencheck will be training young ladies and gentlemen to have the honor of serving on the altar. If you are a member of the parish in grades 5 -12, please come to the church at 6pm sharp for a 50 minute training on March 27.

CHANGE OF PLAN: This past weekend you may have noticed some major machinery parked out on the Triangle (Elmdale Park, officially.) On Monday morning a small hill of dirt was dropped off there, a mirror of the mountains of dirt on the Perkins property. These are all signs that the water line project is underway! The current waterline, which will eventually be abandoned, runs under the grass on the north side of Mull Avenue, the side with Forest Lodge (Elm Hill) Park. The new line will run under the north side of the road. This will involve some tear up of the road, obviously. They will begin at the Mull Ave circle and move east (toward Exchange) starting Monday.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU: Obviously, parking on the Triangle may not be an option depending on work and weather. I have been assured that on the weekends, the roads will be clear for traffic and parking. Though this should not need to do so for a few months, remember your options of parking in our Z-Hall brick parking lot and the abundance of street parking available to us, including the streets off of Elmdale at the rear of the church. I don’t expect you to be too inconvenienced, and I will do my best to keep you posted.

MY BAD: I wished a fond farewell to Daylight Saving Time six months ago. I jumped the gun. Though it looked promising, it failed to pass both houses and so this coming Sunday, March 12, we will lose an hour of sleep as we “Spring Ahead.” Don’t forget to adjust your clocks as you plan for Sunday Mass.

ST. PATRICK’S DAY: Here is a message from our Bishop: After prayerful consideration, I hereby dispense from the obligation to abstain from meat on St. Patrick’s feast day, March 17, 2023, for those who find it spiritually advantageous to eat meat as a way to celebrate this important feast day in the life of our local Church . . . I ask that those who exercise this dispensation select another non-Friday day during Lent to abstain from eating meat or to make some offering on behalf of the poor, whether by prayer, fasting or almsgiving in order to recognize and honor our Lord’s mission and passion for the sake of the salvation of souls.”

God bless,

Fr. Valencheck