Parish Update from Fr. Sebastian

Dear Parish Family,                                                                                                                 

 

I pray this note finds you healthy and you are well prepared for the Feast Days of Christmas and New Year’s. This has been a very busy month here at the Parish with the transition back to the Main Church this past weekend. I am so grateful to Bishop Estevez, who joined us on Saturday evening as the Presider of the Mass of Thanksgiving. This Mass is available for viewing on our YouTube channel if you were not able to join us or view it via live stream.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2F4IjqgL9c

 

I want to thank Fr. John and the Interior Renovation Design Team for their incredible work in developing the restoration vision for our Church. The team consisted of the following parishioners: Trisch Broach, Becky Colangelo, Stephen Coots, Micheline Diegan, Frank DeProspo, Karen Rasmussen, and Ann Stoner.  Working with our team was architect Ricardo Quinones of PQH. As a parishioner, Ricardo went above and beyond to ensure the success of this project.  It was also a blessing that Fr. John could join us the homilist at all the Masses this past weekend!   Fr. John gave a beautiful explanation of our renovation that was based in our treasured biblical theology. 

 

I also want to thank Fr. Briggs who served as the MC at Saturday evening’s Mass.  We are also grateful to Monsignor Mike Morgan, Fr. Maurice Culver, and Fr. Rodolfo Godinez who also join us Saturday evening.  It was such a blessing to share the sacred liturgy once again with all of you in our beautiful Main Church. In just a couple of weeks the Marian Center renovations will be complete and I look forward to sharing that space with you.

 

Below is our Main Church Christmas schedule as well as that for the Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God.

 

Christmas Eve:    

3:00pm,5:00pm (live-streamed),7:30pm, Midnight (Lessons & Carols at 11:00pm)

 

Christmas Day:    

8:00am,10:00am and Noon

 

Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God 

Mass on December 31^st 7:00pm

Mass on January 1^st 10:00am and Noon

 

Year of St. Joseph

Pope Francis has proclaimed a special “Year of St. Joseph” beginning on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception in 2020 and extending to the same Feast in 2021.  To read more regarding this great blessing of the Church follow this link:   https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-12/pope-francis-proclaims-year-of-st-joseph.html

As a Parish dedicated to St. Joseph, we are blessed to be able to share in the many spiritual graces of the year. We have begun reciting a consecration prayer to St. Joseph at the end of Masses and below is a copy of that prayer for your private use. 

 

Dear St. Joseph

God gave you the vocation and mission to be the husband of Mary, guardian of Jesus, protector of the Holy Family and patron of the Church. I consecrate and entrust myself to you, and through you to Jesus, in every aspect of my daily life. I ask you to be my guardian and protector in all the trials, tribulations, and temptations of my life, as I follow Christ on the path to eternal life From the Lord, please obtain for me true humility of heart, purity of body, soul, and spirit, and a great love of God and my neighbor.  By the grace of God, may all my thoughts, words, and actions –like yours and Mary’s in the Holy Family—completely dedicated to Jesus, now and always. Amen.

 

School Gymnasium

The exterior renovation of the School Gymnasium is going very well. The team from Danis is doing a great job to ensure the plans drafted by our architect are brought to fruition.  Once the exterior is complete, we will look to install a new floor in the gym. I want to thank all those who have worked so hard to plan and execute this as well as the many donors who have finically supported this much needed project.

 

Christmas Tree Lot

I want to especially thank all those who supported our Christmas Tree lot this year!  Thanks to the leadership of Vinny Terlizzi, Patrick Kinnare, Dave Gouge and Lynn Asciutto we raised just over $20,000 for our Capital Campaign. I also want to thank the members of St. Margaret’s Circle who sold craft items at the Tree Lot.  They raised just over $1,000 for our Capital Campaign.

 

Christmas Gift from Dynamic Catholic

This year our gift to all of you is the book I Heard God Laugh by Matthew Kelly.  This gift to the Parish is made available through our Dynamic Parish Program. I want to thank those volunteers who will be coordinating the giveaway this Christmas. 

 

A Word of Gratitude

We owe a great debt of gratitude to our clergy, parish staff and many volunteers whose continued dedication has ensured that our Church has remained a very safe place to gather for Mass and the Sacraments.  We have also been blessed with the school community, youth ministry and PREP,  who have been supporting the young people in very demanding circumstances.  The compassion and generosity of our Parishioners has helped the Food Bank Ministry to ensure that the needs of those most desperate have been met. 

 

I want to thank the many benefactors who have continued to support the Parish in both the regular offertory and the Capital Campaign.  It is through this great generosity that we can maintain our standard level of service to the Parish and surrounding community as well as complete the many Capital projects we have planned.  During this season of giving I ask you to remember the Parish in your giving. 

 

 

Joy to the world!  The Lord has Come!  In your hearts, in your homes, in your lives, May God bless you and may God hold us all in those almighty hands of love in the New Year of 2021.

 

 

Yours in Christ,

 

Fr. Sebastian