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Dear Parishioners,
As we gather on this fourth Sunday of Advent, we are within days of the celebration of Christmas. We are thrilled that our Governor has not closed the churches and that we will be able to gather to celebrate mass during this Holy Season. As you are aware, I invited our parishioners to have a discussion as to which Christmas Mass works best for your family. As usual, our masses will be celebrated with social distancing. This year, we will have two family masses celebrated within 15 minutes of each other. The first Family mass will be at 4:00 pm. The children will perform their Christmas story after my homily and then go immediately to the parish center where they will perform the Christmas story at the 4:15 pm mass. Please understand that when any mass is full, we will be unable to allow more people into the building. However, every mass will be audio transmitted on 87.9FM and Holy Communion will be distributed by an extraordinary minister by the doors of the pre-k entrance during the regular Holy Communion time. I encourage families without little children, out of consideration, to attend one of our other scheduled masses. This year there will be a 6:00 pm and 6:15 pm mass; convenient for families who have older children. The rest of the masses for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be celebrated in the church. The 8:30 pm mass will be the Vigil Mass of Christmas and as I did last year, midnight mass will be offered which is a beautiful mass for families with adult children to come and celebrate together. For older parishioners and parishioners who may be concerned about coming into the church, our 7:30 am mass has the smallest attendance, and I would encourage you to attend that mass or the 9:30 am mass on Christmas Day. I expect the 11:30 am mass will be fairly well attended by mixed family groups. There will be no 6:00 pm mass on Christmas Day.
Many hearts and hands have worked hard to prepare our church, parish center and grounds for this festive season. A big thank you to our Cornerstone men who gave many hours on Thursday, 10th and Saturday, 12th to decorate our outdoor space. A big thanks to Mike W., our facilities manager and Tom and Mike M. for their hard work these many past weeks. We are blessed with many ladies who give so generously of their time, especially our newly appointed sacristans, Rhonda, Jeanne, Pat, and Terry who have worked hard to decorate the church for the season of Advent and are very excited to decorate for Christmas. We are blessed with a wonderful staff. A big thank you to Jody W., Jody G., Maureen, and Nina. Thank you to Kathe DeRose and our wonderful cantors. Special thanks to our many volunteers, our ushers, lectors, extraordinary ministers and altar servers who give so much of their time with loving and generous hearts. Thanks to Deacon Ray who is always available to help in any way we need.
I am very proud of our Pre-K children who under direction of Mrs. S and her devoted staff educate our little ones in a Christ-centered environment. Our pre-k children held a wonderful Christmas concert on Thursday, December 10th and loved every minute of it. I am very impressed how well these little ones know their prayers and the importance of their Catholic faith even at such a young tender age. Thank you to their parents who have chosen to give them the building blocks of a strong Catholic faith-filled foundation in their young lives.
On behalf of Fr. Hubert and Deacon Ray, I wish you a Holy and Peaceful Christmas. Be assured of our prayers for you as together we celebrate the birthday our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Merry Christmas!
Fr. Owen