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Dear Parishioners,
It is with great pleasure that I welcome Bishop Kevin Sweeney to St. Luke to celebrate the 11:30 a.m. mass this weekend. I am so thrilled that our new Bishop has made the time to come to Long Valley so soon after his consecration as Bishop. It will be a pleasure to get to know him and for him to get to know our beautiful parish of St. Luke. A big thank-you to all members of our staff and our volunteers who have worked so hard to prepare for this special visit. Interestingly, Bishop Kevin’s home parish in Whitestone is also called St. Luke and so as I have said many times before, I hope and pray that in the not too distant future our St. Luke will be the beneficiary of a vocation to the priesthood. We keep praying and giving the necessary good example so that a young man in our parish may hear the call of the Lord.
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is an ancient and beautiful form of worship. We at St. Luke will begin our first Friday adoration this coming Friday, August 7 th after the 9:00 a.m. mass as I place the precious host in the monstrance on the altar. I encourage our parishioners to come and spend an hour with Jesus each first Friday of the month. This devotion is mainly in silence and is a special time to listen to Christ from our hearts and to offer prayer and thanksgiving to the Lord. I intend to divide the day into one-hour sessions having at least one parishioner responsible for being present for an hour of reflection. We will need a minimum of eight people to sign up to be present before the Blessed Sacrament each first Friday. The holy hour concludes with Benediction at 6:00 p.m. Sign up is available in the narthex on the sign-up sheet, please bring your own pen to protect against contamination or use this link to sign up online: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0C45A8AE2BABF94-adoration
I hope that we can have these holy hours every first Friday of the month and really spend a little quiet time simply being in the presence of the Lord with an open heart. Deacon Ray will train Deacon Art and Deacon Mike in the Rite of Benediction. I thank our three deacons for their enthusiasm in giving you this beautiful prayer experience.
Nina, Maureen and Jodi Galloway have been working hard in preparing for the new academic year for our Religious Education and Confirmation programs. We encourage all parents to register their children and youth as quickly as possible so that we make the necessary preparations for class sizes, materials and catechists. The preparations for our new academic year have taken into account the new safety precautions necessary such as social distancing, chemical cleaning of the classrooms and being mindful of cross contamination in the form of papers, etc. For parents to ensure that they get the catechist of their choice, keeping in mind that we will have limited numbers in the classroom, it would be important to register ASAP but no later than August 31, 2020. This year, registration is completely online on the St. Luke website under the Religious Education tab with detailed instructions. Additionally, this information can also be accessed through our Facebook page. If you are uncomfortable registering online, please call Maureen directly. By now, all parents should have received a Flocknote message regarding online registration. For additional questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to either Maureen or me directly.
I wish each and every one of you a beautiful month of August and hope that we can take a little R&R before the business of September.
Happy August!
Fr. Owen