Love one another...
The message of Jesus in this week's gospel is quite simple:
Love God and love each other.
This Love should be a fire that consumes us, one that leaves us looking for more ways to love. There are no rules and regulations for this love. It is God's Spirit that enables us to experience God’s love and then find ways we can best express it to others.
The message remains, and the challenge is still before us: remain in my love, stay with me...learn from me. The possibilities are many and we will each have to find our own way to “remain” in Christ's love. But this is the work to which we are called. This is the kingdom that this risen Jesus invites us to experience.
Visit Sunday Connection for reflections and activities for the entire family.
Attached is our parish financial report for the nine months ended March 31, 2021. Our parish is blessed to record a significant surplus. Several factors contributed to this surplus:
- Weekly contributions exceeded last year
- Weekly contributions exceeded last year
- the parish received a large bequest.
- a large donation was received from a parishioner,
- the forgiveness of the government's stimulus Paycheck Protection Program loan
We are very grateful to all those responding to the financial needs of the parish during the pandemic.
We are very grateful to all those responding to the financial needs of the parish during the pandemic.
The parish very much encourages your use of the E-giving system.
Giving online is safe and easy and allows you to set up automatic recurring contributions and view your complete online giving history from anywhere you have access to the Internet. For more information and to sign up visit our website. Thank you for your support of our parish and our ministries.
The week before Easter, the State removed the 50% capacity limit on houses of worship. So what does this mean for our faith community, when combined with the rising level of vaccinations? The short answer is, we’re still not done with Covid-19, and some of the restrictions imposed to curtail its spread.
· The latest CDC guidelines still require that masks be worn in churches, even by those who are fully vaccinated.
· We must still adhere to 6-foot social distancing, which has the practical effect of limiting capacity in our two churches to about 25%.
Here are things you can do for fellow parishioners, so that all who wish to worship at Sunday Mass can safely take part. Please be attentive to the Hospitality Ministers. They are not the “Covid police.”
· Even if it’s the last place you do it, please wear a mask and use the available hand sanitizer.
· If you come by yourself or with one or two others, make room for late comers who can fit in the same pew.
· For families of 4 or more, hard as it might be, try to arrive early. This would be a big help to maximizing available seating.
We’ll keep you posted as things change. Pray that the day will soon come when this is “over.”
As a faith community, we pray for our young people who will be Confirmed and receive First Communion on May 19. Through these sacraments, we pray that our children will come to a deeper knowledge of the love of God and that the gift of faith will grow. May God bless them, their families and our religious education team.
