Dear Parish Family,
We celebrated our parish feast day on September 8 with the Feast of the Birth of Mary, the Mother of God. Last Saturday, we held a Eucharistic Procession through Chardon Square where Fr. Fabian and I carried the monstrance with the Holy Eucharist through our streets with over 60 parishioners following. It was quite a witness to our faith and love for Jesus! A number of parishioners met us at the gazebo and back at church for a time of Adoration after the procession. We need to celebrate the good that God is doing in our community of faith, and faith-filled opportunities like the Eucharistic Procession are wonderful ways of witnessing to the power of Jesus' risen life bringing hope and healing to our community. Thank you to all who participated!
We will continue to celebrate as a parish community this weekend with our Oktoberfest this Sunday. We start with an outdoor Polka Mass at 12 pm followed by our Oktoberfest festivities from 1-7 pm. We have live polka music, fun activities and prizes for people of all ages, delicious food and drinks, and great memories to be made! Thank you to our Oktoberfest planning committee and to our volunteers who make this event successful!
We have been blessed by Judi Parker serving in the role of our Arts & Environment Coordinator for many years. Judi is ready to step down from this role in the Fall, and we are looking for some parishioners who would be willing to step up to assist in coordinating the environment and decorations for our various liturgical seasons, including Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time. Our Arts & Environment Committee is here to assist our new coordinator(s) in their role. Please let me know if this role, or a specific liturgical season, would be a role you would be interested in coordinating for our parish. Please thank Judi when you see her for her commitment to beautifying our church and preparing our environment for worship these many years.
I can't believe I'm saying this but our musicians are already making arrangements and scheduling themselves for our Christmas Masses! As they become aware of the Christmas schedule, I wanted you to hear from me first that we are adjusting our Christmas Mass schedule for this year since Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday. That means that on Sunday morning we have the Fourth Sunday of Advent Masses, and in the evening we have our Christmas Eve Masses. My concern is that with the regular Mass schedule, we will not have enough ministers (EMHCs, lectors, servers, ushers, musicians, and choirs) to prepare for each liturgy to the best of our ability. Our Parish Council, staff, and I have assessed the schedule and have agreed that on Sunday, Decemeber 24, we will not have the 12 pm Mass (Fourth Sunday of Advent), and we will combine the 6:30 pm and 10 pm (Christmas Eve Masses) into an 8 pm Mass. Our church is large enough to hold the participants to cancel and combine these Masses, and we always have added seating for our Christmas Masses in our church. As we have done the past few years, we will only have the 8 am and 10 am Masses on Christmas Day. As Advent and Christmas approach, we will communicate the Mass schedules multiple times and in multiple ways so everyone will know what to expect. Thank you for your understanding as we plan ahead.
Included in today's bulletin is a FAQ page on November ballot's Issue 1 on abortion access. We need to understand the issues at hand in order to talk about them faithfully and reasonably. Please carefully read over the FAQ page. Extra copies are available at the Pro Life table in the Gathering Space, and can be accessed below.
FAQ Page
I am yours in Christ,
Father Scott Goodfellow