Lenten Journey

Dear sisters & brothers in Christ,

I pray that you are blessed and your Lenten journey is off to a good start. It has been a busy couple of weeks, and as I look forward it doesn’t look any less so. Which, of course, is a good thing. It seems like we are slowly getting back to our pre-pandemic lives. The biggest of the events that have returned is, of course, our Fish Fry. I want to first of all thank Cindy and Steve along with their great team of volunteers and our parish staff. It is a lot of work, and yet, most of the faces I saw Friday had smiles on them. I spent most of my time walking the line of cars. People were so happy to have the Fish Fry back. While a number of people regretted not having the social aspect, they did share that “sitting” in their car and listening to their music and playing on their phone was better than standing in line for an hour or two. We served about 600 cars, and of course, most of them placed multiple orders, and so, we are off to a great start. Please spread the word to friends, family, and strangers. And don’t forget to get your raffle tickets. The sooner you turn them in the sooner you have a chance to win one of the $100 prizes.

I want to thank everyone who helped in any way with the Chili & Soup Cook-Off. It too was a welcomed return. It was good to see so many young adults and children at the event. There were not only a few new cooks, but a couple of them are relatively new parishioners, who felt it would be a good way to meet fellow parishioners.

I also want to thank Bob, the Parish Council, and the rest of the staff and volunteers who helped to make our Synod gathering a great success. I also want to thank those that came and shared their faith experience, as well as, their ideas and dreams of what The Church and our own parish can become. Once we have processed everything and sent it off to the diocese, we plan on going through the material to see how we can use it here at St. Alphonsus. I can’t promise to use every idea, but the Parish Council and staff will go through it and discuss what ideas might help us and be the best fit.

Finally, I want to invite you to fill out one of the little black pieces of paper on the tables near the altar. The idea is to write down something you are struggling with or something you need help with during your Lenten Journey. Once you have done so, just fold it up and place it in the netting around the cross in front of the altar. We will be praying as a community for all of the petitions on the cross. God bless, and I pray that your Lenten Journey leads you ever closer to your God and in the footsteps of your Lord.

In the Redeemer, Fr. Rick