Lenten Services

Dear sisters & brothers in Christ,

I pray that you are blessed and doing well. It is hard to believe that we are halfway through Lent already. Despite the ever present Covid-19, we are beginning to return to more and more activities thanks to the vaccine. If you haven’t heard, you can register to get the vaccine at Catherine’s Health Service, which is in the East section of our old school building. YAH is leading the way, which is good since many of our seniors have been the most isolated. The Parish Council has planned to devote their meeting next month to making plans on returning to a more active parish and how we can do so safely. They are already talking about a couple ideas for social activities, as well as a fundraising activity to help recover some of our lost income due to the drop in Sunday envelopes and our need to cancel the Fish-Fry. Hopefully, our current Raffle will help with this as well.

Along with the other Lenten services, such as, The Stations and Exposition of The Blessed Sacrament, our Jesus Mission is fast approaching. Despite our need to continue social-distancing, we are planning on providing a number of ways for people to participate in the Mission. It will of course be live-streamed along with those physically present in the church. Frs. Tom & Paul will also be celebrating the 9:00 am masses that week and will have mission-presentations after the masses. Carol is arranging the various participants we will need. One such need will be for ushers. We are currently in need for more ushers for our Sunday masses, and we will need ushers for each night of the mission, especially to help with the social-distance seating if we have large numbers of attendees.

The other big news is that the diocesan capital campaign to promote vocations and also assist with the needs of retired priests, which was halted when the pandemic began, is being restarted. We are currently putting together the material that they need from us. Once they process that information it will come back to us and we will begin contacting each of you. This will probably not be until after Easter. Some will receive a letter from the bishop and others will receive a phone call from one of your fellow parishioners. I know this is not a good time to be asking for donations, but that decision was made by others. I think they felt they needed to do it now or possibly never, and while the campaign is going well, they are still a good way from their goal. I realize that since we are a Redemptorist parish some may not see the connection, but we are all part of the diocese and the larger Catholic Church. We also all know that there is a need for more priests. I ask that you receive the letter or phone call with an open heart and focus on the need to build the kingdom and preach The Gospel, for the harvest is abundant, but laborers are (indeed) few.

I pray that your Lenten pilgrimage brings you ever closer to your Lord, that you may feel His presence & strength no matter where you may walk. God bless!

In the Redeemer, Fr. Rick