Parish Community Updates

Dear sisters & brothers in Christ,

I pray that you are blessed. While I write this letter early in the week, by the time you read this we may know who won the elections. Whoever it is, my greatest prayer is that we can regain a bit more unity & peace in our country. Some of you may have been groaning to see Christmas commercials even before Halloween. Unfortunately, liturgy committees have to plan the liturgical year far ahead of time as well. We are already discussing how the pandemic restrictions will affect our Christmas masses and what we want to do for Advent. Since Advent is a time of preparation for the birth of Christ, I thought it would be a good time to pray for peace as we prepare for the birth of “The Prince of Peace.” Please keep an eye out for more information on all of this.

I am sure you are all aware of Fr. Bernie’s health struggles, especially in regards to his knee. It began with a painful bone chip, and after he was finally able to have surgery, his knee became infected. To deal with the infection they had to remove his kneecap, which severally compromised his balance. This resulted in a number of falls, which has greatly concerned us, as well as, our provincial leadership. With the eight year time limit now being enforced, we all knew that Fr. Bernie would most likely be transferred. His health situation has merely expedited his transfer and resulted in his new home to be at St. Clement’s Health Care facility outside of St. Louis, Missouri. The hope is that they can help him focus on healing and put him in a location where he does not have to navigate stairs several times a day. While the social distancing regulations will not allow us to do a traditional send of, we are discussing a few creative ideas. We will, of course, keep you informed as our plans develop. But in the mean time, please keep Fr. Bernie in your prayers.

We also received sad news about the sudden and serious decline of the health of a few of our parishioners. One of these, as you probably already know, is Elaine Hillary. They had to postpone her surgery until she regains some strength and tries to fight off the infection. As news develops, and we are given permission to share it, we will. In the mean time, please keep them all in your prayers, as well. “When two or more pray in my name...”

I pray that you have a restful and blessed week. May The God, who called us into existence, continue to watch over us and keep us from harm. Let us, especially, pray for the health and safety of our children and those whose health puts them at greater risk.

In the Redeemer, Fr. Rick