2020-10-11 28th sunday in ordinary time

We’ve had quite the busy week here at the parish. First of all, our sympathies to the family of John Frontino whose funeral was this Friday. Please keep their family in your prayers as with all families in our parish who lose a loved one.
 
It’s been pretty busy up at our cemeteries this week, with a few committal services, marker installations, and people inquiring about plots. Although it’s been a lot, I’m glad to have gotten to work with some wonderful families. I know that many of us aren’t always ready to face those sorts of decisions, but having worked with many families, losing someone is stressful enough, before adding all the complications of purchasing a lot at the time of death. It’s good when all those arrangements are already taken care of so that the family can focus more completely on what’s going on in their lives at that moment. If you’d like to reserve a plot, just call us at the office. All the pricing information and regulations are available on our website.
 
I also want to apologize to anyone who attempted to attend our last cemetery meeting. We had scheduled the meeting, and the night of the meeting, nearly all of our members had something come up and we had to cancel. I tried to watch for folks who might be coming, but I  know I missed at least one person who contacted me wondering where everyone was at. We’ve rescheduled the meeting for this Thursday, October 15th at 7pm. If you’d like to hear more about how the new maps are coming along or even help, you’re certainly welcome to attend.
 
Over in our new maintenance department, John has been starting to get his feet wet here. We’ve been cleaning out the garage getting prepared to set up a bit of a workspace for him. We’ve already cleaned out quite a bit and over the next couple weeks, we plan on moving some of the older tables and chairs as well as some of the older refrigerators that have been sitting there for a while. It really feels good to be looking around and seeing these spaces start to be cleaned up, moving them into good working order. We will have some costs as we get his area all set-up with the necessary tools, but as we do, I’m excited to be able to start to get a lot of things fixed up around the parish that have been needing attention for a long time.
 
Meanwhile, plans are in the works for our Turkey Dinner coming up in a few weeks. After meeting, we have a couple big announcements to make about how things are going to work this year in light of COVID restrictions.
 
The biggest change is that there will be no eat-in option for the dinner. Everything will be take-out. Some folks have asked about the price change; the cost change is simply due to the cost of the take-out containers. On the day of the dinner we will have both a drive-through and a walk-through option. 
 
If you’d like to walk-through, everything will function just like you’re used to. Simply park in either parking lot, walk through the hall doors down into to the hall as normal.
 
The drive-through will be held on Elizabeth Street just behind the Church. As we get closer to the dinner, I’ll be putting a map in the bulletin to show everyone how things will work. We simply wanted to let anyone who has concerns about going down into the hall know that a drive-through option would be available.
 
For the Basket Raffle, TV and 50/50 Raffle tickets, first of all, thank you to everyone who has contributed a basket so far, please keep them coming! In order to reduce the number of people in the hall, we’re going to offer additional times to participate in both the Basket Raffle and the other chances. They will be set up in the part of the hall where people would normally eat.  You will be welcome to come into the hall first to participate in the Basket Raffle portion, then get into the dinner take-out line when you are ready.
 
To provide additional times for those who want to  participate in the basket raffle, but are not comfortable with crowds, we will not draw the basket, TV & 50/50 tickets until Sunday, November 15th after the 11am Mass. At that time, the drawing will be livestreamed. Please watch the Turkey Dinner Page in the bulletin and on our website for all the times and for more information.
 
Finally, we had our first meeting with our family-centered Catechesis group for religious education. It’s a bit of a different model than we’re used to, but it’s one had been around since the earliest days of the Church. It’s simply helping our families live as good, solid, prayerful, Catholic families and share their faith with their children. Please continue to pray for all families taking part in our religious education programs, both parents and children.
 
May God Bless you now and always.
-Fr Matt