2021-03-21 5th sunday of lent

The time has come for Turkey! This Weekend is our Annual Turkey Dinner and our first attempt at a Drive-thru.  We’ve been working and planning all week. As I was up at the Garage this week with one of our parishioners working out the details of how everything would go, where the tables would be, how the setup would work, I realize just how much work and how many pieces have to come together to make an event like this happen. From the volunteers who spent weeks ahead of time getting ready, to our wonderful kitchen help who worked tirelessly preparing the food, to our young people helping with moving the dinners, to those working in the garage helping with packing meals, to our money counters keeping everything straight. I just want to thank everyone who’s working so hard to get this all done this weekend.
 
Remember, if you’d like to help work the dinner, we’d love to have you, just stop down to the Hall by 9am on Sunday morning and we’ll get you assigned to a place! Many hands make light work!
 
If you’re getting a meal at the dinner, check out the map on the back cover of the bulletin or our website. We have large signs posted on the front of the Church and next to the lower parking lot by St. John Byzantine directing you where to go. You’re welcome to buy both Dinner and Raffle tickets when you get to the garage. I just ask that you please be patient. We’ve thought of most of what we can imagine, but this is still our first time running a drive-thru.
  
For any of you who signed up for FlockNote when I had asked a few weeks ago, you got a nice little reminder about confessions and about the dinner. If you didn’t get that reminder, please either visit our website and click on “Flocknote” or text “popnc” to 84576 to sign up! It’s been very helpful to be able to quickly ask for volunteers and we already had a few people comment that they had lost track of time and were grateful for the reminder!
 
Also, later this week, we’ll be having our Lenten Confessions. Since we’re having a few different days, I was asked to make some times available in the daytime as well as the evening. So we have two more times with a different visiting priest for each. This Wednesday (3/24) at Noon, Fr. Brian Warchola from Holy Name in Ebensburg will be joining us, and this Thursday (3/25) at 6:30pm, Fr. Thad from Hastings will be joining us. Please take advantage of the opportunity to receive the sacraments!
 
Finally, it’s hard to believe but next Sunday will be Palm Sunday! We WILL be able to receive palms this year, but it’s going to look a little bit different than in past years. When you enter Church, the Palms will all be placed on a table before mass to be blessed. We won’t be holding the palms during mass, but everyone will be able to take palms home at the end of mass. I know it’s a little bit different than normal, but it’s certainly a lot better than how we had to do Holy Week last year.

Please know you are always in my prayers.
God Bless You, -Fr Matt