Though I will be on retreat from Sunday through Thursday this week, I will still celebrate daily Mass Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday at 8:30am. We’ll be at the Jesuit Retreat House on State Road so I’ll be close enough to be there by the time of the first conference at 9:30 each day. Again I appreciate your prayers during this time.
Next weekend is our festival which again will be modified due to COVID. But our take-out system worked very well last year, especially with the option to use a credit or debit card so please stop by to get some great food and thank you again for selling raffle tickets as this is the largest piece of the fundraiser for our festival. I hope to see many of you there and thank you again for your understanding of our adjustments during the continued pandemic restrictions.
We recently had our first Parish Council and Finance Council meetings after several months of not meeting due to COVID. Again I am very grateful to all those who served on these councils in the past and to those who have agreed to participate in these now. I will be updating you on the parish finances in the next week or two and will publish our Annual Financial Summary sheet here in the parish bulletin. We will also communicate with you our discussions in the Parish Council and hope that you will pray for us as we meet for the good of the whole parish community.
From time to time parishioners call or come to the rectory office requesting a sponsor certificate. This is a required document for those who have been asked to be a godparent for the Sacrament of Baptism or a sponsor for the Sacrament of Confirmation, to be celebrated either here or at another parish. While it is an honor to be asked to be a godparent or sponsor, it is also a serious responsibility. A person invited to have this relationship with someone being baptized or confirmed is meant to be first and foremost an example of the Catholic faith to the one receiving the sacrament of initiation. This responsibility, and this relationship, therefore requires that someone be qualified to act in this role. A sponsor certificate is a document given to the priest who will be celebrating the sacrament which assures him that a person is in good standing with the Church and acts according to the demands of faith. So the first requirement is that someone be a registered member of a parish community. They must also be at least sixteen years of age and must have received all three sacraments of initiation themselves, namely baptism, confirmation and Holy Communion. If they are married, it is expected that their marriage have taken place in the Church, before a priest (or deacon) and two witnesses. Finally, it would only make sense for someone to be a sponsor if they themselves are practicing their faith by participating at Mass weekly. Unfortunately, many people who have been asked to be a godparent or sponsor do not qualify to act in this role, and therefore a sponsor certificate cannot be given to them. We do deal with every request on an individual basis and can make exceptions if there is evidence that someone is willing to make changes which exemplify their commitment to faith, but we take this seriously and cannot give a sponsor certificate to someone if there is not enough time for this change to take place. I try to publish these requirements in this bulletin so that prospective parents or sponsors may be aware of them prior to asking someone to be in this role or prior to accepting this honor if not qualified. Please contact myself or Deacon Pat or Joan Berigan before asking someone to be a sponsor and well enough in advance if you have been asked to be a sponsor.