Dear Parishioners,

We are still in search of a full time Music Director but they are very hard to come by. I’m very grateful though for the subs we have been able to get and thank Joan Berigan & Mary Piechowski for dealing with all of that. We are also working to have our microphone system replaced as it just went out on us a couple weeks ago so it may not sound up to par in the mean time. We need to transfer from our older analogue system to a digital system. It was working quite well up until recently. As they say, it’s always something.

I’m sure many of you will remember the Neocatechumenal Team that gave some talks last year. They reached out to me as they are doing missionary talks in Norton, Ohio & in Kentucky but were in need of a place to stay for a few months & I had offered our hospitality to them in case they were in need. We are able to have them stay with us in the unused suites in the rectory so we welcome Father Felipe Rodriquez and seminarians Tim Johnson & Angelo Calderon who will be here until July. You may see them around, especially at weekday Mass and Fr. Felipe may be able to celebrate Mass or help with confessions from time to time. We are happy to have them with us again as they continue to proclaim the gospel to others.

Please remember them in your prayers during their time here. We extend our sympathies to the family of Marilyn Davis whose Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated here on February 16th. Marilyn had 7 children, 14 grandchildren & 7 great grandchildren, and all of her children attended our parish school. In fact, Marilyn was a substitute teacher at our school and invented new ways of teaching according to the needs of the individual students. Marilyn was also the Director of the Westside Catholic Center. Marilyn was the program director and a licensed nursing home director of the Welsh home for over 20 years. I’m grateful for their invitation to come to where Marilyn was living in order to anoint her and give her Viaticum, her last Holy Communion before she died. May our Blessed Mother, called upon frequently when Marilyn prayed the rosary, now intercede for her.

Our 2nd graders made their first Confession last Sunday and all did a great job celebrating that Sacrament for the first time so thanks to their parents and to the Faith Formation Team for helping them prepare for the sacramental reception of God’s forgiveness. We continue to pray for them as they prepare now for their First Holy Communion at the end of April.

Following the Fish Fry we have the Stations of the Cross every Friday at 7pm. But don’t feel that must pray the Stations communally or even just on Fridays. You can enter the church any day (we’re open until 3pm Monday through Friday) and pray the Stations by yourself, either with a booklet you bring (we’ll try to have some available for you as well) or just by walking the stations and allowing the mosaic image to remind you of what Jesus & others experienced on his way to Calvary. This is a wonderful devotion we have as Catholics to allow the suffering of Jesus to make sense out of our own suffering…whether big or small.

This is also another reminder about our Have a Heart, Lend a Hand act of charity which we offer as an opportunity to you each year during Lent. There are paper hearts in a container at all the doors of the church. We invite you to take one (or more if you wish), purchase the item written there & then bring it to the church & place it in one of the baskets at the doors of the church. It’s a another great way, besides Catholic Charities, to reach out & help meet the corporal needs of others.

Fr. James P. Schmitz