Holy Week
It hardly seems possible that we have arrived at Holy Week again. The days always seem to fly by here at St. Paul . With the reading of the Passion on Palm Sunday, the Church enters into the most holy time of the year. On Monday we will offer everyone in the Parish a chance to prepare themselves for Easter by going to confession, or as they used to call it, make their Easter duty. The church has always asked its members to go to confession once a year around Easter.
I would strongly encourage everyone in the parish to consider participating in the Easter Triduum. (Holy Thursday , Good Friday and the Easter Vigil) The schedule is included as an insert in the bulletin this week so that you can take it out and place it on your refrigerator, or print one here: Schedule for Holy Week. I am not going to harp on this too much because generally you guys are really good at attending Mass. I have to admit, all of us are impressed by church attendance here at St. Paul. I assure you will benefit a great deal if you pray with the church during these most holy days.
The Health Care Mandate
Both Fr. Raymond and I were touched by the response we received when we spoke on the HHS mandate last week. I was amazed at how many people knew nothing about the issue. For the most part people were grateful that we spoke about the topic from the pulpit. This week we have another informational insert in the bulletin and we have a sign up sheet if you want to get involved in our parish response to this important issue. Simply detach the little sign up form and throw it in the collection basket next week. Or you can email [email protected]to let us know that you are interested in getting involved.
Come Holy Spirit
A special and heartfelt thank you to everyone who was involved in both, the preparation of our young adult Catholics for Confirmation or participated in the ceremony. Archbishop Mansell was very pleased with the spirit he experienced in our parish and told me so repeatedly. We have so much to be grateful for at St. Paul.
Parking Update
Last Wednesday I met with the members of our new parking committee. The committee includes a parish trustee, the President of the Pastoral Council, parishioners who are very well connected with our town, a very qualified real estate agent, a construction manager and a member of our Finance Council. I am amazed at the talent we have in our parish. They will assist us in making sure that we act in the best interest of our parish as we expand our parking. They will help us explore all of the options, choose the best one, present it to the parish, and help figure out how we can pay for this much needed increase in our parking capacity. Several of you have told me that your are skeptical about the development of the Kensington School. This is understandable because there have been several false starts with the development of this property. I have been told by several independent sources that this time “it’s a done deal.” I promise to keep you posted as things develop.
Bulletins, Bulletins where are the bulletins ?
I am sure you will agree that our bulletin contains a lot of helpful information. Patty LaVette works really hard at putting things together and does a great job. Our bulletins are so good that last week both at and after the 12:00 Mass there was a lot of consternation because there were no bulletins to be had. I assure you we are not being cheap. I think our extra bulletins disappeared because they were out during our two confirmation ceremonies and people who attended took a copy to read. We have already increased the number of bulletins for the coming weeks because I suspect, or I hope, that there will be a few more people at mass both this week and next week. Sorry for any inconvenience.