January 31, 2021
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In this weekend’s Gospel, we hear how Jesus came to Capernaum and entered the synagogue and taught as one having authority. The Response for this weekend’s Responsorial Psalm is “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts” . We pray that we can be open to God’s word and letting it make a difference in our lives.
Our Annual Parish Fundraiser for Mary Our Queen – the MARQUEE will be on February 27, 2021. This year marks our 24th MARQUEE. The theme for our Marquee this year is Home Together. Given the current pandemic we are currently going through, this year’s Marquee will be different. Our theme this year illustrates our effort to continue to build our community in spite of the pandemic. You will be receiving an invitation in the mail soon. For this year’s MARQUEE, we are inviting you to gather in small groups with the friends, family and parishioners that you are comfortable being around or stay at home and enjoy the evening while participating in our event LIVE. Our MARQUEE will take place virtually this year with a LIVE event online and a virtual event on Bid Pal featuring Silent, Super Silent and Live Auction items. We hope you will join us for MARQUEE 2021 … Home Together.
The proceeds for this year’s MARQUEE will go towards installing a variable volume terminal unit with a heating water coil in each classroom and connecting to the existing ductwork. This would also include new temperature controls for the room and extension of the heating water piping from the lower-level mechanical room to each coil. Currently the heating water piping is over 50 years old. The current estimate to upgrade the system is $240,000 ($60,000 per wing of each floor). We are hoping to use the proceeds of our Raise the Paddle towards this over the next few years.
We would like to reopen for meetings and groups from February 1st onwards. Information on protocols have been emailed to all group leaders in our Parish. We continue to navigate with the COVID-19 environment and to follow our established protocol. All DCHD protocols are and will be followed. Close contact/quarantine information will come from the DCHD. As a reminder, please monitor COVID-19 symptoms. As always, if you or a family member has a fever, chills, body aches, headache, sore throat, cough, and loss of taste and smell, they should stay home from school or church until symptom free. Continue to utilize and refer to our COVID-19 Resource Page at https://www.moqschool.org/moq-covid-19-resource-page/. We continue to place the health and safety of all members of our school and parish community our top priority.
Thank you to all who supported our Archbishop’s Annual Appeal. Our Archbishop’s Annual Appeal helps us in our daily work of resourcing and empowering leaders of our churches and schools to experience unity in Christ, to encounter Jesus, equip disciples and receive and live mercy. The 2020-2021 parish goal for our Archbishop’s Annual Appeal is $121,227. To date we have received $100,527 in commitments from 12.9% of our parish family. We need the support of all our parishioners to help us meet our goal. Thank you for your generosity.
Please check out our Weekly Updates via email. If you have not received an email, kindly call our Parish Office and we will add you in our email mailing list. Thank you again for supporting us during this time. We continue to keep all those affected by this virus in our prayers.
God’s Blessings,
Fr Marc