March 13, 2022
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We enter into the Second Sunday of Lent. In this weekend’s Gospel, we hear the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus. Moses and Elijah represent the Old Testament law and the prophets. Jesus’ Transfiguration provides confirmation to Jesus’ declaration that his suffering will end in glory. This is the gift of Christ who fought evil with love and that love is meant to renew all things which is why we encourage all to take this opportunity to make a good confession during this Lenten Season. Please also join us for our Parish Mission on March 27 to 29. This year we are fortunate to have Fr Donald Shane to lead our Parish Mission. Our Parish Mission will focus on the Eucharist and how it transforms our lives. It will conclude with a Reconciliation Service on March 29.
Our Archdiocese is currently undergoing a Pastoral Planning process for the future of our Archdiocese. With the declining numbers in Mass attendance, the decline in population in the rural counties and the growth in a few concentrated counties as well as taking into account the declining priests numbers, the Pastoral Plan will create a new vision for how we as a Church will flourish in the future. One of the proposals in this planning process is for Mary Our Queen Parish and St John Vianney Parish to share a Pastor and an Associate with both sites being utilized for the ministerial needs of the two faith communities. Another proposal is for our Parish to begin ministry for those who are Spanish speaking given the growth in Spanish-speaking parishioners in our area. This will include having a Mass in Spanish on Sundays. Details of operations and the various needs for the new arrangement will be determined through meetings with leadership personnel of both parishes which we will begin next week with the implementation of the new model for the combined parishes projected for the summer of 2023. For more information, please go to journeyoffaith.org.
Looking forward, in regards to the upkeep of our facility, we started making plans to replace the HVAC units for the Church and the Cafeteria. The current air handlers for the Church and the Cafeteria date back to the time when it was first built in the 1960s and the condenser units are close to 20 years old. Given the current supply shortage of HVAC equipment (about 8 to 10 months waiting period), we wanted to be proactive in replacing these units. We put out the replacement of the HVAC project to bid and unfortunately the lowest bid was $346,600. We were originally budgeting the replacements to be about $150,000. Bearing in mind the age of these units and the supply shortage that we are facing and after consulting with our Parish Finance Council, it was recommended that we move ahead with the replacement. We are currently working on financing with our Archdiocese to pay for these units over a 10 year period with the hope that we are able to do a fundraiser to pay for it in the near future.
We continue to pray for all those affected by COVID-19. I know that this has not been easy for everyone. We also continue to do our best to keep everyone safe and are constantly updating our policies. Our Parish continues to remain open for meetings and for groups to gather. We will continue to make available the left side of our Church for those still wanting to social distance. Thank you for kindly working with us. 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.
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.
God’s Blessings,
Fr Marc