March 20, 2022
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We enter into the Third Sunday of Lent. The Gospel speaks of the continuing love of God that wants to renew our lives and gives us opportunities that encourage such renewals. 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 will begin this 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.
In my Pastor’s Column last week, I mentioned that 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. After considering the age of these units and the supply shortage that we are facing, I consulted with our Parish Finance Council, and they 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 along with other items that need attention in the near future. The other items that would need addressing include – the roof in the Kenny Center and the heating in the gym which is connected to the old steam piping in the school that we are currently replacing over a 4-year period (hopefully with the replacement, we can install air conditioning while at it). The other item we are keeping an eye on is the Kenny Center HVAC system. While it is currently working well, we continue to keep an eye on it as it is about 20 years old.
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 is opened up for meetings and for groups to gather. For time being, 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