November 6, 2022

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We had our Annual Memorial Mass on Saturday Nov 6 at 8:15am.  Last weekend we lit candles of all members of our Parish whom we buried since last All Soul’s Day.  The candles were presented to the families at our Annual Memorial Mass.  We also lit a candle for Mgsr. Kenny and all our founding members of our Parish who have since passed on. During the month of November, a box is placed under the altar at Mary Our Queen. It holds the names of all  the deceased loved ones that our parishioners have asked us to pray for through their All Souls contributions. The names will remain in this box throughout the month of November, and new names are placed in there as they are received. Mass will then be said for these individuals throughout the coming year, indicated by “Poor Souls”. Thank you for remembering those who have gone before us in this way.

I will be leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land from Monday 7th to the 21st of November.  As this is a pilgrimage that was planned for a while, we did our best the last two weeks to find coverage for Masses and Sacraments while I am away.  Please be patient with me as there is only so much that I am able to do without an associate.  I have done my best to cover most of the Sacraments the last two weeks.  I am grateful for all the priests who have made time to celebrate the sacraments here at Mary Our Queen.  I am working with a few priests to help us with the Sacraments for the next few months.

I am grateful that Jake Cortright stepped in to serve as Religious Education Director in addition to his teaching duties in the school and Youth Minister.  Jake was supposed to assume a new role in the Summer of 2023 in a hybrid role of Religious Education Director,  Youth Minister and Teacher that will involve Mary Our Queen and St John Vianney forming a Family of Parishes.  Due to unforeseen circumstances, we needed to make these changes at this time.

Our replacement of our HVAC units for the Church and Cafeteria are slowly moving along.  The new units have been set and now they are working on electrical and ductwork.  It should be completed in the near future.  We accepted a bid for the replacement of the upper levels of our school’s old steam piping which will be done after the School year in the summer of 2023.  This will take care of the replacement of the steam piping that began two summers ago.

As we approach 2023, you will be hearing about our Stewardship renewal plans for our Parish.  This will not be just monetary, but it will incorporate the financial, ministry and spiritual needs of our parish and school community.  We are blessed with an exceptional parish community and my prayer is that we continue to grow in our faith and service together in light of our Pastoral Planning that involves St John Vianney.

God’s Blessings,

Fr Marc