My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This Sunday, April 6 will be our Encounter Sunday beginning after the 10:30am Mass at SJV.  We invite you to stop by any time during the afternoon to spend time in prayer in the presence of the Lord and experience the “peace and understanding” which only God can provide.  Encounter Sunday gives us the opportunity for our Family of Parishes to come together to pray with and for each other.  Optional booklets, prayer guides and handouts will be available to help you make the most of this time. The schedule is: 11:30 – Prayer Teams available to pray for your personal prayer requests, 1:00 – Rosary for Priests, 2:00 – Rosary for Families, 3:00 – Divine Mercy Chaplet, 4:00 – Family-Friendly Holy Hour, 5:00 – Teen Holy Hour with music and benediction. 6:00 – Teens are invited to stay after Adoration for food and fellowship.

 

Once again, during the Season of Lent, both St John Vianney and Mary Our Queen Knights of Columbus will be hosting their Lenten Fish Fries at our Family of Parishes.  This Friday will be the last Fish Fry at both Parishes.  Please see the times and details in our bulletin.

 

The Parish Penance Services this week are as follows – Tuesday, April 8 at 7pm at Mary Our Queen and Wednesday, April 9 at 1:30pm at St John Vianney. See the bulletin for more details about our Lenten offerings.  We have also reestablished confessions at Mary Our Queen on Thursdays at 5:30pm.  We invite you to use this Season of Lent to make a good confession.

 

A tough decision was made to cancel the 6:15pm session of our Religious Education Program at St John Vianney for the upcoming Religious Education year.  Please know that this decision was not made lightly.  The factors that were considered in making the decision were based on the number of students attending the program and the number of catechists who have signed up to teach next year.  At St John Vianney, we currently have 88 students attending the 4:15pm session with 21 volunteer catechist teaching and 43 students attending the 6:15pm session with 17 volunteer catechist teaching.  For the upcoming Religious Education year, we have 16 volunteer catechists who have signed up to teach at the 4:15pm session and 4 volunteer catechists who signed up to teach at the 6:15pm session.  Out of the four catechists who signed up, two catechists also teach at the 4:15pm session.  The average class size at the 6:15pm session is around 3 to 4 students. The largest class size at the 6:15pm has 8 students.  Also, from what we have gathered, we are projecting about 30 students signing up for the 6:15pm session as some families have indicated that they were either moving or switching to a different program in the fall.

 

Please note that Mary Our Queen had to make changes for our Religious Education Program two years ago based on the number of students attending the program and the number of volunteer catechists that are available.  If you are available and willing to assist as a catechist at either St John Vianney or Mary Our Queen, kindly call our respective Parish Offices.

 

I understand that this will be an inconvenience for some.  However, for those who are not able to attend the 4:15pm Religious Education Program at St John Vianney, please know that you are welcome to attend the 5:30pm Religious Education Program at Mary Our Queen. Please call the Parish Office for more details.

God Bless

Fr Marc