Pastor’s Letter: February 25, 2024

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We enter into the Second Week of Lent.  In the Gospel  we hear the account of Jesus’ Transfiguration.  The Transfiguration of Jesus revealed His Glory.  Moses represented the law and Elijah represented the prophets.  They appear with Jesus as witnesses to the  fulfillment of the law and the prophets taking place in the person of Jesus as he appears in glory.

We had our First Lenten Series for our Family of Parishes last Monday at Mary Our Queen.  The next session will be this coming Monday – February 26 at Mary Our Queen at 7pm.  Please keep Mondays, March 11 and 18 at 7pm at St John Vianney for the third and fourth sessions of our Lenten Series.

We are fortunate to have 9 candidates and catechumens in our RCIA program for our Family of Parishes.  Last Sunday, we had the Rite of Election at the Cathedral where they were welcomed by our Archbishop. We then gathered at Mary Our Queen for dinner with their families and our RCIA team.  We would like to thank MOQ’s Men’s Club for hosting the dinner.

For the Season of Lent, both St John Vianney and Mary Our Queen Knights of Columbus will be hosting their Annual Fish Fries on Fridays.  Please join us if you are able to.

Things going on at St John Vianney:

We are more or less finished with the water damage repairs for the Church and Social Hall.  We also replaced the water damaged ceiling tiles in the Family Room and Coat Room.  What is left is the staining of the Church pews that were affected by the water damage.  There are also a few spots in the flat roof portion of the Church that are leaking.  We are currently working to get them patched up.

To help us look to the future, we are in the midst of installing automatic locked doors for our Church building.  This will allow us to give access to groups gathering to meet in Church with ease.  We are also installing security cameras around the Church building as an added measure of security.

We have also recently acquired new chairs for the basement classrooms. This will replace the old vinyl cushion chairs that have been damaged after years of use.  We also acquired new white boards for several classrooms and 2 new TVs that will be used for our Religious Education and Youth and Young Adult Programs.

Things going on at Mary Our Queen:

We closed on the house next to our Early Childhood Education and Youth Center this week.  The owners of the house offered us the opportunity to purchase it and after consulting our Finance Committee and the Archdiocese, we made an offer.  In the past, we turned down the opportunity to purchase the house whose previous owners gave us the first right of refusal.  We believe that this is an opportunity that we cannot refuse.  The plan is to have the house removed and to provide a space for the preschoolers to use.

We are currently scheduling the renovation of our existing playground. We will be removing the existing shredded mulch and replacing it with a new rubber surface.  The renovation also includes the replacement of the dome in the playground with something new and the replacement of the slides in the existing playground structure.

We have created a new meeting space in the basement of the rectory for small groups to gather.  The room has couches and can comfortably sit a group of 10 to 12 people.  Call the parish office for more details.

God’s Blessings,

Fr Marc