Pastor’s Letter: March 10, 2024

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We enter the Fourth Week of Lent.  The Fourth Sunday of Lent is traditionally known as Laetare Sunday. Laetare is a Latin word that translates to rejoice. In the Gospel reading, we hear these words that are perhaps one of the most cited Gospel verses “For God so loved the world that he gave is only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him  might not perish but might have eternal life.”  We are  invited to recognize the gift of the Cross which is meant to bring healing to our lives.  The Cross that Christ offered for our sake saying that He loves us.  This is why we always encourage you to make a good confession during the season of Lent.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation allows us to get rid of all the junk in our lives and be renewed with our focus in Christ.  We hope that this Lenten season continues to be a source of renewal that shapes us in the love of God.

I hope you have been able to attend the Lenten series that has been offered for our Family of Parishes.  Our final two sessions will be at St John Vianney on Mondays, March 11 and 18 at 7pm.  We hope to build up our Parishes by providing more faith opportunities, like our Lenten series, that not only give us an opportunity to be a place where faith is lived but also where our faith is shared.  If there—is something that you would like to see that helps the growth of your faith life, kindly contact Jodi Meyer.

Once again, 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.  The proceeds support the charitable activities of the Knights of Columbus.  Please join us if you are able to.

Things going on at St John Vianney:

What is left of the water damage repairs is the staining of the Church pews that were affected.  We are hoping to complete this task in the next few weeks.  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.

We are currently upgrading the technology of our Parish with the installation of 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 are also working on replacing our old servers and phone system.

Things going on at Mary Our Queen:

With the closing of the house next to our Early Childhood Education and Youth Center, we are now planning on working on our plans 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 shredded mulch and replacing it with a new rubber surface.  The renovation also includes the replacement of the dome in the playground and the slides in the existing playground structure.

God’s Blessings,

Fr Marc