Pastor’s Letter: March 3, 2024

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We enter into the Third Week of Lent.  In the Gospel we  hear the account of Jesus cleansing the temple.  Pope Francis, in one of his Angelus addresses, states that Jesus’ action was not a violent action but a typical action of the prophets who, in the name of God, often denounced abuses and excesses.  He goes on to say that Jesus’  attitude exhorts us to live our lives seeking not our own advantage and interests, but for the glory of God who is love.  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 the last two Mondays.  Our next 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 gives 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.  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.

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