September 12, 2021

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a good Labor Day last Monday where we pay tribute to the contributions and achievements of American Workers. Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891, published an encyclical that is considered a foundational text of our Catholic Social Teaching entitled Rerum Novarum. It was meant to address the conditions of the working class. Because of the Labor Day weekend, I had to submit my letter the week before.

I will be offering a study of the Gospel of John. It will be an 8 week program on Wednesdays at 7pm beginning on September 22. We will look at the structure and content of the Gospel as well as the Sacramental signs that are referenced in it. As always, we will also provide insights in praying the Gospel of John. The program involves the purchase of a book – The Gospel and Epistles of John by Raymond Brown at $14. If you would like to participate in this program, kindly register with the Parish Office.

Over the last few years, our School has worked with Catholic Charities to provide mental health services for our students by a licensed mental health practitioner in a confidential manner as referred by the administration of the school. Realizing that life brings on sets of challenges that can be difficult to navigate, we are working in partnership with Catholic Charities to provide such services to help members in our Parish to navigate some of life’s most difficult challenges. Thanks to Catholic Charities, we are able to offer therapy services here in our Parish for individuals, couples and families by a licensed mental health practitioner at no cost. It will require a referral from me. If this is a service that you currently need, kindly contact me at the Parish Office. All referrals are handled confidentially.

Our Principal Maureen Hoy has been selected as a recipient of one of the 2021 Educator of the Year Awards for Service to Schools in the Archdiocese of Omaha. She has been honored as the Administrator of the Year. She will be recognized at the 44th Annual Archbishop’s Dinner for Education on September 23, 2021. Congratulations to Maureen Hoy for her dedication to our School here at Mary Our Queen.

These are the projects that we are currently working on here in our Parish

The slide feature for the playground in our Early Childhood Education and Youth Center. This includes filling the ground surrounding the slide with rubber mulch.
The installation of two pergolas on our Entrance Plaza of our Church
The relocation of our Tabernacle that will allow it to be both visible and accessible in our Church as well as to allow the Eucharist to be exposed in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. We are waiting for the Lunar insert to arrive before we begin this project.

We will continue to update you on the progress of the mentioned projects and future projects.

We continue to pray for all those affected by the new strain of COVID-19. We also continue to do our best to keep everyone safe. We have opened our Parish for meetings and for groups to gather. While the mask mandate of our city has been lifted, we have made available the left side of our Church for those still wanting to social distance. We continue to request that masks be used when coming forward to receive Communion. Thank you for kindly working with us. We will reevaluate these protocols on a week to week basis. As a reminder, please monitor COVID-19 symptoms. As always, if you or a family member has a fever, chills, body aches, headache, sore throat, cough, and loss of taste and smell, stay home from school or church until symptom free.

Please check out our Weekly Updates via email. If you have not received an email, kindly call our Parish Office and we will add you in our email mailing list. Thank you again for supporting us during this time. We continue to keep all those affected by this virus in our
prayers.

God’s Blessings,

Fr Marc