Pastor’s Letter & January 3 Bulletin

Pastor’s Letter & January 3 Bulletin

1 Jan 2021 | Posted by: chadmin

The January 3 bulletin is available online. Please be sure to take a good look at our sponsor ads. Thank you to all of our bulletin sponsors for your continued support, especially in 2020. You allow us to continue putting out a quality piece to communicate with our parishioners, no matter the circumstance.

Dear friend,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope you had a blessed time with family and loved ones over the last week or so. Everything in 2020 was so different from we’ve grown accustomed. The tragedy of the coronavirus and the loss of life is something we will all grieve and mourn for a long time. The grief caused by the coronavirus certainly extended to so many other areas of our lives last year. As we begin 2021, the hope in a successful vaccine and an end to the pandemic should invite us to reflect on opportunities to celebrate family and loved ones. Like you, I grieve some of the lost social and spiritual opportunities last year. As a whole, I think our parish made the best of the cultural adjustments. We did have to cancel many events, change wedding dates, temporarily suspend public liturgical worship, close school, and limit the social aspects of our community; however, I believe our communal efforts are to be commended. While many of the decisions and adjustments required action without full understanding, decisions were made for the good of one another. If you personally haven’t been thanked, “thank you,” for any and all adjustments you made for the benefit of someone else last year. Hindsight often brings clarity. While many decisions by myself, our local government, our church, or our friends and families were not perfect, may we remain thankful for the communal response to put people first. My prayerful hope for 2021 is that we continue to put people first, especially those that are suffering from the many side effects from the coronavirus. We are all in need of the Lord’s healing touch and guiding grace.

While we didn’t receive the normal Mass attendance at Christmas, our adjustments because of the coronavirus were successful. We had only one person come to church Christmas Eve who didn’t have a reservation. We were able to get that person into Mass. Hopefully we were able to accommodate the spiritual needs of anyone who sought communion with us this Christmas. I can’t thank Rhonda Parker enough for her organization and scheduling for the Christmas Masses. While she has organized the Eventbrite online scheduling for us since June, the Christmas liturgies required a lot more communication, scheduling, cancelations and rescheduling. Her efforts allowed us to accommodate and communicate effectively with our parish community. Because so many people planned to livestream the Christmas Mass, I made the decision not to assemble the large wood manger this year. Placing the Holy Family and the other manger figurines in front of the Altar allowed for those in church and at home on the livestream to enjoy the beauty of the manger scene. Special thanks to Albert Tony, Monika Tonsor, Judy Schmidt and Molly Schuler for fine tuning the decorations and flowers to appropriately celebrate Christmas this year.

If you haven’t heard, we will return to in-person learning at school on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. We look forward to welcoming the children back to school. The coronavirus effected not only the adults in our community, but our children as well. While the E-Learning was successful in its own way, there is nothing compared to in-person learning and socialization. Please pray for our kids and parents as they plan to return to school. May this be a time of joy and safety, free from any anxiety.

God bless,

Father David