Greetings in Christ!! We are excited to announce the reopening of our renovated church on the weekend of December 12th/13th, 2020!! All Sunday, December 13th, Masses are designated especially as donor Masses in appreciation of your support. The rededication Mass will be Saturday, December 12th, at 4 p.m. celebrated by Bishop Earl Boyea.
So, even in this joy, we ran into a problem. As you know, the State continues its regulations on religious gatherings due to the COVID virus. As Catholics who long to be faithful citizens and good stewards, our Bishop has asked us to cooperate with the state in these matters and we have to the best of our ability. In the end, this messes with our dedication ceremony, because it means our attendance is limited. Due to current Covid restrictions, this Mass will be invitation only as directed by the Rite of Rededication. Invitations will be mailed next week.
I imagine some of you are bummed reading this and I totally get it. I pray you see the corner we are painted into and trust that we have done and will continue to do our best to meet the faith needs of our beautiful parish family while balancing the responsibility we have to be good and prudent citizens. You all sacrificed in many ways to make this possible and I’m sorry we won’t all be able to celebrate the dedication together in the way we would like to.
Two pieces of good news to balance out the sad – First, we’re going to Livestream the Dedication Mass! It’s such a rare joy to get to see a Church dedication and we want to make sure that everyone who wants to pray it at home does. We will publish a guide for you and your family to use while you watch the Mass at home.
The second piece of good news is that our Mass schedule for the weekend of the dedication is available like usual! We’ll need to spread out our Mass attendance so that we don’t break any of the quarantine rules in our new Church. For example, the 8 am is usually pretty open and the 10 am is usually pretty packed. If you are able, perhaps some of you who normally attend the 10 would consider going to the 8 or noon instead.
So, with that, who is coming to the dedication Mass? The Rubrics of the Dedication Rite state that the following people should be there:
– Clergy (we’re kind of needed on this)
– Mass Volunteers: scheduled lectors, ushers, servers, etc.
– Building Committee: There’s been a group meeting for years to help form and guide our process of designing and building.
– Finance Committee: Another group who put their financial acumen at the service of this parish and this build.
– “Architects, Builders and Contractors”…a neat addition to the rite that asks the parish to be sure to invite all those who built the Church to come to its dedication. I do like that touch.
Guys, if it weren’t for this Virus, we would pack this place and pray like it’s 1999. I hate that it’s like this and I’m sorry that we don’t get to be at the dedication together.
At the same time, this is the reality we have been given and God is to be found within it. We ARE united by the Eucharist, even if we aren’t able to physically see each other for more than the hour and a half it’ll take to pray this dedication well.
We are excited to announce the following pastoral staff changes. Fr. Leronio Vodivodi (Vun-dee-vun-dee) will be joining our staff as Parochial Vicar. Fr. Le (Lay) will begin celebrating Masses with us on Sunday, November 15.
Fr. Le comes to us from Suva, Fiji. His hobbies include golf, reading, meeting new people and watching rugby. His previous assignment was at Pacific Regional Seminary in Suva, Fiji where he was on staff as a permanent lecturer.
Personally, I am so grateful to and for Fr. Kusi, who was the bridge that brought this wonderful priest to us. He actually served as Fr. Kusi’s altar server at some point in the past, I’m told!
Other staff changes:
In August we were blessed to hire Deacon Dan Medich to serve here as The Director of Evangelization for our parish. Erin Cummings had left that job to get married, praise God! Last month the Bishop officially assigned Deacon Medich to serve here as a Deacon, in order to complement his role in Evangelization. We are blessed by this and excited to pray at the altar with him!
We’re sad to say goodbye to Deacon Larry Blondin. After three years of serving as a Deacon here, he has been reassigned by the Bishop to serve at St. John in Fenton. We will certainly miss his joy, his fruitful prayer and his zeal for the Lord. He sent us a beautiful letter, which we will include here:
Dear Holy Family,
For the past three and half years it has been my great joy to assist our wonderful priests and serve our parish as a Permanent Deacon. So it is with mixed emotions that I write to let you know the Holy Spirit is leading me on a new diaconal path. Bishop Boyea has reassigned me to serve the parish of St. John the Evangelist in Fenton.
I thank the Lord for the abundant blessings Linda and I have received in our years together with you at Holy Family. The encounter of Jesus’ love and mercy, the beautiful friendships formed, and the faithful walk of discipleship we have shared will stay with us always.
We thank you all, from the depth of our hearts for your prayers and support. You are in our prayers and in our hearts forever.
In Christ’s Service,
Deacon Larry and Linda Blondin