Ordinary Time and Sacrament of Reconciliation

My Dear Parishioners,

If you made a donation to our Church renovations and requested a specific memorial dedication, the templates for the Memorial Plaques are hanging in the back hallway of the church.  Please check the wording for your memorial for both accuracy and spelling.  This is the final opportunity to make edits or changes.  I ask that you follow the posted format for submitting your edits.  All edits must be submitted in writing to me at Fr.Bordonaro@verizon.net no later than January 31, 2021.  If you know of someone who has requested a memorial dedication, please let them know that the templates are up.

We began the Liturgical Season known as Ordinary Time this past Monday.  The Universal Norms for the General Instruction of the Roman Missal states:  “Besides the times of the year that have their own distinctive character, there remains in the yearly cycle thirty-three or thirty-four weeks in which no particular aspect of the mystery of Christ is celebrated, but rather the mystery of Christ itself is honored in its fullness, especially on Sundays.  This period is known as Ordinary Time.

While we have said goodbye to the Christmas decorations, we will try to keep the Poinsettias going for as long as possible.  Any plants that are placed in the back hallway (by the crucifix) please feel free to take home with you.  Some have already reported that last year’s plants came back nicely this year.  Again, I want to thank Carla Venditti and Karen Baranowski for watering the flowers throughout this entire time; it is a large task and they have been very generous with their time.  We got our flowers once more from the Molenaar greenhouse and they were quite spectacular.  Thank you also to all those who memorialized a loved one on the Christmas Decorations envelope, your support helped to make our celebrations special.

This week 11 of our young people celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the very first time.  Please keep them in your prayers as they come to experience the love and mercy of the Lord Jesus.  They will now focus on the Spring when they will be receiving Our Lord in Holy Communion for the first time.  Hopefully, we will see their reception of this sacrament as a reminder that we need to stay close to the Lord, and that whenever we have placed an obstacle in our relationship with God, He gives us the opportunity to have that obstacle removed.

At the start of a new year, every parish is asked to make a Pastoral report to the Archdiocese, and ultimately to the Church in Rome on a variety of Pastoral Issues such as the numbers of parishioners, attendance at Mass, Social Ministries offered, religious education (school and CCD), devotions, sacraments and sacramental prep programs administered during the previous year.  These reports are compiled every year.  We are now in the process of compiling that report.

May God Bless You,
Fr. Bordonaro