Father David’s Letter
Dear Friends in Christ,
First this week I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the anniversary gifts and wishes I received from you. I am very touched. As always I am humbled and grateful to be in the position I am, to serve you, to shepherd you, even as you inspire and guide me in so many ways. Thank you!
Second, our 8th Grade Montini students graduated this week. It was a strange ceremony of course, they and their families not being physically present, but still very meaningful. They are wonderful students, filled with faith, knowledge, joy, enthusiasm, talent, and leadership skills; they are a tremendous blessing for our present and our future. God bless our Montini graduates!!
Third, as you no doubt are aware, we are beginning the process of reopening the church, of returning to our life of public worship and prayer. I ask your continued patience and understanding, as this process will take time, and there surely will be frustrations along the way. You all want to come back to Mass NOW, and I fully understand, but it will not happen that way. Government and Church directives state that for the time being we can have no more than 10 people (excluding the priest and other ministers of the Mass) at any given Mass. This is the way it is, and we need to comply. Therefore it will take awhile to get to all of you. When we start this, hopefully in a couple of weeks, some of you will get in right away, others of you will not. It will be difficult. But if we can see attending Mass for the moment as a great privilege, and not as a right, that can help. Celebrate the fact that we are returning to worship as a people, albeit slowly and in small numbers.
I have met with the staff this week to begin working out our plan for moving forward. Again, I appreciate your patience, support, and openness to this process as it unfolds. It is so exciting that we have been given the green light to start reopening, but there are many details to cover and put in place before we begin welcoming you back. We will get there in time and working together, and most importantly with Our Lord to lead us, whose parting words to us at his Ascension were “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
With Hope and Gratitude,
Fr. David
COVID-19 Mass Suspension
As we are unable to attend Mass for awhile, you are encouraged to watch Mass on ETWN, local channels, and on St. Mary’s, St. Patrick’s and Holy Apostles’ websites. Bishop Malloy will also offer Masses on Sundays at 9am and reflections on Wednesdays at noon. These will be available on the diocesan website and their Facebook page. Here is the link to Spiritual Communion and Chaplet of the Blessed Sacrament: https://www.virgosacrata.com/spiritual-communion.html
The Diocese of Rockford is taking steps for the parishes to reopen for public Masses in the near future. Here is Bishop Malloy’s announcement regarding the upcoming changes: https://youtu.be/6KY5nXR2pwU
Below is a video that shows how attending Mass in the next few weeks will look like. Once our parish is certified to open, only 10 people will be allowed for Mass. We will be advising you when this will start and how to sign up. While this will only be a small part of our congregation that will attend these Masses, many – especially those who are 65 or older or who have compromised immune systems or other health issues, will decide not to attend. That being said, dispensation for non-attendance for Sunday Mass is granted until further notice.
Tutorial for Diocesan Directives: https://youtu.be/GgwAQ6j8Zck
RUMMAGE SALE CANCELLED!!
Due to the Covid19 virus we have canceled our rummage sale in June. We will be working with Savers on a fundraiser in September doing a collection of GENTLY USED clothing, shoes, purses, linens and hats. Also, small household items such as dishes, pots n pans, vases and holiday items will be collected. They will pay us by the pound for the donations we collect. PLEASE save the above items for this important event. More details will be coming soon about the Savers collection.
Check out our Special Events page! We’re putting together a St. Mary’s Cookbook! Get the details to submit your recipes!
Here’s something to SMILE about! 🙂
St. Mary’s Church is now connected with AMAZON.SMILE! What is Amazon.Smile? Amazon is dedicated to giving back to charitable organizations like our parish. When you buy online at Amazon, you have the opportunity to have .05% of your purchases donated to St. Mary’s by Amazon. When you sign up for AmazonSmile, you’ll be asked to select from over a million of charities to support. But you can skip this step and click on our unique link. Then you’ll be taken to smile.amazon.com and then automatically asked if you want to support St Mary Church. Our unique charity link: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/36-2182123
Don’t forget to sign up for St. Mary’s MyParish App today!
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to enhance your spiritual life and get updates on what’s happening at St. Mary! Just text App to phone number 88202 or visit myparishapp.com to download. St. Mary’s will not automatically be one of your choices because we are a national parish which means we have no boundaries. Just type in St. Mary 1407 and the site will be available for you to click on and join. Keep yourself up to date on parish events, daily readings, messages, Pope Francis messages, and programs to enhance your faith journey.
