Father David’s Letter
Dear Friends in Christ,
We continue to welcome more of you back to church with each passing week. It is exciting and satisfying to see more of you physically gathered around the Lord’s Holy Altar! A wonderful Homecoming! And much needed excitement and encouragement in our troubled times.
Speaking of troubled, it is extremely disturbing and concerning to witness the toppling of many images of our cultural icons and heroes. We understand that there are difficult issues in our culture that need to be righted, as there always have been as always will be; but to go about trying to rectify various injustices by resorting to violence, intimidation, degradation, and destruction is absolutely nonsensical and outrageous. Such violence will not help advance the cause of true justice in the least. It will surely lead to further rifts and divisions in our society, which is the last thing we need in these already disquieting times.
Some of you may have heard a call of one of the leaders of this cultural movement to go after statues of Jesus, his Mother, and other related images. Folks this is evil on the rampage! We hope and pray we do not become targeted here, but we need to be ready to band together if ever we are attacked! We have faith and hope in the ultimate Victory of Our Triune God, and it is our rock-solid unshakable Communion with Our Lord and each other that will keep us strong and united through these storms!!!
I wish you all God’s Peace and Encouragement.
Sincerely,
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
Below is a video that shows how attending Mass in the next few weeks will look like. We are now able to accept 50 people per Mass on the weekends. Some of our parishioners have come back to Church during the week and on the weekends. Many – especially those who are 65 or older or who have compromised immune systems or other health issues – have decided 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
To attend Mass, please remember to bring your face mask! This a requirement to wear a mask during the Mass. You can remove the mask when receiving Communion. Hand sanitizers are available in the church for your use as well. Our highest prioritiy is to keep our parishioners safe! We are following all the directives issued by the Diocese of Rockford and the Archdiocese of Chicago regarding social distancing, sanitizing, etc.
ST. MARY CCW FUND RAISER
Pack the Truck!
September 26-27
Clean, Sellable, Good Condition!
BAGGED: Clothing shoes, socks, ties, belts, purses, accessories, scarves, mittens backpacks, and wallets
CLEAN USABLE: pillows, towels, sheets, blankets, curtains, and tablecloths
BOXED: knick-knacks, games and small toys
BOXES MUST CLOSE!
Watch the bulletin and the website for times to drop off your items on that weekend!
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.
