Dear Friends in Christ,
Every so often, I find that it is good to have a catch-up letter. This includes items that I want to bring to your attention. They are all important but at the same time, they are not all of equal importance. So here we go.
Flowers. The church has always viewed flowers as a beautiful offering to God and not merely as decoration. During the Liturgical Year, there are times when flowers are forbidden in church, namely Advent and Lent. In our parish, we have many weddings and funerals and there are often flowers donated to the church. Additionally, many people make contributions to provide flowers for the weekend Masses. Please do not bring flowers or plants into the church, chapel, or Adoration Chapel. If you wish to offer flowers in memory, in honor of; or in thanksgiving, that is wonderful. The best way to do this is to contact the Parish Office and make a donation of flowers. Your gifts may be anonymous. This helps us to provide flowers throughout the year and keeps us from having too many at one time.
Attire. Warmer weather is here! Regardless of the weather or time of year, we always come to church appropriately attired. Our attire is a sign of our reverence for God and respect for our neighbors and ourselves. “Sunday Church Clothes” and “Sunday Best” are always in fashion and never go out of style!
Printed materials. Please do not bring printed materials for distribution into the church, chapel, and especially, the Adoration Chapel; they are only thrown away. Used religious magazines, books, cards, pamphlets, pictures, St. Jude novenas, flyers, etc. are all tossed out. Some of the materials are very questionable in their content. All printed materials not provided by the parish will be thrown out.
Parking. Our Mass attendance is 10% higher this year than last year. That means more cars and more traffic. Please park only in designated areas. Always drive with courtesy and safety and follow the instructions of our traffic and security officers. The officers do a great job and are here for everyone’s protection.
Seating. Speaking of more people (Praise God!), please make every effort to be punctual and to sit close to the sanctuary. Please do not “hog” the end of the pew! With more people in Mass, we need to scoot in a little and not make people crawl over us. Please make sure that handicapped seating is available to those who need it. Likewise, please reserve the Cry Rooms and the seats near them for our parents with little ones.
DSF. Our parish goal is $510,000! We are about 20% there. Please make your pledge today by visiting our website at stjohnvianney.org/give/donate/.
Confessions. We are blessed to offer Confession 17 times a week during Lent. Please do not wait until the last minute. Confessions will end on Wednesday of Holy Week until after Easter.
Reverence in church. When approaching the altar for Holy Communion, or immediately after Mass, is not the time or place to visit with friends. Visiting is great and I encourage you to do even more of it, but the best place and time is after Mass in the narthex, in the plaza, and the Activity Center.
Holy Communion. When receiving communion in the hand, we never grab the host. We make a bow of the head as a sign of reverence and then receive the host in our hands. When receiving on the tongue, we open our mouth and stick out our tongue! After receiving communion, we return to our seats, kneel, and offer a prayer of Thanksgiving.
In Pace Christi,
Fr. Troy