Fr. Mike's Message - 03/20/2022

Dear Parishioners,

Breakfast is served! Come on over this morning to our Grade School cafeteria for a hearty, delicious breakfast and enjoy some quality time with other parishioners and friends. The food is always good and the company is great. Thanks to all of our breakfast volunteers and to Bill & Judy Halmich for generously sponsoring this month’s parish breakfast!

We have only about 2 more weeks to participate in the Disciple Maker Index Survey. Thank you for taking the time to fill out the All Things New Disciple Maker Index Survey that has been made available to us through our website (https://borgiaparish.org), the All Things New website (https://allthingsnew.archstl.org), and through a special link we have set up for our parishioners (https://bit.ly/BorgiaDMI).  We also have made available a couple of computers in our parish office for you to use during regular office hours  to fill out the surveys.  If need be, you can also request a paper copy - just call the office.  (We are trying to limit the number of paper copies because of the extra cost involved in shipping and manually entering the answers.)  In the end, we want as many people to fill out this survey as possible in whatever form as that will give us an opportunity to assess our parish’s strengths and areas for improvement.  It will also ultimately help Archbishop Rozanski and the folks helping him to make the best decisions possible.  Thank you again for your attentiveness to this.

This coming Saturday, March 26th, SFB Parish will host the members of the Washington Volunteer Fire Company and their spouses/significant others for the annual “Ladies Night,” a special event to thank and honor the family members who support our firefighters. As an all volunteer force, the Washington firefighters sacrifice a lot of time to serve our area. Family members who support them in doing so also make a sacrifice as they often have to do things without the firefighter in the family. The families who support our firefighters deserve a lot of credit and our thanks. They make it possible for the firefighters to be able to train and answer calls so they can deliver the level of service we have come to know and expect out of our Fire Department. Welcome, WFD!

Next Monday, March 28th, we will join with our friends at Our Lady of Lourdes for our combined parish Penance Service. Confessions will be heard beginning at 6:30 pm at Lourdes. Lent is an especially good time to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation, so I hope you can take advantage of this opportunity.

With last weekend beginning Daylight Saving Time, it’s a good reminder to check and replace batteries in smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. If you are unable to do this, feel free to call the Fire Department (239-1020) so a visit can be scheduled. Be safe, Borgia!

On Holy Thursday morning Fr. Tony and I will be attending the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.  This is an annual celebration where the priests and people of the Archdiocese gather with Archbishop Rozanski as he blesses the holy oils that we will use throughout the year.  Also as part of this Mass, the priests get the opportunity to renew their priestly promises.  Archbishop Rozanski would like the people of the Archdiocese to know that they are invited and welcome to attend this celebration.  There will be some reserved seating as well as open seating.  If you know you want to attend, please call Donna in the Parish Office and let her know so we can communicate our numbers to the staff of the Cathedral Basilica.  Please let us know by Friday, April 8th if you would like us to request seating for you.

Have a great week. God bless.

Fr. Mike Boehm