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Fr. Mike's Message - 12/27/2020
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Dear Parishioners,
I hope that you had a wonderful celebration of Christmas Day in whatever way you were able to celebrate it this year. This weekend as we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, we get an opportunity to reflect on the early life of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph while we do our best to imitate the virtues by which they lived. Joseph was a man of faithfulness to Mary and Jesus. Mary is the ultimate example of faith. Jesus is the Son of God whom we worship and whom we seek to follow as his disciples.
During this week between Christmas and New Year’s, my prayer is that you get to spend some time with those you love most and that you also find some time for rest and relaxation. Let’s pray for each other that we can renew ourselves during this Christmas season and recommit ourselves to bringing Christ’s love to all whom we encounter.
This coming Friday is the Feast of Mary, Mother of God. We will celebrate Masses for the Holy Day on Thursday, December 31st at 4:30 p.m. and on Friday, January 1st at 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. I think most if not all of us are looking forward to bidding farewell to what has been a difficult year while anticipating a better 2021. Due to the pandemic, the celebration of this year’s Feast of Mary, Mother of God will not be obligatory, but Fr. Tony and I wanted to offer the opportunity to celebrate with you this Feast as we honor Mary and together offer our hopes and prayers through Mary’s intercession.
We are making plans to start up our RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) process for those who are interested in becoming members of the Catholic Faith. If you or someone you know may be interested in learning more about the Faith or want to become a member, please feel free to reach out to Deacon Dave Tobben ([email protected]), Fr. Tony ([email protected]), or me ([email protected]) and we will be happy to discuss this with you. We plan to begin our program in January.
A huge thank you to Fr. Tony and Christine Piontek for their leadership with the new livestream equipment and broadcasting. You may notice a new camera that has been installed on one of the columns in Church on the west side. It provides for a clearer image and improved audio for those who participate in Mass from home. The new equipment makes it possible for us to simultaneously broadcast Mass via Facebook Live and YouTube. The best news is that you can now access our Mass live streams from the main page of our website with the click of a link! This project was made possible by generous donations from our Ladies’ Sodality, from donations made in memory of Dottie Bolzenius, and from others who contributed to make this happen. We are grateful and blessed by the ongoing generosity of our faithful parishioners.
As we end this year, I want to thank you for your diligence in helping to keep the Church as a safe place to worship together. As promising as it is to hear about the coming availability of the vaccine for Covid-19, we still must practice safe distancing, frequent hand washing, and wearing of masks. I would like to renew my request that you bring your own masks to Church so that we can preserve our supply for those who forget theirs.
Be safe as we welcome 2021. Know of my prayers for you and your loved ones.
Fr. Mike Boehm
