Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church

A wonderful thank you the DeMaio and Prohaska families. These two families were instrumental in planning and executing our annual parish picnic. One took point, and the other stepped up when an emergency arose on the day of the picnic! The Knights of Columbus were the army that made this happen! Please enjoy the pictures here in the bulletin!

Remember last fall when we had to delay the picnic b/c of permitting and logistic issues? I do! Well that permitting and planning proved totally necessary, as the firefighters and the fire marshall on hand were critical because of the embers that fell from the fireworks! A special thanks to our public servants who acted efficiently, decisively, and in collaboration with staff and event planners.

Also, a word of thanks to God, as the rescheduled April timing of the picnic perfectly fit our groundbreaking celebration! We were able to celebrate 25 years of Holy Cross Academy,and also celebrate the wonderful works looking towards the next 25 years! All this coming together, reminds me of the Psalm 127: “Unless the LORD build the house, they labor in vain who build. Unless the LORD guard the city, in vain does the guard keep watch.”

Finally, speaking of parties, I want to put three more celebrations, on your radar; one in the parish, one in the community, and one diocesan wide:

1. Corpus Christi Procession & Reception: Thursday May 30th @6pm. This will be here at the parish, and working out our route to bring Jesus to the streets!

2. Parish Night @FredNats: Thursday June 6! We have reserved the 1st Base Sky Porch for our parish, and we will have tickets for sale next week.

3. Diocesan Family Picnic: June 8th in Front Royal. We are working on getting a bus, so that folks who want to go can do so with greatest of ease!

Some of these events will need sign-ups, so that planners can know how much food is needed!

If you got this far, please say a Hail Mary for everyone who worked( and will work) so hard for all of these celebrations. They are putting in many many more hours than the time it takes to say a prayer of gratitude.

pax,

Father John Mosimann

Let me renew an exhortation that I share from time to time, because we can all use a reminder: be good to our neighbors, as it regards to the difficulty of parking on public streets. I will support the right of citizens to park where allowed by law and good neighborly relations. However, I will also support the right and duty of the city to enforce parking regulations.

This came up recently when a parishioner parked in a ‘resident only’ zone, and asked if I could do anything about the ticket they received. My spiritual authority does not extend to parking tickets!

There are many ways we are actively trying to engage and be good to our neighbors: adding Sunday Masses at Holy Cross Academy especially on Feast Days, and starting additional Saturday Spanish Mass at St. Judes. We pay every week for the sheriff who helps with traffic flow, for big Masses the Knight of Columbus help with parking, and we have bulletin and pulpit reminders such as this one. Moreover, we have the tradition of Celebrating Easter at the Expo Center and now the Triduum!

My list of ways to be a good neighbor:

1. Obey all traffic laws and postings about where parking is permitted, being careful to be within the lines where parkings spots are delineated. Being especially careful not to block driveways.

2. Please use the parking lot as much as possible. Many folks park along other residential streets when there are still plenty of parking spaces in the lot (obviously b/c it allows for a quicker departure and not having to deal with the lot) but that is why the lot was created.

3. When you do park on residential streets, be sure that you are parking where it is permitted! For example, weekday parking is residential only on certain streets. Law enforcement has a duty to ticket this behavior.

4. When you encounter neighbors, remember that you represent Jesus and His Catholic Church!

5. When you drive on residential streets, especially Stafford Avenue, remember this is a neighborhood with children at play.

Let’s be good neighbors, as charity begins with the Lord, and continues as we exit the parking lot and into all of our daily lives.

pax,

Father John Mosimann