* The Second Collection today is for the Parish Building Fund.
* Vigil Masses, Christmas Eve: 4 and 6:30pm (Church and Holy Cross), 8:30pm (Church), Carols concert at 11pm leading up to Midnight Mass. Please note the 6:30pm Vigil Mass here at the Church will be in Spanish.
* Masses for Christmas: 12am, 7am, 8:30am, 10:30am, 12:30pm, all in the Church. Please note there are NO 2pm, 5pm or 7:01pm Masses.
* Please note that there will be no confessions on Saturday, December 24.
* The Parish Office will be closing Saturday, December 24 at 1pm. The parish offices will re-open Tuesday December 27 at 11am and will close at 4:30pm each day, Tuesday December 27 through Friday, December 30, 2016.
* Remember someone you love, either living or deceased, with a donation for our beautiful Christmas Flowers. Envelopes are available in your envelope packets, in the Church, and in the Parish Office.
* Complete some of your holiday shopping by purchasing SCRIP gift cards! Set up an account today and earn rebates for HCA. Email Torie Baldwin at scripcoordinator@holycrossweb.com for the school enrollment code.
* Subscribe to the Saint Mary website, stmaryfred.org and receive important updates via email. The subscription box is on the homepage. Enter your email address, click “subscribe.”
* Saint Mary Calendars are now available in both English and Spanish in the vestibule of the church. Please, one per family.
We wish everyone a safe and joyful Christmas holiday – may this celebration fill us with a deep and abiding sense of the nearness of God with us, and bring healing and peace to our families and to our world. Merry Christmas!
Dear Folks,
4th Sunday of Advent. Panic Sunday for procrastinators. No that isn’t the real name, but I think I like it!
I read recently a mother describing childbirth. She gladly embraced that out of this unglamorous and painful mess came the greatest blessings in her life: the precious lives of her children. Maybe this Christmas we aren’t as prepared as we would like —with gifts unwrapped, house needs cleaning, baking to do and whatever other items are on your panic inducing to-do list. But in the midst of this ‘mess’ we celebrate the coming of our Lord. So this year I’ll offer to God: my panicked last minute shopping, or my anxiety over not being ready… knowing that he can bring good from all things! I can hear Jesus saying, “Ready or not, here I come!”
And what preparations did He make for his coming? One thing: the perfect Immaculate Soul of His Mother. That’s it. They didn’t have a place to stay, they didn’t have a fancy hospital, or a perfectly prepared baby-room. I wish that we could be likewise prepared. To that end, there are lots of confusion opportunities Tuesday to Friday of this week at 7pm. Friday is the last scheduled confessions. There are no scheduled confessions on the Saturday the 24th.
Finally, I want to thank Rick Caporali for his generous service to our parish family. This week will be his last working in the parish offices. Rick has served in a multitude of ways: event planning, facilities management, staff supervision, construction, cooking, even snow shoveling. He will be greatly missed. May the Lord bless and reward Rick for his generous service.
pax et bonum (peace and all goodness),
Fr. Mosimann
* There will be no Religious Education Classes on December 8 in observance of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Classes will resume on Monday, December 12 as regularly scheduled.
* Handcrafts from the Holy Land will be on sale after all Masses this weekend. A perfect Christmas gift from Bethlehem will complete your shopping list for Christmas giving and help people in great need in the land where Jesus was born.
* Please join us for our monthly Taizé Prayer Service this Monday, December 12. Please note the change in time to 8:30pm. Now in our 9th year, we have met each month to pray for Christian unity in our community and in the world. All Christians are warmly invited; invite your friends!
* Religious Oil Paintings Exhibition this Sunday through the 2pm Spanish Mass. A percentage of the sales supports St. Mary Parish and the remainin proceeds will be used to encourage artists who paint works which give glory to God.
* Remember someone you love, either living or deceased, with a donation for our beautiful Christmas Flowers. Envelopes are available in your envelope packets, in the Church, and in the Parish Office.
* Complete some of your holiday shopping by purchasing SCRIP gift cards! Set up an account today and earn rebates for HCA. Email Torie Baldwin at scripcoordinator@holycrossweb.com for the school enrollment code.
* Subscribe to the Saint Mary website, stmaryfred.org and receive important updates via email. The subscription box is on the homepage. Enter your email address, click “subscribe.”
* Saint Mary Calendars are now available in both English and Spanish in the vestibule of the church. Please, one per family.