Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church

* Celebrate our Parish Feast Day and Holy Day of Obligation: Immaculate Conception, December 8. Vigil Masses at 6pm and 7:30pm on Monday evening and special Masses throughout day on Tuesday, December 8 at 6:30am, 9am, Noon, 6pm and 7:30pm.

* There will be no Religious Education Classes on December 7 and 8 in observance of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Classes will resume on Wednesday, December 9 as regularly scheduled.

* Advent Lessons and Carols, our annual Advent prayer service, is on Friday, December 11 at 7:30pm. Saint Mary Choirs present Advent songs along with scripture readings and hymns for all to sing.

* Handcrafts from the Holy Land will be on sale after all Masses December 12 and 13. 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.

* 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, www.stmaryfred.org and receive important updates via email. The subscription box is on the homepage. Enter your email address, click “subscribe.”

* The second collection this weekend is for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. Our diocese retains 25% of the collection to fight poverty right here in the diocese. Please donate prayerfully and generously. More information is available at overtyusa.org.

* Don’t forget we have one, very special Thanksgiving Day Mass at 10am when we all gather and give thanks to God. As a sign of our gratitude we have a Food Collection for the Fredericksburg Food Bank. Bring bags of nonperishable foods, keep them with you in the pews and at the Offertory everyone brings the food forward and it is placed all around the altar as our offering. There will be no 6:30 nor 9am Masses on Thanksgiving.

* The second collection this weekend is for the Parish Building Fund. To explain to newer parishioners, and as a reminder for all of us: this monthly collection is a commitment we made seven years ago when we began the renovation of our church and all buildings on the parish property. Rather than have a capital campaign with a five-year pledge, we decided to pay off the debt with a $48K monthly mortgage payment over the next ten years. So far we have paid about $700K thanks to this monthly collection. An easy way to remember to help with this is by giving electronically through Faith Direct. Thank you for your generosity.

* Saint Mary Preschool Open House is today in the Parish Life Center, 9:30 to Noon. Please stop by and say hello.

* Holy Cross Academy Open House is Tuesday at 9am in the school library.

* We have a long way to go if we are going to have a meaningful Parish Photo Directory. For the rest of November only 8 appointments are made in each 128-ppointment week. Photographers go home for good at the end of November. Please be a part of this historic record of our parish in 2015.

* Don’t forget we have one, very special Thanksgiving Day Mass at 10am when we all gather and give thanks to God. As a sign of our gratitude we have a Food Collection for the Fredericksburg Food Bank. Bring bags of nonperishable foods, keep them with you in the pews and at the Offertory everyone brings the food forward and it is placed all around the altar as our offering. There will be no 6:30 nor 9am Masses on Thanksgiving.

* The second collection this weekend is for the Retirement Fund for Religious. We are asked to “Give to those who have given a lifetime.” Checks should be made payable to Saint Mary Catholic Church. To learn how your gift helps, visit www.retiredreligious.org.

* Fr. Don’s class on Lectio divina will take place first on Tuesday, November 10. Please call and let us know you’re coming. It has always been the Tradition of the Church to pray with the Word of God, not use the Bible as a textbook! Class will be repeated later in February.

* Concerts at Saint Mary begins the 2015-2016 concert season with a free organ concert featuring Mary Beth Bennett this Friday at 8pm in the church. Reception to follow in the Parish Life Center.

* Our annual Seminar on Life Decisions will be held Saturday, November 14 from 9:30-1pm with Fr. Don, David Mathers and Regis Keddie, chair of our finance council. Join us if you have questions about how to prepare plans for your funeral (Church teachings and liturgy planning) and other financial planning you would like to work on, including remembering our parish in your giving.