From Our Pastor

From Our Pastor

Folks,

Two celebrations.

Congrats to our Holy Cross Academy Volleyball team! The girls won the championship, defeating Aquinas School, in a match where many tears of joy were shed! See the pictures on this page and rejoice! So proud of the hard work and success of these young ladies! Congrats!

Congrats to our parish family! Our in-pew effort for the Capital Campaign was an amazing success with more than a million dollars pledged and we are on the verge of crossing the finish line!

We have so much to be grateful for:

1000+ families have said ‘yes’ to expanding our parish school!

1000+ families have said ‘yes’ to a bigger and better playground!

1000+ families have said ‘yes’ to replacing all the Heat/AC in the school!

1000+ families have said ‘yes’ to an Adoration Chapel at the parish!

1000+ families have said ‘yes’ to PLC, church, and rectory renovations!

1000+ families have said ‘yes’ to debt reduction!

Our memorial brick wall in the cafeteria will have the theme of loaves and fishes from the scriptures. We may not be a small boy offering 5 loaves and 2 fish, but Jesus takes our gifts of any size and multiplies their efficacy to make wonderful things happen! Thanks be to God!

As promised last weekend, the bids from the contractor are now being reviewed by the diocesan office of planning, construction and facilities! With this review in hand, I will be making a presentation to the diocese on the scope of construction and financing to get the bishop’s approval moving forward!

pax,

Father John Mosimann

November 5, 2023
All Saints Day and All Souls Day Schedule

All Saints Day and All Souls Day Schedule

All Saints Day is Wednesday, November 1, and is a Holy Day of Obligation.  The Mass Schedule is as follows:

October 31: 6pm and 7:30pm Vigil

November 1: 6:30am, 9am, 12pm, 4pm Novus Ordo Latin, 6pm, 7:30pm Bilingual

November 2 (All Souls Day, not a day of obligation): 6:30am, 9am, 12pm, 7pm candle light Mass

From Our Pastor

From Our Pastor

Dear Folks,

Thanks for your generous response to the Capital Campaign as we are trying to bring it to a close. As the bulletin
goes to press mid-week, the volunteers and staff are still working to sort the pledge envelopes. Thank you, Thank
you, Thank you!
This Wednesday we also have the great Feast of All Saints which is a holy day of obligation, and Thursday is the
Feast of All Souls. There are lots of Masses for these, but sometimes folks are confused as to which feast is which.
All Saints: Imagine that your grandmother were to be canonized a saint by Pope Francis. Your friends would all
congratulate you, and you would joyfully make arrangements to go to Rome for the Mass and party. This feast
is for celebrating all the uncanonized saints in heaven. This is the Church celebrating your friends and relatives
who have gone to God forever and entered into eternal bliss beyond our imagining. We don’t have to go to Rome
for the canonization, but can all gather in our parishes to celebrate our loved ones’ union with God.
All Souls: Here we get to mercifully pray for our loved ones because the Lord doesn’t tell us which of our loved
ones are in heaven or which are in purgatory. True friends are always there to help each other. Souls who are in
purgatory can no longer merit for themselves, as their souls are set in their eternal destiny. However, what they
can’t do, we do for them when we pray to the Lord to have mercy on their souls! Every prayer, every Hail Mary,
every loving thought, is like a glass of water given to a thirsty soul, helping them get to heaven more quickly!
Don’t worry, no soul in purgatory would ever trade places with you…. because their presence in purgatory
assures them of eternal bliss in heaven, just as soon as their soul is freed from disordered attachments. But what
gratitude they have for even the smallest of our prayers.
You can do one thing to keep alive and even strengthen those bonds of love: pray for your loved ones. This is a
sign of our gratitude to those we love, and our hope for reunion with them one day. It is our love that compels us
to attend Mass and worship God for His great work in our families.

Pax,

Father John Mosimann

October 29, 2023
From Our Pastor

From Our Pastor

Folks,

Last weekend we prayed for the repose of the soul of Sister Susan Louise Eder, OSFS, the founding principal of our parish school who passed away suddenly after complications arising from her battle with cancer. Unfortunately the timing was such that we couldn’t share in the bulletin the information about her funeral which was this past Friday. I am hopeful that you did get word when it was posted on the parish website, and sent out by school communications and flocknotes. The school was closed to give an opportunity to teachers and families to go to the funeral Mass. Please continue to keep her in your prayers.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Oblate sisters, in her memory. For that purpose a collection was taken up at
a memorial Mass here on Friday, but you can send donations directly to the Oblates at the address on this page of the bulletin.

Also, included are two loving tributes to Sister’s impact on the lives of the parish. The authors preferred to not have their names, only because they want to shine a light solely on Sister, May she rest in peace with the angels and saints.

pax,

Fr. John Mosimann

Dear Fr. Mosimann

My family has had the honor of being connected to Holy Cross Academy since its founding. We were so saddened to hear of the passing of Sr. Susan Louise, who served the school with so much love and dedication for so long. One thing that has stuck with me is Sister’s love of the motto “Live Jesus”. It taught me to see Jesus in every person and in every circumstance, and I am a better person for it. We are saddened by the loss of this faithful daughter of the Church, but are strengthened by the hope Sister taught us to have in the Resurrection. May God reward her for her good works and welcome her into his Kingdom.

Dear Fr. Mosimann:
The Sisters were a huge blessing for us when we moved to Fredericksburg from Richmond. They were a bright spot for me
as I struggled to acclimate to our new home, and they continued to be there with prayers and guidance during the ups and downs of life over the years. Our family will be forever grateful for the love and kindness that Sister Susan Louise bestowed upon us during our time knowing her. She was humble, nurturing, and an extraordinary example of what it means to live your faith. We love you, Sister Susan Louise!

October 22, 2023