Bulletin for April 7

Dear friends in Christ,

Today is the 5th Sunday of Lent and we are now coming into the home stretch of our 40-day journey to Easter. We’ve got one more full week of Lent this week, and then next week we celebrate Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. If your Lent has been less than spiritually fruitful, fear not. There is still time to have “a good Lent.” Recommit yourself to your prayer, fasting and almsgiving the next two weeks and see if you don’t see an improvement in your walk with the Lord. I’m always saddened by those who say, “Well, I broke my Lenten promise, so I’ll just wait until next year and try harder then.” Nonsense! Remember the words of Ash Wednesday: “Now is an acceptable time!” The time is now to return to the Lord. There are still plenty of good days ahead to prepare yourself for the coming Easter celebration.

Today at the 9 a.m. Mass we celebrate the third and final Scrutiny for our Catechumens who will be baptized at the Easter Vigil on April 20. Please remember to keep them in your prayers, as well as our Candidates (those who have been baptized already and now seek full communion with the Church). Those Candidates will also be received into the Church at the Easter Vigil.

It’s not too early to begin looking ahead to next Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. Of course it begins with Passion (Palm) Sunday. Palms will be distributed and blessed at all Masses. After the freeze last year that left us bereft of palms I’ve been assured that we’ll have more than enough this year! Remember that the 9 a.m. Mass on Palm Sunday begins outside on the plaza as we remember Jesus’ procession and entry into Jerusalem. A nice tradition that has developed over the years at CtR is the wearing of the color red on Palm Sunday by members of the congregation. It’s the liturgical color of the day, of course, and a good reminder of the passion and suffering our Lord endured for us.

We’ll cover more of the Holy Week schedule in next week’s bulletin, but to help you prepare, our liturgy schedule for the Triduum will be as follows: Holy Thursday, April 18, 7 p.m.; Good Friday, April 19, 3 p.m.; Holy Saturday (Easter Vigil), April 20, 8:30 p.m.; and Easter Sunday, April 21, 7 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., with additional Masses in the Parish Hall at 7, 9 and 11 a.m. Note that special time for the last Mass on Easter Sunday: 1 p.m. There is no 5 p.m. Mass on Easter Sunday. Again, we’ll have more details next week, but plan now to join us for these most holiest of days.

As always, I make a special appeal to our ushers, greeters, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and other liturgical ministers to please sign-up in advance to assist at these liturgies. Easter Sunday, with our double schedule of Masses in the Church and the hall, is an especially busy time. If possible, I encourage you to sign up for multiple services. I assure you the Lord will double the graces you will receive if you do!

If you were at Mass last weekend you heard the announcement of our upcoming 34th annual CtR Spring Festival from our general chairpersons Mike and Camille Havelka. The Spring Festival booth will once again be open in the Parish Hall this weekend (and next) after all Masses.

I ask that you to take a moment and do your part to help our community at the Festival. In the Parish Hall today you can turn in raffle tickets for a chance to win for a new GMC vehicle (and pick up more raffle tickets too to improve your odds of winning!), buy advance barbecue tickets, get discounted tickets for rides and games, and sign-up for donations to the plant booth, sweet shoppe, auction tent and flea market (it’s a great opportunity to do some spring cleaning). There’s no shortage of ways to get involved, and the help of everyone is truly needed to make it a successful weekend.

In particular, I would ask that you please consider taking one of the open spots to be a booth chairman. We have several to choose from, and it’s a great way for a family or team to be involved in the Festival. You don’t have to do everything – in fact, our committee has done a great deal of the work already. We just need folks to share the load by chairing a booth. You can get your friend and neighbors involved, too. It’s a great way for a group (maybe a classroom or ministry) to work together throughout the weekend. Mark your calendar now for April 27-28. We look forward to seeing you here.

I know many of you are in the process of completing your tax return for the IRS. Statements of charitable giving to the church were mailed in January to all registered families for which we had a record of contributions in 2018. If you did not receive your statement, or if you find a discrepancy, please let us know in the Parish Office so that we might make any needed adjustments now.

Remember that our final Lenten Fish Fry is this April 12 from 4:30-7:30 p.m. The Knights of Columbus have been enjoying record crowds this year (including more than 1,800 in Week 3 alone!), and the fish and service is better than ever. My thanks go out to all the Knights for their hard work. What a great community event it is. Come support them one final time before Holy Week, and stay for our last celebration of the Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m.

Peace,
Fr. Sean