“All things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

 Rm 8,28-30

Dear parishioners,

It seems to me that our experience at St. Mary’s since the beginning of this pandemic confirms this conviction expressed by St. Paul in the second reading for today’s mass. I sense God to be with us, carrying us through every hurdle, one by one. It inspires in me an even deeper trust in his providence. Here are the things I wish to share with you this week.

Firstly, I am asking you to help us to generate new revenues for the parish simply by subscribing to our Youtube page. It has been brought to my attention that if we have 1000 or more subscriptions, we qualify for a part of Youtube’s revenue. As it is, we already have 850 subscriptions. Just 150 short of 1000! We can do this. Just please subscribe!

Secondly, for the benefit of those who will be staying away from mass indefinitely, either because of their own vulnerability, or because of the vulnerability of someone with whom they live, please get the word out that we will take communion to whoever requests it of us. Just call Lorna at the parish office, extension 0, and someone will get in touch with you to set a date and time for you to receive communion. Let the word out as well that God willing, we will live stream our masses for as long as it takes.

Thirdly, it occurred to me this week that we didn’t think sooner of apprizing you of important news, of which I’m sure many are not aware, concerning our staff. Theresa is on indefinite leave. That means that the “go-to” person for basically everything is now Lorna. Rocelyn has left us definitively. She married Melvin Chu in June, and is now living in Brandon Manitoba. Because of the lock-down, we were not able to see her off in the way we would have liked. Kris is away caring for his son. We’ve asked Carlos to do only minimal yardwork, in order to scale back our costs. And by the way, once again, our Knights of Columbus are generously stepping in to cover for him, thanks to the prompting of Kris! And Delia is working reduced hours, since we are only two in the house on Austrey at the present time. All of this has resulted in significant savings to the parish in terms of salary costs. This helps to explain why, despite a huge drop in income, we are able to meet our expenditures, except for a huge one of which I will speak more about to you at a later date. I ask for your prayers for those who are away, that God be present to them as he is to us.

Fourthly, things that I ‘ve already announced, but that it’s good to repeat, either as a reminder, or for the benefit of those who missed the announcement the first time around. 

-Effective next week, we will no longer be live streaming the 9:00 a.m. masses on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The live streaming of all other masses but these two will be maintained. 

-Secondly, effective this Sunday, July 26, it will be possible to attend mass on Sundays at 11:15 a.m. and at 3:00 p.m. In order to provide the opportunity for as many people as possible to attend Sunday mass, we are asking that you pre-register for only one Sunday mass per month. Pre-registration is required for attendance at these masses. This Sunday’s masses are already full, but starting on Monday, you can pre-register for attendance at the following Sunday’s masses. I don’t believe it’s necessary to repeat here the information as to how one goes about pre-registering for mass. If at a loss, just call Lorna at the parish office. Be sure to dial extension “0”. When we feel that our Sunday masses are going well and that we’ve mastered the art of celebrating those masses in a way that is safe for everyone, we will re-introduce other Sunday masses. We will give you plenty of advance notice of this. 

-The third change, effective next week, is that it’s no longer necessary to pre-register for attendance at weekday morning masses. Also, you may attend weekday morning masses as often as you wish. It remains necessary, however, to pre-register for evening masses on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. 

That’s pretty well it, I believe, for this week. Have a safe week. God bless you all. 

Fr. Guy