Pastors Corner - June 07, 2020
Dear parishioners of St. Mary’s, Vancouver
Here are a few bits of information that I would like to share with you.
Just a reminder: Fr. Gabriel and I are taking appointments for confessions. Simply call the office. Fr. Gabriel’s extension is 3; mine is 4. If we’re not there to pick up the phone, we return calls promptly.
Once again, I wish to thank all those who are in a position to do so and who are continuing to contribute financially to the parish. I urge those of you who aren’t doing so and who are able, to please consider giving, however modestly, to the parish. You can do it online by going to our parish website, stmarysvancouver.ca , where you will find two online options, CanadaHelps and the archdiocesan platform. For the month of May, thanks to parishioners’ donations and to the federal wage subsidy, we had an ever so slight surplus of income over expenditures. But ever so slight. We’ve cut back on expenditures as much as we could, but some are unavoidable. Thanks again and God bless you, to all those who are helping us out.
About 50 copies of the monthly edition of “Living with Christ” for the month of June are available for the taking at the entrance to the rectory and at the entrance to the church.
Again, a reminder: if you wish to receive the emails we send out, you must register on the parish website, even though you’ve already given us your email address to be included in our cluster, and even if you are already registered as a parishioner of St. Mary’s. Just go the website’s main page, click on “sign up”, and you will be asked for your name, email address, and to create a password. Click on “get started” and you will be taken to the page for registering. There are a lot of fields that you are invited to fill in. You are welcome to do so, but you don’t have to. The only fields you have to fill in to receive emails are “first name”, “last name”, and “email address”.
If you know of a parishioner who is isolated and perhaps suffering from loneliness or anxiety, and who may have needs that we are in a position to help with, why not call them, or call the office and speak to Lorna, or email her at [email protected] . Lorna is the coordinator of our phone ministry team, and she will follow up.
Speaking of our phone ministry team, I’m happy to say that we are almost ready to go. We had a Zoom meeting last night with all the people who have volunteered to participate in this beautiful ministry. I thank them all, and I take this opportunity to thank Lorna for assuming a leadership role in this ministry. If you are registered in the parish as an individual and are over the age of 65, expect to receive a call.
We have resumed baptisms, which we celebrate individually, one baby at a time, to keep the numbers down. The information on how to register for baptism is in the bulletin.
We also are celebrating marriages and funerals, on the condition that attendance can be kept to a minimum.
That’s all I can think of right now. All the information that you have here will also be posted on our website, our Facebook page, and our Instagram page. As always, help us out by sharing everything you’ve learned here with other parishioners who might not have read this.
God bless you and keep you all safe and well.