“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Jn 20,29

Dear parishioners,

“Those who have not seen and yet have come to believe” – that would be us. How is it, in fact, that we believe without having seen? More about this in Sunday’s homily. For now, just a few odds and ends.

Firstly, we need to acquit ourselves yet again, a week after the Easter Triduum, of our debt of gratitude toward all those who are involved in liturgical ministries, from choirs to ushers, to em’s and lectors, to coordinators, sacristans, live streamers, projectionists and altar servers. Words will never be enough, so let me just say, on behalf of all the parishioners, thank you and God bless you for enabling us to celebrate prayerfully and in beauty the Holy Triduum.

Please note that there will be very limited parking this Sunday, April 24th on the Clive Street parking lot, since we are installing new playground equipment. For this one Sunday, you would do well to look for parking along the streets surrounding the parish.

I am writing this on Friday, April 22, which is Earth Day. Let’s make this day count. Let there be a before and an after. Let this year’s Earth Day be the day that we as a household made a change. Let us ask ourselves what we can do that we’re not already doing to minimize our consumption of the world’s resources, to lessen the amount of garbage we send to the landfill and increase the amount we send to composting and recycling, to reduce our carbon footprint. Let’s strive to be less and less a part of the problem, and ever more a part of the solution. The future of our planet depends on it.

Those of you who are following the Covid numbers are aware that we are still in pandemic mode, and that a Covid safety plan is still necessary. So here is St. Mary’s Covid safety plan, for the time being. Gatherings other than liturgical are allowed, but we require that you wear masks, distance yourselves as much as possible, sanitize as much as possible, and serve food and drinks only if they are individually packaged. Some people are asking me why we continue to require these things when all restrictions by Public Health have been lifted. The fact is that Public Health has advised that while they are imposing no restrictions, individual businesses and organizations are asked to have a Covid safety plan, and are allowed to impose the restrictions that they feel are necessary in their specific situations. Also, it’s been a long time, so remember to book the venue you wish to use with Lorna before making your gathering known. Thank you for your understanding and collaboration. More later on the eventual terms for gathering in the rectory.

Finally, please remember St. Mary’s school grade 7 classes, who will be confirmed this Wednesday.

Happy Easter to you all, and many blessings in this spring and Easter season.

Fr. Guy