He is Risen indeed, Alleluia! With the timing of last week’s eclipse, I put off for a week doing something very important, that I wanted to make sure to take the time to do in this weekend’s column & that is to say THANK YOU! As we continue in the joy of the Easter season, I want to take the opportunity to thank all those who have helped to make this joyful time so joyful for us as a parish family. There is so much that goes on both in front of & behind the scenes to make all of our celebrations happen & without the time & effort of a number of people we wouldn’t be able to celebrate as well as we do.

  Thank you to all those who helped to decorate, undecorate, & redecorate the church. Especially as we entered into Holy Week, there were a number of times where the sanctuary needed to be decorated in different ways & I truly appreciate all the time and effort that went into helping our church to look so beautiful. Thank you to all who helped with the music for all of our celebrations, everything sounded beautiful! Thank you to our Sacristans & our Servers, who put all kinds of time & effort into helping to make sure that everything was where it needed to be for the celebration of every one of the various Masses & Services. The days of Lent, & especially the days of Holy Week, are very beautiful & deeply spiritual days, but they are also very busy & very demanding days. And without so many giving so much time & effort to ensure that everything was where it needed to be when it needed to be there & making sure every I was dotted & every t was crossed in all of our plans & preparations are greatly appreciated!

  I hesitate to name any individual names, because I know I’ll inadvertently end up not mentioning someone who very much needs to be mentioned, but please know that I am extremely grateful for all, every single person, who gave of their time & their talents to help us in these days of Easter joy! Remember too, Easter isn’t over yet! May we continue to celebrate in the joy of Easter!

  A special word about our Saturday evening Vigil Mass. As we look forward to the future, knowing that after Fr. Clyde’s retirement, he will not be replaced, we will be faced with the need to adjust the times of our Saturday evening Masses. In order to allow 1 person to celebrate both Masses (myself or another priest if I’m sick or on vacation….it’ll be much easier to get 1 person to cover rather than 2 different people), we are going to have 1 Vigil Mass at 4:00 & the other at 6:00 (or perhaps 5:45). It has been weighing on me & I’ve spent much time debating about which Mass time will be at which parish. While both might prefer the earlier time, unfortunately the reality is that that won’t be possible, & one Mass will need to be at 6:00. Please know that I want to love & serve both parishes to the best of my ability. I plan to have our adjusted Mass schedule finalized soon, the Vigil Mass timing is the final detail that needs to be discerned. Please be patient as we navigate these new & uncertain waters together!