Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

If you are visiting with us, welcome! The Christmas Masses often bring many visitors to our parish, especially family members and friends of parishioners. We pray you find a warm welcome from our family of St. Mary’s Parish and School. I invite all visitors and parishioners to receive our free gift, the book Holy Moments by Matthew Kelly, as you leave Mass. It will deepen your faith, hope, and love. Special thanks go to our generous anonymous donor, who has made the gift of this book possible.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We are in the midst of a 120-Day Million Dollar Challenge, and pledges have been coming in already as I write this! Since the holidays create accelerated deadlines for this bulletin, I am writing this column only a couple of days after we introduced the challenge at Masses. I will be providing updates on our progress as soon as I can get them to you.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This weekend at the 11:00am and 1:00pm Masses, we make our final farewell to Fr. Francisco as he leaves us to become pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes in Greenwood. In his over two years with us, he has become part of our St. Mary’s family. He won’t be far away, and I’m sure he’ll enjoy a visit from you.

On December 19, we give a very warm St. Mary’s welcome to Fr. Orlando Serrano. Please see a personal note from him below. Welcome, Father Orlando!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As Advent begins to get into full swing, we come to the truly beautiful Holy Day of Obligation, the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, this Thursday, Dec 8. Love means that we joyfully fulfill certain obligations – things we must do. But, it is an obligation fulfilled in joy. People who are married know this! Catholics out of love not only are obliged to participate at Holy Mass all Sundays but also a very few Holy Days.