CELEBRATING 70 YEARS OF SERVICE

It’s a delight and a special honor to have Bishop Gerald Barbarito, our beloved shepherd, as the main celebrant of our Mass at 11:30, this Sunday morning, marking our 70th anniversary as a parish. What a joy to mark this historical occasion by having our bishop with us. So many of our parishioners can still remember our early beginnings, and have watched the parish grow in size, activity and spiritual vitality. Some of the most recent signs of this are Bishop Barbarito’s conferral of the Sacrament of Confirmation, the Women’s Retreat and the 7th Annual Spring Trunk Show, all held in the past week. All of the people who worked on these events are to be not only commended, but to be followed as examples of such unselfish giving of their time and talent. These volunteers are the “movers and shakers” of our parish!

We have a proud parish history, and have been so blessed by so many of YOU, and the many men and women over seven decades, who have contributed to the growth and development of our parish family. YOU have supported our parish and its programs through good times and hard times. YOU have made possible the carrying out of Christ’s command to feed the hungry and poor by your generous contribution to the charitable works of the Church in the city, the diocese and throughout the world. YOU have supported a class school and a Religious Education program to prepare the next generations for their roles of service in the Church and the community-at-large. May God reward YOU and all of those who truly have helped in some way to make St. Vincent Ferrer Parish the wonderful family it is!

I am truly grateful for the men and women who have accepted various positions of leadership and counsel to assist me in my role as Pastor of our parish, whether it is the Pastoral or Finance Councils; the Home & School or Development Boards; the chair positions in the Parish Festival or the Annual Ferrer Fund; The Knights of Columbus or the newly formed CCW for our ladies; the St. Vincent de Paul Society or the Altar and Rosary Society. YOU make a difference!

True volunteerism is what makes the difference between a parish that is mediocre and one that is dynamic. It’s the people who take time to clean up after an event, or to clean the linens for the church; to work each week in the Parish Religious Education Program for our youngsters, or to cook up a pancake meal or fish fry fund-raiser; to lector at Mass or welcome guests and usher in church; to serve as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion in church, or visit the sick and homebound; to spend hours helping in the Gift Shop, or singing in the choir. These, and many more such volunteer hours spent to build up the Body of Christ in our midst, tell us that our parish is (as Tony the Tiger says) G-R-R-E-A-A-T-T!! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

This week will present us an opportunity to confess our sins and to be reconciled once again with our God. Our annual Lenten Penance Service will be celebrated this Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. This is one of the best ways to prepare for Easter, and to conclude our Lenten observances. There will be several different priest-confessors to absolve us from sin and to make us whole again. Why not take the opportunity to confess our sins?

Our little children, preparing for First Holy Communion on the last Sunday of April, have just made their First Confession this Saturday. How close they have put themselves to the Lord by the reception of these Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist! We hope that the good example of all of our people will serve as an inspiration to them to stay close to Jesus. May they never pick up the bad habits of those who walk out early on Jesus, as Judas did, nor those who do not have the proper disposition and preparation to receive Jesus. Our eighth grade and PREP students have just made their spiritual retreat. As they move on their way to Confirmation, their journey through life will be filled with trials and difficulties that can frustrate them in understanding the reasons why God created them: to KNOW, LOVE and SERVE Him in this life, in order to be happy with Him in the next. May the uplift that they receive through this retreat help them to understand the ways of their God more deeply!

Next Week marks the beginning of the holiest week of the year in the Catholic Church (and that’s why it’s called HOLY WEEK, though some people mistakenly refer to this as Easter Week!). The schedule of services has been published in the pamphlets sent to our registered parishioners, and some additional pamphlets will be available in the back of the church or the pamphlet racks near the exits. Just as a reminder, there will be NO Vigil Masses at 4 or 5:30 PM on Holy Saturday. On that day, the Easter Vigil will begin at 7:00 PM. As in the past, I highly recommend that, because of the length of that evening liturgy, you might seriously consider not bringing babies or little children to it. Though beautiful, it wasn’t designed with “little ones” in mind. God bless you!

Very Rev. Canon Tom