• Enjoy praying with us in today’s Mass. See the link below. There are no homily notes this week, but Scripture references will be displayed during the video.

• Mission is the same; only the methods are different! I was speaking with a friend of mine who is a Protestant minister. He said something that really made me think. He said, “Tom, during this time of social isolation the mission of the church has not changed. Our mission is still to introduce people to Jesus and to help people who already know him to know him even more! Our mission is the same. Our methods need to change but our mission doesn’t.”
• That really got me thinking. What more could we be doing at this time to make that happen. I will be working with the pastoral team in the coming week to help develop some plans to do that.
• I do know that when we do that, the digital platform we will use is called Zoom. I invite you to go to zoom.com and download Zoom (use the free version). Begin to familiarize yourself with it. It’s pretty user friendly and will help you stay connected to the parish during this time. More to come.

• Live Stream Mass Schedule: Tuesday-6:30 p.m.; Wednesday & Thursday- 8:30 a.m.; Friday-Noon. After masses are live streamed on Facebook, they are posted on our Virtual Worship page.

• A parishioner suggested the following and I thought it was a great idea. Maybe you will too. She called this the “Stimulus Check Challenge.” Here is how it works. Some of us (myself included) who don’t “need” the stimulus check will be receiving one from the government. The Stimulus Check Challenge invites those who are able to pay it forward. You can do that in one of two ways. 1) You can simply send it to someone you know who has lost a job or is struggling financially because of the Covid-19 virus. Or 2) you can contribute it to the parish Covid-19 Relief Fund. The parish will use the money for assistance to parishioners who are in need at this time.
• In the event that we collect more money than we have needs, we would create a fund that could assist parishioners in special circumstances. Let me share what I mean by that. In the last three years we have had three parish families that encountered medical needs that created extraordinary financial commitment beyond what insurance covered. In all three cases, this included out of state travel, temporary housing, food, etc. that was not covered by insurance. All three times, I found myself thinking I wish we could do more to help. Any money not used in the Covid-19 Relief Fund would be seed money for this type of emergency. We are also in the process of creating a committee to oversee the collection and distribution of this fund. These committee members will be drawn from our parish council, finance council and pastoral team.
• If you want to accept the Stimulus Check Challenge simply let us know who you are helping. We don’t need names, but you can say, “I’m sending my stimulus check to someone who was recently laid off.” Or you can send it the parish for the Covid-19 Relief fund.
• Thanks in advance to those who are willing and able to take the stimulus check challenge.

• Divine Mercy Sunday is this Sunday, April 19. Divine Mercy Services have been cancelled in our parish. I know that many of you love these devotions. Here are a couple of links to help you pray the Divine Mercy Prayers at home.
• From the USCCB
• Shrine of Divine Mercy

• Mark your calendars for the following:
• New Car Raffle June 28, 2020 at 12:30 p.m. Details to follow.
• ALPHA has been rescheduled to begin Thursday, August 13. More info to follow.
• Parish Mission-September 13-15. Hope you can join us those evenings.