This weekend marks our final Sunday of Ordinary Time before we begin our 40 day journey of Lent.
Ash Wednesday is this Wednesday, March 1. Recall that it is not a Holy Day of Obligation but it is an important day for us as we begin the holy season of Lent. We come to have our foreheads marked with ashes as a call to conversion and a sign of our mortality – “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
We will have
six liturgies on Ash Wednesday. We begin with a 6:30 a.m. Liturgy of the Word service for those on the way to work or school. We will only have one Mass on Ash Wednesday at 9 a.m. The school children will join us for that Mass. Later in the day we will have additional Liturgy of the Word services (all with distribution of ashes) at 12 noon, 4 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. All services will be in the church. There are no confessions on Ash Wednesday nor an evening Mass. That is a change for this Wednesday only to accommodate the large crowds. In past years the two late services at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. have been our most crowded, so I would advise you to come earlier if possible. Ash Wednesday is also a day of fast and abstinence from meat, and all Fridays in Lent are days of abstinence. See elsewhere in the bulletin for the guidelines for fasting and abstinence.
We are once again participating in
CRS Rice Bowl for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) during Lent. We’ll distribute the bowls on Ash Wednesday and we encourage you to make it a family penitential practice. Collect your extra change (perhaps that you saved from what you “gave up”) over the 40 days of Lent. Then in the Easter season return the bowl and all proceeds will go to benefit the good work of CRS throughout the world. CtR has always been one of the top parishes in supporting CRS Rice Bowl and I pray that we will once again use it as a Lenten reminder to help those most in need.
With the beginning of Lent we resume our
Friday Fish Dinners sponsored by our Knights of Columbus Council 8771. Those of you who have attended in the past know that this dinner is not to be missed. Every Friday during Lent, from 4:30-7:30 p.m., the Knights serve a delicious fish dinner in the Parish Hall. For only $8 ($5 for children) you get your choice of baked or fried fish or shrimp, three side dishes, dessert and a drink. These fish dinners are unmatched in the Archdiocese. They serve upwards of 1,500 dinners a week, but the line moves quickly so come early and bring your family and friends. You can also get your meal to go if you like. Be sure and thank the Knights for their hard work on the dinners. They have a great turnout of KofC members and each does his part. (Take a look into the kitchen and on trailer in the back parking lot to see a great example of teamwork.) The KofCs have been busily preparing and I think we are all in for a real treat. It’s a great testament to Stewardship in action so thank you to my brother Knights and Ladies Auxiliary.
Also following the Lent Fish Dinners every Friday we will have
Stations of the Cross in the main church beginning at 7 p.m. I hope many of you will want to spend 30-45 minutes on Friday nights with this popular Lenten devotion. I especially recommend it to those families with young children. They need to learn about these traditional practices of our faith. It’s a great way to spend a Lenten Friday evening – come for dinner and stay for Stations. In addition, the church will also be open on Friday mornings in Lent following daily Mass for those who don’t want to be out at night and wish to make the Stations in the daytime hours.
Thank you to all who made a pledge to our
Steps for Students team from Christ the Redeemer Catholic School. We had more than 600 participants from CtR and raised $85,000 (when you include the proceeds from our Chili Cook-Off last November which was a fundraiser for Steps for Students). We use that money for a variety of projects at the school, not the least of which is financial assistance to families who seek help to provide a Catholic education for their children.
As for the race itself, we had a great day for it – cool and overcast, but with no rain. It made for a good walk or run through the streets of downtown. As always there was a lot of fun to be had in the block party surrounding the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. With more than 12,000 participants from all over the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston it made for a colorful and festive morning. My special thanks to
Megan Dillingham, our Director of Advancement, for coordinating our CtR team, and I send a special thank you to our many volunteers who lent a hand on race day and in the weeks leading up to it. We had a great turnout from CtR, including yeoman work from our Knights of Columbus and our Ladies Auxiliary. Thank you one and all!
Finally, I thank the 179 families who have already responded to our annual
Diocesan Service Fund (DSF) drive. We need the help of everyone to make our goal of $305,000. DSF supports more than 60 ministries that serve the faithful of the Archdiocese and us here at CtR. If you haven’t completed your pledge card yet please take a moment to do so. Remember that your pledge can be paid in installments throughout the year. Any amount is most welcome. Can you consider a pledge of $120? That’s only $10 a month, less than the cost of a large pizza, to help minister to so many people. Or maybe you can pledge a dollar a day for a flat $365. Even if you gave a single dollar for the whole year, that would be better than not pledging at all and letting others do the work for you.
Pledge envelopes are in the pews, or look for the letter that was mailed to all registered families. Return your form to the office, or
donate online. I made my pledge online and it was simple, fast, and best of all, safe. We’ll post updates on our parish contributions on Page 3 of the bulletin (our first report is there this week), so please join us in this most important effort.