Inclement weather has forced us to postpone the Annual Catholic Appeal until this weekend. A brief video from Bishop O'Connell will be shown at all the weekend masses and in-pew pledge cards will be completed for the collection offering.
Please be as generous as your means allow.
Three of our stained glass windows have unexpectedly become available for memorialization: the Lamb of Victory Rose Window, St. Therese of Liseux and St. Laserian.
All three windows are fabricated in the early 1900's and from St. Francis of Assisi Church in Philadelphia.
There is a special brochure for these three windows which can be picked up at any of the masses or at the Parish Office.
Thanks to the help of our maintenance staff and the cooperation of the construction manager, we were able to transport our new cross from the rectory (where it has been in safe refuge) into the new church and suspend it temporarily from the winch in the dome of the ceiling.
We took pictures 360 around, up and down for possible 3d modeling.
Here are some pictures of the mini Stations of the Cross.
Here is one of the custom wooden column coverings ready for installation.
This is the best of the four! Architectural drawings will soon be available for these decorative elements. Please call the Parish Office if you are willing to restore these important accent pieces of our steeple.
The new louvres are stained and painted and ready to install in the steeple. For the moment, they are in the church basement. They were too far gone to simply scrape, patch and paint - the original plan.
Please help us afford the new louvres. A gift of $ 5,000 will cover the cost and installation of all four.
A short course of the finished molding in the narthex has been completed.
So much woodwork going on in the church over the past few days.
The natural lighting inside the church is spectacular. Just imagine with the stained glass windows!
Seven different layers of molding will adorn the arches.
Our old sanctuary furniture looks great underneath all the paint and varnish that had been applied to them over the years.
I would now like to turn to my native tongue to express feelings of profound sorrow. Today I read about the execution of those twenty-one or twenty-two Coptic Christians. Their only words were: "Jesus, help me!". They were killed simply for the fact that they were Christians. You, my brother, in your words referred to what is happening in the land of Jesus. The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard. It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are Christians! Their blood is one and the same. Their blood confesses Christ. As we recall these brothers and sisters who died only because they confessed Christ, I ask that we encourage each another to go forward with this ecumenism which is giving us strength, the ecumenism of blood. The martyrs belong to all Christians.
Let us pray for one another, and continue to advance in the way of wisdom, good will, strength and peace.
Pope Francis at the Vatican
We received another delivery of millwork today and the church is filled with many dollies of different trim. I'm excited to see how things look, since our architect has said that very few of the workmen will have done a job such as this. The painter was hard at work today, spackling and painting the ceiling. Meantime, it was toasty warm inside the building!
We had the amazing experience of burning palms for Ash Wednesday in a sunny snow flurry!
The oldest and youngest students in our school helped Fr. Manning and Mr. Belluzzi light the fire which made quick work of the dried palms from last year.