A New Season Begins

It is hard to believe that the warm breezes of summer have given way to the cold winds of an approaching winter. It seems like just yesterday we celebrated the 4th of July and now we are past Thanksgiving and racing toward Christmas. Time does fly (as I get older)!

We had a great celebration the night before Thanksgiving. About 175 people gathered together to give thanks to God for our blessings at a special Thanksgiving mass. After mass we gathered in St. John's Hall for a pie social. It was a lovely evening and a good way to begin the holiday season.

Thanksgiving here was not just about celebrating, it was also about giving to the less fortunate. Thanks to the generosity of our parishioners and the hard work of the Knights of Columbus we were able to help 126 families from our sister parish of St. Benedict. My thanks to the Knights for all they did and to all the parishioners for their generosity.

Advent is now upon us and we begin our preparations for the birth of Christ. It is a hectic time of year but hopefully we make time to really prepare our hearts to receive our Saviour. Four weeks is not a lot of time to prepare so don't wait get started now.

A reminder that our Advent Reconciliation Service will take place on Tuesday December 14 at 7:00pm at St. Louis Church in Clarksville.

Feast of St. Francis

I hope you will join us for mass on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi on Monday October 4th at 9:00am. Mass is held in our Holy Family Chapel.

Blessing of Animals

Sunday October 3rd will be a busy day here at the parish. After the dedication we will have the Blessing of Animals at 2pm on the church parking lot. This traditional blessing in honor of St. Francis of Assisi will be given by Fr. Joachim OFM Conv. Bring your pets and ask God's blessings upon them. Just a reminder that all pets must be on a leash or in a carrier unless of course you are bringing a horse, elephant or other large animal then you are on your own.

You are Invited

Everyone is invited to join Archbishop O'Brien on Sunday October 3rd for the dedication of our new Faith Formation Center and the Blessing and Installation of our new Pastoral Council members. The Archbishop will preside at the 11am mass and the dedication will take place immediatly following the mass a reception will follow the dedication. I hope you will join us. We are pleased and honored that in addition to the Archbishop we will be joined by our Vicar Bishop Mitchell Rozanski.

See You In September!

For those of you my age (No I am not going to tell you my age and since I don't do Facebook you will just have to guess.) you probably remember the song that started " See you in September, see you when the summer is through". Well believe it or not summer is winding down and we are facing another busy and exciting year here at St. Francis.

The biggest news out of here is the completion of our new 11,000 sq. ft. Faith Formation Center. We took possession of the building in mid June and just a week later used it for our summer Vacation Bible School and Summer Music Program. We use our new Holy Family Chapel for daily mass on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 9am. In just a few weeks our Religious Education classes will begin for the new year and then the FFC will really be put to the test. If you haven't wandered into see the FFC I encourage you to do so. You are also invited to join us for the dedication mass on Sunday October 3 at 11 am to be celebrated by Archbishop O'Brien.

On the weekend of October 2 & 3 in addition to the dedication mass we will hold an open house and Ministry Fair after all the masses. The Ministry Fair is an opportunity for us to highlight and showcase the many different ministries in the parish and how they effect the lives of so many here in the parish and beyond. It is also an opportunity for you to decide how you would like to volunteer your time in the parish.

This Saturday September 4th our Director of Religious Education Joanna Rapisarda will be getting married to Edward Herrera. We wish them well and pray for God's blessing on their marriage.

I promise to do better this year on updating this blog so check back often for the latest.

But It is Beautiful

Some of the media folks are calling this the storm of the century. I'm not sure it is worthy of that description but it is certainly one for the record books and one that we will remember and be digging out from for a long time. I guess that silly groundhog really can predict weather!

I have been without power since around 5 am and it just came on at 2 pm. During that time I realized what a terrible pioneer I would have made. I really felt cut off from the world. Thank God for cell phones! Even though I constantly complain about my computer freezing up or the newest gadget not working the way they said it would I must admit I was having withdrawal without all my high tech toys. Its nice to have them back.

I wasn't able to open my front door this morning because when the power went out my alarm system somehow locked itself in the "armed" position and if I opened the door it would go off. After 45 frustrating minutes I got through (on a cell phone because fios phones apparently don't work when the power is off) to ADT. Since they didn't know what to do they suggested pulling the battery out. Sounded simple until I tried finding the ADT box in a dark basement but I persevered found the box ripped out the battery and ran straight to my front door to open it and go outside. I don't know where I thought I was going but I needed out. That was when I realized the snow was drifted in front of the storm door and I couldn't get out. A kind neighbor came to my rescue. Now I was out and finally realized I had no place to go but back inside.

Anyway the power is on the high tech toys are working and I can get out my front door. I still can't go anywhere but still it is beautiful.

I believe God sends us these storms every now and then to force us to slow down and reflect upon life and just enjoy the beauty of nature and be thankful for all that we have which we so often take for granted. I hope your snow experience has been a good one.

The Results Are In

The results for our mass time survey are in you get them here first.
Saturday 5:00pm. Sunday 9:00am and 11:00am.
Here are the vote totals:
Saturday 4:00pm - 58
Saturday 4:30pm - 72
Saturday 5:00pm - 280
Saturday 5:30pm - 102

Sunday 9:00am and 11:00am - 320
Sunday 9:30am and 11:30am - 198

Thank you for taking part in the survey. Mass times will not change until late spring or early summer. We will give you plenty of notice before changing the Sunday mass times.

Haiti Earthquake

It is truly heartbreaking to watch the news reports of the tragic earthquake in Haiti. It is so sad to see a nation that has so little suffer so much.

On the weekend of January 23/24 we will take up a special collection for Haiti. If you wish to make a contribution before then you can make out a check to Catholic Relief Services and send it to the parish office 8300 Old Columbia Rd. Fulton, MD 20759.

I ask you to pray for all those suffering in Haiti, especially the dead. Among those killed in the earthquake was Archbishop Joseph Serge Milot, the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince. Please remember him in your prayers.

You Choose

In preparation for our new Faith Formation Center we are conducting 2 surveys that we would like you to participate in.

The first survey (this is for Religious Ed families) has to do with the scheduling of our Religious Education classes for the Fall of 2010. You should have received an email explaining the survey and asking for your response. I ask each of you to respond to this very important survey so that we can schedule classes at times that are the most convenient to the largest number of families. If you did not recieve this survey in your email please contact Joanna religiouseducation@instrumentofpeace.org or Becki youthminister@instrumentofpeace.org .

The second survey is for every parishioner because it deals with our weekend mass schedule. We want to schedule our weekend liturgies at convenient times for you and at times that will help to alleviate some of the traffic congestion that we face every Sunday morning. You will have an opportunity to vote on the mass schedule this weekend January 9 & 10 and on the weekend of January 16 & 17. If you would like to register your vote early please check your choices on the survey in the left hand column.
The new mass schedule will not take effect until late spring or early summer and we will give you plenty of notice before the change takes place. I hope to hear from you.

The building construction continues to move forward in spite of rain, snow and extreme cold. Construction is a little behind schedule but at this point not enough to delay our move in date which is planned for late Spring.