Weekend of January 7-8, 2023

Dear Friends,

            Along with the Church throughout the world, we mourn the loss of our Pope-Emeritus, Benedict XVI. As people of faith, we commend him to the loving mercy of the God he served so well and loved so deeply.

            Pope Benedict, like all of the popes of the last hundred or so years, will surely go down in history as one of the great popes of the Church. I believe very much that each of the popes of the past century has been just the right choice for the time in which he served. Benedict’s great gift was the fact that he was a preeminent theologian and teacher, and through his phenomenal writings he led many to the truth of Christ and to the richness of the scriptures and our Catholic faith. His writings also make clear his own deep, personal relationship with Jesus, and it was this goal --- to lead others to just such a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus --- that was the motivational force of his priesthood and his papacy. His holiness and his apostolic zeal were unsurpassed, and his priestly life and ministry inspired many of us to emulate him and to model our priestly lives after his.

            We celebrate today the great feast of the Epiphany, when the newborn Christ was made manifest to the people of every nation, represented by the magi who came to worship him, bearing gifts. This great Christmas feast is yet another reminder to us of Emmanuel, God-with-us. As we honor the Lord, who is born in our hearts over and over again, we ask him to make us bearers of his Light to a world that so desperately needs him.

            I want to address the problem that almost all of you have been experiencing with our envelope company, F. J. Remey. As I communicated with you the weekend before Christmas, Remey recently outsourced their church envelope service to another company, Church Budget Envelope and Mailing Company. Remey did this without informing us, or any of the parishes they serve. The result has been nothing short of a disaster. Many folks never received their December envelope packet, and no one received the Christmas mailing (including my letter, a Christmas schedule, and a Christmas envelope and a Christmas flower envelope) until the week after Christmas, if they received it at all. We have also discovered that the mailing lists they have been using are not the updated lists we have provided them: many people who should be receiving mailings are not, and some people who have left the parish or died are receiving mailings! Remey is putting the blame for this fiasco on Church Budget, and Church Budget is blaming Remey. The only slight consolation that we have is that we are not the only ones suffering through this: many parishes in the Archdiocese are experiencing the same problems with Remey.

            Even though all of this is beyond our control, I apologize for the inconvenience you have experienced. Even though Remey, up to this point, has been very reputable and reliable, I do think we need to go with another company for our envelope and mailing service. We are in the process of negotiating with another company for this. I will keep you informed as we move forward.

            Despite all of these issues, many of you have generously made your Christmas donations. I would like to thank those of you who have for your generosity. The sacrifices that are so evident in your contributions are appreciated by me, as your pastor, and are certainly not unnoticed by God. The Christmas collection is one of the most important collections of the year, and so I want you to be sure that your generosity is not only appreciated but very necessary for the upkeep of our parish.

            Thanks are also extended to all those who made donations for Christmas flowers in memory of their loved ones. The beauty of our churches during this holy season is a credit to all of you. Your envelopes, upon which you wrote the names of your beloved living or deceased, will be placed next to the tabernacle in both of our churches, where they remain close to the heart of Jesus and are remembered in our prayers and in the celebration of Mass.

            If you have not received your Christmas and/or your Christmas flower envelopes, may I respectfully ask you to place your donation in a plain white envelope, and write on the envelope your name and address and the amount of your donation? If you are making a donation for Christmas flowers, please put your name and address, the amount of your donation, and, on the other side of the envelope, the names of the loved ones in whose honor or memory you are making your donation.

            Finally, I would like to once again thank all those who so generously sent cards, gifts, and treats to the Rectory for Father Noone, Father Lane, Ralphie, our wonderful staff, and me. Your generosity is truly overwhelming.

            The Church’s season of Christmas always ends on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is normally celebrated on the Sunday after the feast of the Epiphany. Because of the way Christmas fell this year, however, the feast of the Baptism will be celebrated this coming Monday, January 9^th. When we gather, then, for Mass next Sunday, we will have already begun the Church’s Ordinary Time.

            Know that you and those you love are daily remembered in my Mass and my prayers.

                                                                                    Love and prayers,

                                                                                    Father Olivere