Once again I write hoping to avoid something that I have experienced every year here and that is a last minute rush for confessions prior to the celebration of Triduum. The last opportunity for confession will be on 

Wednesday, March 28 from 4:00-5:15.  

But before then, Fr. Larry, Fr. Rito and I will be waiting for you in the church on the following days and times:  

Wednesday, TODAY, March 21 from 4:30 PM to 5:15 PM 

Saturday, March 24 from 4:00 PM to 4:45 PM.

  

With those opportunities please do not wait until March 29 unless you just cannot come before then.  Also, on Saturdays do not wait until 4:30 thinking that you can get in a confession and then not have to wait long for Mass.  A lot of people do that. The result is that we priests sit there waiting for half of the confession period with no one coming and then there are too many last minute arrivals to take care of everyone in the short time that remains.

Thank you to all who have sent in your pledge cards for our annual Count on Me Offertory Appeal.  We are still compiling data from the cards.  When I have some numbers I will share them with you.  Thank you as well to those who have responded to our special gifts appeal for debt reduction.  I asked our parish business administrator and the chair of our finance council to do an analysis of the effect of each $10,000 that we will pay now on the principle of our parish debt over the life of our loan.  This is the report that they gave me:

Since the diocese holds the monthly payment amount constant, the effect of the pre-payments is to shorten the length of the loan term.  Basically each $10,000 shortens the loan term by two months. That means that we make two fewer payments of $11,819.31.  That totals $23,628.62.  Subtracting the $10,000 that means an interest saving of $13,638.62.  Another way to state the result is: “For every $10,000 we are able to pay on our parish loan this year, we will save $23,600 in debt service payments over the remaining term of the loan.”

Needless, to say I am surprised at the effect that paying down principle now will have on the total outlay of funds over the life of the loan.  So, again, thank you to all who are helping us to do this by contributing to our effort to pay down our debt.

Last Saturday, Bishop Vasquez installed the acolytes. These are men scheduled for ordination as permanent deacons.  Jose Rivera, a member of our parish, was among them.  As Jose now enters into his last year of formation for ordination he will be very present in the parish as an acolyte on the altar.  He will be the guy in a white alb but no stole.  He will be in service to both the English and Spanish speaking communities.  Jose and the other members of his class will be ordained deacons on March 30, 2019.

This upcoming weekend is Palm Sunday weekend.  Palm Sunday processions are an ancient tradition of the Church. We will be doing processions on Sunday at the 8:30 AM and at the 12:15 PM Masses. Please go to the PLC Great Hall where the procession will begin with the reading of the processional gospel and the blessing of Palms. At all other Masses we will begin with the simple entrance and reading of the processional gospel from the Narthex. For these Masses, please just be seated in the pews and you may pick up your blessed palms as you leave Mass.

Later this week or early next week I will send out an e-epistle with information on Triduum and Easter Sunday.  There are a number of things that I need to share with you. Those include practical information as well as some information on the meaning and symbols of the Masses and Good Friday veneration. See the attached for our schedule.

John Hart, The Last Child

Recently I downloaded John Hart’s latest novel, The Hush.  When I started it I realized that it is a sequel to his first novel, The Last Child.  I read that novel a number of years ago so I was fuzzy on the details as I started his new novel.  So I decided to go back and reread it.  It is a stunning novel.  It is a tale of a 13 year old boy and the dynamics in his family a year after his twin sister was abducted.  Hart’s prose is stunning.  It is often heart wrenching but what a compelling novel it is.  He has a rare gift for character development and his writing is so vivid that one feels drawn into the places and action that he writes about.  I recommend this, as well as all of Hart’s novels.