Hello everyone and Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Because many people traditionally celebrate St. Patrick’s Day as a big feast day, Bishop Fernandes has granted to the faithful of the Diocese of Columbus a dispensation from the obligation of abstinence from meat today, provided that the member of the faithful taking advantage of this dispensation, undertakes one of the following works: 1) makes a pilgrimage or visit to any church in the Diocese of Columbus named in honor of St. Patrick (Columbus, London, Junction City); 2) assists at Mass at any church, chapel, or oratory on March 17; 3) prays the “Breastplate of St. Patrick,” attributed to St. Patrick; 4) engages in some pious devotion such as the Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, or Eucharistic Adoration; or 5) performs an act of comparable penance (such as abstinence from meat) on some other occasion during the Third Week of Lent. 

A reminder that we do have Stations of the Cross on Fridays during Lent at 6pm at both churches, so that would be a good way to strengthen your devotional life as well as be able to eat meat today. 

This 4^th Sunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday. Laetare means “Rejoice!” This Sunday is a bit more festive as we anticipate the coming of Easter (and spring on Monday!). And speaking of spring, the color of the vestments will be Rose. 

The Knights of Columbus will be hosting a corned beef and cabbage dinner on Saturday, March 18 after Mass (5pm to 8pm or until they run out) for St. Patrick’s Day. Donations will be accepted. Carryout will be available. If you wish to pre-order carryout, call Brad Lautar at 419-675-0822 and leave a message of name and how many servings.

The Solemnity of St. Joseph is normally on March 19^th, but the 4^th Sunday of Lent supersedes the feast day, so it has been transferred this year to Monday, March 20^th. We will not celebrate the feast day with Mass, but since St. Joseph is the Patron of the Universal Church, it is good to honor him and ask for his help. Since we are the Body of Christ and St. Joseph was the guardian of Jesus Christ, we can rightfully claim that St. Joseph is our guardian as well. St. Joseph is also the patron of families, fathers, expectant mothers (pregnant women), travelers, immigrants, house sellers and buyers, craftsmen, engineers, and working people in general. We can count on St. Joseph to help us, so be not afraid to call upon him to ask for his intercession.

This weekend, you should have an envelope for CRS (Catholic Relief Services) which should be put in the basket at the same time as your regular offertory. Next weekend, we will have a second collection which is specifically for the people in Syria and Turkey who have suffered devastating consequences of the earthquakes. That collection will be sent directly to the diocese who will then send it to CRS to help for that specific need. For that collection, please make checks out to the parish and put “earthquake” in the memo. 

ONU Catholic students will be offering a fish fry at OLL church hall next Friday, March 24^th from 5-8pm. See attached flyer. 

Someone donated 60 of Matthew Kelly’s latest book, Holy Moments, to the parishes. 30 copies will be available at each church this weekend. 

Most of the Holy Week liturgies will take place at Our Lady of Lourdes this year. The schedule is as follows:

Wednesday of Holy Week: Tenebrae at 7pm at OLL

Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper: 7pm at OLL

Mime Stations of the Cross: Friday at 3pm at OLL

Regular Stations of the Cross: Friday at 3pm at ICC

Good Friday liturgy: 7pm at OLL

Easter Vigil: 8:30pm at OLL

Easter Sunday Mass: 9am at ICC

Easter Sunday Mass: 11am at OLL

Note that the Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion liturgy is not a Mass. There are no Masses on Good Friday anywhere in the world. Holy Communion is distributed, however, at the end of the liturgy. 

On the Tuesday of Holy Week, the priests of the diocese will celebrate the Chrism Mass with Bishop Fernandes at 3:30pm at St. Paul’s in Westerville. That Mass is open to the public. There will be no Mass that day at the parishes. 

Thank you to all who contributed to Molly Mathewson’s Endowment at OLL. So far $3,500 has been collected out of the $10,000 goal. If you wish to contribute to the Endowment, please send a check to Our Lady of Lourdes with Molly’s name in the memo. 

If you wish to create your own Endowment, please strongly consider it so that you can contribute to your parish long after you pass away. More than just a lump sum, the Endowment allows your money to grow so that what you give will go much further than your initial gift. If you are thinking about your will and what you will leave to others, please consider your parish as an option. If you wish to know more, please contact me or Loren Brown at The Catholic Foundation at lbrown@catholic-foundation.org 

Often times in an obituary, you will see that memorial contributions may be made to certain organizations in honor of the deceased. The options are usually what the family requests for the funeral home to print. Please consider your own parish as one of the options and make it known to your family that you would like your parish to be one of the options for the memorial contributions. 

If you have gone to confession recently, you may have noticed a slight change in the Absolution prayer. The US Bishops have approved a more accurate translation of the Latin. Priests have been able to use it since Ash Wednesday, but are obligated to start using it beginning Divine Mercy Sunday, or the Second Sunday of Easter, April 16, 2023. It is so slight that you may not even notice the difference. Here is the Absolution prayer. 

“God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his son has reconciled the world to himself and poured out (currently, sent) the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the church may God grant (currently, give) you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, (+) and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

“Poured out” will replace “sent,” while “grant” will be said rather than “give.”

How grateful we are to have received this Sacrament from Jesus who has provided for us this way to salvation! 

Attached are the bulletins, Sunday readings, and Fr. Ferguson’s cat column .

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!      

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, pray for us!   

God bless!       

Fr. Ed