Hello everyone! I hope you had a good Thanksgiving. I was able to “visit” with my family over Zoom. Praise God for technology! Since my sister lives in California and my brother in Hawaii, we were able to see each other for Thanksgiving when normally we would not have. You can see us Zooming together in the picture above (sorry about the half-eaten dinner shot; I forgot to take a picture before I started eating). We each gave presentations of our “Life Through a Lens” where we took pictures of our daily life for the last month and presented them in story-form. My second oldest sister gave an excellent presentation that was more in the form of a documentary, narrating pictures and videos of their life from all of 2020, mostly of how they have coped with the life-changes during the pandemic. Mine was mostly photos from the time that I arrived here put into a Powerpoint, showing the rectory, the churches, the church activities, the church projects, and even the beautiful scenery on my commutes between the two parishes. In total, we spent two hours together and it was quite enjoyable. I hope you all were able to be creative in finding ways to connect with each other. Thanks to certain parishioners who provided me with the Thanksgiving food, the dessert, and even the sweet red wine! 

Deb in the office at Our Lady of Lourdes is on the mend from her kidney transplant on Sunday. She is still in pain but thankfully, she is home. Her sister, Desiree, is taking care of her. She is being checked today to see if the new kidney has started to function. Please continue to pray for her, as well as the donor who had passed away and the donor’s family. With this kind of surgery, it may be several weeks before Deb can return to the office. Thank you to Desiree for stepping in and taking over many of Deb’s duties and to those who volunteered to help. 

New ICC website! 

Finally, we can unveil the new website for Immaculate Conception parish! The new website can be found at icckenton.org . The survey results said that most of you preferred to go by ICC rather than IC, so the new website name reflects that. Thank you to OLL parishioner Steve Johnson who did most of the work in creating the new website. Thank you to parishioner Brian Sprang who created and maintained the old website. For years, he has waited to turn over his work of maintaining the website since he works full time and has a young family. Now he can do so since the new website is easy to maintain. Thank you to parishioner Patty Warner who has agreed to help maintain the new website. 

Kathy Klingelhofer in the office at ICC has a new email address. Please use office@icckenton.org . My email address still stays the same at eshikina@columbuscatholic.org

Online giving 

Both of our websites give you the ability to contribute to the parish online. You will see in the main menu on the home page, the last menu on the right is the Online Giving. Here are the pages for your convenience: https://lourdesada.org/give and https://icckenton.org/give . Please consider making your offertory as a recurring gift online. It makes it easy to give, especially when you are unable to attend Mass in person. If you have been giving through the diocesan online portal at https://membership.faithdirect.net/OH261 , please cancel your giving there and set yourself up for a recurring gift through our new websites. The Diocesan portal was only temporary during the pandemic and is set to end at the end of December. 

Speaking of giving, this Tuesday, Dec 1^st is Giving Tuesday which is a movement that started almost 10 years ago for people to give to charity on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Our own offertories have been down, especially during the pandemic, so if your heart is moved to do so, please contribute to our offertory. 

Beginning this weekend, we will have hymn sheets available to take into the pews with you at those Masses where we are singing hymns (this weekend will be at ICC). The sheets have the music with lyrics. I decided not to print the readings for two reasons: 1) The readings are meant to be heard (think of all those years before the printing press) and 2) For those who really do want to read along, there are many resources available for the readings, and you are welcome to bring those with you. It also makes it easier to have just a single, folded sheet. Please take your sheets with you when you leave. 

The collection takes place at Mass. Please remember to make checks out to St. Vincent De Paul.

Calendars at ICC are available for pickup as you leave after Mass.

I sent out a Flocknote email survey of Christmas Eve Masses (OLL on Nov 20 and ICC on Nov 23). If you have not yet taken the survey and are planning to come to Christmas Eve Mass, please take the survey so I have a better idea of the numbers who will attend. It is a matter of clicking on “sign-up” and entering the number in your party. It is not a reservation, but only a survey. You can ignore the confirmation email. 

The rosary led by parishioners before the weekend Masses has now resumed beginning this weekend. It took a hiatus because of the pandemic. Thank you to Patty Warner who took the initiative to get this started again and to those who volunteered to lead the rosary on a rotating basis. 

Beginning this Monday, the first week of Advent, I will be celebrating the weekday Masses at OLL “Ad Orientem.” It was well-received at the All Souls Day Mass. Some of the comments were that it does seem more conducive to prayer because during the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest and congregation are no longer facing each other which can be a distraction. Instead everyone can better focus on the prayers. 

The First Saturday Mass will resume at ICC at 9am, Dec 5^th. This Mass will be said Ad Orientem. The Mass will be followed by Adoration and confessions from 9:30-10:30am and end with Benediction. 

Advent Penance services 

The Advent Penance services will take place at both churches. All are welcome to attend either penance service. At OLL, it will be immediately after the 11am Sunday Mass on December 6 from 12pm – 2pm (note the time change since this allows people to stay after Mass). There will only be two second graders receiving First Reconciliation which should take about 5 minutes. Everyone else can follow. Immediately after Mass, I will expose the Blessed Sacrament upon the altar, then incense. I ask those not staying to please wait until after the incensing before leaving, then sanitize your own pew (wherever your hands would have touched – in your seat and the back of the pew in front of you). I will lead those who stay in a short examination of conscience and then will go into the confessional while Fr. Jeffrey will be in the parish hall face-to-face. 

At ICC, the Penance Service will be on Monday, Dec 14 from 5-7pm. It will begin with Exposition and a short examination of conscience. Fr. Jeffrey and I will be hearing the confessions. 

The 24^th Annual Catholic Men’s conference which takes place on Feb 27^th is now open for registration. The conference is always powerful. I have attended and have been there to hear confessions. Since it is in Columbus, many of you may have never attended, but this year it is virtual. More to come on how we will host a virtual watch party locally, but you may register here: https://www.catholicmensministry.com/

The Sacred Heart Congress which took place on Nov 14^th can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtVU5Ox37QY&t=1313s

I was able to view bits and pieces of it and as always, it was inspiring and informative. I hope to be able to watch the rest of it at some time. 

I hear the Heroic Men Summit on Nov 21^st was an excellent summit for men. You may rewatch at: https://watch.heroicmen.com/catholic-fatherhood-summit/season:1/videos/catholic-fatherhood-summit-3

Have a great Advent! 

Attached are the worship aid and the bulletins.

Live-stream schedule this weekend 

The live-stream of the Mass will take place this weekend at ICC at 9am. 

 

Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!  

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, pray for us!

God bless!  

Fr. Ed