Parish Update – Friday, Dec. 4

Happy First Friday of Advent, one and all! I pray your season of joyful longing for the coming of the Lord is off to a good start. This coming 2nd Sunday of Advent finds us still waiting and watching for the Lord, but we get a most welcomed visitor this weekend – John the Baptist. He comes seemingly out of nowhere and while he was by all accounts a bit eccentric, his voice is as timely today as it was some 2,000 years ago. Let us heed his message to repent and, as we go about busily preparing our Christmas lists and making plans for the holidays, let us be sure to prepare our hearts as well to welcome the King of Kings.

You may have seen the news coverage yesterday of the funeral for Houston Police Senior Officer Ernest Leal, who died recently of Covid, and for whom we were honored to host the Mass of Christian Burial at CtR. Officer Leal and his family lived in Cypress, but attended Mass at St. Patrick Church in Houston. That’s a very small parish in the inner loop of Houston, and it was much easier for a parish our size to host the large ceremony for his funeral Mass. … My sincere thanks to Ofelia Carrasco of our Liturgy Department who worked with the Leal family and HPD to make sure we could celebrate a worthy and beautiful service for the family and the law enforcement community. It took an incredible amount of coordination, so thanks to Ofelia and all of our ministers of hospitality who made our guests feel welcome, as well as Bridget Wenk and our Music department, Tony Croes and Carrie Taylor with our IT services and Communications, and Parish Administrator Deacon Kerry Bourque, David Prieto and our facilities team. It takes a village, as they say, and our team at CtR did yeoman duty. Thank you one and all. May Officer Leal, and all the faithfully departed, rest in peace.

Here’s what is happening at CtR this weekend:

• We invite you to please join us for Mass either in person or via our livestream on Sunday at 9 a.m. on both our Facebook and YouTube pages. You can find the link to the livestream at www.ctrcc.com/live-stream, and in addition, you’ll find there both a worship aid and a link to the Scripture readings to follow along with Mass. And you can make your weekly offertory contribution online at www.ctrcc.com/donate. Thanks to everyone for their continued support of the parish in these days.

If you’d like to join us in person for Mass, we welcome you on Saturday at 5 p.m., or Sunday at 7, 9, and 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Remember that we have resumed our 7 a.m. Mass as well. We had about 125 people attend last Sunday and while I expect that number to slowly rise, it likely will be our most lightly attended service for the foreseeable future.

• Please plan to join us, either in person or online, for the Solemnity of Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary next Tuesday, December 8. Though, of course, the obligation for the holy day is dispensed this year due to the pandemic (as it is for all Sundays until further notice) we will still honor Our Lady with a vigil Mass at 5 p.m. on Monday, December 7, and at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Tuesday, December 8. The 9 a.m. Mass will be livestreamed as usual, and a portion of our school children will join us for it. It is under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception that the United States of America has been dedicated as well as our Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. While the Blessed Virgin Mary has many titles and days dedicated to her, the Immaculate Conception is supreme. As with all holy days, our parish offices will be closed on this day.

• We actually have two opportunities to honor the BVM next week. In addition to the Immaculate Conception on Tuesday, next Saturday, December 12, is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe and always a special day in all Catholic parishes, but especially those of us in Texas and the Southwest. Our Lady of Guadalupe is Patroness of the Americas (as declared by Pope Pius XII in 1946) and holds a place in the hearts of all people of faith. To honor Our Lady of Guadalupe we’ll celebrate a bilingual Mass at 9 a.m. on Saturday, December 12 in the church. All are welcome. (FYI: Confessions will still be held at the same time over in the chapel.)

• As mentioned last week we are once again assisting our twinned parish of Our Mother of Mercy Church by collecting Christmas gifts for the children of that community. We’ve collaborated on a Christmas gift-giving project for several years now and it is always a great success. CtR parishioners are generous in giving and our brothers and sisters in Christ at OMOM are truly grateful. … OMOM was founded in Houston’s Fifth Ward in 1930 and is one of the great historical African-American parishes in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. It is small in number, but large in spirit. It serves not only as a spiritual home, but also a community advocate in the Fifth Ward and is a place of refuge for many who are trying to make it through these difficult times. … We invite you to bring an unwrapped Christmas gift to mass next week or drop it off in the office. The gift need not be elaborate or extreme, but simply from the heart. The children range in age from just a few years old up to 17, but the bulk are in the 5-15 age range. … To make it even a bit easier on you (and contactless, too) we have an Amazon Wish List available from which you can order a pre-selected gift and have it sent directly to us at the parish. You’ll find the link on our parish website at www.ctrcc.com/toydrive. I used it on Monday of this week to place my order and the toys were delivered here on Wednesday. Easy peasy!

• Closer to home we are also again collecting gift cards to be distributed through Cypress Assistance Ministries (CAM). Drop off a gift card to a local merchant (Wal-Mart, Target, and HEB gift cards seem to be the most popular as they can be used for a variety of items) at Mass or in the office anytime over the week or two and we’ll distribute them through CAM. It’s a great way to help out those in need in our community and be part of the Christmas spirit.

• Remember our Advent by Candlelight tonight at 7 p.m., livestreamed on our YouTube Channel. It’s an hour of prayer and reflection to put our hearts in a proper place for this holy season of expectant longing. Visit www.ctrcc.com/advent-by-candlelight for more information and the link to watch. … Also, the CtR PieceMakers annual Fall Sale is this weekend, Dec. 5-6. They will have an online store open all weekend, so you can shop for plenty of arts and crafts and seasonal goodies, along with an auction, from the comfort and safety of your own home. See www.ctrcc.com/piecemakers for additional information. Thank you, PieceMakers!

• Lastly, don’t forget our revised Christmas liturgical schedule for this year: On Christmas Eve, Thursday, Dec. 24 masses will be at 2 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 7 p.m., and 10 p.m. On Christmas Day, Friday, Dec. 25 masses will be at 7 a.m., 9 a.m., and bilingually in Spanish and English at 11 a.m. We’ll have overflow seating with livestream viewing and communion brought over to the Parish Hall when we reach our seating capacity of 50 percent in the main church. As always, masks are required and we ask you to maintain social distance from others not in your household. 

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, pray for us!

Peace, Fr. Sean