Dear St. Frances of Rome Parishioners and Visitors,

Happy Advent! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! This is one of my favorite times of the year. We have 4 weeks to prepare…4 weeks to plan…4 weeks to change our hearts and our minds as we look upon the face of God lying in a manger. It is a hectic and busy time. I hope all of us can find time to take advantage of all the Advent offerings and opportunities here at St. Frances of Rome, Holy Trinity, St. Leonard, and Holy Spirit. More information can be found in the bulletin. If you have any questions, give us a call!

I want to thank everyone who made our 3rd Annual Friendsgiving a huge success! We had almost 170 people join us and the room was filled with warmth, compassion, laughter, neighbors, family, and friends. If you missed this year, please plan on attending next year. We need volunteers! What a great opportunity to be the face, hands, feet, and heart of our Lord. Thank you!!

The season of Advent brings us a brand new liturgical year which means there are opportunities to introduce NEW things to our parish in this new year. Here are the following things I want to make you aware of. Some are close to completion; others will be brought up for discussion and implemented at another time:

-The broken stained-glass windows are currently being repaired and the windows should be fixed very soon.

-New lighting controls will soon be installed in the sacristy. This will allow us a more simplified, safer way to turn on and off the lights in the church.

-New light fixtures are being installed throughout the parish office and parish house. These modern, updated, brighter lights will certainly make a huge difference, and we can’t wait for you to see how nice they look.

-Wiring is being run for installation of a new, electronic door lock system on the church and parish house. This will give us greater control and easier access to the church. I cannot tell you how many times I left the property asking myself, “Did I lock the doors?” This electronic system will allow us to program the doors to be unlocked and locked at certain times of the day. More information will be forthcoming.

-As Fr. Steven mentioned in his bulletin update this past weekend, now that the surveys have been completed and submitted, we will speak with the parish council this upcoming week about adjusting the Mass times. Based on neighboring parishes and their Mass times, I will propose the following to the council for their consideration: Saturday Vigil Mass 4:30pm; Sunday Mass 8:30am and 10:30am. Stay tuned for more information.

Finally, I will be consulting the parish council about relocating the Tabernacle to the center of the church. A St. Joseph statue would be placed in that niche which currently houses the Tabernacle, which would be directly across from the statue of the Blessed Mother and Jesus. Pope Francis recently encouraged all the faithful to spend more time before the Blessed Sacrament. He said, “And do we, I ask myself, believe in the power of the Eucharist? Does our going out to others, our service, find its beginning and its fulfillment there, in adoration? I am convinced that we have lost the sense of adoration: We must regain it, starting with us consecrated persons, bishops, priests, nuns and all consecrated persons. “Waste” time before the tabernacle, regain the sense of adoration.”

Having the Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle at the center of our church will be one of many ways we can properly adore our Lord. Everyone who comes into our church will see and feel the centrality and the balance that the Lord provides us. Not only will our attention be drawn to our Lord in the very center of our church, but we can continue to ask ourselves if Christ our Lord is at the very center of our lives in all that we say and do? I am not sure when this change will take place, but I wanted to give you a heads up as it is a major change for our church sanctuary.

I wish all of you and your loved ones a happy, blessed, and peace filled Advent Season.

God bless you!
Father Shayne
Pastor