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Twenty-Ninth Sunday of the Year
21 October 2007
Dear Friends in Christ,
1. After our church was doubled in length in 1954, one large meeting room and two rest rooms were added to the basement or undercroft of the building, with access from stairs on the outside of the church. For many years, this space—known as Notre Dame Hall—was the only meeting room in the parish, but from the beginning there were problems with flooding and associated mildew odors. In short, it was not a very pleasant place to spend time, particularly in the years just before the restoration of the church in 2002. During that work, however, we addressed the moisture problems, and for the past five years, the large room in the undercroft has been used as a storage facility. But that is now changing. Two weeks ago we began the renovation of the church undercroft, and if all goes well, by early in the New Year we will have a beautiful and comfortable meeting room and two modern rest rooms for use by various groups in the parish. I will keep you posted on the work and let you know when the project is completed.
2. Celiac disease is a disorder of the digestive tract which makes it difficult or impossible for the one afflicted to consume gluten of any kind. Gluten is found in rye, barley, and most of all in wheat, and for this reason, celiac patients cannot eat bread in any form—including the unleavened bread used in making the hosts with which we celebrate the Holy Eucharist. This means that celiac patients are not able to receive Holy Communion except from the chalice alone, and in such cases, the Eucharist is administered only under the form of the Precious Blood. Here at St. Mary’s we have several parishioners (including one deacon and one religious sister) who are celiac patients, and if you see someone at Mass receiving Holy Communion only from the chalice (usually at the end of the Communion Procession), this is the reason. Anyone who is diagnosed with celiac disease is welcome to let me know about your situation so that we can arrange for you to receive only from the chalice.
3. If you look to the left of this cover page, you’ll notice a slight rearrangement of the names of the priests and deacons who serve St. Mary’s. We moved the names around a bit to make it more clear that only one priest is now canonically assigned to St. Mary’s; the other three priests who assist us are not assigned to this parish and help us only part-time on top of their primary responsibilities. I do not know how long we will be without a parochial vicar, but while we are, please understand that changes in the Mass schedule and the lengthening of time needed to respond to your concerns are inevitable. Thank you in advance for your patience.
Praised be Jesus Christ! Now and forever!
Father Newman