Celebration of First Holy Communion

04-29-2022Letters From Fr. BrianRev. Brian F. Manning

Dear Parishioners and Friends of Saint Mary’s,

This weekend we will be celebrating a Mass for First Communion at the Noon Mass. How beautiful and touching it is that our youngsters receive the Lord Jesus in Holy Communion for the first time. We pray for them and also their parents. It is our great hope that the children’s parents will now bring them faithfully to Mass each weekend. The parents have honored the commitment they made at the time of the child’s baptism and now need to continue to honor that public promise of “raising them in the ways of our faith” by faithfully attending Mass and also assisting them with Religious Education.

Sport Programs, Enrichment Programs etc. really do not provide an excuse for not attending Mass each weekend because we have Mass on Saturday evening and also Sunday morning. All of us need to include these parents in prayer so that God will grace them to continue to honor their word of commitment.

Next weekend at Mass parishioners will be able to nominate parishioners for the Parish Pastoral Council (PPC). Please pray and think about offering a name in nomination. The nominees must be registered and actively engaged Parishioners who wish to help assist me in guiding the Parish’s Vision and Mission. They must have listening skills and be willing to set aside their own opinions to hear from others. They must focus on the common good of the Parish and not a particular agenda. The full list of eligibility is found on our website. We hope, also, to have nominations and election votes available via our website (stmaarysfranklin.org). This is new for us and so it is coming together, we hope, for this election cycle. We are seeking four new Members; usually the election cycle is every two years with four replaced in each cycle.

I am most appreciative of the emails, written notes and comments I receive as I wander around Franklin about how beautiful and spiritual our Holy Week Masses and Services were. There was an elegance of grace present in them that many people found inspirational and supportive of their faith journey. Thank you for all your kind words.

Summer will soon be here and we will be going to our summer Mass Schedule starting with Memorial Day Weekend (No Noon Mass). We will also celebrate Mass at 9 AM at our Cemetery on Memorial Day (weather permitting, if not, in our chapel). Our Sacred Heart Knights of Columbus Council helps to organizer this special Mass.

The Catholic Women’s Club will be celebrating their 100th Anniversary with a special dinner on Thursday, May 19th, 2022. Please see the website or the bulletin for details on how to purchase a dinner ticket. Our Saint Vincent de Paul is most appreciative of those who have donated “Mother’s Day gift bags”. They need a few more gift bags, so your help is needed. The bulletin and the website have the details and you can still donate this weekend if you wish by bringing the gift bag to the church lobby and St. V’s donation large basket. The St. V’s are so appreciative of your constant and thoughtful support of their sacred Mission to aid the needy and frail.

Did you enjoy seeing the picture of our Tiger Scouts helping with clean up over at our parking lot at the Donation area? I am appreciative of their service in helping to tidy up our property. Helping on this project will help to remind them not to litter or leave trash for others to pick up. This is one of the core principles of Scouting. I am sure they wonder why folks cannot bend over and pick up the papers etc. they drop or fall out of their cars. Keeping other people’s property neat is a sign of respect for one self and other people.

Thank you for your continued financial support of our Parish and its holy work. You online giving, best accessed HERE, mail in or drop by envelopes and church door giving are all helping to keep us afloat in this time of jaw-dropping gas and electric bills and also inflation in everything else. I personally appreciate your commitment.

This month of May is set aside as a month dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God and our Parish Patroness. Let us pray specially to her for her intercession at the Heavenly Throne for an end of the violence in the country of the Ukraine. May God give grace and comfort to the victims and refugees of this terrible violence. We also ask Saint Rocco, our special Patron of Healing, to intercede for those who are seeking healing, especially our young.

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