Dear Friends of our Pastorate,
This weekend, we will be celebrating the 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time. This is the first time we will be wearing green on Sunday since early February. But as we know, there is nothing “ordinary” about Ordinary Time. We as a church continue to worship and celebrate our faith in Jesus Christ at our two beautiful parishes.
As we know, there are some transitions occurring at our Pastorate. Fr. Jim will be completing his time with us at the end of this month to begin his new ministry as the Archbishop’s Priest-Secretary. His farewell Masses at St Jane Frances will be June 23rd with a reception following the 11:30am Mass in the Parish Hall. His last weekend at OLC will be June 29-30. We are sad to see him move on, but look forward to welcoming Fr. John Bilenki with us in early July.
We are also seeing some transitions in our Religious Education and Youth Ministry programs with Melissa Boyle leaving at the end of July and Diana Healy transiting into a better work-family balance. Our open positions are posted on the Archdiocese website. We have received several applications for the Youth Ministry position and will begin conducting interviews very soon (if not already). We are still anticipating additional applicants for the part time Religious Education position. This is a great position for someone who wishes to serve the parish but is limited in time. If you are interested in applying or wish to hear more about it, please reach out to me.
We also are planning to complete two major capital projects at both parishes. The remainder of the St. Jane Frances School roof will be replaced over the summer, and the Church Roof and Clerestory project at OLC will begin later this month. The OLC project will require us to vacate the Church for a couple of weekends (I am hoping we will be able to limit it to one weekend), so we will be celebrating Masses in the Gathering Place. We will be sure to let you know when that will take place, but it is looking like it will be at the end of June or early July.
Tax free donations (nothing will go to the Archdiocese) are being accepted for both projects on our online giving platforms. Links to online giving can be found on our websites. This is also a great way to maintain consistent giving to your parish when you are traveling this summer, so please consider signing up for online giving at GiveCentral (OLC) or ParishSoft (SJF). Thanks
Thank you for keeping our Pastorate of the Visitation - St. Jane Frances and Our Lady of the Chesapeake - in your daily prayers!
God Bless,
Father Steve
