Immaculate Conception
Our Lady of Perpetual Help

It took a little longer than originally planned, which is becoming an all too familiar mark of Covid-19, but my staff is now moved over to the new office location. We are now located at 2430 Hoyt Ave. The offices are really coming together, and I have been sprucing up my little office with a couch and comfortable chair for my meetings with people. I also have to say that my arthritic bones have appreciated the reduction in stairs to my office. More importantly though, this means that we are
ready to start on the next stage of getting our social outreach center up and running. I will be meeting with some parish groups in the next couple of weeks to get their thoughts and ideas so that we can be as successful as possible. Groups are also starting to move into the center, and I know that they are excited. I already talked to one ministry that secured a grant to furnish their office with all the necessary accoutrements. Once we have everyone moved in, we will look at how to improve upon the already great ministry we have been doing.

With the move to the new office being complete and things opening up a little bit more societally, I’m going to shift the location of my Thursday drop-in time from the confessional at OLPH to my office.
I’m going to continue to try and keep 1:00-4:00 p.m. on Thursdays without scheduled meetings, but that doesn’t mean they won’t creep in from time to time. If anyone wanted to go to confession, it would still be possible, but would be done in the office setting rather than in the confessional at church. When I started the Thursday time, it was because we were in the midst of being under quarantine and I wanted to increase the hours of Adoration availability, something I hope to continue in another way. I will however still be doing drop-in times from 1:00-4:00 p.m. on Fridays at OLPH church with Adoration. This, too, is contingent on availability, so make sure to call to see if I’m going to be around. I
know already that I have to be out this Friday, the 14 th , until around 2:00, so I’ll only be there from 2:00-4:00 p.m.

In other news, we have been ramping up for Sacramental prep in the Covid era. Kelsie Mattingly, our Director of Evangelization, is planning a primarily online family-based curriculum for our Sacraments
this year. That way, regardless of circumstances, we will be able to forge ahead. The beauty of this approach is multifaceted. First, it puts catechesis in the hands of our parents who are called by the Church to be “the primary catechists” to their children. This means that parents can be learning new things right along with their kids, something we are all called to do for the rest of our lives: be learners in the faith. Second, it gives us the flexibility to introduce different options depending on how the situation with Covid continues to evolve and third, it means that we will utilize different resources to accomplish the same purpose: giving witness to how the Church evolves in order to fit new circumstances. With this we are shifting Confirmation for the coming year to right before Advent, so make sure to sign up if you want to be Confirmed this School year. Sign-ups for all Sacramental prep will be going up in the next week or so, so make sure you are paying attention to the Flocknotes
that come out or be checking our website for updates. If you have any questions you can contact Kelsie.

Prayers Always, 
Fr. Joseph