Dear Parishioners:
Cold, snow–covered greetings from the rectory! I hope everyone weathered the storm. As I write this letter (Wednesday morning), we are also scheduled for more snow this Saturday night into Sunday. We’ll see! It still does not come even close to the blizzard of 1978 – you should google it to see the pictures – 2 feet of snow!
We had some “excitement” this past week. On Tuesday, at approximately 1:30 PM, some people felt that they smelled gas in the School lobby/vestibule. Out of an abundance of caution, we evacuated the school building (everyone went to the Church) and we called the Fire Department. The Fire Department arrived and checked out the building with sensors, etc.
In addition, we telephoned PSEG. When PSEG did their testing, they found a tiny leak in a pipe outside the building. While they did not think it would cause any immediate danger, out of an abundance of caution, we cancelled all late afternoon & evening events in the School (Religious Education & CYO). As I write this letter, the leak should be fixed by early afternoon. However, we did put the school on remote learning for Wednesday because we had to shut off the gas to the school.
As you may recall, today, at the 12:00 PM Mass, we will celebrate a Mass of Farewell for Fr. Jaison and Deacon Matt. Fr. Jaison leaves for his new assignment on Monday to St. Aidan’s in Williston Park. Dcn. Matt will still be with us until after Ash Wednesday. At that point, he goes to his new assignment to St. Thomas More parish in Hauppauge. We thank them both for their priestly and diaconal service to our Parish family.
As previously announced, with the transfer of both Fr. Jaison and Dcn. Matt, there will be some changes to the Mass schedule. This Saturday, January 31st will be the last Saturday for the 8:00 PM Mass. As I noted in a previous letter, other than the Cathedral, I do not know of any parish that has a Saturday evening
Mass after 5:00 PM.
The 9:00 AM DAILY Mass will remain until Easter. After Easter, we will only have the 9:00 AM DAILY Mass (9:00 AM Mass on Sunday remains) on Friday and Saturday.
We are also getting a new priest, FR. SANTHOSH MATHEW, to live with us. Fr. Santhosh is a Chaplain at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital. He is “on duty,” 24/7 for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and every other Sunday. While he is “on duty,” he is not able to help out here because he needs to be able to respond immediately to an emergency at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital. Imagine if he had just started a Mass, and he is called into the Hospital for an emergency; he would not be able to respond immediately because he was celebrating Mass. So, Fr. Santhosh will be able to help us, but it will be limited due to his crucial work at the hospital.
Nobody likes changes but I believe these small changes are necessary and will not impact the parish negatively. Let us also continue to pray for vocations to the priesthood on Long Island and let us continue to encourage vocations as well.
Remember: Together, we can do something beautiful for God.
Fr. Brian