We thank everyone who made pledges to Together in Mission, the program to
help poor parishes of the Archdiocese. We are near meeting our goal in
pledges and will soon publicize the amount of pledges we have received.
If you have not yet made a pledge you may still do so - forms are available
in the office. Thank you so much for your stewardship of all our
Archdiocesan church community!
We also still have registration cards available in the office and in the
church vestibule for the Catholic Legislative Network. This is a
program to inform Catholics by email of pressing social and moral concerns
that affect us here in the state of California. If you want to make
your voice be heard, as a politically-involved and socially-aware Catholic,
fill out a card to receive these valuable email updates.
I would like to thank Father Fidelis and our secretary Glenda Alvarez who
have spearheaded our Lenten Soup Fridays program. Starting this Friday
at 5:30 pm a delicious but fast-conscious meal of soup and salad and a roll
are available for an offering of $5 for adults and $3 for children.
Parishioners are encouraged after their dinner to attend our Stations of the
Cross which are each Friday of Lent at 7:00 p.m.
Lastly, our Cardinal-Archbishop Roger Mahony celebrated his 74th
birthday last week, which means at the age of 75, as is customary, he will
retire as our Archbishop. He has been Archbishop here since 1985, a tenure
of what will be 26 years. I remember his installation as Archbishop occurred
the night before I entered the seminary when I was 18 years old! After so
many years and with the many challenges of leading our Archdiocese the
Cardinal is ready for a rest, but will continue to be of service here and
live in residence at the cathedral. As I mentioned in my Together in
Mission homily, we at St. Mary's will always be grateful to him because he
personally broke the normal rules and allowed us to build our new Hall and
Church even though we had not yet raised all the funds needed. This was a
very special favor and blessing for us. Please pray for Cardinal Mahony and
his as-yet un-named successor during this transition time. We may soon
know the name of our new Archbishop, who may work at the Cardinal's side as
"co-adjutor" during his last year to "learn the ropes" of this high position
in the Church. Above is a prayer you can say for our new pastoral leader.
