Be sure to join us this Wednesday evening for the first session of the St. Malachy Speaker Series featuring Father Joe Mele and his presentation on Pope Francis. With the Pope soon to visit the United States (albeit on the wrong end of Pennsylvania), this is a particularly timely topic. The basic format for these evenings is for the speaker to give us his wisdom for about forty-five minutes, followed by time for questions. At the end there will be a light social. So please come and hear Fr. Mele, and keep an eye on the bulletin for future installments of the Speaker Series.
Our Festival is rapidly approaching, and I am grateful for all the people who donate so much time and energy to this big event. But one area where we could use some help is with the pierogis, both for the Festival and the Fish Fry. We have some great volunteers and could use some more, and we also need someone who can coordinate the volunteer efforts so that we make the best use of our resources. Those pierogis are delicious and are a huge moneymaker, but they are labor intensive. If you think you can help, please call the rectory. And for anyone who would like to volunteer without being in charge, there will be opportunities to pinch pierogis for the Festival on September 21 and 22. September 22 is the day we could especially use some help.
I have a special personal request. If you are going into the hospital, please consider calling the rectory (or having a family member call) to let us know. I would love to visit parishioners in the hospital, but especially with privacy laws as they are now, it is often hard to know who is where. And don’t forget to tell us which hospital. When I was first ordained, I was sent up to Ohio Valley because the woman who called just said that her mother was in “the hospital” and needed to be anointed. I often said that in my first anointing call, we lost the patient. “She didn’t die,” I would say, “I mean we literally lost her.”
Have you considered the benefits of electronic giving for our parish? We do so much banking on-line these days, and most of us have found it to be a great convenience. St. Malachy is set up to take donations to our Sunday offertory program on-line. There are several options on how you can have it work, including an automatic debit so that you have one fewer detail to remember.
Now for one final quiz. Close your eyes and see if you can remember the different topics I have covered in today’s Ponderings. And if you didn’t get them all, don’t feel bad. I’m not sure I would have remembered them all, either.
Father H
