Dear Parishioners,

It has been a great couple of days, as Brian Kudro, Jeff Mills, and I have been planning and preparing to execute THE CONFERRAL OF THE SACRAMENTS OF INITIATION for Friday evening this week. Although this will be a PRIVATE LITURGY, due to church space limitations, it will be live-streamed for the entire parish and the family and friends of our Catechumens and Candidates for Full Christian Initiation. To watch, please visit our IHM website http://5ff.994.myftpupload.com/live-stream/ or view it on Facebook.

I am very excited for this special liturgy and for these men and women who typically would have been “brought into the Catholic Church” on Holy Saturday at the evening Easter Vigil Service, but, as you know, COVID–19 had shut down all large gatherings with the STAY AT HOME DIRECTIVE.

CATECHUMENS Those to be baptized, confirmed, and share in the Eucharist for the first time are:
Michael Agron
Chad Barnard
Stephen Dabney
Johnathan Gesualdo
Joseph Medkeff

CANDIDATES Those to be brought into full communion with the Catholic Church are:
Michelle Gesualdo
Denise Heller
Abby Johnson
Bella Johnson
Michael Kunce

ADULTS RECEIVING CONFIRMATION:
David Gesualdo
Anthony Mara

This special liturgy is not an EASTER VIGIL, but, a four-part liturgical celebration. The four parts consist of:

1. A Prayerful Ritual composed to celebrate the SCRUTINY RITE. Brian Kudro has explained that SCRUTINY is derived from the Latin word ‘scruitare’ meaning taking a closer look – at self and at the Church’s teaching, as what RCIA has done for these Catechumens and Candidates
2. Presentation of the Nicene Creed
3. Presentation of the Lord’s Prayer
4. Mass with Baptisms, Confirmations, and the reception of Jesus in His real presence at Holy Communion

Live-Streaming is to give the whole parish this experience of being connected to these men and women in prayer from your homes.

Keep in mind that IHM (and all churches in the diocese) had to cancel the First Communions and the Confirmation Masses due to the Coronavirus and the STAY AT HOME DIRECTIVE. Therefore, now that we can have large gatherings, although only to half capacity of the church, IHM has rescheduled these celebrations as PRIVATE for the Confirmandi and Communicants, (each can bring 8 family members) but, these Masses also will be LIVE-STREAMED for the entire parish and other family and friends.

• Confirmation for PSR – Monday, August 3, 2020 @ 6:00 PM with Abbot Gary Hoover confirming
• Confirmation for IHM Day School – Monday, August 10, 2020 @ 6:00 PM with Abbot Gary Hoover confirming
• First Communion for PSR – Monday, August 17, 2020 @ 6:00 PM with Father Jim presiding
• First Communion for IHM Day School – Monday, August 24, 2020 @ 6:00 PM with Father Jim presiding

PLEASE NOTE: The division into two separate celebrations for each Sacrament for these Confirmandi & Communicants is only because of seating difficulty and space limitations, while observing social distancing during them.

These celebrations represent HOPE in possibly despairing times. They represent LIGHT even in the darkness of this still widely unknown pandemic.

Won’t you consider tuning in to be ONE with our parish community as God offers new life to all these men and women, young children and teens?

Many blessings,
Father Jim