CHILDREN'S LITURGY OF THE WORD: Join us at 9:15 am on Zoom
SUNDAY MORNING MASS: Join us virtually every week at 10 am.
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Our musicians this morning are Marcy Casilio, Kathleen Bailey, and Beth Dooher-Anthony. The song sheet is here.
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~ A Message from Bishop Denise ~
Greetings!
As we begin 2021, we bring prayers for hope, peace, joy, and love. We also begin a new chapter at Mary Magdalene Church! As you know, in September we announced that effective January 1st I would be shifting to part-time to allow me more time to attend to family needs. We also announced that Lori Vail would be coming on part-time as our interim associate pastor. At Mass this weekend, it will be with great joy that we will be celebrating this with a prayer of blessing and installation!!
As you also know, Lori really began this transition this fall. She has been with us every Sunday, participating liturgically by leading prayers, sharing readings, and preaching. She has been participating in the trustee meetings, ministry meetings, and stewardship meetings. She has been training with both myself and Mimi and is already a valued member of our pastoral team!! In recognition of Lori officially beginning this new position on January 1st you will notice that she will be vested this weekend. Vestments are a symbol of liturgical leadership and very fitting for her as our interim associate pastor. Very soon Lori will also be wearing a stole as she is very close to completing all of the necessary preparation for ordination. She will first be ordained into the transitional diaconate and will be a deacon for several months until her ordination as a priest. It is our deepest desire that when she is ordained as a priest, we will all be able to be together in one place for this celebration, so we anticipate that this will not be until summer at the earliest. And if we’re not yet at the point where we can celebrate in the sanctuary, we will hold the ceremony outside!! This is truly something we will need to celebrate together!!
I must say that I’m very excited about this new chapter for our community. Lori has already proved to be a gift to all of us!! Mimi and I love working with her as a member of the pastoral team, and she brings enthusiasm, depth of insight, a deeply caring heart, and a vision that is very much in line with who we are as a faith community!! I am excited to watch her flourish at Mary Magdalene Church and the community’s growth through her leadership!! It is a great way to start a new year! I hope many of you will be able to be with us virtually tomorrow morning!
In the midst of this exciting news, I also ask you to keep several members of our community in your prayers. Sharon Cassidy will be having knee replacement surgery on Monday that will also remove the cancer below her knee. Please also keep my dad in your prayers. He has a suspicious lesion in the body of his L3 vertebrae. We pray for Kathy Mrzywka who will have the remainder of her thyroid removed because of cancer. We pray for Lori & Rebecca’s daughter Piper who will have her tonsils removed on January 14, Rebecca’s mom who is home from the hospital, and Sandy McNamara whose brother Pat is dying in the hospital from Leukemia. We also pray for several members of our community who are dealing with COVID in their families: Mike & Rosemary Salamone’s son Jon, Chris O’Brien’s father who is currently hospitalized with COVID, Paul Kaiser, Christine Kaiser’s mother, Virginia and Lori Vail’s mother. We also pray for all of their family members who are currently in quarantine and are concerned that they too may become positive. Please hold all of these dear members of our community and their families in our prayers.
And of course, we continue to keep Mimi in our prayers. Please see her update and greeting below. If you are interested in providing a meal for Mimi and Kent, please contact Jill Nichols at jillbnichols@gmail.com. If you would like to be kept up to date on Mimi's progress and healing as well as leave notes of encouragement, please join her Caring Bridge group by going to this link and signing up. If you have any trouble with setting up your access, you can text her daughter, Chelsea, at 585-734-7299.
I pray that 2021 will bring blessings and hope to all of us,
With love,
Denise
Greetings and Blessing,
I wanted to update you on the continuation of our Covid, Cancer Christmas. Our holiday was quiet and peaceful. Zoom Family Christmas Celebration, Zoom New Year’s Eve visits with friends, and New Year’s Day Zoom playdates with our grandchildren. It was lovely and filled with happiness.
I recently received my pathology report, the cancer was found in one of my three lymph nodes which puts a blip into my journey. I will need to have more radiation and possibly some chemotherapy, along with my estrogen-blocking cocktail. Not what we expected but know Kent and I continue to be hopeful and grateful. We are lifted up by all your love, support, and PRAYERS! Please keep the prayers, light, and love coming for our family. Most days we feel like we have a handle on it and then there are days we look at each other and say “WHAT? Cancer?” So, we continue moving forward meeting with doctors and finding our way through day by day. So grateful to all of you.
New Year Blessings to ALL.
Love, Blessings, and always JOY!
Mimi and Kent
