FM's Message | Sunday, November 20th, 2022

Our liturgical year ends this Sunday with the Feast of Christ the King. This feast day gives us a pattern to use for ourselves, our faith, and our community. Just like the end of a calendar year, this week gives us the opportunity for reflection and to recognize and be grateful for the prayer and blessings that have been given to us.
The new liturgical year begins with Advent, and last year we made the decision to go to St. James to celebrate the Christmas Masses. This year, it will be the same. Our Advent season gave us an opportunity to practice waiting for the Lord. The music and the mood were a little more contemplative and somber, reflecting the penitential character mixed with waiting in imitation of Mary. It was last Christmas that we were asked to give our coats at Christmas Mass. After the collection, we sent a van full of coats to Lifebridge for those who are less fortunate. I hope you saw someone in downtown Salem wearing your jacket.
We started Lent with a daylong distribution of ashes with an opportunity to sit and pray in the church. Our Holy Week celebrations were beautiful, and we welcomed a new member to our Church on Easter Sunday. At the Pentecost challenge, more than 60 people came forward to give witness to the experience of Jesus and the Holy Spirit working in their lives.
These of course are the spiritual highlights, but we also welcomed over 40 new members to our faith through baptism and witnessed 21 couples celebrate the sacrament of marriage at our churches. We had First Communions, confirmation, and a lot of moments of public and private prayer. We also offered a marriage course, prayer course, and four more Alphas with retreats. You can see that our parish continues to look throughout Salem for the purpose of evangelizing. Last weekend, we sent out many, many volunteers to places around the city to witness to the importance of taking our faith outside our walls.
As this year concludes, we are launching small groups that will allow us to address ongoing formation and evangelization. As you can see, there is much to be thankful for and to reflect upon. What it all reveals is that we are blessed by God to have good people who are coming forward with their time, talent, and treasure. It was a year that also gave us a sober look at the reality of the effects of the pandemic on the Church and on attendance. What I hope, and we can see a little of this now, is that people will continue to feel comfortable to return. I know that some have gone to other churches for the convenience of the 4:00 PM Mass, but I know that we are also seeing new members coming to us. For me, the most memorable part of this year is the number of times I have heard people say that we are a welcoming parish. If there is one way to imitate Christ, without knowing all that he taught and all that we teach, it is this! We can argue and disagree all daylong about style and other things but giving witness to Jesus by what we say and do will always help us to bring more souls to Him.
So again, I thank all who are working together and who are coming forward to offer their time talent, and treasure to continue our work of evangelization. This Sunday, as we come together to celebrate Christ the King, may we make it our resolution to improve our faith, our relationship to Jesus, and to make our next year of Grace even better than this last one.

Peace,
Father Murray

Building news: We now have a new rug, hot water heater, and a developing sound system.
We will continue to work on the system until we have it all figured out. Thanks for your patience. I do not see any projects on the immediate horizon, so we will get ready for Christmas and then New Year’s and look forward to next spring and summer for more projects.