February 23, 2020

Holy Spirit Mardi Gras Plus One

A huge thank you to everyone who worked so diligently to make our first Holy Spirit Mardi Gras Celebration a great success! As you know Mardi Gras was a celebration started by St. James the Apostle Parish and was very successful for that community. Now that all seven parishes have been joined as one, St. James graciously shared their fundraising celebration of Mardi Gras with all of us, as one parish. Other parishes have done similar things with their own unique traditions and fundraisers. Being one parish now, the Mardi Gras Celebration hosted at the Parish Center at St. Mary’s quadrupled the size of the event. My sincere gratitude to everyone from all the former parishes who participated now in this one parish event of Holy Spirit! It just goes to show that we are much stronger as one than we were as seven different parishes. Some photographs will be in next week’s bulletin.

On February 21 ^st, Bishop Zubik officially decreed that the closed St. Lawrence Church building, because of its lack of structural integrity, be rendered to profane but not sordid use. What that means is that the building is, by decree of the Bishop, no longer a sacred structure and can be disposed of appropriately.

The official decree is located on our website if you would like to read it. (Go to https://hsplc.org/fr-macs-messages to see the Bishop’s decree. See the left hand column.) This document notes all of the steps taken leading up to this decree and rationale behind the need to safely and reverently dispose of the structure. Please be assured that all of the religious articles within the confines of the church building will be removed.

All of the sacraments and all of the memories celebrated on this sacred spot of St. Lawrence Church remain eternal as the God who was worshipped there. It is a solemn reminder to all of us that everything in this world that is made of dust returns to dust some day. But the spirit and the love, the relationship with God is ever enduring. Just like our own flesh will one day return to the earth dust so all the material world changes form. It is the spirit that remains forever. The spirit of love, compassion, unity, and fellowship that makes our one parish of Holy Spirit a vibrant community that seeks to please God and love our neighbor!
God love you,