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Inspired by Fr. Mac's interview on KDKA radio last month, an anonymous donor has pledged to match any and all donations to Holy Spirit Academy up to $100,000. There is a link to his interview on our HOME page.

Join us for a new program, FULFILLED: Uncovering the Biblical Roots of Catholicism, presented by Merve Knieriem, the seminariam currently assigned to Holy Spirit Parish. It will be at St Camillus Church, and also on Zoom, on Monday evenings from 7 to 8 pm from August 3 to November 16.

We are very excited about the renewed life the school has been given by Fr. McCaffrey and the Diocese. The outstanding quality of academic excellence continues to grow and the new look of Holy Spirit Academy, with the blue and orange colors and its eagle mascot, shouts, “We are taking flight, bold in the Spirit.”

The three Masses currently being held in the parking lot of the former Sears building in Union Township have served over 2,000 per weekend. We've been blessed with good weather with the exception of one Saturday afternoon storm which forced the cancellation of the 4 pm Mass. For now, Masses there will continue through July. There is a new signal allowing the sound of the Mass to come through your car radio. Tune in through 90.3 FM.

Deacon Matthew Hawkins will be ordained into the priesthood at 10 a.m. at St. Paul's Cathedral on Saturday, June 27. The Ordination will be live-streamed directly from www.christianassociatestv.org. It will be on the front page of that website at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Sr. Barbara Ann Johnston is retiring at the end of June. Due to Covid-19 Restrictions, we can’t celebrate her years of service as we would like to and as she deserves.

For any New Castle residents interested in taking the Home Rule Survey, please copy and paste this link into your browser or click the title of this post to be taken to the survey. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/S8P2KSY

Along with the joy of opening the parish to Masses again, we also have the joy of congratulating Chris Baker (3rd from the left in the picture) of our parish, who has been accepted into St. Paul Seminary to study for the priesthood. In addition, on June 1, we welcomed Merv Knieriem to the parish.

Sr. Barbara Ann Johnston has been a dedicated Pastoral Associate for St. Camillus for 20 years. She will be retiring at the end of June. Due to the coronavirus precautions, we will not be able to have a well-deserved retirement celebration in her honor.

On May 19, the pastoral team met in the morning and the Pastoral and Finance Councils met in the evening. Adoration continues at St. Joseph the Worker site, lower level parking lot, where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed from 8 am to 4 pm. Sunday through Friday. Click on title to see full message.

Gov. Wolf and the PA Department of Education are looking to take most of the funding that Congress wants distributed equitably in COVID-19 relief to ALL schools in PA and across the country. Pennsylvania received $471 million in funding from Washington. But PCC Education Director Sean McAleer says “the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) created its own set of rules to distribute that money that blatantly ignores federal guidance. The end result significantly lowers the amounts to be given to Catholic and nonpublic school students.” McAleer broke down the disparity this way: “the Wolf Administration is calling for roughly $19 million to go to Catholic and nonpublic schools students, while Washington is calling for $66 million. The Wolf administration is misappropriating some $47 million in federal funds and harming families who have chosen to send their children to Catholic and nonpublic schools.” "Catholic and nonpublic school students matter," said McAleer. "We are asking Mr. Wolf And Education Secretary Pedro Rivera to please follow the federal guidelines! In a time when thousands of Pennsylvania’s children and families are suffering and struggling to make ends meet, the administration has chosen to cause further harm by refusing to allocate money as directed by the federal government.” Follow the link below or click the title of this post to log in and send your message: https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/bLoi7nwoDwEslKQVryFTuQ

Do not let your hearts be troubled! See the Sunday message in the bulletin at hsplc.org/fr-macs-messages, to read about the state of the parish, the status of the festival and the sale of St. Lawrence site. Click title for video address.

Holy Spirit Parishioners, the bishop is sending a 50 page document to the priests of the diocese at some point this weekend. We will need to review this document and understand its contents regarding suggestions and requirements for our re-opening.

Over the months, the need for a prayer ministry has been a concern. After many discussions, our prayer network, consisting of prayer requests and members committed to praying for those in need, is now operating. See our website at https://hsplc.org/holy-spirit-prayer-network or Google hsplc.org, When the home page opens, put your cursor over HOME under the logo, the blue bar will drop down. Click on the 3rd choice, Prayer Network, to open it.

To aid parishioners, a mail slot has been crafted in the door to the St. Vitus office. Parishioners may now leave their weekly donation envelopes, requests to light candles for specific intentions, monetary donations to the food bank and other miscellaneous donations and correspondence. To request candles, please use a plain white envelope for your donation with the intention requested and your name written on it.

Check out this story about a politician who left it all to become a Jesuit priest. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/opinion/sunday/cyrus-habib-jesuit.html?smid=em-share

Join Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, USCCB President, and the faithful of the United States to pray together in renewing the consecration of the United States to the Blessed Virgin Mary on Friday, May 1st! Click on the title for details.

On today's Feast Day of St. Catherine of Siena, we highly recommend checking out Word on Fire's Pivotal Players video on her life, which can now be watched free on https://www.wordonfire.org/study-programs/pivotal-players/ (scroll down the Word on Fire website and you will see the video toward the bottom of the page). For the little ones, check out this cartoon about St. Catherine by EWTN here https://youtu.be/iSVrh5FZ_a4.

Starting today, April 27th, Adoration is available at the St. Joseph the Worker site in the lower parking lot. Scroll up to the top of the website or visit our Youtube to see Sr. Annie's update for more information. Adoration will be available from Sunday-Friday, 8am-4pm. Confessions from your car will be heard on Saturdays in the St. Camillus parking lot from 11am-12pm.

Join us tomorrow, Saturday, April 25th from 11am-12pm for Reconciliation in the St. Camillus parking lot.