The Fourth Sunday of Lent marks the halfway point of the Sundays of Lent. Easter is enticingly near! Our parish has further reason to rejoice! This year marks the forty-fifth anniversary of our founding (1980-2025). We began to anticipate this with the offering of a new parish photo directory. Pictures were taken last fall, and the directory is in production. Tony Ward, our Director of Music, who is also a graphic designer, has graciously taken his additional talent to the screen, extending to our community a logo highlighting our “sapphire jubilee!” Thank you, Tony!

For some time now, I have been keeping my eye open to possibly acquire a new monstrance for the parish. A monstrance is the liturgical vessel in which the Consecrated Host is displayed for Eucharistic Adoration. Without discrediting the piece we currently have, it measures just shy of 13 inches in height, and can appear largely “lost” in our chapel space and certainly on the main altar of our church. New monstrances tend to run thousands upon thousands of dollars, and are often designed quite elaborately and finished in gold. I do not think this best suits our worship space. Henninger’s in Brook Park, houses liturgical items which have been acquired from closed parishes. Several pieces, comparatively reduced in cost, remain in need of refurbishment and await new homes.

Last month, I stopped in and was shown several available pieces. One after another was not anything I had in mind—until I saw the last one offered (Page 3). Immediately, I asked, “Is that a fleur-de-lis?” Indeed, the concentric silver design is compromised of a stylized fleur-de-lis, a symbol of France, the native country of our patron, Saint Noel. This design is larger than our present monstrance and bears a noble simplicity which I think best matches our sacred space. I was told the base could be refinished to match our Communion vessels in hammered, oxidized silver. It is being offered to us at $1,000. The cost of refurbishing and refinishing is set at $3,700. Shipping and insurance, in addition to a custom protective case, would be additional costs. In honor of our forty-fifth, I would love for this important liturgical piece to be acquired “by the people, for the people”—an inscription I would intend having engraved on the underside of the base. There are pairs of altar candlesticks I would like to purchase for the chapel as well; as a minimum of four should be in place for Adoration. If you would like to contribute to the cost of these acquisitions, which may be in memory of a loved one, please contact me or Pam in the parish office.

Ad multos annos (to many years),

Fr. Terry