April Update on the Church Renovation
from Father Powers
Fr. Izen asked me to update you on the church progress at St. Michael’s. My last article mentioned that we had three stages left to go for the renovation: painting, the floors, and reinstalling the pews and furniture. The painting of the church was substantially finished by the middle of March and looks amazing; however, as with seemingly everything else, the timeline for our renovation project was affected by COVID-19.
In order to make our original Easter deadline, we were going to need a few weekends of over-time and there were going to be multiple crews working on site. Since we knew at the end of March that Easter was probably not going to be celebrated publicly, and there was, and is, a strong need for social distancing practices, we saved money by eliminating the overtime and working with the crews to stagger out their schedules (and by “we,” I mean Jaana Nystrom who has been a huge help as our project manager). Flooring was completed this week and pew re-installation will be happening next. When we are finally able to resume public Masses, God willing soon, we will be returning to the church and not to the Social Hall.
My childhood home turned 100 three years ago, which I know is new construction in many neighborhoods here. One of the things that I learned growing up, is that when you fix one problem you seem to find three more. Our renovation has been no exception. The large windows in the transepts (sides of the church) need some serious love so we are starting to look at them. I’m sure there are many other myriad of things we can do, but I know Fr. Izen and I are very much looking forward to having you back in our shared spiritual home. Until then, we are still offering Masses for your intentions and prayers for you and are very grateful for your prayers and support. - Fr. Powers
Father Izen Featured in National Catholic Register
From Confessors Get Creative: Priests Adapt to Coronavirus Lockdown’s Limitations: . . . Father Izen said his desire to provide confession to the faithful is driven by his sense that this sacrament is necessary now more than ever, not only because Lent is the season of mercy, but because Lent was a penitential season of sorts for the entire world.
“God’s mercy is something people are always hungry for,” he said. “But needing the Divine Mercy, needing God’s love, needing to articulate one’s sins — all the usual reasons confession is always important have been escalated now. People appreciate the human part of it, too — making contact with another person in confession; people are more hungry for that human element now, with the current social restrictions.” . . . Read more.
Fun Fest Super Raffle Tickets for Sale!
An opportunity to support our parishes and win big! First prize is $5,000 with five other prizes from $2,500 to $500 if all tickets are sold (otherwise 50% of revenue is returned as prize money.)
Tickets are $100 each and only 200 will be sold. Until Masses resume, purchase tickets by mailing a check to the parish office (Attn: Liz Junker.) We will mail a ticket stub back to you. Questions? Please contact Liz Junker.
Daily Mass Online & Drive-Thru Confessions:
Mass Archive Now Available Online
Join us in prayer for Daily Mass every morning (Monday-Saturday) at 8:00 a.m. on Facebook Live. Drive-Thru Confessions are available every week 5:00-5:30 p.m. (Monday-Friday); 8:00-8:30 a.m. and 3:00-4:30 p.m. (Saturday).
Visit our media page (at St. Michael's or St. Mary's) to listen again to our most recent homilies and Masses.
Read Our Bulletin for Sunday, April 26
We are very calm and cheerful. So far there has been no Mass and no Communion; maybe that will come later. Now we have a chance to experience, a little, how to live purely from within.