Advent has begun! This blessed season prepares us to meet Jesus at Christmas and at the end of time. Pick up at the doors of Church this weekend our Christmas invitations for your neighbor, friend, and family member. This year, we’re adding to our Christmas invitations something special: gift cards for our neighbors in need. 

An anonymous donor has given us a big supply of $10 gift cards to Burger King and Jack-in-the-Box. If you know someone who is struggling or see people who are homeless, we want you to take a gift card for them, and give it to them along with our Christmas invitation. Jesus’ humble birth in Bethlehem expresses his union with our neighbors in need. We want them to know that they matter to God, and they matter to us, and that our churches are their churches when Christmas comes. 

Finally, on the recommendation of our Pastoral Council, we adopt an experimental weekend Mass schedule for the first quarter of 2026. From January 4th to April 5th (Easter) we’ll add an 8:30 am Mass at SSP church to our regular weekend schedule, keeping all of our existing Mass times, so that our weekend schedule will be 

4 pm Saturday at SSP, 7 am Sunday at SJB, 8:30 am Sunday at SSP, 10 am Sunday at IHM, and 4:30 pm Sunday. In March, we’ll evaluate whether we should retain the 8:30 am Mass or the 4:30 pm Mass. Thank you in advance to Fr. Tim, our Pastoral Council, and our generous staff for making this experiment possible.