Our Family Overview

This past Friday, May 1, at the invitation of Bishop Fabbro and the Holy Father, we consecrated our parish, our diocese, our world to Our Blessed Mother, Mary. We asked her to intercede on our behalf to her Son, Jesus, to end the pandemic and to aid all of us in our struggles. So many have suffered greatly. So many more will continue to suffer. We pray that the global community will come together in mutual

support, compassion and outreach to those most affected. Traditionally, we have given special attention to the Mother of Jesus during the month of May. May we do so even more fervently this year, asking her to share her Immaculate Heart with us. Please find the special prayers for consecration to Our Blessed Mother in on the Diocesan website at https://www.dol.ca/news/consecration-to-the-blessed-virgin-mary-may-1-at-12-noon You might consider using them in your own family context.

Earlier this week, Bishop Fabbro announced his decision regarding which parishes in the City of London will be connected as “Families of Parishes”. We have learned that St. Patrick Parish, Lucan, and Holy Family Parish, will be formed as one family, with a single pastor and a combined ministry team. We will soon be given instructions regarding the next steps in bringing this family to full implementation, likely by July of 2022. St. Patrick Parish is an amazing community of people of faith. It is one of the oldest parishes in the Diocese of London, being established in the middle of the 19th century. We are humbled and grateful to have the opportunity to serve this community. May the Holy Spirit, over the course of the next 26 months, lead our two communities together in mutual respect and love, as we find the Lord’s will for our common future.

Church Musicians - As you are aware, the Ontario government has ordered the temporary cessation of Church activities involving public attendance as a result of the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of this unprecedented and very challenging situation, the Parish has had to make the very difficult decision to temporarily layoff our musicians. We are deeply saddened by this, and we trust that you will understand the reasons for this difficult decision. At this time we anticipate that, as the public health situation improves, we will be able to bring our Music Ministry back to being the integral part of our worship that it is.

Praying for hope and peace.... Currently given our inability to have public funerals, it’s important that

if you have a loved one at the parish who passes away, please contact Heather at hcushing@dol.ca so that we can pray for

them and to make plans to have a Mass for them in the future.

Our Catholic Women’s League encourages all to participate in the 12 Hours of Prayer for Palliative Care from May 4 to 10,

by praying the Physicians Way of the Cross https://cwl.ca/?s=a+physicians+way+of+the+cross

for all those who are in palliative care at the moment.

This coming week also marks Education Week ~ May 3 to 8. The theme this year is “Igniting Hope”. There are many resources/activities for families to do with their children at home to create hope. Go to this link at

https://www.ocsta.on.ca/cew-2020-at-home-resources. Please keep our families in your prayers as they juggle homeschooling and their own jobs at home during this time. Give them hope by reaching out to them in prayer.

Bishop Fabbro will be recording a message to students in English and French and a special Catholic Education Week Mass by Bishop Dabrowski will be posted online on Wednesday, May 6. We invite all staff and students to celebrate with

us. All the videos will be available on the diocesan YouTube channel.

Holy Family Parish

May 3, 2020

To request Mass intentions for the weekday Masses, contact Kelly at hfparish@dol.ca or inquire at ext’n # 201. We are accepting payment for these Masses by sending your cheque made payable to Holy Family Parish, noting in the memo line that it is for ‘Mass request’. ($10 per Mass intention) These weekday Mass intentions are posted weekly on our parish website.

Our Intercessory Prayer Team is still very active during this current public health emergency. If you would like to submit a prayer request, please contact Heather Cushing at hcushing@dol.ca

We are grateful to a number of parishioners who have been reaching out to our elder parishioners by phone this past week. We have heard reports of delightful conversations, gratitude for connection, an opportunity to update our parish contact information, and requests for prayer. If you, or someone you know, would benefit from this phone outreach ministry, we would be pleased to hear from you. If you would like to be part of this outreach ministry, please connect with Heather Cushing, at hcushing@dol.ca, or leave a phone message at (519) 472-0057, ext. 260.

We continue to update our parish database at this time to stay connected with each and every one of you. We are asking all parishioners to connect with us at hfparish@dol.ca with any updates to your family profile (new address, phone #’s, emails, additions/changes to family members living at current address). One of the huge changes in a family’s profile is that many have gone from a land-line phone number to a cell number. Please let us know of this particular update as well so that we can stay connected and provide you with ongoing communications via email. And finally, if you haven’t provided us with a current email, please update that with us too. Thank you!

Parish Financial Update - COVID-19 - Your Senior Leadership Team and the Parish Finance Council have been in regular discussion about the Parish's current financial situation. To date, we have seen offertory giving drop by 34% in March, and April is trending to be closer to a 30% drop. We have taken three steps to mitigate the financial impact this is causing. First, we, along with all other parishes in the Diocese, will be applying for the federal governments 75% wage subsidy program. This covers all salaries paid between March 15 and May 31. We anticipate that we will recover close to $80,000

through this support mechanism. Secondly, we have pared back all discretionary and program spending to bare minimums. Third, we had to make the difficult decision to layoff our musicians. If you have any direct questions, please contact Tim Firth at tfirth@dol.ca or 519-476-5617. We thank you for your continued support through these challenging times, and we know that the Holy Spirit continues to move within us as we seek God's guidance in everything we do.

To continue to stay connected in supporting us financially, kindly use one of the following options... 1. Interac e-Transfer, simply set up the email address ‘hfparish@dol.ca’ as a recipient, choose the amount you wish

to give, include in the note section( ‘regular offertory’, ‘bible study’, etc) and press send! No password is required. 2. Pre-authorized automatic withdrawal If you wish to make your Sunday offertory contributions through

automatic bank withdrawals, please complete this form and email it and a copy of a void cheque from your bank account to Anne Sanderson, our Bookkeeper, at asanderson@dol.ca. If you do not have a cheque, please ask your bank to provide the appropriate Form indicating your account number, bank number and branch number.

3. Mail in your offertory envelopes along with a cheque made payable to Holy Family Parish and marking in the memo line “regular offertory donation”.

4. Mobile Giving at Holy Family Parish - Donating to the parish with your mobile phone is easy. Scan this QR code, follow the prompts and you're done!

Resources for prayer can be found on our parish website under the resource tab. As a parish we have a special subscription to FORMED, The Catholic Faith on Demand. The access code is GD6M84. For new subscribers ...

1. Go to formed.org and click the “Sign Up” button 2. Click “I belong to a parish or organization” and search “Holy Family London” 3. Click on the “Holy Family” that lists our street address (777 Valetta Street). It will

then prompt you to add your name and email address. Once you do this, you’re done!

Readings for Next Sunday ~ the 5th Sunday of Easter ♦ Acts 6.1-7 ♦ 1 Peter 2.4-9 ♦ John 14:1-12

HOLY FAMILY PARISH ♦ 777 Valetta St., London, ON N6H 2Y9

♦ PH. # (519) 472 - 0057 ♦ FAX # (519) 472-4758 EMAIL: hfparish@dol.ca ♦ WEBSITE: www.holyfamilylondon.ca

OFFICE HOURS: Temporarily Closed due to COVID-19.

SUNDAY MASS ♦ Saturday 5 p.m. ♦ Sunday 10 a.m. WEEKDAY MASS ♦ Tuesday to Friday 10 a.m.

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