There will be no Sunday office hours for June, July, or August.
CONGRATULATIONS!
The Development Office has received pledges totaling $75,672. This represents 102.26% of our $74,000 goal. Thank you to the 275 families who gave so generously to the 2023 Bishop’s Annual Appeal.
As you know from our most recent financial statement, which was included as a Bulletin insert several months ago, the parish has not been able to cover all of its expenses for a number of years. This has resulted in a net payable to the Diocese. As of last June, we owed $387,000 in insurance premiums. Fortunately for us, insurance is covered through the Diocese. This has proved significant since, even though we are in arrears, we have been covered for tens of thousands of dollars of water damage incurred over the last two years to the Petra House convent and to the floor of the church hall. The repairs to Petra House have been completed and we are in the process of finalizing the date and the materials for the repair of the church hall floor. Since the work will take several weeks to complete, we purposely waited until the summer when the church hall is not used as often so that the work will not inconvenience any of our parish organi- zations or ministries.
This weekend we are having a special collection with the proceeds earmarked to go towards our insurance premium. The premium is $82,000 a year. Remember, we have four major and two minor structures (buildings that are beginning to show their age), almost 10 acres of grounds, and a thousand parishioners and visitors crossing our thresholds each month. Insurance coverage is important to the financial integrity of the parish, and, as a matter of justice, it is important that we pay our fair share.
Please be as generous as you can in this special collection.
What is a National Eucharistic Revival? Last year Bishops of the United States called for a three year grassroots revival of devotion to and belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. They believe that God wants to see a movement of Catholics across the United States, healed, converted, formed, and unified by an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist — and sent out in mission “for the life of the world.” These three years will culminate in July of next year with a National Eucharistic Congress. Almost a hundred thousand Catholics will join together in Indianapolis for a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage toward the “source and summit” of our Catholic faith the Eucharist.
PRAYER FOLLOWING COMMUNION: “O sacred banquet, in which Christ is received, the memory of His Passion is renewed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.”
Please remember OLMV when you make suggestions to those looking to
make memorial donations in the name of your loved ones. Often, at the time of
death, hospices, hospitals, and various disease foundations come most readily to mind. And these are all worthy causes, to be sure. But where the deceased has been a long-standing member and regular contributor to the parish, please also prayfully consider whether to suggest contributions to the parish as well.
Summer Office Hours are as follows:
Sunday, June 11th the office will be open from 9:00 - 11:30A.M. for new and re-registrations.
Starting June 12th through September 8th, Office Hours are Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10-3PM.
When visiting the office, please call first to make sure the office is open as we will close for vacations if necessary.
CATECHISTS/AIDES NEEDED FOR THE 2023- 2024 ACADEMIC YEAR:
Father’s Day Spiritual Bouquet Cards are available for a suggest- ed donation of $10 at the parish office.
As a spiritual gift, your father, husband, grandfather, father-in-law, godfather, brother, uncle, son, or friend will be remembered in the Masses offered in our church in observance of Father’s Day.
As you put together your summer plans, please take time to include God in your summer. Check your summertime holiday locations for the nearest or most convenient Holy Mass. The website Masstimes.org provides an easy way to find the closest Catholic churches and their Mass times. A brief check on your favorite search engine will also provide you with the names, addresses, and Mass times of local churches. There is no summertime dispensation from Mass. Quite the contrary, summertime is a perfect time to include God in your plans as you relax and enjoy a change of pace. Remember to thank God for your leisure time and share some of that leisure time with Him.
Please don’t forget to keep up your offertory donations during the summer months. You can pre-pay or catch up at the end of the season. Our expenses do not go down over the summer. The easiest way to keep your offertory contributions current over the summer is to enroll in our online giving program with a recurring gift. Please consult the flyers on the bulletin boards for details or take a flyer from one of the tables around the church or from the parish office.
Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, June 11th
Following the 10:00 am Mass will have a Corpus Christi Procession.
Walking with our Lord
When the Eucharist is carried through the streets in solemn procession, the Christian people give public witness of their faith and devotion toward the sacrament of the Eucharist.
You are cordially invited to celebrate your 25th or 50th Wedding Anniversary with the Church of Metuchen and renew your marriage vows with Bishop James F. Checchio at a special Evening Prayer Ser- vice at the Cathedral of St. Francis of As- sist in Metuchen on Sunday, October 22, 2023 at 3:30PM . Registration is required.
Please register online at www.diometuchen.org/silver-and-gold-anniversary-celebration. If you are unable to access, please contact the Family Life Office at 732-562-1543 or [email protected]. Registration will close on October 6, 2023. Although no fee is required, in the past many Jubilarian couples have given a donation of gratitude to the Church in memory of this special occasion. Donations of Grati- tude can be made online or call 732-562-1543.
Come join Catholic Daughters of Court Regina Coeli, #940 at our upcoming event “Pot Luck & Costume Jewelry Exchange” on June 21 at 6:30pm.
If you would like some more information please email [email protected] or check out our Facebook page
Our Lady of Mount Virgin Parish offers online giving through software called ParishSoft Giving. This is a convenient and safe way to make either recurring or one time donations.
When you participate in online giving your gift goes directly into the parish bank account. You will not have to remember to write a check or to stop by an ATM on Sunday mornings.
Online giving provides strong, ongoing financial support to the parish and enables your parish to better budget for and handle its financial needs.
Making a donation is easy. Simply go to the parish website (OLMV.NET). Look for GIVING in the top right corner and then click on Donate Today. Select either One-time or Recurring and complete your generous gift.
Even though you will not be using envelopes, please make sure to include an envelope number when you sign up through ParishSoft Giving. This is necessary to ensure that you receive proper credit for your gift. If you do not have an envelope number, please contact the parish office.
A person seeking a “sponsor eligibility letter” from OLMV to serve as a godparent for the Sacrament of Baptism or a sponsor for the Sacrament of Confirmation must be an active registered parishioner of OLMV for at least 6 months and must have received all three Sacraments of Initiation, be active in the parish and, if married, be in a valid, Catholic marriage. An “active” Catholic is understood to be a person who attends Mass regularly and whose lifestyle is in keeping with the Catholic faith. He or she should ensure that his or her own school age children are attending Mass, are enrolled in religious education, and have received their sacraments.
In order to be considered a registered parishioner, an adult (persons 21 years of age or older) must submit a completed registration form. These forms can be picked up at the parish office. Completed forms must be brought to the parish in person. Please remind young adults (21 and older) who live with their parents that they must be registered separately with the parish.
Ordinarily, for Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation or Matrimony, or to receive a sponsorship eligibility certificate from this parish, a person must be registered and an active member of OLMV.
The Rosary is prayed every Tuesday and Thursday after the 12:00 noon Mass. All parishioners are invited to join in this most devout form of prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary for peace and the preservation of freedom in the United States.
Please make use of our Meditation Garden. What a beautiful spot to spend a few minutes with our Lord! Our Meditation Garden and Remembrance Walkway project is ongoing, and bricks can be ordered at any time. The next placement of bricks will be during the summer. Remembrance bricks are a beautiful way to remember loved ones or special moments in our lives.
All volunteers are reminded that if their volunteer work at the parish involves working with children, unless each child’s parent or guardian accompanies their child for the entire time, the volunteer needs to have been fingerprinted and have gone through the Protecting God’s Children program, and their credentials must be up to date and on file with our Safe Environment Coordinator at OLMV (Ms. Zmigrodski). Also, no photos that include children may be included on any social media website or platform or in any publication without the prior written consent of the parent or guardian. Many thanks for your understanding and cooperation
While online giving is the best and easiest way to make offertory and special contributions to the parish, many thanks also to all who use the offertory envelopes for making their weekly and special contributions to the parish.
Collection envelopes are currently sent out every other month to about 1300 families in the parish. This is far more than the number of families that actually use them. In order to cut costs and waste, we are in the process of discontinuing envelopes being sent to any family that has not used its envelopes since January, 2019. You should still retain your envelope number and use it whenever you add or make changes to online giving or make a note of the envelope number on the memo line of your check if you make a contribution by check. If for some reason you would still like to receive envelopes, please call Patty in the parish office.
The best way to support the parish is to enroll in our online giving program. Through this program you can determine your donation amount, select the funds or funds of your choice to which to donate, determine the method of payment, and set the frequency of payments (one-time or recurring). Many thanks for your prayerful support and generosity.