...the supremacy of God
in all things...
OUR PURPOSE: To connect people to GOD and to each other
My dear people of God,
Good day everyone. I hope this email finds you and all of your family members in good health.
Since I started broadcasting online our daily and Sunday Masses, I have just one theme in my homilies: Keep calm and carry on. God is still in control of this world. A scared world needs a fearless church. When all nations are panicking, we believe everything in this world will come to pass, but the power God has given to his us, his children during the plague, will greatly glorify His name.
People need hope. We all need hope. That's what the Christian faith offers, it offers hope in an uncertain world. People are scared, they're panicking, and that's why it's so important for us Christians not to cower in fear during this time.
I don't think God wants us to be paralyzed of fear over this very real threat to our nation, but at the same time, we need to balance our faith with practical precautions to take. I want to be very clear that I believe that everyone of us ought to follow the guidance to not assemble during this crisis. As your shepherd, I have an obligation to not only protect members of our parish but the safety of our communities and our entire nation. Observe the government regulations, wash your hands. That's not a lack of faith.
APPEAL FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
In addition to the health concerns everyone is having, we are very aware that some of you may also be experiencing economic issues as a result of this pandemic, and our prayers for a speedy exit from this national emergency go out to you and to all who are suffering during this stressful time.
Today, every church has trouble meeting its financial needs. Our church, Immaculate Conception Church and other parishes throughout our area are experiencing a drastic drop in income. Even though the church is "closed", there are still fixed expenses that must be paid, such as gas & electric, water, cable, phones, grounds maintenance, general maintenance, staff salaries (Parish Manager, Bookkeeper, Music Ministy, Religious Education, Religious Youth Coordinator, etc.) We made drastic adjustments and implemented several cost-cutting measures and keep our expenses down. I also have directed our Part-time staff members to reduce their work hours to a bare minimum.
If you are financially able, we ask that you please continue to support Immaculate Conception Church with your weekly contributions. You can do this in either of the following ways:
Automatic Donations
Sign up for the automatic donations program "Parish Giving" through the link
on the Parish Website: https://www.iccmahwah.org/ and click the link to “Parish Giving.”
Direct One-time Donation
Here is the direct link to Parish Giving.
Copy and paste this to you address bar in your browser or click:
https://www.parishgiving.org/index?e=AB2EE3B0E4145C9C80C19D15E4B5F005D21DA7816EE6E6B9
Mail Weekly Envelope
Mail your weekly envelope to the church
If you need assistance to sign-up for our online donation “Parish Giving,” please call our Office Manager Josephine at 201-710-0388.
ONLINE MASSES
If you are on Facebook, please join me in our daily and Sunday Masses via Facebook Live.
For those of you who are not on Facebook, please join me every day at 9:00 AM for a Live streaming of our Daily and Sunday Masses.
For those who have difficulty with live streaming, remember that both CFN and EWTN are televising Masses and the recitation of the Rosary at multiple times during the day.
If you have optimum cable, CFN broadcasts on channel 137 and EWTN on channel 135.
REACH OUT TO MORE PARISHIONERS
Not everyone of our parishioners are in my E-Mail list. Please feel free to forward this to whoever you know has connection to our parish.
God bless you. Thank you very much and praying for your safety and good health.
Fr. Manolo Punzalan
Pastor
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE INFORMATION
DURING THE RENOVATION
OUR WEEKEND MASSES WILL BE HELD AT:
MARYREST CHAPEL
770 Darlington Ave, Mahwah NJ 07430
Saturday - 4:00 P.M.
Sunday - 7:30, 9:30 and 11:30 AM
Weekday Masses will be held at
Galilee Hall at 12:00 P.M.
and Saturday at 9:00 A.M.
My dear parishioners,
Peace and every blessing!
I am happy to announce to you we will finally start our church renovation project. In this regard, beginning January 11/12, 2020, we will celebrate all our weekend Masses at the beautiful Maryrest Chapel at 770 Darlington Ave, less than a mile away from our church. Our Daily Masses will be at the Galilee Hall in our Pastoral Center.
I can only thank you for all that you do for our church. Your passion for the renovation project is worth noting and thus, laudable. I thank God for the people like you who are generous stewards of the gifts of Time, Talent and Treasure that God has entrusted to us.
Since my arrival here I tried my best to instill in you a very simple concept: this church and parish do not belong to me but they belong to you! All of us form this family of faith. The purpose of the ministries of our church was to develop our mission as Catholic Christians, build up our parish and local community. In other words, I want you to believe and feel deep within you that yes, this is my church, this is my parish!
To each and every one of you, we may go and celebrate Eucharist to other churches giving certain circumstances, but our parish is Our Lady of Immaculate conception. The sense of belonging is important because while we acknowledge that the Church in general is, of course, much larger than our parish, there is a place we can call our spiritual home, just like our physical homes.
This our parish. Its future depends on us and our parish community. We support it, we love it, through thick and thin and we’re going to build this community up it doesn’t matter who the pastor is. In the end, pastors come and go but you, as parishioners, remain. It is true that a pastor can shape and direct the “boat” in a certain direction but in the end the pastor cannot do it
by himself. That’s where parishioners’ role comes in especially if all of us feel and have that sense of belonging.
Don’t leave us because there is discomfort. Don’t leave us because it requires more effort. It is in this time that your church needs you more than ever.
And I conclude with our prayer: “relying solely on Your loving Providence, we seek only to renovate this church according to Your will, and we beg of You the grace and continual assistance so that it may be thus accomplished.”
May God who has begun the work in us, bring it to fulfillment.
Yours sincerely,
Fr. Manolo
Pastor