Third Sunday of Advent

News and Notes:  A note to St. Maria Goretti Parishioners:  there will only be one 4PM Mass at SMG on Christmas Eve, Wednesday, December 24.  Despite our best efforts to secure another priest to celebrate a second 4PM Mass in the Church Hall, we have not been successful.  This is due to the growing shortage of priests in the Archdiocese of Boston and the popularity of the 4PM Christmas Vigil Mass in so many parishes.  We do have a 6PM Mass at SMG on Christmas Eve however, and so we recommend that parishioners from SMG and OLA consider attending that Mass instead of the very crowded 4PM Mass.  As I write this column, we do not have lay ministers to read, serve, distribute Holy Communion, or usher at this 6PM Christmas Eve Mass at SMG.  If this Mass is to continue in the future, we really need our ministers to step up and serve this year.  There will be a second 4PM Mass at OLA in the School Cafeteria with Fr. Farrell presiding, so if you wish to attend Mass at 4PM on 12/24 that is an option for everybody.  The one and only collection at all Christmas Masses will benefit the Clergy Funds, to support the retirement, medical and financial needs of the priests of the Archdiocese.  If you wish to make a Christmas or end of the year donation to your home parish, please mark this intention clearly on an envelope or in the memo line of your check, and place it in the collection basket in the next few weeks, or send it to OLA, 17 Grove Street or SMG, 112 Chestnut Street, Lynnfield, MA 01940.  Fr. Tony and I are so grateful for your kind and generous support of us and our ministry in your midst.  Don’t forget to join us for the Second Annual Christmas Concert featuring Jim Dennis this Sunday, 12/14 at 2:30PM in OLA Church.  All proceeds from the concert will benefit families who qualify for tuition assistance for their children at OLA School.  The concert will honor Sr. Josephine who is celebrating her Golden Jubilee as a Sister of St. Francis and over three decades of teaching at OLA School.  Advent blessings to all of you in the week ahead!