Dear Parishioners and Friends:
 

A word of congratulations to the 85 young members of our parish who celebrated their First Holy Communion this weekend. Keep them in your prayers and congratulations to their parents and to all of their catechists and teachers. A special word of thanks to Tina Silvestro, Director of Religious Education, Caroline Sliney, our School Principal and Nick Fargione, the head of our Lower School.

There is, as we know, a special need for peace to reign in our troubled world. Pope Francis has stated: “it is never the use of violence that leads to peace...war begets war and violence begets violence……. Peace is a gift of God, but requires our efforts. Let us be people of peace in prayer and deed …….Let us pray for peace and let us bring it about starting in our own homes..”  

To date our parish has raised $47,160 of our goal of $135,000 for the Cardinal’s Annual Stewardship Appeal. Thank you to the 160 members who have contributed to date, If you have not yet done so, I would ask you to please prayerfully consider a donation to the Appeal. This Appeal funds so many worthy projects and I hope each of us can do something towards it. Thank you for your support and your understanding.

Memorial Day is only a week and day away and many parishioners will be out of town for summer weekends, unable to make their weekly parish donations.  So I would ask you, if you are not yet part of it, to please consider using “We Share.” It is an easy way to support Blessed Sacrament throughout the year - even when you are unable to attend Mass here at the parish.

With a “We Share” account, you can make weekly, monthly or one time donations.  And there is no need to carry checks, credit card, cash or envelopes - So you will never miss a Mass collection.  Pick up a flyer for more information or You can enroll at blessedsacramentnyc.org. 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY and YOUR UNDERSTANDING! 

As you can see, our new digital organ has been delivered and is being installed these days. This instrument will serve to enhance our music program and hopefully help each of us raise our minds and hearts more fully to God in worship. The current state of our Casavant pipe organ is not good. Water damage, mold, cracked wind chests, leaking wind lines, damaged leather on the organ’s interior, and poor wiring have all compromised its life span. While we have worked to keep the Casavant sounding for the past few years, it has become unreliable and the cost to keep up the patchwork has become too expensive. Proceeds from insurance from these past damages to our pipe organ as well as one donor have funded the installation of the new electronic organ.  Again, it is our hope that a new pipe organ will one day become a reality for us. In the meantime I am grateful to have such a worthy digital instrument at our service.

Let us all, pray for peace.

Father Duffell