At the 11am Mass this weekend we celebrate the graduates from our parish.  For those finishing high school, I have been their pastor throughout their entire academic career to date, and how great it is to see them grow into young adults who know and love the Lord.  We wish these graduates well as they head out into the world.  There will always be a place for them here at Queens, but I hope they will also look for a new church home wherever life takes them.

All Queens families with school age children are invited to the Annual Family Fun Fest sponsored by the Faith Formation Department this Sunday afternoon on the south side of the Queens parking lot.  There will be inflatables, a free hot dog and hamburger lunch and snow cones from the Kona Ice Truck!  This is free and open to everyone!

We have some critical need for help with the inflatables.  It doesn’t require any technical skill – just making sure the kids are safe and that there aren’t too many people using the same one at the same time.  Time is short, the need for help is great, and I need you to visit the Sign-Up Genius link below and sign up for a shift today.  Parents of young children – if you are planning to bring your family, please sign up for a shift while the kids are playing. 

There’s nothing we wouldn’t do for the children.  Spend an hour or two this Sunday helping them to have a good, fun and safe time!  

Join us this Sunday afternoon May 18 at 3pm for a free piano concert given by my dad Larry.  His program will feature George Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ and many other favorites from the great classical composers and from the Golden Age of Hollywood!

There will be a free will offering collected by the St. Maria Goretti Circle of the Ladies Guild to benefit the parish.  The ladies will also host a reception afterward in Vincentian Hall. 

Larry MacDonald is a published author and he will be selling and signing copies of his latest book during the reception.  It is called “Best Picture:  A Critical Look at the Academy Award Winning Films 1927-2022.  It gets a five-star review on Amazon!  My dad also wrote “The Invisible Art of Film Music, a Comprehensive History”.  

I attended this event last year and found it to be a very moving and positive time where the community comes together and pray for the law enforcement officers and deputies who put their lives on the line daily to keep us safe and free. 

If you have the time or energy left after all the other events this Sunday, please go out to Lumen Christi to support all these members of the local law enforcement community.

Jackson Right to Life invites you to join me and Fr. Tim Nelson outside Planned Parenthood at 3pm on Sunday May 25^th for a prayer service celebrating the closure of the clinic in answer to the prayers of countless souls.  Cars can park in the Jet’s/Jimmy John/Vermeulen parking lot west of the clinic and make their way on foot.  We will be standing on the sidewalk while we offer prayers and sing hymns of thanksgiving for this long-awaited closure.  Sadly, the battle for life rages on, especially as abortion now often takes place with medically prescribed pills instead of by procedure in a clinic, so the closing of Planned Parenthood means the battle is moving, not ending.  Jesus, protect and save the unborn.

The St. John Catholic Cemetery on South Street will host the 9:00am outdoor Mass on Monday May 26^th and I will be the celebrant.  Dress for the weather and bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on. If there is rain (more than drizzle) the Mass moves to St. John’s Church.

After Mass the Knights of Columbus invite you to their memorial for the fallen, prisoners of war and those missing in action where we will commemorate the 80^th Anniversary of the end of WWII and the 50^th year since America’s withdrawal from Vietnam.  The Color Corps will conduct a brief ceremony at the memorial and all are invited to come down the hill to that section due south of the cemetery chapel immediately after Mass. 

Queens suspended our Saints and Scholars Campaign for the purposes of undertaking the 2025 DSA.  Though we have gone over goal for DSA, we have not for the Stewardship for Saints and Scholars Capital Campaign for Catholic Education.  We are so close, with pledges of 2,553,000, placing us at 97% of the way to our overall S3 target of $2,665,000.  The 579 donors represent nearly 39% of our 1,500 registered families.  That means there are over 900 families who did not make a gift.  As a parish with a school and a long, rich history of supporting Catholic education, I think it is only right to keep working at this until we have met our goal. 

Though pledge commitments of a multi-year variety are still the best and most reliable way to fundraise toward large goals, now it is all about upping the participation rate to finish off the campaign.

If 250 families made a one-time gift of $500 we would surpass the $112,000 standing between us and victory.  If 102 families made a gift of $1,000 to S3 we would also surpass our target.  

The monies raised for saints and scholars will be spent on teachers, schools and tuition, not adding to the diocesan coffers.  The diocese is paying for the campaign but making nothing from it.  S3 establishes endowments to ensure that we hire, train and retrain well educated teachers who live their faith and spread it by word and example.  At the same time, S3 funds will provide bonuses to new families in our Catholic schools and vast increases in the amount of diocesan financial aid given to families who demonstrate need all across our K-12 system.  

If you haven’t already made a gift to saints and scholars, now is your chance. Maybe you have some leftovers from a tax refund or a distribution from a retirement account?  There are still S3 envelopes at the doors of church or you can use the link below.

Inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, directly over the empty tomb of the Risen Christ. 

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teaching” (Heb 13:8-9).

Fr. Tim MacDonald

Pastor