I guess this will be a Mother’s Day to remember. How I always looked forward to inviting all the mothers to come forward to receive a blessing from the community. On this Mother’s Day, we will send the blessing over the live stream and then have a drive thru blessing from 10-11:00 A.M. Motherhood has become an all consuming “adventure” with the added responsibilities of nurse, teacher, short-order cook throughout the day, pandemic rules enforcer, entertainer, peacekeeper, barber - truly a Jackie of all trades! That is why I am reminding everyone that this is the beginning of Mother’s Day WEEK!
On another note, “There is always a silver lining!” The buildings and grounds team has stepped forward as they always do and have come up with a plan to move the transformer near the glass connector before the solar panels are installed. The move is necessary so that the transformer will be off parish property and we will no longer be responsible for it especially as it ages. Initially, the estimate for the work was about $30,000.00. Yikes! Putting their heads together and volunteering to do the digging and preparing the platform for the transformer, has reduced the cost to $16,000.00. Wow what a difference!
Team Solar, who will be installing the Solar Panels has offered $10,000.00 to assist with the project. So, we will take $6,000.00 from our capital fund and move the transformer. With the Coronavirus restrictions, now is an especially good time to do this work while the parking lot is not in regular use. I wish to thank Bill Parent, Tony Claro, Kevin Maldarelli and Rob Callahan for working together during this down time, being creative in getting this necessary project done and reducing the cost to the parish by $24,000.00. Even during a pandemic our committees are working to make sure that things get done here at Sacred Heart.
Our Pastoral Planning Team will be meeting virtually Monday night May 11th at 7:00 P.M. to share wisdom on how to “gather” for Mass once the restrictions are lifted. We know that initially we will be limited to 50 people at a time and social distancing will still be in effect. We need to take into consideration our three RCIA candidates becoming fully initiated Catholics, First Communions, Memorial Masses and the logistics of liturgy. At the moment, we are waiting to hear from Bishop McManus regarding confirmation since all May confirmations have been canceled until further notice. Baccalaureate Celebration for Hopedale High seniors was scheduled to be celebrated at Sacred Heart. We are working with folks at the High School to see what we can come up in the event that we cannot gather as a group.
Again, I thank all of you who have started on-line giving, mailing or dropping your offertory, food for the pantry, money to assist the Mustard Seed and St. Vincent de Paul, so that we can continue to live the Gospel as a Catholic community of faith!