From Fr. Steve Lacroix, CSC

By |June 12th, 2021|

Every summer we do a lot of work to maintain and upgrade our facilities, so today I’ll give you an update so that you have an idea of what’s going on around the parish.  In addition to the normal things that we do every year (carpet cleaning, floor waxing, etc.) there will be a few items that are more disruptive, particularly those associated with restoration from the damage done by the sacristy fire in February.  (This work was delayed until the insurance claim was approved, but we also tried to make sure that the most disruptive parts of this work took place over the summer rather than when school was in session.)  Here is some of what you can expect to see over the summer.

 

¨ We will be reinstalling the sound system in the church June 14th through the 17th.  We’ve been using a backup sound system since the sacristy fire, but now they’re ready to install the new system, which hopefully means we’ll be on a permanent system soon.  Please note that daily Mass will be in the basement the week of June 14th while work is being done in the church.  They’ll be all wrapped up in time for Sunday Mass to return to the church that weekend.

¨ We will also be finishing up the cleaning/ice-blasting of our interior brick the following week, June 22nd through the 25th.  This is a section of brick (leading into the sacristy from the church) which has not yet been cleaned since the fire.  Because of the mess and the noise involved, Mass during the week of June 22nd will also need to be moved to the basement, and once again, we’ll be able to return to the church […]

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From Fr. Steve Lacroix, CSC

By |June 5th, 2021|

I thought I’d use this column to give you all an update on the status of our capital campaign and our bridge loan to the diocese.  I mentioned to you in a bulletin earlier this year that we were taking out a bridge loan from the diocese to pay our final construction costs.  This was expected, as we haven’t yet collected all of our pledges from the capital campaign.  (Payments will continue on campaign pledges throughout the rest of this year.)  The bridge loan enabled us to pay off our final construction costs while we await the receipt of these payments.

 

I also mentioned in that same bulletin that our total collections from the campaign will end up falling short of the total construction costs, although I didn’t have a final number to give you at the time.  While I think we and our contractors did a really good job of keeping our construction costs under control (especially since this project took place right in the middle of the COVID pandemic, which created a ton of challenges for us), we still had some unexpected costs in completing the addition.  The bridge loan will allow us to pay down these cost overruns without re-opening a campaign or dipping into savings, since it allows us to spread out these costs over three years.

 

Since we’ve now started paying on the principal of this bridge loan, we’ll begin publishing a monthly report on our progress so that you’ll be able to see the exact amount of our debt to the diocese, as well as our progress in paying it down.  All of you were so unbelievably generous in making this project happen, so I want to make sure we’re as […]

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From Father Steve Lacroix, CSC

By |May 22nd, 2021|

One of the benefits of being a Holy Cross parish is that we are blessed with the presence of our men in formation, both seminarians and brothers, whom we get to welcome into our parish.  Over the past couple of summers we’ve been able to host guys for their summer placements, during which time we’ve been able to get them involved in all sorts of areas of parish life.  During the school year we also benefit from guys from Moreau who do their ministry placements.  This year we had men in formation performing all sorts of service, including tutoring, school counseling, Religious Education, Young Adult Ministry and even substitute teaching!  These men are a great witness to our parish, and our parishioners are a great witness to them.  It’s a real testament to the goodness of our parishioners that Holy Cross keeps entrusting these young men to do part of their formation with us.

 

I’m very excited to let you know that we’ll have a seminarian from Moreau Seminary living with us at Christ the King for part of this summer.  Peter Puleo is from St. Louis, Missouri and is currently in his second year of temporary vows with the Congregation of Holy Cross.  He moved into the rectory this weekend and will remain with us until June 21st.  Because school will be in session for the first few weeks of his time with us, he’ll spend quite a bit of time helping out in the school.  He’ll also work on various projects for the parish, and you’ll be hearing more about those in the weeks to come.  (He’ll also be helping out at the Catholic Worker when he’s not at Christ the King.)  You’ll also […]

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From Fr. Steve Lacroix, CSC

By |May 15th, 2021|

The Christ the King Virtual Auction is coming up this Friday, May 21st, from 6:30pm to 7:30pm!  This is our 5th auction, and it’s a really important event for our parish.  It’s by far the largest single fundraiser that we have in the parish and school, and its success has been critical in keeping our school in good financial shape without constant fundraising or huge tuition increases.  (We’ve been able to keep tuition increases under 3% the last few years, and the auction has been an important reason why.)

 

Of course, in a COVID environment things are much different, so this year’s auction will be virtual instead of an in-person event.  While we’ll definitely miss being together (which has always been a blast in the past), this will still be a great community-building event, and we need all of your support to make it successful!

 

Here’s how you can support the auction:

 

Bid on auction items! Bidding is live right now, and it’s easy to participate. Here’s what you need to do:

Go to bit.ly/CTKauction2021
Click SIGN UP to register.
Once you are signed up and logged in, you can click on the tab that says, SILENT AUCTION. You are free to browse and bid!
There are also spots on the auction website to make outright donations toward the purchase of specific items, so there are ways for you to give even if you choose not to bid on anything.
Bidding closes at 7:30 pm on May 21.

 

Attend the Virtual Auction on Friday May 21st at 6:30pm.

Go to bit.ly/CTKauction2021
Click on SIGN UP to register (or simply click LOG IN if you have already registered).
The Virtual Auction will begin at 6:30 pm. You will […]

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From Father Steve Lacroix, CSC

By |May 8th, 2021|

Happy Mother’s Day!  Today is a day when all of us give thanks for our mothers, grandmothers and other women who have had a formative influence on us (appropriately timed during this month of May, when we traditionally honor our Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary).  I know it’s been a little challenging to celebrate Mother’s Day the way we have in the past; while we’re not in a hard lockdown like we were last Mother’s Day, I know that in-person get-togethers are still a little tougher than they used to be.  I also know that there are some for whom this day is a bit of a struggle – I think of our parishioners who have lost their mothers over this past year, as well as families who are estranged.  (Please keep these parishioners in your prayers in a special way today.)  But I hope that this is a day when we can reach out to those influential mothers in our lives with expressions of love and gratitude for the many ways that they have been instruments of Christ’s love to us throughout our lives.  So often in Scripture, “a mother’s love” is used as an image of perfect, unconditional love, and I hope that each of us has experienced this glimpse of the Father’s love through these special women in our lives.

 

Here at Christ the King, we usually have a few different ways in which we honor and support mothers around this time of year.  To echo the mantra of the past year, these things will look a little different this year, but I hope we’ll still be able to support them.

 

¨ Over the past few weeks, you had the opportunity to support the Women’s […]

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From Fr. Steve Lacroix, CSC

By |May 1st, 2021|

This weekend we are excited to celebrate First Communions for our children.  Last year, of course, we ended up having to postpone First Communions for several months due to the pandemic, so this year we’re excited to have these Masses at the traditional time of year.  Our kids have been preparing for this all year – including receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time in December – so it will be great to see these younger parishioners join us at the table of the Lord.  The only change this year is that we will have First Communion at two separate Masses this weekend instead of at one of our regular Sunday Masses, but we hope that next year we’re able to celebrate First Communions at Sunday Mass like we’ve done for so many years.

 

One of the (many) things that makes First Communion such a special time for our parish is that it reminds all of us how important and sacred Holy Communion is.  Sometimes it can be easy to take the sacrament for granted; compared to many times in our Church’s history (and compared to many parts of the world today), we have ready access to the sacrament – think of how many options we have for when we can attend Mass each Sunday, or even every day.  I hope that the events of the past year, when so many people were cut off from the sacraments in a way that they’d never experienced before, have made us all appreciate how special and important the sacraments are.  The Eucharist, in particular, is an incredibly intimate encounter that we have with the Lord, where His Body and Blood become part of our body and […]

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From Fr. Steve Lacroix, CSC

By |April 19th, 2021|

Over the last couple of weeks, you may have noticed a few changes at Mass. Towards the end of March, the diocese gave us some revised guidelines regarding COVID safety, and this has allowed us to make some adjustments that we hope our parishioners enjoy. One of the first things you’ve probably noticed is that we’ve been able to fill the baptismal font, as well as the holy water fonts at all entrances. I know that many people have greatly missed holy water since we drained the font over a year ago, so I was very excited that we were able to reintroduce it. (It seemed especially appropriate that we were able to reintroduce holy water on Easter. It was also incredibly special to be able to baptize four of our parishioners in the newly-filled font.)

Another change you may have noticed involves the music at Mass. Jessica has done an amazing job over the past year adapting to the tight restrictions on singing that were required under COVID, and we’ve been very blessed to have beautiful liturgical music throughout this whole time; but I know that congregational singing has been greatly missed. Just prior to Lent, the diocese gave us some revised guidelines that relaxed these restrictions a bit. We put those changes in place at the 5pm and 8:45am Masses, but we didn’t reintroduce congregational singing at the other Masses. The Pastoral Team figured that this would be a good way to reintroduce singing while still giving an option to folks who weren’t quite comfortable with that yet. After testing the waters during the 40 days of Lent, we decided to reintroduce singing at all Masses beginning Easter Sunday. Parishioners are now allowed to […]

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From Fr. Steve Lacroix, CSC

By |April 11th, 2021|

Congratulations, Fr. Geoff!  On Saturday April 10th, he and his classmates were ordained to the priesthood, and on Sunday he celebrates his first Mass here at Christ the King at 12:15pm.  We are so grateful to God for calling Fr. Geoff to the priesthood, and just as grateful to Fr. Geoff for answering that call so joyfully and zealously.  Please pray for him during this special weekend.  I’m very excited about the priestly ministry that he will offer to our parish family.

 

Over the years, Christ the King has had many transitional deacons assigned here to prepare for and begin their priestly ministry.  This is a real testament to you, our parishioners.  Clearly those responsible for our men’s formation believe that Christ the King is a good place to learn to be a priest, and that’s mostly because of you!  I especially appreciate the many ways that you’ve been there for Fr. Geoff this year. It has been a strange year to be a deacon.  I know he’s missed out on so many of the things our deacons normally get to do to enter into the life of the parish, things as simple as greeting parishioners after Mass, or knowing what your parishioners look like without a mask on!  He’s done a tremendous job of finding creative ways to get to know Christ the King and become a valuable part of this parish, and you all have had a big part in that.  Many of you have gone out of your way to reach out to him and support him in his ministry.  I know he’s very grateful for that, and as Pastor, so am I.

 

We won’t get to have the usual reception that we have […]

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From Fr. Steve Lacroix, CSC

By |April 3rd, 2021|

Alleluia!  He is risen!  It always feels good to say that after 40 days of Lent, but that is especially true this year.  Last year we were unable to gather in person for our Easter celebration, so it feels especially good to celebrate it together (as well as with our parishioners who continue to watch the livestream Mass at home – we miss you and pray for you on this holy day).  I thought I’d take this opportunity to share with you some of Pope Francis’ Easter homily from last year, written during the middle of the COVID lockdowns.  I hope this message will continue to give us hope as we try to emerge from this pandemic with a stronger faith.  God bless you all!

 

“After the Sabbath” (Mt 28:1), the women went to the tomb.  This is how the Gospel of this holy Vigil began: with the Sabbath.  It is the day of the Easter Triduum that we tend to neglect as we eagerly await the passage from Friday’s cross to Easter Sunday’s Alleluia.  This year however, we are experiencing, more than ever, the great silence of Holy Saturday.  We can imagine ourselves in the position of the women on that day.  They, like us, had before their eyes the drama of suffering, of an unexpected tragedy that happened all too suddenly.  They had seen death and it weighed on their hearts.  Pain was mixed with fear: would they suffer the same fate as the Master?  Then too there was fear about the future and all that would need to be rebuilt.  A painful memory, a hope cut short.  For them, as for us, it was the darkest hour.

 

Yet in this situation the women did […]

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From Fr. Steve Lacroix, CSC

By |March 30th, 2021|

Holy Week begins today, and our Triduum liturgies are just around the corner.  We all remember that last year our churches were closed for Holy Week, which meant that people could only participate virtually.  I’m very excited that this year we’ll be able to celebrate the Triduum liturgies in the church again!  It will be so good to be back in the church together as a parish family for these special days.  Of course, things will look different this year as we continue to operate under COVID safety restrictions, so here’s the information you’ll need to know in order to make plans.

 

¨  HOLY THURSDAY (APRIL 1ST):

o   Morning Prayer will be offered in the church at 8:30am.

o   We have been given permission to offer two different Masses of the Lord’s Supper, so you may attend Mass at either 5:30pm or 7:30pm.

o   We’ll have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the church basement after the 7:30pm Mass, concluding with Night Prayer at 10pm.

GOOD FRIDAY (APRIL 2ND): 

o   Morning Prayer will be offered in the church at 8:30am.

o   We have been given permission to have two Good Friday services, so you may attend at either 12pm

  or 3pm.

o   Veneration of the Cross will continue until 7pm.

o   Stations of the Cross will be offered at 7pm.

EASTER VIGIL (APRIL 3RD): 

o   Morning Prayer will be offered in the church at 8:30am.

o   Our traditional food blessing will take place at 1pm in the church basement.

o   The Easter Vigil will begin at 9pm.

EASTER SUNDAY (APRIL 4TH):

o   We’ll observe our normal Sunday Mass schedule:  7am, 8:45am, 10:30am, 12:15pm

o   When these Masses fill up, people will be directed downstairs for overflow Masses at each of these times.

o   If the overflow Masses fill up, we will be set up for folks to watch a livestream of the Masses from the new gym

o   Communion will be distributed […]

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