Dear Parishioners,

I have a couple short topics I would like to discuss in today’s bulletin letter.

• Sponsor a Student Program.Last weekend at almost all the Masses, we had students from St. Rose and St. Catherine talk about supporting Catholic Schools. I don’t think they made it clear, though, that this was supposed to encourage people to support the Sponsor A Student Program. If you are interested in helping local students attend Catholic school, then please feel free to check out the cards on the tables in the back of Church. I know many of you may still feel hurt that we had to close our own school. However, Catholic Education is very important for the future of the Church and even if we do not have a school here, it is still a good thing to support it when we can. So, at least, please pray for our Catholic schools, its teachers and its students.
• Five first Saturday devotions.This past weekend, we had a Latin Mass dedicated to St. Ignatius of Antioch. When I originally planned this Mass, I was considering it to be the start of a Five First Saturday devotion. But then I realized that there’s a conflict in the schedule and decided to postpone the idea for the Fall. The Five First Saturday devotion is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Fatima and is in reparation for the sins of the world. If someone attends Five First Saturday Masses in a row, receives communion worthily, goes to confession (either a week before or after), prays 5 decades of the Rosary and spends 15 minutes in front of the Blessed Sacrament praying over the mysteries, they are promised the grace of final perseverance. I think this is a great devotion that the world needs and I thought having a Latin Mass would attract more people to it. That is still the plan. But it will have to wait for the Fall.
• President Trump spoke at the March for Life.I was at the March on Friday and I’m very glad that our president spoke there,in person.The March for Life is hardly spoken about in the news media. But, it is undeniable that it is a great sign that we really live in a pro-life nation and we ought to make changes. So, thank you to President for supporting the pro-life cause.
• Our Lenten Cohort Mission is coming up! The week of March 8th, Fr. Kevin O’Neill will be visiting the Cohort Churches and leading the Cohort Lenten Mission on March 9th (at St. Rose, Belmar), 10th (at St. Margaret’s, Spring Lake) and 11th (here at Holy Innocents) at 7pm. Please come out to it! That just about covers it for the week. If anyone would like to contact me, please email me at toddcarterpriest@gmail.com. I hope everyone has a wonderful Feast of the Presentation of our Lord. It’s only 326 more days until Christmas!

God bless!

Father Carter