St. Gertrude Catholic Parish

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Dear St. Gertrude,

We are mourning in this season of Thanksgiving. So much death: Mary Ellen Maloney, Phyllis Johnson, Elizabeth Walsh, Bobbie Fitzgerald, and John Donoghue. All are greatly missed. Please keep the families in your prayers and thoughts.

Thanksgiving itself will have full recognition here. It starts this afternoon at the Ismaili Center on Broadway. Our Muslim brothers and sisters have invited all the congregations that are part of ECRA (Edgewater congregations) to the annual Thanksgiving celebration. This will be the first time that we will celebrate at their place. They still are fasting for Ramadan. The celebration will begin at 3:00 p.m. and so the sun will be down by the time it is over. We can share a piece of pumpkin pie.

On Thursday we will have the great Pilgrims and Indians pageant at the 10:00 a.m. Mass. This surefire annual epic takes us back to the first Thanksgiving. We get seasick with the Mayflower pilgrims, we catch cold with our new immigrants, we go hungry through a harsh winter, and we feast with the Native Americans singing Hooray for God! Originally produced by Sister Clem, now an all-time favorite “ you have to be there. In stereo sound and Cinemascope.

Not only that but we are to have an amazing labyrinth in our parking lot. No one knows how it got there, but mysteriously canned goods appearing forming the same pattern as the labyrinth within the Cathedral of Chartres. This same phenomenon happened two years ago. Various theories have tried to explain how cans of tomato paste and French beans have found themselves in formation providing an interesting spiritual exercise path for the cognoscenti. You have to see it to believe it. The labyrinth will be available the night before and the day of Thanksgiving. If you have cans of food which you want to be part of the display and which will eventually find their way to Care for Real for the poor, please drop the cans off at church today or at the beginning of the week.

Next Sunday we have the beginning for the Church year. It is called the First Sunday of Advent. We have a different Mass schedule. The combined Mass is at 11:00 a.m. We combine the 10:00, the gym Mass, and the 11:30 to make a very festive celebration. We hope that the parish has a sense of the depth and breadth of the membership. Please plan on joining us at the 11:00 Mass next Sunday.

And don’t forget the St. Nick Bazaar in two weeks!

WK

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Filed under: Dear Saint Gertrude