ARE YOU NEW TO OUR PARISH? WELCOME!
Welcome to those who want to make our parish their faith home. You may have come from other places. You may have been “away for a while”. Be assured that we love to have you among us. We would appreciate it very much if you identified yourself at Mass. It would also help if you would take the time to fill out a registration form. The next time you are with us, you may leave it in the collection basket or give it to one of the ushers or to the priest. Thank you and welcome.

NEXT BAPTISMS FOR OUR LADY OF VICTORY - ST. MALACHY - SUNDAY JULY 29TH
We normally celebrate baptisms 5 times a year. One is usually towards the end of June. This one is delayed a little, but we hope that those requesting baptism for their son-daughter can fit into what is possible for us.

Baptism does not stand on its own. Our normal practice is to have three evenings of reflection in preparation for the baptism. For this July 29th baptism, the preperation sessions are set for Tuesday, July 10th, Monday, July 16th and Monday, July 23rd. The children to be baptized will be presented to the parish community during the July 22nd Sunday Mass.

GETTING READY FOR THE NEW PRIEST
A small group of us (Susan Lemieux, Bill Cameron, Ellen Butler, Father Bill) have been meeting to share ideas on the new situation that will be upon us when, at the end of August, Gather Bill will be leaving us and when, we hope, Father Gyan Prakash will be taking his place. That will be a new situation for us. First of all, the new priest will be serving us from St. Aloysius where he will reside. This means, in fact, that we will not have a resident priest at O.L.V. Secondly, as mentioned before, Father Gyan Prakash’s ministry will be limited for the time being, because he does not simply come from another parish in our diocese. He comes from another country, and from another church experience. We have tried to identify what the implications of this two-fold new situation are. (By the way, St. Aloysius and St. Columban are going through a similar exercise, albeit in a different format.)

It is amazing what sort of things we have to think of. It was felt that it may be helpful to share our preliminary findings with our parishioners so that they be aware of them too. This, it is hoped, may trigger an interest and an active involvement on the part of our parishioners in making the transition a little less painful. It is so easy to take things of parish life for granted and simply presume that “somebody looks after them”. It is only when, through circumstances, we are sort of forced to spell them out that we become more aware of them. We could call it a consciousness-raising exercise.

What are some of the things that have surfaced?

• Travel and accommodation
  Father Gyan Prakash comes from India where they drive on the left side of the road. That means that in the beginning someone will have to get him from St. Aloysius and get him back and forth to St. Malachy. He may at times want to stay overnight and do some work at the O.L.V. rectory. So the rectory has to be prepared for that. A very mundane matter – who will open and close the church in time for parish activities?



• Secretarial services
  At present the parish secretary in here only on Monday and Thursday afternoons. So we have to make sure that telephone calls are picked up regularly and that there is some process for liaison with St. Aloysius and with our internal support group.



• Pastoral activities
  Parish life is about more that having Mass on Sunday. How do we slowly introduce him to various areas of parish life: liturgy, faith formation, fellowship, service to society? In some of these the pries is directly involved, for others he will need to work in close cooperation with parishioners, still others, he would want to know about while parishioners take care of them. Than means that we will have to have some internal support group in place, for example for funerals, for baptism, for special liturgies, for preparation for sacraments, etc.



• Parish bulletin
  Who will take responsibility for the content of the parish bulletin? The present pastor has had the tendency to “editorialize” a number of parish activities and he has tried to use the bulletin at times as a tool for ongoing faith formation. Will we continue that trend and, if so, who will take the lead on that?

Most likely other items will surface in the process. All in all, even if the new situation is somewhat forced on us, this could be an exciting experience for us all. There is no way that one or two persons will have to carry the load. We can pitch in in a variety of ways. Surely, we could want to rise to the occasion.

OUR LADY OF KNOCK SHRINE PILGRIMAGE - SUNDAY, AUGUST 12TH
We receive a number of flyers or brochures announcing various pilgrimages. Many people love to take part in those. But let us not forget the one closer to home, actually in our own backyard. That is the one in Mayo. It is usually celebrated around the 15th of August, the feast of the Assumption of Mary and honours Our Lady of Knock. This year it takes place on Sunday August 12th.

You can make a complete day of it in beautiful surroundings. And there is a real prayerful atmosphere. The major components are:

• Celebration of the Eucharist at 11:00 a.m.
• Lunch is available after Mass
• The Rosary is recited on the way to the Cemetery where prayers are said
• Adoration and Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament
• Healing Service concludes the day.

A good number of O.L.V. parishioners help in putting it on. That is much appreciated. In fact, it would be a great development if we could make it into a joint effort of both St. Malachy and O.L.V. parishes. Anyone interested in making this beautiful event work could call Claire Butler at 819-986-6818.

RELAY FOR LIFE
Thank you to all who sponsored me in the Relay for Life event last Friday night. I raised over $100 for my team and the team raised over $3,000 towards the goal to "Make cancer history". I set my first 'world record' by staying up all night long with most of the adults and walking and running with them around the track at the Nepean Sportsplex. My team even won a trophy! Thanks again. [Signed, Fergus Pearson]