This Sunday gives us only a week and a half until Holy Week. Palm Sunday is next Sunday! Lent is quickly coming to an end with the celebration of the Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection on the horizon! What a wonderful celebration this will be!
Please take advantage of our times for confession or go to confession at other parishes. We didn’t have a Penance Service this year because of some logistics. Check social media, our website, and the bulletin for further information about their Services. The Sacrament of Confession is a perfect way to create a beautiful space in your soul to celebrate these Pascual Mysteries in a couple of weeks! Keep your eyes up and look forward to the day of peace, your redemption is at hand!
2025 Gala of Giving for St. James Catholic School
On Saturday, March 29, at the American Legion Ballroom on Bull Street, the 2025 Annual Gala of Giving was attended by many of our St. James parishioners and others! Everyone had a lovely time supporting St. James through sponsorships, purchasing tickets, raffles, a silent auction, a live auction, and a chance to just give in support of the school. To say it was quite successful is an understatement! The generosity of our St. James family was on full display and it was fantastic to behold! The proceeds go towards funding the furniture and infrastructure in the new classrooms and offices soon to be built.
I want to use this space to send a special Thank You to Marcia Larner, Chair of this year’s Gala. She was charged to elevate the Gala experience and she knocked it out of the park, out of the yard, and onto the streets beyond! Her energy and ideas pushed St. James to new heights and made this above and beyond the signature fundraising event for our School! She and her team of Keisha Brown, Jennifer Forbes, Thabo Hall, Joanna Little, Nicole Mayberry, Krystal Rolley, Nicole Whitt, Meaghan Keiffer, and our Advancement office staff, Stephanie Painter, Megan O’Neil, and Kaitie Hotard, cannot be commended enough for all the hard work, blood, sweat, and tears that went into producing an event that launch our school into the future! Ladies, Sr. Joan and I thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Church and School Construction Update
We are on target for a mid to late June reentry into the Church! The scaffold is coming down and the new lighting plan and fixtures are being installed. The new flooring in the narthex and the Sanctuary will be laid soon! Be on the lookout for pictures on social media, email blasts, and the bulletin!
We are putting together the final engineered drawings to our General Contractor and then turning to the County for permits, permissions, and approvals so that we can begin site work as soon as school ends. Please pray for smooth and speedy permitting!
St. James the Less, pray for us!
May you and your family have a blessed and beautiful week!
~ Fr. Daniel Firmin