I hope everyone had a very enjoyable St. Patrick’s Day. To assist with house cleaning after the celebrations honoring the Patron Saint of Ireland, our Youth Ministry is holding a Bottle and Can Drive this Wednesday March 22^nd from 9:30-10:00am and from 5-5:30pm in the usual location. The proceeds from this will go to support our upcoming Appalachian Service Project Trip.

Two important Solemnities are occurring this week. Monday we shall celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph, the Patron of the Universal Church. His Feast Day is actually March 19^th, but since this falls on a Sunday of Lent, we’ll get to honor St. Joseph this Monday the 20^th. Because in St. Agatha’s history many Sisters of St. Joseph served both our parish and our school, it is good for us to remember them in our prayers on the Feast of St. Joseph. The other great solemnity that we’ll celebrate will be on Saturday March 25^th, the Feast of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel declared to Mary that Almighty God was asking her to become the mother of His Son, and, thanks be to Mary, for saying, “Yes”! Why celebrate the Annunciation in March, during Lent? The answer is simple biology. March 25^th is 9 months before December 25^th which of course is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas. The usual length of time that a mother is pregnant with her child is, you guessed it, 9 months. So the Annunciation of Mary could also be called the Conception of Jesus. I always enjoy having a brief break from Lent in celebrating these 2 wonderful solemnities in the Church Calendar. After acknowledging our debt of gratitude to Mary this coming Saturday, there will be a 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament Fundraiser, the proceeds of which will help defray expenses for the upcoming ASP trip of our Youth Ministry Program.

Many thanks to those who have contributed to this year’s Catholic Appeal. If you haven’t had the opportunity to submit your appeal envelopes yet, please place them in the collection basket with the parish offertory donations. There will also be a second collection this weekend to support the Church Around the World which provides assistance to Catholic organizations that assist the needy worldwide, including places suffering from natural or human-made disasters, as well as helping to provide funding for the Military Archdiocese which provides spiritual assistance and chaplains for our military men and women here at home and those serving throughout the world.

We are hoping that many parishioners will take advantage of nominating parishioners they know, or even nominate themselves to serve on our parish’s Pastoral Council. If you have already filled out a nomination form, please drop it off in the ballot boxes at most of our church entrances. If you haven’t picked one up yet, the forms are available at these entrances as well. If you prefer to submit a nomination form online, you can access a form on the homepage of our parish website and submit it online or drop it off in the ballot boxes in the Church, or place it in the mail slot at the front door of the rectory. Thank you in advance for taking part in the very important nomination process for our Parish Pastoral Council.

Have a blessed 4^th week of Lent!

Fr. Palardy