Pastor's Weekly Message

Third Sunday of Lent, 22-23 March 2025

Dear Fellow Saints-in-the-Making,

Greetings in Christ Jesus, the Living Water!

This Third Sunday of Lent is the first Sunday of Spring. A time of new growth, brighter light, and length of days to cheer our winter-worn hearts! I know we are all grateful for Springtime.

As is the woman at the well whose encounter with Jesus is literally life-transforming [This will be the Gospel proclaimed at the 10:30 Mass when our Catechumens and Candidates will participate in the First Scrutiny]. She has found the One Who has turned the Winter of her sins into the Spring of Grace, the One Whose brilliant Light casts out the darkness of her sins, the One Who is the unending Day, the One in Whom flows springs of lifegiving water. She brought an empty jar to the well and yet leaves with a soul overflowing with joy. Indeed the Samaritan woman is experiencing a Spring of an altogether different kind.

As do we each time we come to Confession, where we bring the empty jar of our sinful soul and leave brimming over with the Grace of God’s Mercy. Please mark your calendars for our Parish Reconciliation Service April 9 at 5pm where TWELVE (12!!!!) Priests will hear confessions. Please, do NOT wait for Holy Week to make your confession. Coming to Confession on April 9 will greatly minimize your wait time, because there will be TWELVE (12!!!!) Priests available. Confessions are also available on Saturday mornings (but NOT Holy Saturday). Please plan accordingly to have your empty jar willed with the lifegiving water of Christ’s Mercy!

God love you! I do.

Fr. Lewis

PS: Thank you to all who are participating in the Bishop’s annual Faith and Charity Catholic Appeal: “Together in Hope,” which assists many charitable programs throughout the Diocese and here at home in Sussex County and at St. Jude. If you were away last weekend, please take an envelope and prayerfully considering participating in this year’s Catholic Appeal.

Update on Extending Our Arms Expanding Our Hearts

While Pastor Notes over the past several months have featured various updates on our building campaign for the renovation and expansion of our church, some members of our parish family remain unaware of the current status of the campaign. This “boxed” section is meant to catch the eye for easy-to-find updates so that, in combination with online updates and Constant Contact emails, we might communicate more clearly about our campaign.



Many of you might be wondering how long we will have to be out of the building during the renovation and expansion of our church. Thankfully, not as long as one might have expected. We have carefully considered how to maximize our time inside the church. To that end, the construction of the transepts will take place first, but they will be constructed from the outside in. Therefore, we will only need to vacate the church building at the time when the completed transepts will be connected to the church. We are doing everything possible to minimize the amount of time we are outside of the church.  During that time, Masses might be held in the PLC as they were in 2018 when our sanctuary was being renovated, but we are also looking at other convenient and comfortable options to accommodate the, thank God, hundreds of faithful who attend our Masses. Once the transepts are joined to the church and the permit is granted to return to the church, we will return, and we will be able to remain in the church even while the vestibule is being extended and the overhang constructed, for proper safety measures will be in place. Everything has been taken into consideration for the maximum convenience and comfort of our parish family. Please keep our church renovation and expansion in your daily prayers.