This bulletin, because of the Independence Day deadline, was prepared in the stifling heat of late June. With temperatures and heat indices on the wrong side of the century mark, there isn’t a better time to write about Christmas, which is only six months away.
First, let’s look at the readjusted Christmas Mass schedule. With the need for earlier Masses on Christmas Eve we have changed the Mass time at Our Lady of Peace Church and added a second Christmas Eve Mass at Notre Dame de Lourdes. This way you have two options for an early Christmas Eve Mass and still get home in plenty of time to enjoy your Yule Log. So, the 2025 Christmas Mass schedule is:
Wednesday 24 December:
4:00 PM at Notre Dame de Lourdes
5:15 PM at Our Lady of Peace (note the new time)
7:00 PM at Notre Dame de Lourdes (note this is a new scheduled Mass)
Thursday 25 December:
7:30 AM at Our Lady of Peace
11:30 AM at Our Lady of Peace
Sticking with the planning theme the following are the remaining Holy Days of Obligation for this year:
Friday 15 August – Mass at 8:30 AM at Our Lady of Peace / 6:30 PM at Notre Dame de Lourdes
Saturday 1 November – is NOT a Holy Day of Obligation this year. Mass is at 8:30 AM at Notre Dame
Monday 8 December – Mass at 8:30 AM at Our Lady of Peace
Mass at 9:00 AM at Notre Dame de Lourdes (School is in session)
Mass at 6:30 PM at Notre Dame de Lourdes
Wednesday 31 December – 4:30 PM Vigil Mass at Our Lady of Peace
Thursday 1 January – 8:30 AM at Our Lady of Peace / 11:30 AM at Notre Dame de Lourdes
Grab a nice frosty treat and dream about a white Christmas!
Our Christmas Bazaar Committee will have a planning meeting on Wednesday 16 July at 6:00 PM in the Father Nall Room in the OLP Parish Center. The Father Nall Room is on the second level of the Parish Center. Enter from the glass door facing Baltimore Avenue then climb the steps to the meeting room. The Christmas Bazaar will be held on 14 & 15 November at Nelson Hall. This planning meeting is your opportunity to envision this year’s Bazaar, to enhance its offerings, and to provide creative ideas to usher in the joy of the Advent and Christmas season. All are most welcome to attend. Thanks for your support.
My mother always said that once the Fourth of July is finished summer is nearly over. Maybe with all this Christmas preoccupation she was on to something. So, as we finish this Independence Day weekend, we offer a prayer for our Nation as we prepare for next year’s 250th anniversary of our Independence.
A Prayer for Faithful Citizenship
Gracious and loving God, let your Spirit be with us today. Hear our prayers and increase in us the will to follow your Son Jesus. Help us to draw on the resources of our faith as we use the opportunities of our democracy to shape a society more respectful of the life, dignity, and rights of the human person, especially the poor and vulnerable. We ask this through Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
- From the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops