Hello again,

We are already in September! It feels strange “starting up anew” amidst all the new infections. However, we count on God’s love and protection and proceed with faith into the “new extraordinary!”

Just so you know, today we have a parish council meeting scheduled and will be discussing many matters, including of course, how to proceed during these COVID19 times. I will keep you posted.

Elke has been wonderful to provide us with a summary of our financial situation (see below). Basically we are doing well, thanks to the generosity of those of you who have made bank transfers and paypal transactions. It goes without saying that every parishioner should do their part to keep OLM viable during these stressful times.

Last Sunday we noticed a large increase in the number of faithful. Congratulations! We are still well under the legal and safe limit. The church is sanitized before and after every Mass. You are welcome to use the hymnals, just don’t pass them around. Thanks to the cooler weather, we have excellent ventilation (safer than any supermarket!).

This Sunday we will pray for Elke Wilson’s father Siegfried on the third anniversary of his death, and for Alden Dale Dunn, the father of Delories Dunn and the grandfather of Tom, Isabel and CJ, on the 10th anniversary of his death, and also for Angelina’s mother Elizabeth who passed away last Friday (requested by Janet Esclamado). May they rest in peace.

Dear parishioners,

With so many unsettling and sad news all around us, I thought I´d share some good news with you.

As you know, since the beginning of the pandemic we had 10 weeks of a total lockdown, which also meant no presential church services and then we slowly began to reopen in May with a reduced capacity. On top of this, we´re still in the summer months when attendance at OLM is considerably lower anyway and our collections are going down accordingly.

So where is the good news? Despite having extremely low Sunday collections over the last months, OLM´s accounts are healthy! How is this possible? Well, so many of you did not forget about OLM and sent us additional monies through bank transfers and also Paypal. Furthermore, we received a generous donation from a private foundation, which allowed (allows) us to help the most needy among us even more.

To give you some figures: at the very beginning of the year we would receive between 33 and 35 donation transfers for a total amount of ca. 3.000 euros/month. Between March and July, the numbers of banks transfers increased (in April we had 66!!!) and the monies received this way were doubled!

Because of all your generous donations, we have been able to give out 21.500 euros in Good Neighbour Fund charity (food, bus passes etc.) but mainly COVID emergency help. Needless to say, Fr. Ron continues to use the donations for ongoing support where most needed.

So a big thank you to all of you who find themselves in the fortunate situation to be able to share what you have with the ones who are not as lucky.

God bless you all

Elke

Your Parish Treasurer

The Preacher awoke one Sunday morning and saw it was a beautiful day, and thought to himself, I don’t want to go to church today. he called his associate and said, “I’m sick, would you preach for me today?” His associate assured him he would.

St. Peter looked at God and said, “Are you going to let him get by with that?”

God said, “No I’m not.”

The preacher put his golf clubs in the trunk of car and drove fifty miles away to a golf course where no one knew him. Once again St. Peter said, “God are you going to let him get by with that?”

God said, “No I’m not.”

The preacher teed up the ball and hit it. It flew like it had never flown before, about 350 yards, bounced about three times and went into the hole for a hole in one.

St. Peter looked at God and said, “God are you going to let him get away with that?” God smiled and said, “Who is he going to tell?”