Dear parishioners and friends.

On behalf of the church community, councils and groups, we thank all of you who keep showing your support to the church. This makes a great difference and allows the church to reach out to all parishioners in all channels possible. We also thank all of our volunteers & staff, especially in the office and maintenance areas. You are all doing a spectacular job in this post pandemic time.  

In this coming month of May, we continue through the Season of the Resurrection of the Lord and His Apparitions to the Disciples. We will celebrate the Feast of the Ascension on Thursday, May 26. 

Thank you to the Youth and MYO Committee, which continues to organize meeting activities for the church youth without hesitation. We also thank the Faith Formation team, especially Gary Schwery and Regina Edminsten, for preparing the Sacrament of Confirmation for Elizabeth Corey, a committed and dedicated MYO youth member who was confirmed Sunday, April 24. The Faith Formation team is also preparing four children to receive their First Holy Communion on Sunday, May 29. First Communion age Maronite children in Catholic schools may be included with our Maronite First Communion class following assistance and instructions from our Faith Formation team.

The National Apostolate of Maronites (NAM) Convention will be held this year in the Mall of America and is sponsored by our sister parish, Saint Maron, in Minneapolis, from July 13 to 17. Holy Family is the only Maronite parish in Minnesota in addition to Saint Maron. The Church groups are waging a campaign for a massive participation in this year’s NAM Convention. Hundreds of Maronite families, individuals and groups from across the U.S. will gather for 4 days at the Radisson Blue Mall of America hotel and will enroll in presentations, workshops, trips, Mississippi cruises, social dinners, musical nights, and Liturgies. They will even make a visit to Holy Family. 

Our Holy Family representative to NAM is Mary Beth Dooher, in collaboration with Karen Yazbeck Mahoney, a NAM board member and convention organizer. Karen and another representative from NAM will be at Holy Family on Saturday, May 14 and Sunday May 15, after liturgy to assist in preregistering for the convention and answer any questions you may have. We encourage everyone to participate in this event. It is a unique, almost once in a lifetime opportunity for our parish. Remember, your participation needs no flight cost or hotel fees, unlike other attendees from across the U.S. Please mark your calendars and encourage your families and groups to participate and book your registration ahead of time. It is an opportunity to meet Maronite groups and families from more than 35 states. It is an opportunity to share experiences and activities, here in town within driving distance of your own home. Our MYA and MYO groups will receive support from the church and their own group savings to allow them to participate. Order of Saint Sharbel members are invited to participate in the NAM event, too. We all have an opportunity to place an ad in the NAM sponsorship memorial booklet demonstrating our support and legacy.

The entire month of May is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God. People are invited to focus on the daily praying of the Rosary and the noon prayers of the Angelus, which is the Annunciation. The first Sunday of May, May 1, is dedicated in the Maronite calendar to Our Lady of Lebanon. We pray for the peace and security in Lebanon where the last political and free Christian community in the Middle East and the Holy Land continues to reside and survive. The following Sunday, May 8, we pray for the mothers of our community families, asking the Lord to keep them in good health and enlighten their minds so they can raise, with their husbands, a new generation which preserves the Christian and Catholic faith and values. 

Wishing you and your family will be safe and healthy during this period of time. May this month of May be a blessing for you and your family

God bless you all.

Yours,

Abouna Emmanuel Nakhle-Ghorr +

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