Hedwig at Home - 04/06/20

In This Week's Edition

Welcome to the second edition of our new parish e-newsletter, which we are calling Hedwig at Home (a hat tip to Danny Bonvissuto, a parent at St. Hedwig School, for the creative suggestion!). In this week's edition, we have some exciting things to share.
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• Holy Week Announcements & Resources
• St. Hedwig Sanctuary Remodel Update
• Invitation to Join a Small Virtual Group
• Fr. Chris' Palm Sunday Mass

We want to thank those who have continued to send in your donations. We really do rely on them to cover our basic operating costs and to continue providing programs and services to our community. If you would like to support us during this time of economic fluidity, please consider online giving. Every dollar helps!

Let us continue to pray for each other as a parish family. We continue to collect prayer intentions from parishioners to our prayer page. If you'd like to add your own, simply reply to this email. God bless you!

Holy Week Announcements & Resources

Several parishioners asked about picking up palms this past weekend. We received further instructions from the Diocese that we should not hand them out. If we make them available at a later date, we will let you know.

Unfortunately, Holy Week and Easter liturgies will not be public. 

But that does not mean we shouldn't enter into these central mysteries of our faith! Here are some excellent resources that you might find fruitful in the coming days:
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• Faith and Family Collective, founded by parishioners in the Diocese of Orange, has put together a resource called Holy Week at Home, which offers creative, yet simple ideas to help share the love of Jesus with your family.
• Bishop Robert Barron has put together a beautiful Stations of the Cross.
• On Holy Thursday, ODB Films will be streaming Full of Grace for free! The film is about Our Lady, who recounts to the Apostles around her the mystery and beauty of her experiences and encounters with her Son. You can watch the film here (the link will not work until this Thursday).
• In addition to Holy Week and Easter reflections, our own pastor Fr. Chris will be posting several liturgies and services on St. Hedwig's YouTube channel.
  • School Mass on Tuesday
  • Holy Thursday Mass
  • Stations of the Cross on Good Friday
  • Easter Sunday Mass
• Bishop Kevin Vann will be livestreaming Holy Week liturgies at Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove. You can tune in here. Their schedule is:
  • Holy Thursday - 7:30pm
  • Good Friday - 3:00pm
  • Easter Vigil - 8:00pm
  • Easter Sunday - 9:45am

In these trying times, let us remember one of the fundamental lessons of Jesus' death and resurrection: "No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown" (William Penn). 

St. Hedwig Sanctuary Remodel Update

​Our construction team has been hard at work on our sanctuary remodel. We are very confident that by the time the governor's shelter in place order is lifted, we will gather in a beautiful new worship space. 
 
Here are some photos of the progress so far:

Invitation to Join a Small Virtual Group

In the midst of what seems like perpetual bad news, St. Hedwig has some Good News! We will be forming small groups of 8 parishioners to read and discuss the Sunday readings with each other. 
 
These small groups will meet over Zoom, a video conferencing platform, and will meet at various times on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

The cut-off to sign up each week is Wednesdays by noon. If you miss this week, you can sign-up next week! You can also drop out at any time. This is for you.
 
If you are interested in signing up for a small group, then simply fill out this form and we will get back to you with instructions on how to connect.

Fr. Chris' Palm Sunday Mass