A letter of thanks from Fr Joseph Meagher:
11.23.20
Dear Parishioners and friends of St Antoninus Church,
What a joyful and blessed time we had together during the kickoff of our Thanksgiving Harvest 2020, on the Solemnity of Christ the King, with Holy Mass, and a Eucharistic Procession accompanied by a display of flags from 21 Nations. This was followed by our Virtual Harvest Bazaar. (Below is a YouTube recording of our Thanksgiving Harvest 2020 Mass)
I shouldn’t be surprised by the kindness and generosity of God, and of his people, but I always am. With such a short time to prepare and in the midst of this “long winter” of the Covid virus, thus far, including $6,000 received before the actual bazaar, we have raised over $30,000 in pledges and direct donations, toward our goal of $100,000.
Wow, did I see the love that God’s people have for Him and for St Antoninus Church. There was a great outpouring of faith and love in the heartfelt stories of grace being told by all those who participated in the virtual bazaar. It is so easy to forget how profoundly the Lord has blessed us here, until we hear God’s people giving witness once again.
I want to give a special word of thanks to our Father and Mother of the Day - Lawrence and Joy Anyanwu, who were exemplary in the way they reached out to family, friends and co-workers. Thank you to everyone who gave so generously, and a double thank you to those who even gave out of their want. So amazing! I would also like to send out a particular thank you to the members of The Divine Adoration Prayer Group and Real Love Ministries for their extraordinary generosity, as well as all those who gave in memory of our parish Matriarch Eleanor Carey – may she rest in the Lord’s peace.
Since we had never done anything like this before, we had a rough start with technical issues on Zoom for the first 20 minutes. However, once we got going, all flowed well, thanks be to God!
A most special thank you to our two talented emcees Laureen and KC; our technical unit, Ahmed and Jefferson; our phone support & record keeping staff, Cassy & Lynette. They all worked together as a team, as if they had been doing this for years.
A big thank you to Kenwyn and Jules who lifted our spirits with recorded songs of praise, and all of those who gave recorded and live interviews, to Eileen who decorated the church, and to this year’s Chairman, Jude, and Rose, and so many other parishioners who served in one way or the other. Finally, my heartfelt thanks to our production manager and captain of this illustrious broadcast team, Teresa, who even though having been furloughed (along with the rest of our staff), worked tirelessly for the past 4 weeks to prepare for this year’s harvest, particularly on the video appeal and the bazaar. My hat goes off to all of you
Again, I offer a special thank you to all of you who gave sacrificially, of your time, talent and treasure, whether big or seemingly small. I am especially grateful for an extraordinary gift, which came in the form of a call I received on my cell during the bazaar. It was from Susan, one of our wheelchair-bound parishioners, who suffers greatly. She wanted to tell me that although she had nothing to give financially, she was offering up her suffering and prayers for her parish. I was almost brought to tears by that call. Her offering, as well as the offerings of all of our home-bound and/or suffering parishioners and friends continue to be the greatest gift given (through Our Lady) to the Lord on our behalf, and will certainly make our labors fruitful in His Kingdom. When we give from the heart, the Lord of the Harvest will always give the increase and success to the work of our hands. Thank You Jesus , the Lord of the Harvest, and thank you brothers and sisters
In Jesus thru Mary,
Fr Joseph
P.S. Please remember that our Thanksgiving Harvest 2020 still continues, as we reach for this year’s goal of raising $100,000. This will be used toward replacing our very dilapidated, perpetually malfunctioning, inefficient and at risk of total failure heating system, with a new, far more efficient, HVAC system, that provides both heat and air conditioning.
