The priest continues the work of redemption here on earth…
The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus.
Happy 20 th Anniversary
Father Larry
On May 23rd We celebrate Father Larry Parent on his 20th Anniversary of Ordination.
After Morning Mass he was treated to coffee and cake.
40th Anniversary Talent Night
What a wonderful night!! Thank you so much to all who came out.
The talents shared were so AMAZING!! Here is a recap of the evening in pictures.
On Sunday evening December 3, the first Sunday of Advent, Blessed Sacrament welcomed the 40 voice strong Waterloo Region Police Services Male Chorus who presented a concert of seasonal and other music under the direction of Natalie Robinson and accompanist Sheila Wallace.
Our sanctuary was ideally suited to this type of presentation and the rich tone of the male chorus was beautifully supported in our acoustic.
Every concert is done as a charitable benefit and this time the organizer and recipient of the support was the Dragon Boat Team of Breast Cancer Survivors that is raising money to attend a world regatta held every four years and is being hosted in Florence Italy in 2018.
Two of the Dragon Boat women contributed a selection each to the program: Emily Carruthers, soprano sang Gesu Bambino. Lilla Hall organist played eight variations on What Child is This on the Brunzema organ.
The women also spoke movingly of the life-changing experience of undergoing cancer treatment (Emily was only 24 when she was diagnosed.)
Altogether, $3,000 was raised. It was a festive evening filled with great song and fellowship.
Good evening/morning.
My name is Mary Borys and with my husband, Tom, we are the chairpersons of the Blessed Sacrament Refugee Sponsorship Committee, which began its initial stages of the ministry over two years ago along with many other Canadian organizations in response to the tragic situation of refugees throughout the world, particularly in response to the Syrian refugee crisis.
Thank you for offering a few minutes of your time as we offer this final update regarding Nihad Hirmiz and Reeta Matti, mother and daughter, sponsored by our parish and who arrived almost exactly one year ago from a refugee camp in Syria where they had lived for 7 years after fleeing the violence in their home of Iraq.
Thanks you to Fr. Larry for his spiritual and pragmatic guidance, the committee members, English coaches, drivers and those who offered time and services and to you our parishioners for the financial and prayerful support of this ministry.
We have kept the parish informed by several updates throughout the year in the bulletin and on the parish website. Often, we made very specific requests in those bulletin updates and I wish to indicate that everything we requested we received through your generosity.
As I said previously, we are nearing the end of the one-year arrival of these women and the end of the formal sponsorship year according to the Federal Government’s BVOR (Blended Visa Office for Refugees) agreement that we have through the Hamilton Diocesan Office for refugees as our Sponsorship Agreement Holder with Citizenship and Immigration Canada. It is a mouthful but it is the tiered system within which we work.
What this means is that we will go through a formal transition whereupon the women will begin to continue their lives here in Canada as they gain further independence and our financial commitment ends. This has many factors in areas such as budgeting, transportation, housing, English acquisition, employment and especially as they access the Ontario Works program for social assistance for their financial support. While this ends the formal documented support, it will not end the moral and spiritual support with Nihad and Reeta who have indeed become our friends.
I would like to share a few remarkable examples of the Holy Spirit at work in this unmarked territory, none of which we could have designed and all part of trusting the Lord’s good guidance.
When they arrived we discovered that Nihad and Reeta are Chaldean Catholics and the Chaldean community for the region is situated right here at Blessed Sacrament. They worship Sunday afternoons here in this church. They immediately found a community with this congregation.
When we looked for suitable housing and located an apartment, we were offered one-month free rent by the rental agency. Across the hall lived an Arabic speaking family from Iraq who became friends with Nihad and Reeta.
As you can imagine there were and continue to be many medical services required, critical and not elective. One of the treatments is at the cost of $1500.00 per application, and not covered by OHIP. The physician involved intervened for us and persuaded the pharmaceutical company to cover all costs.
Dental and dental surgery, again critical and not elective, continues to be offered at either no cost or at 50% of the cost.
Routinely we met Arabic speakers at appointments and interviews who graciously made us all feel welcome and comfortable, and many translators, when needed, offered their services for free.
While Reeta and Nihad are members here at Blessed Sacrament, they are members of the Chaldean Catholic community. On occasion they have joined us for Sunday worship as well as two of our coffee and donuts Sundays. However, at the advice of the Director of the Diocesan Office for refugees, we are not to put them in any situation that is uncomfortable for them such as personally standing up here to thank the parish. Please understand how difficult and stressful this would be. This is due to the many already difficult and indeed traumatic situations they have experienced. So on behalf of Reeta and Nihad, please know that they are extremely grateful to all of you. They now have a life, however not easy, that is free and without fear. We are all so blessed to live in this country, our home and theirs, Canada.
As we approach the Christmas season, we have had offers to contribute financially to the family. However, because we as a parish are soon ending our financial obligation and will be closing the account by the end of January, we are unable to accept donations. If you wish and it would be greatly appreciated, gift cards to affordable retailers such as Wal-Mart, Winners, Fresh Co., Food Basics would be invaluable to them and may be dropped off at the parish office.
Once again, on behalf of the committee, we thank you for your support and ask you to continue praying for Nihad and Reeta as they continue to proceed forth in this new stage of their lives.
Sincerely,
Mary and Tom Borys on behalf of the Sponsorship Committee.
Blessed Sacrament Parish’s 1st Annual Golf Tournament
September 23rd, 2017
To help celebrate Blessed Sacrament Parish’s 40th Anniversary, 39 golfers gathered on this fine Saturday morning at The Grand Valley Golf & Country Club. As they enjoyed beautiful weather and each other’s company, many other parishioners were also there to assist in the events.
Father Larry and Deacon Neil were there to lend support, take photos and ensure the accuracy of score cards.
Following the golf, Fathers Larry and Father Paul both joined all the participants for a great meal and the presentation of prizes and the new “Monsignor Edward D. Sheridan Trophy”
Thanks to all for this successful day!
We hope to see you next year once again.
The journey of a 60 X 5 ft. flower bed at the front of the church began last summer when a mass of dandelions invaded the premises. Father Larry sprayed the bed and it laid fallow over the winter and into the spring. It was not a pretty site and many questions arose as to what would become of this area. (Oh thee of little faith).
It was suggested a Pastoral Parish Council meeting that something special should be done for the 40th Anniversary. Something special, foreign to most people, was to make a carpet bed. This is a Victorian Gardening tradition using only foliage plants to make a design. The plant material used is a tropical foliage plant called Alternantera. The plants are all started from cuttings in a greenhouse during the winter months.
Plans began in the spring after extensive tilling and weeding in preparation for the planting. Help came from various people some from the church and from non church members. The first challenge was the design, then the incredibly hot sun and no rain, and the lack of plant material. All was solved with a watering hand from Father Larry, rain from the sky from another Father, an artist friend and the Kitchener Horticultural Society who supplied their left over plants.
It originally looked like organized chaos to most parishioners since they had no idea what was happening. It took a while to develop, but it gradually took shape and became an inspiring display of our parish logo.
I would like to thank all who helped with the garden as well as the compliments from the fellow parishioners.
Gardeners: Huguette Meinzinger, Pauline Merling, Jim Kinzie, Rosemary Poechman, Bernie White, Rosie Gunn, Eileen Lobsinger, Theresa, Father Larry and me ( Maryanne Weiler )
The 40th Anniversary Parish Picnic was held Sunday, June 11th in the school fields across from the church parking lot, under hot and sunny skies. From what was seen and heard, the event was a tremendous success and was truly a display of Blessed Sacrament’s “communion and community” in and around our neighborhood. That is something all you parishioners should be proud of. While we did not take an official count, 330 signed up for the picnic and the actual attendance was close to this number. The weather was perfect, the food delicious, and the spirit was high. The Lord was truly with us this day. Thanks to all of you who brought a pot luck dessert. My will power lost that afternoon. I want to take this time to thank all those that helped out in any way, large or small; before, during or after. Your willingness to lend a hand made things go so smoothly and made the entire afternoon so much more fun. While there are many people that helped make the picnic a great success, I want to single out a few individuals.
1) The Parish Picnic Committee made up of Angie Glencross, Cristina Aquilina, and Patti Schumacher. Thanks for your tremendous organizing efforts, suggestions, and hard work.
2) Fr. Tom Vermiglio (and his crew) from St. Joseph’s parish in Kitchener, for roasting and preparing the pulled pork. It was so delicious and Fr. Tom’s presence was especially welcomed.
3) Tim Borys of The Lancaster Smokehouse for providing the additional smoked pork, the scalloped potatoes, coleslaw and cornbread. Again, it was so good, I couldn’t take just one.
4) Fr. Larry, for your 100% support and involvement of the picnic, your enthusiasm for our parish community, and your bright blue shirt that made it easier for the water balloons to find. The kids love you.
In closing, thanks again to everyone for coming our and helping us celebrate community. This year’s picnic was such a success that we have already booked next year’s picnic for Sunday, June 24th, 2018. It will be held at the Waterloo Regional Police Association and Recreation Centre just outside of Roseville. Mark the date and prepare to have fun. We hope to see you there again.
Matt Schumacher
The very first joint Junior and Senior Youth Group event of this year was a huge hit (or rather, a huge strike)! Members of both groups had a chance to get to know each other over a fun evening of bowling. Question: why should a bowling alley be extremely quiet? So you can hear a pin drop. Unfortunately the night was anything but quiet, as an overwhelming amount of cheering on team members was heard instead. As soon as you put on your bowling shoes, it didn’t matter whether you were a junior or a senior youth. The only thing that mattered was helping your team be the best! But regardless of the final score, all members played phenomenally. Some exceptional performances were seen by people who claimed it was their “first time bowling”, and some surprising strikes were caused by people who are big proponents of the “granny shot”, aka. rolling the ball at a very very slow speed. But hey, it’s still a valid technique! Since bowlers always have time to spare (ha!), down time was spent eating pizza, chatting with new friends, taking pictures, and giving high-fives to other players. Fun and fellowship are right up our alley (get it?), so the event was as smooth as the bowling lanes. I’m on a roll! Okay I’ll spare you the bowling jokes…alright that was the last one.
We’d like to say thank you to Father Larry for paying us a visit and joining in! We’d also like to say a special thank you to the CWL for their very generous donation towards this event. Thanks to you, we had a chance to become closer as a youth group family, and share in an entertaining outing that we’ll never forget!
God Bless,
The Blessed Sacrament Youth Group
More photos can be seen here:
