Happy Chinese New Year!
According to the Chinese lunar calendar, 2019 is the year of the pig. Many cultures in the world have different opinions of the pig. For the Chinese people, the pig symbolizes good luck, good fortune and happiness. The year of the pig is a good year to make big plans and to undertake big projects.
The Holy Name of Jesus Chinese Catholic Mission began the Chinese New Year with an evangelization seminar on February 2-3. Miss Chih-Li Ying presented to us methods of evangelization especially for Chinese people. We do not need to have special speaking abilities in order to evangelize; we basically only need to do as Jesus did to the first two disciples who followed Him; He said to them: “Come and see!” (John 1:39). Now is a good time to invite our friends to come and know about our Catholic faith.
February 11 is the Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes
On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the Apostolic Constitution Ineffabilis Deus, which defines the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Four years later, on February 11, 1858, in the town of Lourdes, France, 14-year-old Benadette Soubirous went with her sister and a friend to Massabielle to gather firewood. There, Bernadette saw a lady wearing a white dress and a blue sash. When the town people found out about it, more and more people accompanied Benadette to Massabielle, but Bernadette alone saw the lady. The lady spoke to Bernadette and asked her to convey her message that sinners must repent.
In the ninth meeting, the Virgin said to her, “Go and drink the water in the spring, and wash yourself.” A spring miraculously appeared, and later, many people were cured from their illness after drinking the water from the spring. In the sixteenth meeting, the lady revealed herself to Bernadette, saying: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
Here is an update to our church’s HVAC project: After experts from Trane Commercial Company evaluated our two 20-ton HVAC units, it has been recommended that both units should be replaced. For better efficiency and reliability, the Engineer’s Report also recommended that the replacement units should be gas heating package units (not split-system). We have requested cost estimates from two large and reliable companies and expect to get the estimates by the end of this month. The actual replacement will require one to two weeks of work and will be scheduled sometime in the spring season. The cost of replacing the HVAC units will be funded from the Building Fund. Thank you very much to everyone who have donated to the HVAC replacement. Donations are now still being accepted.
| The Pastoral Council meeting and Finance Council meeting for the month of February will be held today, February 10.
Pastoral Council meets at 12:30 pm and Finance Council meets at 1:30 pm. |