The Season of Lent begins today, Ash Wednesday, February 18th. Special LENTEN PRAYER BOXES are set up on a table in front of the Holy Family Statue in the Narthex for you to drop your Lenten Prayer Intentions in. Slips of paper and pens are also on this table. These Prayer Boxes will be available all during the Season of Lent.

STATIONS OF THE CROSS are prayed each Friday of Lent, in the Church at 7 p.m. On Friday, February 27th, SPECIAL Stations of the Cross will be prayed, focusing on Mental Health issues. These are being prayed at the request of our Multi-Parish Mental Health Ministry.

CONFESSIONS will be heard on Saturday, February 21st, in the Church Reconciliation Room from 8 a.m. until 8:45 a.m.

The final week of the ANNUAL CATHOLIC APPEAL in-pew donation process takes place this weekend at all the Churches of the Archdiocese. I’ll lead the process here at St. Edna after a brief homily by each Mass Presider.

Our UGANDAN CATHOLIC FRIENDS will be celebrating Mass this Sunday, February 22nd, in the Church, at 1 p.m. followed by their monthly Social in the Doherty Center.

Two beautiful young ladies of our Parish received the annual GOLDEN ROSE AWARD last Saturday, February 7th. ROSE HALL and LYLA SCADRON were honored by Bishop Tim O’Malley, along with 44 other young ladies of High School age, for their outstanding service to their Parishes. Rose is a dedicated member of our Teen Ministry, who has generously volunteered for our St. Edna Pancake Breakfast, Trunk-or-Treat, Feed My Starving Children, and Living Stations of the Cross. Lyla demonstrates her faith through participation in Teen Ministry, volunteering at various Parish events, and being an engaged member of her Confirmation class and Teen Liturgy of the Word. Thanks, Rose and Lyla, for your cheerful faithfulness and service. Congratulations to you both! 

Please mark your calendars for the annual MULTI-PARISH LENTEN MISSION that St. Edna will be hosting this year, on March 9th, 10th and 11th. Augustinian Fr. Tom McCarthy (a friend of Pope Leo) will lead our Mission once again. When he led our 2021 Mission, the Church was packed!

Thank you to everyone who has made a donation to help get our teenagers to Montague, Michigan for this summer’s CATHOLIC HEART WORKCAMP . At this point I believe we have sufficient donations so that some of our students who could use some financial help are able to go on this trip. They are sure to have powerful, life-changing experiences this June.

I apologize that no police officers have been on hand for traffic control after our Saturday evening Mass. We hire them out, but for the past few months, no officers have signed up for this very important service. Please, until officers sign up again, exit the parking lot VERY CAREFULLY. You might want to consider only making a right turn out of the parking lot, heading north, until the time police officers eventually sign up again to direct traffic. I know how frustrating this is for you, and again, I apologize for the inconvenience.

More SCAM EMAILS  and  SCAM TEXTS  are going around again. Never believe them . Some are supposedly from me, or from our Deacons, asking you to contact us, or to purchase gift cards for us to distribute to other people. Don’t be fooled. We would NEVER ask you to do this kind of thing, no matter “how busy” these messages say we might be. Just DELETE these scam requests and save yourself some major headaches  and financial losses .  

Our Adoration Chapel is a wonderful place to find some personal peace. Pray before the EUCHARISTIC LORD Monday through Friday from 7am to 7pm. Enter the Chapel through Door 4.

The parents of any interested boys or girls who would like to be ALTAR SERVERS should contact the Parish Office at 847 398-3362. Veronica (Ronny) Erxleben provides the training for our Altar Servers.

Our Rosary Group is praying a continuous SPIRITUAL BOUQUET   “for peace in the world” , so please continue praying Rosaries and  Hail Mary’s  and letting Tomi Gaudio know at  tomig@comcast.net  so she can keep count. As of this writing, over 520,976 Hail Mary’s have been prayed.

Please continue praying for peace, and for the many people in our world and in our country suffering from wars, unjust aggression, storms, violence, cold weather, homelessness, unemployment, disasters, shootings, and poverty.

Have a very blessed Lenten Season.

Fr. Darrio