October - Back in the Hall!

 Praise be to God that the effect of the pandemic continue to subside.  Our September meeting was held back in the hall of Holy Family.  It was wonderful to see to many Franciscan brothers and sisters in person.

August Indoor (Outdoor) Picnic

 This year's indoor picnic was actually held outdoors.  The council was confused about the date this year because the second Sunday felt like it came to early in the month.  Thus, we postponed the meeting for a week, which allowed us to gather on the feast of the Immaculate Conception (August 15).  We did not cook as we usually do, but invited others to bring their own lunch (BYOL) while the fraternity provided beverages and ice cream.  In the shade, the weather was very pleasant.  Even better was sharing much needed social time with brothers and sisters.  I only with a few more had come -- there was a lot of leftover ice cream.

May Meeting

We are still continuing to meet outside under the shade tree on the south side of the property.  We even have a Zoom meeting set up for others to join in since as of today our in-person numbers are still scarce.  Still we are thankful for those who are here!

October 3 - Animal Blessings

This year, October 4, the feast of St. Francis, fell on a Sunday.  For us, that meant that Fr. Jose scheduled the annual Blessing of the Animals for the day before.  The "pandemic times" as they are, we weren't able to have our usual treats of apple cider and munchkins, but it seemed as the the animals (and their owners) enjoyed the blessing as much as they always do.

Fr. Jose began with a simple reading at the entrance to the church

A smaller crowd than usual, but still nice to see people getting out.

Our banner is hanging on a music stand in front of the table so it wouldn't blow away in the wind.
Ruth & Kathy brought dog and cat treats while Steve provided pre-packaged animal crackers.

No song sheets this year, so Steve just sang a few verses of All Creatures of Our God and King.

There was an official photographer from the Catholic Free Press, so hopefully some of the ceremony will be in the next issue.  Steve also stayed for an additional blessing for the Capilla Santisima Trinidad (Leominster Hispanic Apostolate) which followed shortly after the first one.

Your Choice - Live or Zoom

Our September meeting was once again held "under the big top" in the lower parking lot at Holy Family.  We began with some singing to celebrate feast days close to our meeting date:  The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and The Exultation of the Cross.  

We had 11 people in attendance, but spread out of course.

Our numbers included two of our deacons.

SteveS set up a tablet and we were able to include 3 other attendees via Zoom.

As we were wrapping up, Fr. Jose paid us a visit, too.

It's no picnic...

 ... but at least we're having a meeting.  So great to see all those smiling faces.

Usually August is the time for our indoor picnic, but that will have to wait a while longer.

We continue to pray for our members who are unable to be with us at this time.  We hope to see you soon.

Boy! Is it hot out!

As soldiers of Christ, we "soldier on", despite extreme summer weather.  Sitting at safe physical distances, we swapped stories about where the weather was the hottest.  But we tried to stay a little cooler under the Holy Family tent.