January 4, 2026, 12:00 PM
There’s an old tradition that during the Epiphany Mass the priest or deacon would announce—with solemn chant, mind you—the dates of the moveable feasts for the coming year. Ash Wednesday, Easter, Corpus Christi, even the rather distant First Sunday of Advent would be proclaimed as a glance into the Church’s future.
This Epiphany I have a few announcements for our parishes, announcements that offer us a glance into our local Church’s future.
First, Chris Dell, our secretary at St Boniface, has decided to return to school. We wish her well as she embarks on a new venture. And her school’s term begins, as many do, later this month. Going forward, she will give the office a few days each week. The staff from both St Ann and St Boniface will sort out administrative coverage, while increasingly working together from the newly centralized office at the St Boniface rectory. Specifically, beginning January 5, Mary Jo Raniero— who has been working in a dual role since July 2024—will continue serving both parishes from that location. Keep us in prayer as we discern how to best serve all who come to our door. (Keep in mind as well, that the staff’s process in working together paves the way to consider how various ministries and committees in the two parishes can do the same. We don’t need two of everything!)
Secondly, we’re moving to one official address: 326 Washington Boulevard. That’s where the post office will deliver mail for both parishes. Please address your mail to us appropriately. We’ll soon move to new stationery that will include both parish names with the common address. (Note well: We are not immediately vacating the St Ann Rectory, although—as we have no mission driven use for an empty building, we will carefully consider the best options for the parish.)
Thirdly, and I’ve mentioned this before! If you want to contact either of your priests, please first use the email address located in every weekend bulletin and on our social media. If you telephone, please feel free to leave a voicemail. You don’t need to talk to someone in the office to get a message to me or Fr Dias. We want to respond to you as soon as we can, so let’s cut out the middle person in the process.
Lastly, when you or your family members are in the hospital, please contact us! Don’t assume that hospitals do that for you, because they don’t. Don’t tell us that “it’s all over Facebook— you should have known!” We aren’t trolling social media in the chance that we’ll get useful info about parishioners’ health statuses. Once again, I’d emphasize the importance and ease of a simple email including the person’s name and room number—that allows us to respond in a timely manner.
Fr. McCreary
