Fall 2021 Updates

Dear Friends,
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There are a number of things going on and coming up at New Roads:

Stewardship Sunday
On Sunday, November 7th, at all of our weekend Masses in person and online, we’ll be celebrating Stewardship Sunday. This is the one weekend of the year where we ask you to make a financial commitment to our parishes for the year ahead. If you’re on our mailing list, you’ll be receiving a letter in the mail in the coming days with more details. In the meantime, please plan to join us for worship on Sunday, November 7th!

Worship Space Upgrades
Construction on our South Worship Space at St. Joseph is moving steadily along. Check out our Instagram or Facebook pages for photos coming soon of the work in progress! We’ll be back in the space as soon as we can, hopefully in just a few more weeks. We have been focused on infrastructure upgrades:

• Building the new walls to help us better control lighting and acoustics
• Installing new house lights
• Upgrading out electrical system dramatically
• Installing lighting rigging to hold light fixtures to better light the altar and other key spots
• Installing our cabling professionally (instead of running cables across the floor)

These infrastructure upgrades are a big step forward and give us a solid foundation to build upon. We’ll continue to upgrade the space even once we’re back in it, in ways that won’t disrupt our regular use of the space.

Fr. Fleming’s Retirement
As we announced at Masses last weekend, Fr. Austin Fleming, who has served in the role of Senior Vicar at New Roads for the past two years, met with Cardinal Seán to request Senior Priest (retirement) status, which the Cardinal granted. Fr. Fleming will be moving to St. Zepherin’s in Wayland in the coming weeks. Congratulations to Fr. Fleming on this milestone and on completing 48 years of service to the church! Please join us in celebrating Fr. Fleming’s retirement and expressing gratitude for his ministry at New Roads on Sunday, November 7th, after the 10am Mass at St. Luke’s in the lower hall. Please RSVP here if you plan to join us.

Kids’ Church Open House
Save the date for a Kids’ Church Open House taking place on Sunday, November 14th, immediately following the 10am Mass at St. Joseph. This Open House is for all members of our community to come and learn about the wonderful work of our kids and kids’ ministry leaders. Our kids and kids ministers are eager to share their work with the community and to invite others to be a part of what God is doing in our kids programs! No RSVP or signup is needed to attend; simply come to the Kids’ Church space following the 10am Mass at St. Joseph on Sunday, November 14th. We hope to see you there!

Weekend Coordinator
New Roads is hiring for a part-time Weekend Coordinator to assist with our 10am Mass at St. Joseph. This role has been a great fit for college students or recent graduates (but is of course open to all!). It requires in person presence on Sunday mornings and otherwise can be done remotely (online). To learn more about this role and to apply, click here.
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Support for Afghan Refugees
This weekend (October 30/31) we’ll have a special collection at all Masses in support of Afghan refugees resettling in our area. We’ll also have a Winter Clothing Drive to benefit Afghan Refugee families on the weekends of November 13/14 and 20/21, before and after weekend Masses at St. Luke. For more information on the Winter Clothing Drive and how you can help refugee families, please click here.

Peace & blessings,
The New Roads Team