Mr. Ritchie Self & Co. (Self Floor Service) finished sanding and refinishing the floor of Nativity of Our Lady Church at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, June 19, 2014. The pictures above are from the afternoon of June 19.

Southeast Church Furniture delivered our refinished pews on the morning of Friday, June 20 and began reinstalling them. We will post more pics soon.

Nativity's Pastoral Council prepared to welcome Fr. Tim McKeown and Fr. Ortega at its meeting of May 13, 2014. The Council discussed as well the farewell for Fr. Bob Showers and this weekend's council elections.

ELECTIONS TO THE PASTORAL COUNCIL SET FOR MAY 17-18

All positions on the Council are for two years. Therefore all seven members of the present Council will step down as of Sunday. Four members have chosen to run for reelection, and four new members of the parish have agreed to run for Council. This weekend, we will elect 5 Pastoral Council members from among these 8 candidates. Be sure to vote!

Here is the CANDIDATE LIST as well as more information about the election.

About 55 parishioners attended the Nativity Town Hall Meeting on Saturday evening, February 15, 2014. There was a positive attitude in the hall as we worked through an ambitious agenda.

1. REPORTS - click here to read the full council and committee reports
2. BLESSING OF THE FLEET - weekend of April 11-13 (info) - there was general agreement that we will do food sales the morning of Saturday, Apr. 12, probably some kind of take-away. The Pastoral Council will appoint a planning committee to work out the details at its March 9th meeting.
3. FLOOR AND PEW RENOVATION - The Building & Maintenance Committee explained plans to renovate the church's interior. Starting the week of June 1, the pews will be removed and the floor sanded, stained and finished. (Projected cost: app. $12,000) At the same time, we hope to have the pews renewed in the same way. We have not yet received any bids for this, but presume it will be comparable to the floor project. All this means that we will not have access to our church building or between one and three Sundays. MASS OF PENTECOST, JUNE 9, WILL BE OUTDOORS AT THE RIVER! Additional Masses will be celebrated in the Hall. Nota bene: we need to start brainstorming about renovation and enlargement of the parish hall as well.
4. BISHOP'S ANNUAL APPEAL - after watching the Bishop's video announcing the appeal, we reviewed last year's very successful drive (145% of goal, 83% participation) and looked at this year's goal. BAA GOAL FOR 2014: $9587.
5. FRANCISCAN FRIARS LEAVING THE GOLDEN ISLES - Fr. Bob made the sad announcment that the Province of Our Lady of Consolation of the Conventual Franciscans (OFM Conv.), which has staffed Nativity for more than 20 years, will close its friary community in Brunswick this summer. Frs. Wilfrid, Chuck and Bob will all be leaving Georgia for other assignments. The Franciscans are working with the bishop to ensure a priest for Nativity.
6. A PROPOSAL FROM THE PASTORAL COUNCIL - The Council proposes that the people of Nativity set as a goal for themselves to be established as a full parish by the year 2020, which is Nativity's 75th Anniversary of existence. There are many reasons for this desire: we are growing in every way, already now we are bigger than many other parishes of the diocese, and we have potential for more growth. Alone in McIntosh County there are more than 400 Roman Catholics. We wish to shoulder our responsibilities as the People of the Church, doing our share to make Catholicism a reality. We want our community to grow in grace and holiness before the Lord! There was strong support for this proposal at the Town Hall Meeting. Please note - this discussion was only advisory, to sound out the feelings, hopes and ideas of the parishioners. We do not intend in any way to short circuit the authority of our bishop, rather, we wish to help him grow his diocese. We understand that being erected as a canonical parish is absolutely no guarantee that the bishop can find a pastor for the parish!
7. PASTORAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS - click here for a PowerPoint summary of the process - click here for a more complete presentation of the rules and procedures, taken from our by-laws

All committee reports for tomorrow's Annual Meeting were submitted as MS PowerPoint presentations. Here is the combined report, including reports submitted by

• The Pastoral Council
• The Finance Council
• The Liturgy Commission
• The Building & Maintenance Committee
• The Catechetical Group (religion teachers)

This shows what a vibrant parish community Nativity is!

Nativity's Liturgy Commission looked at our celebrations from Ash Wednesday to Pentecost. Here are some coming liturgies:

• Ash Wednesday is March 5th. Mass is at 7:00 p.m.
• Confessions during Lent will be Saturdays 4:00-4:45 as hitherto.
• Please note that, because of time constraints and scheduling conflicts, there will not be a separate Reconciliation Service in Lent, no open house and no organized stations. We will publish the schedules of reconciliation services and stations at St. William's and St. Francis Xavier's.
• Darien Blessing of the Fleet is on April 13 - Palm Sunday. The Pastoral Council will say more about this.
• Palm Sunday is April 13. The 5:00 Saturday Mass will begin with the so-called "Small palm procession" in the church. The 10:00 Sunday Mass will begin with the Solemn Palm Procession IN THE PARISH HALL.
• Holy Thursday - April 17 - Mass of the Lord's Supper at 7:00 p.m. Washing of the Feet: Fr. Bob will wash the feet of some of the newest members of our parish community.
• Good Friday - April 18 - Commemoration of the Lord's Crucifixion - 3:00 p.m.
• Holy Saturday - April 19
• The GREAT EASTER VIGIL begins at 8:00 p.m. with the Bonfire of Easter in front of the church. Candles will be provided. Remember to bring bells to ring during the Gloria! During the Great Vigil, several new Catholics will be baptized and/or confirmed and receive their first Holy Communion. The schedule of readings will be set out shortly.
• First Communion - May 11 at 10:00 a.m. - Mother's Day! The First Communion Class will perform the May Crowning of the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and will give flowers to all mothers present.
• Confirmation - May 29 - Ascension Thursday at 7:00 p.m.! Bishop Gregory Hartmayer will confirm two young members of our parish. We hope that the WHOLE parish will come to be part of this celebration.
• Pentecost - June 8 - Outdoor Mass at 10:00 a.m., followed by a Parish Picnic! Exact location to be announced.
• June 2014 - right after Ascension, the Building and Maintenance Committee will start the project of renewing the church's floor and pews. This will take several weeks. We may have to celebrate Mass in the Parish Hall for a few weeks - the Liturgy Commission and the Choir are working on making these temporary liturgical apces beautiful worthy and appropriate. (The Building & Maintenance Committee will say more about the project itself a bit later.)

In other business, the Liturgy Commission welcomed Lily Collado as a new member. Lily is a long time parishioner and member of the choir.

At it's January meeting (Jan. 25, 2014) the Liturgy Commission also continued it's reading of the book, "The Liturgy Committee Handbook". We evaluated our celebration of Advent and Christmas, and briefly looked at our Masses during ordinary time. Our next meeting will be on April 26 (right after Easter).

The Nativity Liturgy Commission is a representative group of parishioners appointed by the Pastoral Council and Pastoral Administrator (Fr. Bob) to guide liturgical policy, coordinate big feasts and ensure a liturgy at Nativity that is worthy, proper, celebratory and reflective of our community. (mandate)

Nativity's Pastoral Council met on January 9, 2014. We hereby invoke a Nativity Town Hall Meeting on Saturday, February 15, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. - that is, after the 5:00 Mass - in the Parish Hall. This will serve as our general assembly or annual meeting.

The Parish Town Hall Meeting is a chance for the whole parish to hear what's going on, to contribute ideas, to make constructive criticism and to ask critical questions. The 5 central committees of the parish (Pastoral Council, Finance Council, Liturgical Commission, Building Committee and Catechist Group) will account for their stewardship in 2013. Future plans will be revealed and several big proposals will be laid on the table. You definitely do not want to miss this! (The agenda will be published at this link)

Here are some other highlights from the January meeting:

• The 2014 Bishop's Annual Appeal (BAA) begins in a few weeks! We talked about how we can run that campaign.
• First Communions will be celebrated on Mother's Day, May 11, 2014. This will involve our catechists, our Liturgy Commission, and many other people. The Pastoral Council will handle the reception as well as the recognition of the mothers of the parish.
• Confirmation will be on Thursday, May 29, 2014 (Ascension Thursday) at 7:00 p.m. This celebration will also involve the whole parish. We encourage as many parishioners as possible to participate together with our confirmands and our bishop. The Pastoral Council will plan the day's events before and after the liturgy itself, as well as coordinate the meeting with the bishop.
• Pentecost is on June 8. We propose an OUTDOOR MASS followed by a PARISH PICNIC. The Liturgical Commission will continue the planning.
• The Building & Maintenance Committee presented its plans for redoing the floor of the church. It's a big project and will require the we celebrate Mass elsewhere for several Sundays. After some discussion, we decided to begin the project in June of this year. This gives the B&M Committee, the Finance Council, the Liturgy Commission and the Parish Office time to prepare. (There will be more about this at the Town Hall Meeting)
• We also began planning our participation at this year's Blessing of the Fleet. Our proposal will be given at the Town Hall Meeting.

Pastoral Council