12/02/23 Email

I know I am biased, but I think our Diocese is exceptional. Each week, from the
Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, there are special, newsworthy events
happening. And while I can’t write about them all, this week I want to let you
know about two.

First, The Church of the Redeemer in Mechanicsville is celebrating their
16th Annual benefit called No Room at the Inn to prevent area homelessness by
providing help with rent and utilities, as well as building houses in Haiti. The
Richmond Times-Dispatch ran an article about it a couple of weeks ago, which
you can see here. The article also has a link to the church website with
information on how you can attend. If my weekend goes according to plan, I
will stop by today (Saturday.)

On Sunday, Bishop Knestout will be traveling to Roanoke for the Blessing of the Basilica of St. Andrew, which recently received that designation. For a church building to be designated a Basilica by the Pope, three factors are considered: architectural significance and beauty, historical significance, and liturgical/spiritual significance. For more about this, and a link to livestream the
mass on Sunday, click here.

The Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception is the only other Basilica
in the Diocese of Richmond. Taking a hard turn here, it is the time of year when many people think about year-end giving. (To be fair, I think about giving all year round, because it is my job.) We are pushing hard to the finish line to raise money for tuition assistance through the Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credit (EISTC) program, which is critically important to our school families and the success of our Catholic schools. We created the ad below that will run in the Catholic Virginian with a QR code that explains the program and how you can
participate. If you would like more information, please don’t hesitate to contact
me. If you already know about it, I invite you to tell your friends.

Whew! That was a lot! If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read all of this, and I wish you a blessed first weekend of Advent!
God Bless,
Margaret
Margaret Keightley
Executive Director
Catholic Community Foundation of the Diocese of Richmond