Welcome back to the Immaculata project here in St. Mary's Kansas.
We just completed 2022 where a tremendous amount of work has happened on the project
and now we have the finish line in sight here in 2023.
So we've had a lot of progress over the last year.
At the start of the year when you saw pictures of the outside of the church you could still
see through some of the skeleton and skin of the church.
Now here at the end of the year the outside is completely closed in, all the masonry is
done, and all the roof and guttering is completed.
Also on the inside of the church the scaffolding this year went completely up so that they
could do work at the higher elevations.
And now here at the end of the year all that scaffolding has been completely removed.
The start of the year, if you looked at the inside of the church, you wouldn't see anything
other than the architecture that would make you think that this is a church.
But now here at the end of the year there's a lot of warmth on the inside with all the
artwork installed, such that one is really getting a sense this is going to be a house
of God.
Then over the course of this year we had some pretty major events.
As we looked forward to a lot of the liturgical aspects of the project, our project team,
our design team flew to Evergreen studios in New York where they very generously hosted
us and showed us the paintings that would be going into the church.
We were able to inspect those, see their progress, and get a sense for how the installation process
will take place.
Then in September his Excellency Bishop Fellay graciously came and consecrated our five liturgical
bells which had arrived from France just weeks prior.
Concentrating these bells and now they are installed up in our bell towers ready to ring,
ready to call souls to mass.
And lastly just a few months ago brother Marcel and I were very generously flown out to Italy.
There, the company Padrini who's making all of our statues graciously took us on a tour
of the Carrara quarries up in the Apaline Alps.
The same quarries where Michelangelo's Pieta came from.
So that we could see the exact spot from which will be coming our Carreras marble statues.
Part of that trip included a visit to the studio where especially the statue of Archbishop
Lefebvre our beloved founder was being made.
And where we were able to inspect it and make sure that his semblance was perfect.
And so we have here at the end of the year all these elements coming from so many parts
of the world.
Artwork from New York, bells from France, statues coming from Italy, and stone flooring
that's come from all over the world.
All this making this house of God as beautiful as possible.
Then over the course of 2022 we've had a tremendous amount of generosity shown by benefactors
across the world again.
We had five new countries join the project.
From Bosnia & Herzegovina to Mexico to Turkey to South Korea even the British Virgin Islands.
Now we have up to 33 countries supporting this project.
And again over the course of the year almost 400 new donors, that means now that we have
towards the end of this project 2300 donors worldwide supporting this beautiful project.
At the start of the year we were still about 3.5 million dollars shy of our total number
of amount of funds needed.
Here at the end of 2022 we only need $1.35 million more to complete the project successfully.
So thank you for over 2 1/2 million dollars given to the Immaculata project this year.
And again I prayed one of my Christmas Day masses for all of you generous benefactors.
And don't forget too that at the end of this project we will offer 30 days of Masses on
the main altar of the Immaculata for all of you donors.
And so now we look forward to 2023.
I described 2021 as the year where we put on the skeleton and the skins of the project.
In 2022, this last this past year, we gave to the project at heart and soul on the interior.
And we’ll continue that work here in the early months of 2023 with the installation
of the statues, with the installation of the flooring, the pulpit, the communion rail,
the altars, baptismal font, and even finally the organ that will be played in the church.
2023 really is about consecrating this church.
Taking this building that is full of beautiful art and is a beautiful building right now,
but then consecrating it which is very much like a baptism where in the building will
be separated from any profane use and consecrated completely to the worship of God.
So I very much encourage you to take a look at our website and especially look at our
live cam, especially look at the interior view, so that you can see how much work has
been completed in the last few months.
You see though too how much work still has to happen in these last four short months
before the project is done.
So here as we begin this final stretch towards the finish line in May, it's not too late
to become a part of this project.
If you can donate we very much need help, you can be sort of the new blood, the new
life that comes and helps us all to finish this project.
I especially encourage you to look at our sponsorship page on the website.
Of course you can join a guild, but there on the sponsorship page you can also sponsor
very specific liturgical items that will be going into the church.
And remember for any of those items that you sponsor you receive certain graces every time
those items are used for the liturgy.
Lastly please just pray for us, pray for the project if you can do nothing more.
Pray that, as I said there's a lot of work to do in the next four short months, and so
please at least pray for the project so that we can come to a safe and successful completion.
So thank you very much and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year
as well.