Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador: Who is he and what can he teach us about spiritual freedom? We will meet from 7:00 - 8:15pm on Wednesday, January 13th.  Please RSVP to Meghan Robinson to receive the Zoom link for the meeting. In 1977, Oscar Romero was selected as Archbishop of San Salvador.  No one could have predicted that in three short years he would be renowned as the outstanding embodiment of the prophetic church, a "voice for the voiceless," or, as one theologian called him, "a gospel for El Salvador."  From once a timid and conventional cleric, there emerged a fearless and outspoken champion of justice.  Please click the title of this post to read more!

The House of Mercy serves hundreds of homeless men and women in the Rochester area each week.  Currently, because of social distancing many are forced out into the streets during the day. This causes many of our brothers and sisters in Christ to suffer frostbite and hypothermia.  With winter underway and the pandemic causing a greater need for the homeless, our Faith Formation and Outreach volunteers are teaming up to help.  We will be collecting socks and underwear (regular and thermal) throughout the month of January to help ease some of this burden. Collection boxes will be in the Narthex of each parish as well as a drive-thru donation drop off circle on Tuesday, January 26th starting at 6:00pm at St. Thomas More If you are looking for a completely contactless way to help the House of Mercy,  items of need can be found in the amazon wish list in the link below.  https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/WP217FET3G4R?&sort=default Thank you for your generosity during this difficult time!

Do you know a youth who is the Hands of Christ? Being recognized with the Hands of Christ Award is both an honor and a sign of leadership among parishes and peers in our Diocese. Please click the title of the post above to read more!

Pope Francis has announced a Year of St. Joseph in honor of the 150th anniversary of the saint’s proclamation as patron of the Universal Church. The year begins Dec. 8, 2020, and concludes on Dec. 8, 2021, according to a decree authorized by the pope. The decree said that Francis had established a Year of St. Joseph so that “every member of the faithful, following his example, may strengthen their life of faith daily in the complete fulfillment of God’s will.” The pope explained in the letter, entitled Patris corde (“With a father’s heart”) and dated Dec. 8, that he wanted to share some “personal reflections” on the spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “My desire to do so increased during these months of pandemic,” he said, noting that many people had made hidden sacrifices during the crisis in order to protect others. “Each of us can discover in Joseph -- the man who goes unnoticed, a daily, discreet and hidden presence -- an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of trouble,” he wrote. Patris corde highlights “the creative courage” of St. Joseph, which “emerges especially in the way we deal with difficulties.” “The carpenter of Nazareth,” explains the Pope, was able to turn a problem into a possibility by trusting in divine providence.” He had to deal with “the concrete problems” his Family faced, problems faced by other families in the world, and especially those of migrants. The Pope had granted special indulgences to mark the year.

A few people have been asking about time/place for the Mass tomorrow evening 12/31 and on 1/1.  The Mass for 12/31 will be at 5:30 at OLQP.  The one on 1/1 will be at STM at 9am. Please note that the 12/31 Mass will be livestreamed.  Once again, these Masses for the Solemnity of Mary are not Holy Days of Obligation because of the pandemic dispensation. May this New Year bring us good health, wonderful surprises and a deepening of our faith.   Blessings, OLQP/STM staff

Click on the title of the post to see who the Christmas flowers were donated in memory of this year.

We have been working a variety of angles to see if we can get our live-streamed Masses to broadcast without freezing up for some of our parishioners.  This is a complicated issue to solve, and it depends not only on the technology and settings at OLQP but also with the technology, internet speed and strength of signal of the person viewing the live-streamed Mass at home.  Nevertheless, we continue to tweak things and call in those with more knowledge and experience than us to improve our broadcast into your homes. Click the title of this post to read more!

Thank you for your patience as we continue to grow and figure out how to get our new live-stream camera system optimized!  We have experienced some growing pains, but we think that you will find watching our Masses on our OLQPSTM YouTube Channel to provide the best streaming experience. Please subscribe to our page so that you don't miss a Mass! To view a Mass, you need only look in the Past Live Stream section of our YouTube Channel.  If you're looking for something from earlier in December, you might need to use the playlist OLQP Streamed Masses which is located just under the Past Live Stream Section.  From this point going forward though, they should all be catalogued under Past Live Streams to make it easier to find! Thank you again for your understanding, and we hope that you and your families are enjoying celebrating Mass safely at home during the pandemic.

At this point we are adding more seats to our Christmas reservation list. They are the same sign ups we sent out before, so if you have already signed up, you don't need to again. For those who have previously signed up and who want to double check their reservation, feel free to click on the "sign up" button of this email of the Mass you signed up for and it should bring you to a page that indicates with a green note that "you're in." Once you are at that page, you can also click "cancel" if you do not want that reservation anymore. Then, if you so choose to sign up for a different Mass time, go back to this email and click the "sign up" button under the Mass time you desire. Sign up numbers change rapidly, so feel free to check back another day if you find the Mass you would like to attend is at capacity. Others may have cancelled their reservation in the meantime, causing seats to open. We are also saving a number of seats for those who don't use email and need to call. If those don't fill up, we will add them to the online list and you can claim one of those. Again, we ask, if possible, that you do the sign up through this email, as opposed to calling the office. A sign up link for Masses is also on our website.. However, if you are having difficulty doing this or if you know of a fellow parishioner that doesn't have a computer, please spread the word and ask them to call Robin Levy at 381-4200 or 244-3010 x110 to sign up. And guess what? As you've noticed capacity can be changed at a moment's notice, so please read your OLQP/STM updates. We will communicate to you any changes. Please stay safe, know the dispensation from Mass continues and you are always welcome to join us online for Mass through our website at www.olqpstm.com. Know you are always in our prayers!

How can waiting helping us grow in relationship with God?   How do I respond when I have to wait?  Can waiting be filled with joyful expectation?  How is waiting spiritually passive?  Active?    What am I awaiting?  Discernment in the midst of uncertainty sometimes has those Advent characteristics of darkness, waiting, and hope. We know God is there but for some reason the light hasn’t yet shone through. First we must cease clinging to one path or another. And then, the tiniest of flickers illumines a flame that sets our hearts ablaze with the certain knowledge that God-with-us is guiding us and has always been guiding us. Mary knew God’s lead and company. Our lives are an ongoing Advent of patient waiting and trust, discerning God’s presence and call. But they are also an ongoing Christmas, incarnating God’s light and glory through our actions and choices. We can trust that despite any murky darkness the light will grow stronger, revealing that God has already been with us from the beginning.  -Andy Otto   Advent Reflection of Holy Waiting    We will meet from 7-8:15 on Wednesday, December 9, 2020. Please RSVP.  I'll send the zoom link out the week of our gathering as a reminder.  Looking forward to being together, slowing down for an hour and spiritually preparing ourselves for the birth of Christ. 

The Mitten Tree Christmas Collection will be different this year to maintain safe practices while we gather the gifts for the recipients of our annual giving event. The agencies that we’ve supported for many years, Catholic Charities, Rochester Psychiatric Center, Bethany House and the Andrew’s Center are all grateful for remembering them again this year. Please click the title of this post to find out more!

BOTH of the parishes within our Catholic Community, Our Lady Queen of Peace and St. Thomas More, fall within the Orange Zone degination for Monroe County at this time.  Please click the title of this post to read more!

While we have focused on the topic of racism before, so much more has happened since our last discussion and it feels imperative to keep this conversation going. A few months ago, we reflected on racism and prejudice and began a conversation inviting us to look inside ourselves, to reflect on the prejudice within.  At our next gathering, we will have the opportunity to learn about Sr. Thea Bowman, a Black, Catholic Prophet and look outward, reflecting on how our faith can empower and strengthen our actions individually and communally.  Simultaneously, as people of faith, we will wrestle with the fact that much transformation needs to occur within the Church, ourselves, and society in creating the “Beloved Community.” Please click on the title above to read more!

The Finger Lakes Guild invites you to join us on October 18, 2pm at the Cathedral for our annual White Mass for Health Care Professionals, celebrated by Bishop Matano. All are welcome, especially all health care professionals, their family and friends! Please click the title of the post above to find out more!

Have You Given Thought to Becoming Catholic? Are you or do you know someone who may be interested in becoming a full member of the Catholic Church? Then a journey called the R.C.I.A. (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) may be just what you are looking for. (There is also a similar journey for children age 7 and older). This journey is for anyone who is ● baptized in the Catholic Church, but may not have made First Communion or been Confirmed; ● baptized in another Christian Church, but now desire to become a member of our faith community; ● someone who has not been baptized. If this sounds like something you may want to be involved in or if you have any questions, please contact Mary Ann Obark at (585) 490-0389 or email Maryann.Obark@dor.org. Please click on the title above to read more.

In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, many things have had to change. Please be patient with us as we adjust one more thing to correspond to our new lived reality. Following Governor Cuomo's guidelines, we have carefully re-opened both churches, but, as you know, we are not celebrating the same number of Masses on a weekend as we did pre-Covid. Fewer Sunday Masses has caused a problem for some of our parishioners, who have regularly honored an anniversary or a birthday of a loved one by requesting that a Mass be offered that day for his or her intention. Moreover, some of our Masses on these day are pre-recorded and some are live. Not a few parishioners prefer that the Mass they requested not be a pre-recorded Mass. To honor all these new circumstances, we have revised our Mass Intention Policy for both parishes. Please click the title of this post to read the complete document.

Faith Formation programs and Sacramental Prep are beginning in October utilizing a hybrid approach! Please register ASAP if you have not already done so for the 2020 - 2021 school year. This year we will be using a new program called Ministry One to help up collect registrations and fees as easily and as safely as possible. Ministry One is an easy App that lets you safely and securely register and pay for your Faith Formation programs without ever leaving home! No people to chase or forms to mail! Please click the title of the post above to learn more!

Below, please find a copy of the most recent Letter to the Faithful from Bishop Matano regarding the childhood sexual abuse claims made after the Diocese of Rochester filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Please click the title of the post above to read more.

Masses are published online on our YouTube Channel: OLQPSTM.  If you would like to be sure that you never miss a Mass again, please SUBSCRIBE to our channel.  Many people are still choosing to access our online Masses by only clicking the video link below our parish news section or the link in our website banner.  While this is certainly a path to our YouTube Channel, there are some flaws that can cause you to not find the Mass as easily through this route. Please click the title of the post above to read more.

We are excited to announce that on Saturday, August 15th we will be adding Saturday evening Masses at both Our Lady Queen of Peace and St. Thomas More. We look forward to seeing you at 4:30 pm on Saturday!