From Raymond M. HaJєωski <haJєωski@cni-usa.com>

There's not much to tell about Father Young's condition yet. I have not called him as I know he will call when there are definative answers to whether or not he will be doing Mass or some other priest will cover for him.
 
Some ladies have called and here's what they told me.
 
Father Young fell on some black ice when either getting on or off the shuttle bus. I guess an EMT told him that another person was transported to the hospital from falling at the same spot. Which reminds me...Joe Zignego has provided us with sand for our parking lot when needed. It's in that white barrel by the garbage cans. Feel free to spread a combination of Ice Melt and sand as needed. Father Young and I are still looking for some young bucks who could help us keep the sidewalks and driveways clear of snow & ice.
 
Father Young is at home with a stabilizer on his knee. He's putting ice on it and I guess he had a bad night last night. He's taking some pretty strong pain meds and really isn't up to calling people. I guess they are taking down names of people who call and he calls them back when he's feeling good enough to talk. Like I said earlier, I'm not calling until he calls me. This particular injury does not seem to be as serious as the accident he had to his other knee last year. Of course we'll know for sure after the MRI.
 
Apparently they took X-rays and could not find a break, but his knee cap was off to one side.(OUCH) They will be doing an MRI tomorrow (Wednesday) and he will see an Orthopedic surgeon immediately after the MRI. Obviously they will talk and come up with a course of action. He will then report this to Father Soos (his superior) and they will figure out what to do from there. It's at this point I'm sure they will call me.
 
I do have an alternate plan if we will not have a priest for Christmas.
 
I figure at mimimum we will still have the Christmas Concert at the scheduled time and then have a "Holy Hour" at midnight. Afterwards we'll enjoy the customary wine and cheese. It just wouldn't be Christmas without going to church!!
 
If I can get someone to open and close the church on Christmas Day I'd have them do a "Holy Hour" at the scheduled Mass time. It wouldn't hurt for us to spend an hour praying before the Blessed Sacrament. Besides....who ever heard of not going to church on Christmas!!!! I personally would pray the Mass for that Holy Hour.
 
We will only do this if I can get permission to do this and if we don't have a Priest for Christmas.
 
Hang in there....I will let you all know what's going on as soon as I hear something.
 
We plan on putting up the Christmas decorations and do a church clean-up after the 10:30 Mass on Sunday (if there is one). If not, I figure we might do this on Saturday.....I'll let you know. In any case we need ladies to help clean the church (nobody is scheduled for this week) and some guys to bring all the decorations down from the attic and set things up. I'd really appreciate a large turn out for this effort. So please consider helping us decorate and clean the church this weekend.
 
Please share these E-mail messages with those who do not have E-mail. In-other-words..."Pass the word."  Call all the people you know from church and let them know what's going on.   Thanks
 
Hang in there folks and pray for Father Young.
 
God Bless...RAY

 


I wonder what they're doing/did at Our Lady of Victory Church in Las Vegas.  I visited during the summer (fyi, my trip to that city was for a basketball tournament) and the priest, I believe his name was Fr Otto, was scheduled to have a hip replacement in October.  Hopefully another priest flew in to cover, and hopefully the same will happen in your situation.

Since I cannot make it in the mail... I'm going to post it here...