- APPRECIATION: On behalf of the Parish Pastoral Team and the 2024 Harvest Committee, we wish to express our profound gratitude to you our dear parishioners for your active participation in the just concluded Harvest Retreat and Children/Youth Harvest and Bazaar Sales. May our Lord of the harvest bless you all. Amen. We appeal to all those who have made pledges or bought items during the bazaar sales to kindly redeem them by cash, cheque or POS at the Harvest Stand by the entrance of the church (On Sundays) and Parish Office (during the week). You can as well transfer directly to the Harvest Account: HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC CHURCH, HARVEST, ZENITH- 1014506326.
- TITHE SUNDAY: Today, the first Sunday of the month is Tithe Sunday, there shall be a special blessing before the Second Collection. You can also make your transfers to our Fidelity Bank 5080032193 in favour of Holy Family Catholic Church, Festac.
- FIRST MONDAY ANOINTING: Tomorrow, 2nd September 2024, is the first Monday of the month. There shall be special blessing and anointing at all masses. Let us all endeavour to participate in this spiritual exercise.
- BIRTHDAY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY: Dear Parishioners, it is that time of the year again when we celebrate the birthday of our beloved Mother Mary in the Parish. Our celebration has begun with a 9 days Retreat/ Novena from Friday, 30th August to Saturday, 7th September, 2024. The grand celebration comes up on Sunday, 8th September 2024. There is sale of Ankara for this event at the rate of N6,000 per 6yards after every Mass on Sundays within the church premises. Freewill donations in cash and kind are also welcomed: UBA Bank, Help of Christians Comitium Festac- 2022998895. Please contact the Parish office or the Associate Parish Priest for any other enquiries concerning this event. Below are the topics for the daily talks:
Day 3: “Mary Hope in Suffering”
Mary’s experience of suffering and her hope in God’s plan.
Day 4: “Mary the Hope of Salvation”
Mary’s role in the plan of salvation
Day 5: “Mary Our Companion”
Mary’s presence in our lives and her support in our struggles
Day 6: “Mary the Joy of Redemption”
Mary’s joy in seeing Jesus’ mission fulfilled.
Day 7: “Mary the Power of Trust and Hope”
Mary’s trust in God’s plan and hope in His promises
Day 8: “Mary Cause of our Joy”
Mary’s visit to Elizabeth and the Joy of the Visitation
Day 9: “Mary Mother of Hope”
Mary’s hope fulfilled in her assumption and Coronation as Queen of Heaven and Earth and her eternal reign as Queen of Hope
- SEMINARIAN: Our Seminarian, Akonthe Stephen has completed his 6 months Pastoral Work here in our parish and will be leaving us this week. We are all encouraged to remember him in our prayers.
- BLESSSING OF WATER & SACRAMENTALS: There will be blessing of water and other sacramental every Tuesday during the evening mass. We are all encouraged to participate actively.
- YEAR OF PRAYER: The Year of Prayer towards the Jubilee of Hope has begun and we shall have our parish programs every second and fourth Saturday of the month during the 6:30am mass. We are all encouraged to be in attendance and remember to renew our commitment to prayer during this Year of Prayer.
- CONFRATERNITY OF CHRISTIAN MOTHERS: The Confraternity of Christian Mothers of the Parish will be having her Solemn Reception on Sunday, 15th September, 2024 at the 10:00am mass. The reception follows immediately after the mass at the Pope John Paul II (Upper) Hall.
- CATECHISM CLASSES: Parents and Guardians of all catechism children should kindly take note that catechism classes begin at 3:45pm and closes at 6:00pm. Kindly ensure that the children are picked up out of the compound by 6:15pm on Saturdays after the catechism classes.
- FIRST FRIDAY COMMUNION TO THE SICK AND HOME-BOUND: The First Friday visit and communion to the sick and home-bound comes up this Friday, 6th September, 2024.
- FIRST SATURDAY: The First Saturday Marian Devotion and Rosary Procession comes up this Saturday, 7th September, 2024 after the 6:30am Mass.
- OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP: Parishioners are encouraged to light candles for their various intentions at the statue of Our Lady of Perpetual Help beside the Sanctuary. Please note that ONLY CUP CANDLES are allowed.
- NOVENA TO OUR LADY UNDOER OF KNOTS: Our Parish novena to Our Lady Undoer of Knots comes up every month from the 1st to 9th of the month. Let us participate actively with the prayers on the various parish platforms.
- ORGANIZATIONS MEETING: Next Sunday, 8th September 2024, is the Monthly General Meetings of the Catholic Men Organization and Catholic Women Organization (after the 10.00am Mass) and Catholic Youth Organization of Nigeria (after the 8:00am Mass). Let us all prepare to attend our respective organization meetings.
- CHOIR CONCERT: Our Parish Choir will be hosting a Choir Concert tagged; “An Evening of Hymns”on Sunday, 15th September, 2024. Time: 3:00pm. Venue: Main Church. It is a celebration of faith and music; a soul-stirring evening of classic hymns, fellowship and praise. We are all cordially invited!! Come and sing to the Lord with your full voice. Remember, he who sings well, prays twice.
- ALTAR WINE: Please be reminded that our altar wine is now sold for N6,500 (per bottle) and N78,000 (per carton). We apologize for any inconveniences.
- SECURITY ALERT: Dear beloved parishioners, we will like to draw our parishioners’ attention to be more security conscious and hold on to their valuables especially in the church during mass. This is to prevent cases of theft in the church. In the same vein, we wish to bring to your notice some fraudulent act that has been on the increase in recent times. There have been cases of people hacking into the various WhatsApp platforms of the parish, requesting for either money or a particular code to be sent. We appeal to us all to be careful of these hackers who may try to trick you into divulging sensitive information. Please be cautious of any messages or emails asking you to send codes, money or personal information, claiming to be from the Priests or Parish Office. These are likely fraudulent attempts.
Remember:
– Our parish will never ask you to send money into an account that does not belong to the parish nor send codes or personal information via email or message.
– Be wary of suspicious requests, even if they appear to come from a familiar name or email address.
– Always verify the authenticity of such requests by contacting the parish office or the Priests of the parish directly.
LET US ALL STAY VIGILANT AND SAFE ONLINE SO AS NOT TO FALL VICTIM TO THESE FRAUDULENT ACTIVITIES.
- PARISH ID CARDS: This is to inform parishioners that the Parish ID cards of those who registered since last year 2023 and beyond are ready for collection at the Parish Office, kindly go to the Parish Office to check. Also, we encourage our new members to please register at the Parish Office and those whose card is expired can as well renew at the Parish Office.
- CLEANING OF THE CHURCH: We hereby urge all parishioners to imbibe proper maintenance culture as relating to keeping the church and its premises clean always. As we encourage all parishioners to use the waste bins rather than litter the church with dirt, we also appeal to all parents to please keep their children away from the flowers as they keep damaging them. We appreciate those parishioners who have been helping in sweeping and keeping the church compound clean. As we keep the House of God clean, may God keep us clean from sin and free us from all evil. Amen.
- HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC PARISH LIBRARY: We are pleased to inform you that the Anthony Cardinal Okogie Reference (Parish) Library located beside the Anthony Cardinal Okojie Lower Hall is here to serve you better. At very affordable prices, we offer the following services: Photocopying, Lamination, Binding, Spiral Binding, Typing, Printing, Colored Photocopy etc. We also offer a vast range of books ranging from Literature to Accounting to Economics and a lot more. Working Hours: Mondays to Fridays. Time: 9am- 4pm. God bless you as you patronize us. For further enquiries on how to use to library or any of its services, please call: 09036389533 or 08169228063 (Ms. Chinwe).
- (1%) ONE PERCENT BIBLE CHALLENGE: We wish to encourage all Parishioners to read and study the word of God for at least 15minutes every day; which is about 1% of 24 hours. For this week, we shall be continuing with the Book of Zephaniah. Take up this challenge faithfully as stated below and be enriched spiritually.
| Day/Month | Bible Passages | |
| 1st September | Zephaniah | Chapter 1 |
| 2nd September | Zephaniah | Chapter 2 |
| 3rd September | Zephaniah | Chapter 3 |
| 4th September | Zephaniah | Chapter 4 |
| 5th September | Zephaniah | Chapter 5 |
| 6th September | Zephaniah | Chapter 6 |
| 7th September | Zephaniah | Chapter 7 |
- RETURN TO THE SACRAMENTS: We wish to encourage those who have been estranged from the sacraments for one reason or the other especially the Holy Eucharist, to return to the Sacraments. Kindly meet any of the Priests if you are having any difficulty in this regard. May Christ grant us life through His Body and Blood. Amen.