Meet Felicity Rosalie Johnson! Fr. Landback to celebrate Masses on Gaudete Sunday.

Advent II

Welcome Felicity Rosalie Johnson!

Born Tuesday, December 9

Congratulations to Katie and Fr. Johnson on the birth of Felicity Rosalie Johnson on Tuesday, December 9! She's ready for Gaudete Sunday!

Babies, Babies, Everywhere!

3 babies were baptized earlier this year, 3 more were born in the last couple of months, one was born this week (congratulations to Katie and Fr. Johnson!) and 2 more mothers are due soon (one next week!)

Meals Needed

If you would like to provide a meal for one of the families, please contact Donna Curry at dmcurry49@gmail.com or 423-280-4990. With our younger families spread out from Asheville, Greenville & Pickens, the church serves as a central point where meals can be dropped off and picked up after Sunday Mass.

Mass Schedule Changes / Notifications

Among the newly delivered mothers is Katie Johnson, Fr. Johnson's wife. Their seventh child, Felicity Rosalie, was born this week. To allow some family time, we have adjusted our schedule as follows:

Tuesday 12:10 pm Daily Mass & Confessions are cancelled for the month of December
Fr. Landback and Fr. O'Connor are on standby to cover Sunday Masses for at least one Sunday.
Wednesday Masses will continue, and we will seek to get coverage if needed (sorry for having to cancel this week!). Note the Christmastide Mass times further below.
Text messages will be sent out if there are any changes or cancellations. If you don't already receive text messages, please sign up below:

Snack Sunday after the 11am Mass Dec 14

Celebrate Gaudete Sunday with us - bring a snack to share after the 11am Mass! You don't need to bring enough to feed everyone, and all contributions are welcome - veggies and dip, chips and dip, crackers and cheese, cookies, etc. Thank you!

WILL YOU HELP OUR

ORDINARIATE PRIESTS?

RETIREMENT FUND COLLECTION, NOVEMBER 30 (oops!)

We are playing catch-up - this note should have been in previous Flocknotes and announcements:

On the first Sunday of Advent our community will have the chance to join all the Parishes and Parochial Communities across the Ordinariate in supporting the Retirement Fund for Priests: a second collection for the pension of Ordinariate clergy. Donation information and pre-addressed envelopes are available in the narthex. Checks should be made payable to “Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter.” Please note your parish on your check. You may place your gift in this Sunday's collection (Dec 7) or you may mail your gift to the Chancery in the envelope provided. You may also give online at www.ordinariate.net/give-to-rfp or by using the button below. Please prayerfully consider making a gift!

Retirement Fund for Priests

Thank you to Fr. David O'Connor!

A big thank you to Fr. David O'Connor for celebrating our First Friday Said Latin Mass on Dec 5 and both Masses on Sunday, Dec 7. Remember to prepare a runway for God (if you were at Sunday Mass, you know what this means!).

Upcoming events for Advent and December and January Feast Days

We have several events planned (or in the planning stages) over the next six weeks:

Wednesday, Dec 24 - We will have Christmas Eve Masses at 4pm and 9pm. No Masses at St. Edmund Campion on Christmas Day.

Thursday, Jan 1, 2026 - Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God at 4pm.

Jan 5 - 6pm Evening Service Lessons and Carols (St. Edmund Campion Catholic Church)

Updates and more details on this schedule will be provided via email and text, as well as in the announcements at Mass.

If you are interested in more details on Holy Days of Obligation for the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, please click here.

5 ways to prepare for Advent

#1: Make Resolutions for Personal and Family Prayer Time (and Silence!)

The Daily Office. To learn how to pray the Daily Office, I recommend this video. You can also reach out with any questions on our Signal group. Our long term goal is to have Morning and Evening Prayer prayed every day in the Church. It may take us sometime to build up to this, but if you would be willing to lead prayer once a week in the church, please let me know.

St. Gregory Prayer Book - Advent devotions can be found on pages 141-145. We have St. Gregory Prayer Books available for $25 in the parish office; they are also available online from Ignatius Press or Amazon.

Consider reading Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives. Truly one of the best books I have read, but any spiritual reading that focuses on the incarnation and anticipation will be fruitful!

Guard silence by avoiding the news, radio, social media, TV, movies, shopping malls, restaurants and other places where you might encounter secular Christmas music and decorations.

#2: Hold off or Gradually Decorate for Christmas

There are no hard and fast rules for when to put up decorations. While some wait until Dec 24 to put up any decorations you might also consider:

Putting up greenery on the Feast of St. Nicholas on Dec 6
Put up lights on the Feast of St. Lucy on Dec 13,
A few more decorations on Gaudete Sunday
But wait until sundown on Christmas Eve to put out the Nativity Scene, Christmas ornaments and other decorations.

#3: Make & Light an Advent Wreath

Watch the Announcements for details on a wreath-making workshop on Nov 30. Wreaths will be blessed at the end of the workshop. See website for prayers and pray them every evening at home around or before dinner time!

#4: Start Off Your Tree as a Jesse Tree!

If you are getting a real tree and worried all the trees will be gone if you wait too long, then go ahead and get your tree right before Dec 1, but start off the tree as a Jesse Tree. Each day put a new "Salvation History" ornament on your tree. As suggested above, add lights on the Feast of St. Lucy on Dec 13, and Christmas ornaments after sundown on Christmas Eve. In the resource below, you can find Jesse Tree ornaments you can make yourself, or you can purchase some (see website for link).

#5 Learn and Sing Advent Hymns

These hymns of "expectation" have a surreal beauty that will help prepare your heart for the coming of Christ in Christmas. See website for Fr. Johnson’s:

27 Advent Hymns - YouTube Playlist!

Home Campaign Update

We have already had $487K of $550K pledged for our Building Fund through the Home Campaign - thanks to the generosity of several parishioners, we are already 88% of the way to our 3 year pledge goal in the Home Campaign! If you would like to pledge to our Home Campaign to help with continuing our renovation of our sanctuary and paying down our mortgage, please go to this link: https://sec.flocknote.com/give/6592

Make a Pledge

Thank you to Brenda Sherrer and Gary and Marcia Madere for their help preparing our end of year mailing.

Copies of the annual report and the Home Campaign sponsorship sheet are also available in the narthex after Mass. If you are not local to the area and would like a copy of these documents please email the parish office (wncord@gmail.com) with your mailing address. Thank you!

Interested in volunteering?

We can use assistance in the following areas:

Assisting with Sunday Masses – 8:30 and 11am - greeting, ushering, setup
Supporting children’s ministries and youth activities
Singing in the 11am Mass Choir (different levels of skill and commitment are welcome) or Schola
Setup and cleanup for food after 11am Mass
Altar Guild - setup the altar for Mass, cleaning Altar Linens, etc.
Maintaining church grounds and facilities

We welcome adults and youth who are willing to dedicate their time and talents. No prior experience is necessary - just a willingness to serve. Please contact Donna Curry, our Volunteer Coordinator, at dmcurry49@gmail.com for more information. Thank you!

Organist Needed!

We are in search of a part-time organist - someone proficient in sight-reading music and ideally familiar with Gregorian chant and plainchant, performing on a full-size Allen Digital Organ. The basic responsibilities are playing for the 11am Sunday Mass each week and could also include occasional Feasts, Holy Days of Obligation and possibly expanding to playing hymns at the 8:30am Mass. For the interim, we would also consider a trained pianist as we can temporarily use a keyboard with an organ setting. If you are interested, or can recommend someone to us, please contact the parish office at wncord@gmail.com or 828-393-5775 (ext 0). Thank you!

OCIA (Adult Faith Formation) is ongoing - you can join us (almost) any Sunday for class at 9:30am!

Our Order of Christian Initiation for Adults (OCIA) class is a catechesis/faith formation opportunity for all adults. Whether you are considering becoming Catholic, a recent (or not-so-recent) convert or revert, or a cradle Catholic, these classes will have something for you. Please come and join us at 9:30am on Sunday mornings (between Masses) - sign up button below. We will have coffee!

Prayer and Worship Resources - UPDATE

The Divine Worship Study Missal is back in stock at Catholic Truth Society; the Divine Worship Daily Office (Commonwealth edition) is out of stock but the website states that re-stocking is expected in December. Please contact the parish office (wncord@gmail.com or 828-393-5775 ext 0) if you are interested in ordering either of both of these books. Overseas shipping is expensive, but overall the cost still comes out to less than ordering individually from other websites, and the more we order the less the shipping is per book.

Catholic University of America is printing a US edition of the Daily Office which is available for pre-order on their website. The expected publishing date is Dec 12, 2025 (***expected shipping date now February 2026***) and the cost is $55. Pre-orders can be placed using this link:

https://www.cuapress.org/9780813240558/divine-worship-daily-office/

We have replenished our supply of St. Gregory Prayer Books;

they are available for purchase for $25.