Candle Swaps & Community Celebrations

Friends

    Peace be with you. 

    Some of you may notice that our votive candles are changing from 12 hours to 6 hours. The reason for this change isn’t to shorten the total burning time but to solve a problem that had been happening with the 12 hour candles. Those candles were basically wax surrounding a wick that would be placed in a green glass holder either in the Church or the Chapel. The problem with these candles, as some of you have experienced, is that they tend to flame up toward the end of their life. As the wick is about to burn out, the remaining wax would light on fire with a flame that would be higher than the glass and may even break the glass. This didn’t happen with every candle but was frequent enough that we felt it was becoming a fire hazard, even with the plexiglass on the floor under the candles. The 6 hour candles are tightly constricted in a plastic container in such a way that the wax can’t expand so they should just quietly extinguish like the 6 and 3 day candles we use for the sanctuary lamp and other votive candles in the church. If there are further problems, however, please let me or one of the staff know and we’ll see if we can figure out a solution. I’m not excited about all the excess plastic we are using but I don’t know how else to keep things safe and keep candles in our holy spaces. 

    Speaking of candles, you may notice that the candles by the tabernacle in church have had a slight change to them. Normally, those candles are 1 ¼ inch candles while the candles by the main altar are 1 ½ inch candles. In order to purchase just one sized candle, we had to modify ½ inch sockets to fit in the bases that are there, which involved one of our generous volunteers retrofitting some brass sockets to make them work. My guess is that most people won’t even notice the change but, for those that do, that’s what’s different. 

    Lastly, as we turn to October, please pay close attention to some upcoming events including the Holy Spirit Mission, a retirement party for Deacon Dan Hoeger, a birthday celebration for yours truly, a diocesan Eucharistic event happening in Cedar Rapids, and much much more. Know of my prayers for you.