Just today, we have received both the shelving and wood for our library, but also the vestments to be used in Sunday's Pontifical High Mass. We are very grateful for the many benefactors who have contributed to these two projects, which will add to the extrinsic glory of God and the beauty of our Mass, as well as the life of our parish. 

The vestments arrived from Spain and are of a design that blends very well with a set of vestments already used here at the parish, but privately owned by one of the priests. For a Solemn High Mass, the vestments required are the chasbule for the priest, dalmatic for the deacon, tunicle for the subdeacon, and humeral veil to be worn by the subdeacon during the Offertory and Canon of the Mass. For a Pontifical High Mass, the vestments required are the same as those for a Solemn High Mass, plus: a cope for the assistant priest, two additional dalmatics for the archdeacons, and an additional tunicle for the subdeacon of the cross. Using these two sets together enable us to have the pieces required for a Pontifical High Mass.

The funding received so far for the vestments has exceeded our initial goal of $8,000, so we decided to add add two items to our set: an altar frontal so that the vestments and the frontal will match beautifully, as well as a tabernacle veil. To pay for those additional pieces, as of today, we still need approximately $2,000. Donations can be made here, and we have recently added a "Liturgical Vestments" option on the donations page. As we are still in need of more vestments for the parish (the five pieces in our Low Mass red set, for example, are not a complete set, but are from different sets), we will keep the "Liturgical Vestments" option on the donations page, and we will add (or replace) vestments as donations are made for them.

The library project is fully funded, and more than half of the work is now complete. Until now, the work has been done off-site at the workshop of Mr. Fred Shibler, who is the contractor and parishioner who is building our library in room 216 in the parish center at 112 State Street.

Here is a picture showing most of the pieces now to be assembled on-site:

Here are some more images: