Like so many other parishes, Our Lady of the Hills is returning to semi-regular operations. While we continue to encourage the use of masks, many more people are returning to Mass. For some, restarting coffee and donuts after Sunday Mass is a sign that we are getting back to somewhat normal.
Our Family Life Center is open for religious education on Wednesday and Sunday evenings. For those parents who want to continue at home catechism, our staff prepares the material for the parents to use with their children. Many parents have commented how much they enjoyed instructing their children during the height of the pandemic.
Our teens and confirmation candidates are meeting in person on Sunday nights. Adult education has continued with Fr. George Rosario’s weekly, Wednesday afternoon Epiphany group. He is guiding them in a deeper understanding of the Scriptures and the Gospels.
Our Hispanic Community continues to flourish. We recently had a refresher Evangelization retreat that was like a vaccine to help boost people’s spiritual lives. Small communities which met over Zoom for the last year and a half are once again meeting in person. The Hispanic community also held a few KERMES, or food bazaars, to raise funds for our church expansion project and to help with expenses of two parishioners who suffer from cancer. They are presently preparing the Our Lady of Guadalupe festivities for the entire parish.
Our Lady of the Hills parish provides a ministry of hospitality for a variety of diocesan events. Our location at the intersection of I-26 and I-20 makes it easy for people at either end of the Diocese to get here. The four diocesan Cursillo weekends are held here, and Fr. Peter Sousa, Fr. Blas Cáceres, and Fr. George Rosario celebrate the Masses and hear the confessions of those on the weekend.
The Diocesan Deacon Formation Program uses our classrooms for a weekend once a month and participate in our Saturday vigil Mass, getting the men in formation an experience of Redemptorist preaching. The priests, sisters, and laity involved in Hispanic ministry throughout the Diocese gather here once a quarter as we discuss programs and events that affect all our Hispanic communities.
We are becoming increasingly a welcoming parish for immigrants. We have three families recently arrived from Africa as well as two families from Iraq. We have small group of Vietnamese and Indian families as well as our large contingent of Hispanics.
Our parish is one of thirty-two churches and two synagogues in the Columbia area who are members of the Midlands Organized Response for Equity and Justice or MORE Justice.
Father Cáceres and Father Sousa along with thirty parishioners participate with the other congregations to promote affordable housing in the Columbia area, public safety personnel receiving Critical Incident training, and programs to end gun violence. Fr. Sousa was elected to serve on the Executive Board for the year 2022.
The Redemptorist presence at Our Lady of the Hills continues to inspire and strengthen the people of God in this part of Columbia as well as the entire Diocese. With the prayers of our Mother of Perpetual Help and St. Alphonsus and the grace of the Holy Redeemer, we strive to show that missionary spirit and see all that we do as if it were a continual mission.