Welcome to
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
ADORATION
MASS SCHEDULE
CONFESSION
1st Fridays
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
ROSARY
English: 20-minutes before each
Weekend Mass
Polish: 30-minutes before each
Sunday Mass (10:30 a.m.)
Tuesday to Friday 8:30 a.m. (English)
Saturday 4:30 p.m. (English)
Sunday 9:30 a.m. (English)
Sunday 11:00 a.m. (Polish)
For Masses on Tuesday to Friday, please enter in the side door (south side) directly off the parking lot, where the ramp is located.
Saturday 3:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.
Upon request: Anytime
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Simply call 705-742-5466
and speak with a priest,
to set up a time.
FR. JOZEF'S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
"Today in the city of David, a Saviour, Christ the Lord, was born to us!" (Lk 2, 11).
As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, our Saviour, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for your kindness and generosity over the past year. Your willingness to share your blessings has helped sustain our parish and create a welcoming community rooted in faith and love.
This generosity reflects the spirit of Christmas, when we are reminded of the incredible gift of God’s love in Jesus Christ. hristmas is a time to give thanks for the blessings we have received and to reflect on how we can share those blessings with others.
I encourage you to carry this spirit of generosity into the coming year, supporting not only those in need, but also our parish community so we may continue to be a light of Christ in the world.
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May the Lord Jesus bless you during this wonderful Christmas and New Year as you rejoice with family and friends. May you open and cherish His gifts of peace, joy, and love and share blessings with all around you. Please know that you and your loved ones are in my prayers, and I pray that God blesses you abundantly for your goodness.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2025. — Fr. Jozef Vano
FINANCIAL SUPPORT NEEDED
In order to recover from our current financial predicament, (see below), every parishioner would need to increase their offering by $10 a week (the cost of a coffee and muffin at Tim Hortons). Otherwise, we seriously won't be able to pay our bills. We thank you in advance for your generous and ongoing support of our parish. Let's do this!
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PS: Let me assure you that any parishioner contributions toward the elevator/lift fund are
safely tucked away in Royal Bank GICs, earning interest, so those funds are not affected.
The installation of our Lift is still on target for the Spring!
The following affects our Operating Account and the ability to pay our bills.
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Since July, 2023, the monthly Offertory Comparison has listed the Operating Expenses, so that you can see that consistently our expenses are on average $4,000 higher than our income from offertory($5,000 higher in November). We have been kept afloat by very substantial donations from a few very generous parishioners and these donations have now been expended.
OUR OPERATING ACCOUNT BALANCE HAS NOW DROPPED TO ZERO!
This crisis affects our ability to pay our bills (gas and hydro for the church and rectory, snow plowing, PUC, etc.), and has come about by (a) the continual annual rise in costs; and (b) the consistency of parishioner contributions that once set, typically tend not to change year-to-year.
As we approach the Christmas season, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for your ongoing generosity and support of our parish. Your contributions enable us to sustain our ministries and care for our Church and facilities. However, now that we are currently facing a shortfall in donations of approximately $4,000 each month, it places a significant strain on our ability to continue our mission and meet our commitments.
So, our goal is to increase our monthly parish offertory by at least $4,000
or we won’t be able to pay our bills ongoing. We have a solution!
I kindly ask each of you to prayerfully consider increasing your ongoing “weekly” offering even by $10 (coffee & a muffin at Tim Hortons) to help us address this need. Every gift, no matter the size, brings us closer to meeting our goals and ensures we can continue to thrive as a community of faith.
Thank you for your generosity, prayers, and commitment to our parish. Together, I believe we can rise to this challenge and strengthen the future of our church.
In Christ,
Fr. Jozef and the Parish Finance Committee
ANNUAL POLISH DINNER
HOW DO YOU SAY THANK YOU IN POLISH? Dziękuję of course!!!
Thank you to the Polish members of our parish who worked so hard and thanks to all who donated food
as well as their time setting up, cooking and cleaning.
A total of $2,505 was raised for our parish.
ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL YARD SALE
​Thank you to all who were involved with our annual yard sale…donors, bakers, table-getters, set-up crew, sellers, buyers, and over-night security. A special thank you to those who helped pack and clean up. The income from the raffle was $4,648 and from the yard sale was $2,282 (including approximately $725 from the bake table) for a total of $7,655. This is only about $500 short of last year and was made possible through the donation of all prizes by thoughtful parishioners (as detailed on the prize list). We will use these funds to offset the costs of September’s driveway repair.
Congratulations to our raffle winners:
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1st Prize – Toronto Argonauts vs Hamilton Tiger-Cats ($600 value) — Jan Young
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2nd Prize – Blue Jays vs Cardinals ($300 value) — Peter Dawson, Peterborough
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3rd Prize – Kingdon Timber Mart Gift Card ($300) — Matt Armstrong
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4th Prize – Otonabee Meat Packers Voucher ($200) — Gordon Walker
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5th Prize – Keg Gift Card (150) — Fr. Bill Moloney, Campbellford
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6th Prize – Tassimo Coffee Machine System ($190 value) — Marty Silvestri​
Double-click to see larger images
CHURCH MAINTENANCE FUND (BOTTLE DRIVE)
Our bottle drive is organized by the Knights of Columbus. They collect RETURNABLE liquor, wine, beer bottles and beer cans on the last Saturday of each month at the Rectory garage between 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. (NO POP CANS PLEASE.) We appreciate your support!
SUCCESSFUL DRAINAGE PROJECT: Many thanks to those parishioners who were able to assist with the drainage work Friday, June 14th. Everything went as planned and we were able to finish in one day. When the earth settles, we will do some landscaping. Thanks to your support, this project only cost approximately $750.
The balance in the "bottle drive fund" and future bottle drive collections will now be used for other parish maintenance projects.
FR. DAMIAN SMULLEN - FUNERAL & MEMORIAL MASS DETAILS
The parishioners at Immaculate Conception are saddened at the passing of Fr. Damian Smullen. You may read his OBITUARY HERE.
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HERE IS THE LIVESTREAM LINK for his Funeral Mass in Sligo, Ireland. The funeral will be held at St. Anne’s Church, Sligo on Wednesday, July 24th at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (11:00 a.m. In Ireland). 
Father John Perdue will be in attendance at the funeral in Sligo and will deliver words on behalf of Bishop Miehm.
HERE IS THE LIVESTREAM LINK for his Memorial Mass at St. Peter-in-Chains Cathedral, Peterborough to be held Friday, July 26th at 12:00 p.m.
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MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PEACE​​
CATHOLIC NETFLIX — SIGN UP FOR FREE!
FORMED.ORG provides some amazing religious content on a platform that has sometimes been dubbed “Catholic Netflix”. The Diocese purchased a subscription for three years (thanks to a generous donation from Sacred Heart College), which means that all our parishioners have free access to this great programming. Among other things, it is a great resource and a way to support our Diocesan Pastoral Plan. Why not check it out this weekend?
• Go to Formed.org • Select the Formed for Individuals button • Type in your email and click Submit • For Find your Parish type “Immaculate Peterborough” and select us from the dropdown list • Click the Next button • Type your Name and Email address and click the Sign Up button • Then begin exploring the engaging and professional content. You will find excellent videos on saints, some fine children’s programming, and “The Search” which is a great exploration of the Catholic faith—among many other resources. And did I mention it’s all free?
Fr. Jozef Vano
Parish Priest
Welcome to our new parish priest,
Fr. Jozef Vano, born and raised in Slovakia. He was ordained on June 15th, 1991, for the Diocese of Roznava. In 1998, he finished his postgraduate studies at the Pontifical University in Lublin, Poland, receiving a licentiate in canon law (JCL).
He came to Canada in January 1999 on an offer to work for the Slovak community in Hamilton. He later worked in Mississauga and Toronto. In 2017, he started working in the Peterborough Diocese and served in Bowmanville (2017), Bracebridge (2018), and Kearney 2019-2023.
He replaced Fr. Stephen at Immaculate Conception on June 28th, 2023.
Fr. Peter Seabrooke
Retired Priest in Residence
Fr. Peter Seabrooke was baptized in Immaculate Conception Parish but raised in Sacred Heart Parish, both in Peterborough and was ordained to the priesthood on May 6th, 1972.
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He served in parishes in Cobourg, Lindsay .Newcastle and Peterborough,in addition to serving as Youth Director, Director of Christian Family Ministries and Chancellor of Temporal Affairs.
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He officially retired in September 2019 and resides at the Immaculate rectory while continuing to serve as chaplain of Mount St. Joseph.
