It’s a holiday week, so maybe your plans include heading downtown to the Arch grounds for Celebrate St. Louis on July 4. This July 4 is not only the 248^th Anniversary of the United States of America, but it is also the 150^th Anniversary of the Eads Bridge, the first bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis and the oldest current bridge spanning the Mississippi. Part of the downtown July 4^th celebrations this week will also celebrate the Eads Bridge. You might be asking why in the world I’m writing about the Eads Bridge in a Church bulletin! When I moved to St. Margaret of Scotland a few years ago, I wondered why the name of the street I lived on was Flad Avenue. After doing some research, I found that the street was named for Henry Flad, a German-American Civil War hero and engineer who was the assistant to James Eads, who designed the famous bridge. Apparently the folks at the time thought that he was important enough to name a street after! There is an interesting exhibit at the Missouri History Museum about the 150^th Anniversary of the Eads Bridge, and there you can learn more about Henry Flad, whose name is now the name of the street where we attend Church on Sundays! Check it out this summer!

Mass this Independence Day, Thursday, July 4, will be at 8:00am. There will be no Eucharistic Adoration on Independence Day. There will be no Mass at St. Margaret on Friday, July 5. The parish office will be closed for the latter half of this week. Enjoy the summer holiday and pray for our nation!

A Eucharistic Congress will be taking place in Indianapolis next July 17-21, and people from all over the country will gather for Masses, Adoration, and sessions to promote participation in and devotion to the Eucharist. In preparation for the Congress, the first National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is happening from the four corners of our country and will pass through St. Louis next week, July 5-7, and will be especially close to St. Margaret of Scotland next Sunday, July 7. Next Sunday morning, Archbishop Rozanski will preside at Mass at the Cathedral Basilica at 10:00am. Immediately after Mass, a Eucharistic Procession will begin heading to St. Stephen Protomartyr Church at 3949 Wilmington Avenue. This procession is about 5½ miles will take approximately 2½ hours. It will process down Tower Grove Avenue, through Tower Grove Park, and down Morganford on the way to St. Stephen Protomartyr. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament will begin at St. Stephen Protomartyr at 2:00pm next Sunday afternoon. You are invited to participate in these events next Sunday; for more information, check out www.eucharisticpilgrimage.org.  For some of you, it may be a matter of just walking a block or two to see the Blessed Sacrament and hundreds of pilgrims process through our neighborhood! Let us support them with our prayer!