Dear St. Catherine Parish Family,
As we celebrate this joyful feast of Christmas and approach the end of the year, I am particularly conscious of the great blessings we have experienced in our parish this year. As always, our parish remains very strong spiritually. Our devotion to the Eucharist and our beautiful liturgies are a clear sign of our desire to truly give God the worship He deserves.
I am also constantly amazed at the level of participation in our various religious education programs, especially our adult education offerings. This hunger to come to know our faith more deeply is a clear sign of our desire to come to know and love God and His Church more deeply. Additionally, our preschool and grade school continue to be a wonderful blessing for our parish community, and our children’s religious education and youth programs remain extremely active as well.
I also want to highlight in a special way our incredible outreach ministries, particularly our St. Vincent de Paul Society, our Habitat for Humanity ministry, and our Thanks for Giving ministry. These and so many of our other outreach ministries really witness to the love and service that our faith inspires. I especially want to thank all of you who participated in our Giving Tree. It was a wonderful success agin this year.
I want to mention, as well, all our different fellowship and service groups that help strengthen the bonds of faith and community in our parish. We are blessed to have several groups that are very active including our Knight of Columbus and Columbiettes, our Siena Seniors, and our new That Man Is You men's faith formation group.
I also want to express my gratitude to all of our parish and school staff who support our different ministries and programs. I would like to thank in a special way Fr. Peeter as well as our deacons for their generous service to our parish. Additionally, I am pleased to share with you the exciting news that two of our parishioners, Mark Tahsler and Hector Romero, were recently accepted into the permanent diaconate formation for the archdiocese! God willing, they will be ordained deacons in five years. Please keep them in your prayers!
Finally, I want to take an opportunity to thank all of you for your support and generosity to our parish this year. I am always humbled to see how devoted so many of you are to our parish family, and the obvious love you have for Christ and his Church. As we celebrate this joyous Christmas feast, I pray that the Christ child will continue to bless all of you this Christmas season and be close to you and your families throughout this new year.
