From the Pastor
July 21, 2024
Dear Parishioners,
This week marks my first anniversary of being appointed here at the Catholic Community of St. Ann as your pastor. It has been an interesting year with some new starts and events and continuous planning for the future. As we begin a new year, I’d like to invite you to once again be part of our planning and development process. Some really important events are coming up and I am hoping that you will participate in the ones that are appropriate for you and your families.
This week, on Tuesday July 23rd at 9:45am and on Wednesday evening at 7:15pm we will be hosting a meeting of parents with children in our Formation Programs including our Pre-school. After coffee and snack, we will open the floor to listen to you. These meetings are intended as exploration and listening sessions to help in the development of our Family Life Ministry in the community. We are doing some things already, but we absolutely want to expand our offerings. These are the start of the new Family Life Ministry Committee, and we are looking forward to people joining in this leadership of the new endeavor. This umbrella group does not replace the current group of Dads and Young Moms but helps to unify our efforts. Please select the date that works best for you.
In two weeks, we will be distributing the 4th Best Parish Practices Survey to solicit your evaluation of the area of Evangelization. This survey will be distributed in hard copy in church and online in an easy-to-use format. Use the way that best fits you. Your response is important as we use these in developing our current practices and as we plan our future, they are due on the last Monday of August. The Pastoral Council will use the results of your feedback in further developing our Pastoral Plan and we’ll share some results.
On August 14, the Vigil of the Assumption of Mary, after the 6:30pm mass, we will hold our first Annual Town Hall Meeting. This is open to the entire parish and begins at 7:30pm. The town hall is an opportunity in the spirit of solidarity to be informed of what has been happening this past year and to let you know what is being planned for the upcoming year. To help the process along I’ll deliver a State of the Parish address and ask a few further presenters to share more information on the parish. After this it will be time for an open forum for you to present ideas or ask questions or help us along as we plan. We’ll give you an update of our Pastoral Plan which is halfway through in its development. We will present the final product at our next Town Hall Gathering in the Spring of 2025.
We have processed all the responses to our Covenant of Discipleship: Participation. You should be contacted in the next few weeks to give further info about your actives or ministries. Next month we will focus on the second part of our discipleship efforts as we ask you to make a covenant of prayer, faith formation, and participation in social events and special activities. On September 7 & 8 we will hold the Covenant of Discipleship: Prayer and Presence part of our commitments to the Lord and to one another. The forms will be online as well as in the church for you to use. On September 15 we will celebrate our new commitment with our First Annual International Festival with Food, Drinks, Entertainment and Community Building. Save the date.
Last Saturday President Trump was shot at a campaign rally. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured and should soon recover. We thank God for his miraculous escape from serious injury or death. We are in a contentious political campaign. There is great division centered on political issues and candidates. None of this justifies violence of any kind, especially assassination. We need to remain peaceful and considerate and united as Americans in the next month leading up to the election and in accepting the choices that are made for the years ahead. Please pray for peace these days.
