January 21-22

It has been a few weeks since I have written to you. The chaos of the holidays and my post-Christmas vacation to Spain are the primary reasons for my “silence”. In any event, things have settled down and I want to begin my weekly letter once again. Let’s start with some congratulations.

We thank His Excellency, Bishop Louis R. Zarama, and Auxiliary Bishop of Atlanta for Confirming 174 of our teenagers yesterday. This is the largest number of Confirmandi at STA and it should make all of us proud of our teens. In receiving the Sacrament, they have completed their initiation into the Roman Catholic Church. Confirmation is a rite of passage: the Confirmed have publicly dedicated themselves to their personal relationship to Our Lord, and to Holy Mother Church. Pray for these young people, that the graces of the Sacrament are continuously renewed by them each day.

Let’s also extend our congratulations to the STA Knights of Columbus who recently donated $500 to Our Lady of Perpetual Help (cancer) home. OLPH is run by the Hawthorn Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne and offers its hospice service to anyone of any race, creed or ethnicity who are unable to afford medical care in the last weeks of their lives. The gentle Sisters extend comfort and palliative care to their patients in an atmosphere of dignity, respect and Christian hope for eternal life of their patients. May God bless the good Sisters and our Knights for supporting their efforts.

Moving on to some calendar items, let’s all remember our first annual gala of support for our sister parish in Haiti. Our “Friendship Night Dinner and Dance” will take place next Saturday, January 28th, (the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas) in our Parish Hall. It should be an elegant date night with a lavish meal and some great music. I hope you take the opportunity to meet and greet Father Andre Piere, the pastor of our sister parish, St. Martin de Tours. Tickets are available in the Narthex this weekend, or at the parish offices.

Lastly, I most strenuously exhort you to have your photographs included in our upcoming parish directory, which will mark our 40th Anniversary as a Parish. Don’t feel pressured to purchase the photos but please, please, do have your family’s photos (pets can be included) taken so that we all recognize each other in this enormous parish. The Directory is also helpful to the Clergy in knowing each family, particularly in times of crisis or emergency.

Blessings to all of you in this new year!

Fr. Greg

December 17-18

The Solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ (Christmas, of course) is nigh upon us. So also will be the usual hordes of folks that we see only a few times a year. Knowing how frustrating all that extra traffic and crowded seating will be, let me offer to you two related thoughts.

First, even though we see some of these folks only a few times a year, there is always the hope that our beautiful liturgies, soul-stirring music, and warm hospitality will draw some of them back to the Catholic faith. Our welcoming attitude, warm hospitality and patience might make all the difference in the world in their decision to attend Mass with us again, and perhaps resume a regular practice of the Faith. So do let’s try our extreme best to nourish these visitors and extend to them our famous St. Thomas Aquinas friendliness.

Second, some of our Christmas Eve Masses are more popular than others, and thus much more crowded and fraught with potential hassle. The two Masses offered at 4:00 PM and 6:00 PM are extremely popular with young families and their excited children who so anxiously await Santa’s visit later in the evening. While all that energy is exhilarating, it is also trying for many people. So let me suggest that if you do NOT have kids you need to get home to bed early, you will enjoy one of the later Masses much more. Our two 8:00 PM Masses are popular but not overcrowded. Parking and seating are much easier and therefore the Mass has a more relaxed and reverent “feel” to it. Our Solemn Mass of Christmas is at midnight and very beautiful as it makes us nostalgic of previous Christmas joys. The three Christmas Day Masses are quite lovely. The congregation is smallest at the 9:00 AM Mass. Crowds increase at the 10:30 AM Mass and is largest at the noon Mass. Remember that the noon Mass is the last English language liturgy of the day; there is NO Life Teen 5:30 PM Mass on Christmas Day.

Father Roberto and I extend our blessings to you in these last, possibly frantic days before Christmas. In all of our last minute running around, let’s not “forget the reason for the season” as they say! Let the final days of Advent have their full effect to truly make us ready for the Nativity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Your Brother on the Journey,

Fr. Greg

December 10-11

Greetings on this Gaudete Sunday! Gaudete means “rejoice”, and comes from the sacred scriptures: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4) This weekend the clergy wear rose colored vestments to mark the community’s rejoicing even in this Advent penitential season before Christmas. Rather than Christmas we should more properly call our feast “the Incarnation” (as in “For us men and for our salvation, he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” We find this language in our new Roman Missal as part of the revised Nicene Creed.) It is my prayer, and that of our dear Father Roberto, that all of our parishioners are finding ways to celebrate this holy Advent season and are not stressing out over the presents we want to buy for Christmas.

The coming week offers two important opportunities for us to express and encounter our faith. The bilingual Parish Reconciliation Service is Tuesday, 12/13/11, at 7:30PM. As of this writing we have 11 priests coming to hear your confessions. Do try to make the service to ready your spirit for Christmas. December 11 and 12 mark a particularly important observation for those all of us in the western hemisphere. December 12 marks the anniversary of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patron and Empress of the Americas (as declared by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1999 when he raised the feast to the highest level of devotion; a Solemnity). Until last year this was an event marked mostly by our Mexican parishioners, who want it to be better understood and celebrated by all of us. For this reason, the Mexican community has gone well out of its way to present the moving story of Our Lady’s apparition to St. Juan Diego and the way in which that event converted more than three million Native Americans to Catholicism. This miracle is not just a Mexican event; it is a Roman Catholic event of huge importance and dramatic impact in our half of the world.

Specific to our English speaking parishioners are two highly significant events (the full schedule of events can be found on our website: www.sta.org) : December 11th: immediately following the 5:30 p.m. Mass, there will be an English language dramatic presentation of the apparition and mesmerizing Aztec dancers in the church. The dancers will lead the congregation to our Parish Hall for unbelievably good Latin-American food and performances of secular folkloric dances.

December 12th: At 6:30 p.m. another English-language dramatic presentation of the apparition and Aztec dancers in the church for those who were not able to attend them the evening before. A bilingual Mass will follow at 7:00 p.m. Fantastic food will once again be offered in the Parish Hall after the Mass.

With so very much religious festivity all around us this coming week, how could we do anything but REJOICE!

Your Brother on the Journey,

Fr. Greg

November 26-27

If you have been keeping your eye on the Georgia Bulletin, you will no doubt have noticed the absolute plethora of open house invitations and solicitations of admission applications from the various Catholic schools in the Archdiocese. Every school has a mandatory pastor’s recommendation/parish verification form which must be submitted before acceptance to the school will be granted. This form must be reissued by me annually for every household that has a child in any Catholic school. This important form attests to the level of involvement and commitment that members of the family have toward St. Thomas Aquinas. An active parishioner designation may well be the difference between tuition rate levels. A denial of active parishioner status will, in all likelihood, result in the rejection of a student’s application. Therefore, let me publish once again the policy regarding this topic.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS PARISH POLICY
REGARDING PARISH VERIFICATION and the PASTOR’S RECOMMENDATION
FORM for ACTIVE PARISHIONERS

We are very happy that you have chosen to apply for admission to a school of the Archdiocese of Atlanta or to the St. Thomas Aquinas Preschool. Below are the guidelines we follow at St. Thomas Aquinas in completing the “Parish Registration Verification” form included in your admissions packet.

We will verify “active parishioner” status only for households who have (1) completed a parish registration form and (2) have returned a stewardship commitment of Time, Talent and Treasure for the current year and (3) are fulfilling that commitment with a verifiable,* sacrificial** financial contribution to the parish on a regular basis and (4) have made and are actively fulfilling a commitment to the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal.

• We can only verify contributions of those who use checks or offertory envelopes. We strongly encourage the use of envelopes for everyone. We cannot verify contributions of loose cash.

• A sacrificial contribution is one that is planned, prayerful, and proportionate to your gross family income. We recommend the biblical principle of the tithe: 5% of income to the parish, 1% to the Archdiocesan Annual Appeal, and 4% to other charities of your choice, for a total return to God of one-tenth of household income.

Particular or unusual circumstances will, of course, be considered outside of the above stated policy (e.g., a child on scholarship to one of our Catholic schools). Waiver or variance from the above policy is granted solely by the Parish Pastor.

Lastly, please keep our Confirmation Candidates in your prayers next Friday – Sunday. Amazingly we have about 180 teens going to Covecrest Retreat Center up in northeast Georgia for this three day preparation retreat. Confirmation at STA will be on January 21, 2012.

Your Brother on the Journey,

Fr. Greg

November 19-20

The Most Reverend John Francis Donoghue, D.D., the Fifth Archbishop of Atlanta, died on 11/11/11. His body lay in state at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on Wednesday and his funeral Mass was celebrated on 11/17/11. He is buried in the priest’s section of Arlington Memorial Park (Sandy Springs). He was best known for his deep devotion to the Holy Eucharist, and his commitment to building two high schools and three elementary schools during his 12 year reign. Locally, we are particularly grateful for the founding of Blessed Trinity High School and Queen of Angels Elementary School in our neighborhood. May Archbishop Donoghue rest in peace.

Today, 11/20/11, is the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King. It is the last Sunday of our current liturgical year.

Next Sunday is the First Sunday of Advent and the start of the Year of Grace 2012. It is also the day that we fully  implement the third edition of the Roman Missal. Unlike many other parishes, STA has been implementing bits and pieces of the new Roman Missal, particularly the people’s responses to the priest, for several weeks now. We can certainly anticipate some level of confusion next weekend, but do remember to consult the new hymnals which contain all the new liturgical language. With humility and humor we will eventually learn the new language and it will become second nature, as has been the language of the liturgy for the last few decades.

Congratulations are due to Worthy Sir Knight Fr. Roberto. Father was exemplified a Fourth Degree Knight (the highest level) of Columbus last Saturday. Our Knights of Columbus are a fantastic fraternal organization and are involved in all sorts of activities around the parish. I highly recommend them to men 18 years and up. The Knights are a particularly good way for newcomer guys to find friends and offer discipleship of time and talent here in their new home parish.

I’m sure that many of you, just like me, have come to appreciate Kathy Kuczka’s “The Amen Corner” each week in our bulletin. She has a website that you might want to visit that is a compilation of her blogs: www.theamencorner.org. The site is beautifully designed and has a wonderful archive of Kathy’s humorous, witty and always interesting articles and blogs. You might want to add it to your “favorites” list, as I have done.

Lastly, since I write these letters several days in advance of publications, things change fast. So this is an Oops paragraph. First, we had planned on having the principal and some students from St. John the Evangelist Elementary School (Hapeville, GA) visit with us last weekend to promote the GRACE Scholars program. They did not come because the cap of donations set by the State of Georgia has just been reached for calendar year 2011. They will join us in the spring instead. On a more minor note: isn’t the sun shade over the playground lovely? I hadn’t expected it to be installed until next spring. Oh well…

Blessings to you all and Happy Thanksgiving! Remember our Thanksgiving Day Mass at 10:00 a.m. Give thanks to the Almighty God who bestows all blessings and graces upon us, including our very lives.

Your Brother on the Journey,

Fr. Greg

November 12-13

Our civic holiday, Thanksgiving, is just around the corner. Please note that the Parish will celebrate our Thanksgiving Day Mass at 10:00 a.m. Make sure to give a few moments of thanks and adoration to the glorious Father who has granted us Americans the freedoms we enjoy. Remember to bring your breads and other food items for the banquet to Mass so that they can be blessed before your feast. The parish offices will be closed on November 24 and 25. We resume the regular daily Mass schedule (9:00 a.m. and noon) on November 25.

And speaking of being thankful, I am happy to announce the promotion of three of our Senior Altar Servers to the rank of Extraordinary Acolytes. Amber Johnson (Sophomore at Milton), Gavin Hayes (Junior at Blessed Trinity) and Casey Moore (Junior at Milton) were invested with the EA surplice at the 5:30 Mass last Sunday. They join the handful of other EAs who help the clergy in managing and training the more than 100 other Altar Servers here at STA. Each of them have been servers for several years already, and by accepting my invitation to become Extraordinary Acolytes, pledge to continue that ministry until they graduate from high school.

I hope that y’all have noticed that we have done a bit of painting in our Gathering Area to spruce up that much used room. I think the new color palate adds a bit of dash to the space. We also have painted the second floor hallways and bathrooms, and both of the stairwells of the Community Life Building. I want you to enjoy our campus and be proud that we are trying to maintain and improve our inviting atmosphere. Notice that all the additional play equipment on our Playground has arrived and been installed, finally! The four upright poles surrounding the major playscape unit will support a sunshade next summer. The overage from the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal 2010 paid part of the cost of these improvements.

We are happy to announce that we have added two new Emergency Auto Defibrillators to campus. One is located on the first floor of the CLB, just outside the main Religious Ed offices. It was purchased by our Parish Pre-School. The other is located in the Gathering Area near the CCTV monitor. Now that we have three AED devices on campus, spread evenly between the main areas of use, we will hopefully never need to use them; but we certainly feel more secure that we have them.

We were happy to host the principal, faculty and students from St. John the Evangelist Catholic School last weekend at most of our Masses. Please do try to follow through on the Grace Scholars initiative to help send as many children as possible to Catholic schools. We at STA have adopted our Southside friends at SJE (a worthy choice for those of us who want to support Catholic education but don’t have a particular or local school in mind). But do remember that you are able to designate ANY Catholic school to be the beneficiary of your Grace Scholarship tax deduction/redirection.

Your Brother on the Journey,

Fr. Greg

November 5-6

I want to congratulate you for your response to Treasure Renewal and Commitment that we conducted two weekends ago. Thus far, 640 parishioner families have pledged $1,253,083 to the goal for next year. Our budget for next fiscal year (June 30, 2012 – June 30, 2014) is $2,272,000. Thus, while we are off to a good start, we still need to secure pledge  commitments of $1,046,177 – quite a long way to go yet. If you have not had a chance to make your commitment please do so at the earliest possible convenience so that we can be sure of our sound financial footing in the coming year.

I also want to draw to your attention the fact that our present offertory giving is lagging behind the current year budget by almost $10,000. That could spell trouble ahead if it represents a down turning trend. If you have fallen behind on your present year Treasure Pledge Commitment, please try to catch up and help us close that $10,000 gap.

On other notes, I want to thank everyone who participated in the PSR Trunk-n-Treat event. We had 15 decorated cars and over 100 children participating in this first annual event. Next year: more cars and more little ghouls and goblins will be our aim.

The Knights of Columbus have been in the news here at the parish a lot. Congratulations to my brother Knights on a smashing Oktoberfest last week. Some candid photos of participating parishioners can be found within this bulletin. Moreover, let me extend a real congratulation to the Knights of STA’s Council 6532 for being awarded the Star Council Award this past Sunday. The award is given yearly to Councils who advance in membership and surpass their quota, as set by the national office up New Have, Conn.. Take note that the Fourth Degree Assembly of the Knights is presenting its Chicken Bake III on Saturday, November 12th from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. in the Hall. The event is to honor Veterans Day; proceeds will go to fund future activities of the Assembly.

Next weekend, November 12th, Principal Karen Vogtner and students from St. John the Evangelist Catholic School will be on campus to promote to us the extraordinary opportunity that we have to help a child attend Catholic school with a no cost gift through the Grace Scholars initiative. Your Georgia state taxes can be diverted to Grace Scholars to support Catholic Education to ANY Catholic school in Georgia. We at STA have adopted SJE School because it is located below the airport in a multi-ethnic and somewhat disadvantaged area. We on the Northside have so very much and it is fitting to help our less advantaged Catholic brothers and sisters on the Southside share in our access to quality Catholic education. And note once again, you can designate ANY Catholic School in Georgia as the recipient of your Grace Scholars dollars.

Please note that a Holy Water dispenser is available for you in the Ministries Room. Bring your own bottle and feel free to take Holy Water to bless your children each day as they leave for school, your spouse as you separate for the day’s work activities, or to bless your homes and sacramentals.

Your Brother on the Journey,

Fr. Greg

October 29-30

We are off to a good start with our Stewardship of Treasure Campaign. We will likely be able to give you some solid figures in about two weeks. In the meantime, if you haven’t been able to make your commitment yet, we still very much want to hear from you. Commitment envelopes are available at the welcome desk, in the information racks, and at the parish office. We are counting on you, one and all, to make our Treasure commitment efforts a success of 100% participation that will completely ensure the financial viability of our beloved parish.

Remember that the Solemnity of All Saints (November 1) is a holy day of obligation this year. Check further back in this bulletin for the complete Mass schedule. The Commemoration of all the Faithfully Departed (All Souls Day) on November 2 is not a holy day of obligation, thus our daily Mass schedule will be effective that day. HOWEVER, it is our long-standing tradition to offer a (bilingual) Mass at 7:30 p.m. on All Souls Day to remember our loved ones who have died in the past year. All their names will be read aloud. Whether you have lost someone recently or not, please do plan to attend that tender Mass to remember all of your deceased loved ones from all the years past. A reception will follow in the Hall.

Items of Other Interest:

We very much need MALE sponsors for the men in our RCIA program this year. In fact we need at least five faithful men to accompany other men on the journey to full communion in the Church founded by Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Please contact Terry Zobel in the RE Office for details. Guys, you don’t have to be saints; you just have to be trying to walk the Journey yourself and be willing to let another man walk with you. Ladies, we also need just a few more women to act in the same sponsor capacity.

North Fulton Community Charities Warm Coat Drive: Cooler weather is finally arriving. Our friends at NFCC are now collecting new and gently used warm coats, jackets and outdoor wear for men, women and children of all ages and sizes. Last year NFCC distributed 1,400 coats and 1,200 hats, mittens/gloves and scarves to help our disadvantaged neighbors during the cold months. NFCC is conducting their annual coat drive November 1 – 3 at their location at 608 Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell. You may also bring your donated winter wear to STA and place it in the bin in our Narthex; we’ll get it to NFCC for you.

Please try to keep your extraordinary generosity to our St. Vincent de Paul food pantry going. They particularly need: cereals, dry rice and beans, tuna, peanut butter and jelly, canned vegetables and fruits. Look in this bulletin for details of SVdP’s Thanksgiving food baskets and Christmas gift drives which are coming up soon. These are fantastic ways to help our own middle class neighbors who are now suddenly unemployed or otherwise devastated by the awful economy from which many of us are suffering, not to mention single mothers and their kids, elderly folks, and so many others who have fallen on hard times in these uncertain days. Remember, most of the folks served by SVdP (and NFCC) are actually the working poor; they are not people looking for a hand-out, just a hand-up to get on their feet again. Please lovingly remember these two powerfully significant agencies: SVdP and NFCC!!

To all of you, dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, peace, joy, gratitude and abundant grace be upon you and those whom you love.

Your Brother on the Journey,

Fr. Greg

October 22-23

I want to thank all of you who took time last weekend to complete your Treasure Commitment cards during the Masses. We are still tabulating the responses and will let you know the results as soon as possible (number of families committing, percentage of registered households responding, amounts pledged, etc.). In the meantime, it is imperative that we continue to honor our existing offertory and Archbishop’s Annual Appeal pledges so that we remain in the “black” financially here at home and with the support pledges we have made to our beloved Archbishop.

I received an intriguing offer from one family last weekend. They have offered to pledge, beyond their ordinary offertory gift, $5,000 toward the purchase of our much needed boiler. They are challenging other families of means to step forward to give the same $5,000 amount to get us that much closer to the $65,000 anticipated cost of the contraption. If we have any takers on that challenge, please contact me directly. I pray that I am inundated with so many calls that it will take me two days to return them all!!

Our annual parish picnic was a smashing success! I offer, on y’all’s behalf, deepest thanks to Jennifer and George Mesaros and the army of volunteers who turned out to help with the event. It seems that the later start/end time was more convenient to our families, many of whom turned out after the 5:30 p.m. Saturday Mass. I think the live band, the plethora of American and ethnic foods, and the beer garden all helped to make for an enjoyable day.

We continue to implement the new Roman Missal. So far we have tried to remember “And with your Spirit”, the new Gloria, the new Confiteor and, last weekend, the new Creed. This weekend we are introducing you to the new Sanctus (Holy, holy, holy…) and the new Memorial Acclamation that we will be using in coming months. All the beautiful new music has been composed by Ed Bolduc and is known as the Mass of Saint Ann. Many of our “old-timers” will remember Ed when he was a young teen musician here, and many of you know his mother, Marlene Bolduc, who is the Administrative Assistant in the Pastoral Office.

Don’t forget our upcoming Trunk-N-Treat event from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 29. It sounds like ghoulishly good, clean and safe fun for our kids. Check further back in this bulletin for complete details.

Remember that our quarterly Anointing of the Sick will be the weekend of October 29 and 30. We have made some alterations to our offering of the sacrament as follows: After the two Saturday vigil Masses, after the 7:30 a.m. Mass, after the noon Mass, after the 2:30 p.m. Spanish language Mass, and after the 5:30 p.m. Masses on Sunday. We will no longer be offering anointing within the 7:30 a.m. Masses on Sunday. Instead, we will be asking anyone wanting the Sacrament to move into the Blessed Sacrament Chapel after the Mass, which will free up the log-jam in the church that has developed if we anoint within the Mass. Anointing is always available with a simple phone call to the parish offices which will help set an appointment for you with Fr. Roberto or me.

Lastly, note that the Solemnity of All Saints is a holy day of obligation this year. Mass times in English are the Vigil on October 31 at 7:00 p.m. and on Tuesday, November 1 at: 6:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 12:00 noon and, 5:30 p.m. Mass will be offered in Spanish on November 1 at 7:30 p.m. Our annual observation for the Feast of All Souls will be a bilingual Mass at 7:30 p.m. on November 2. As always we will read the names of our honored deceased parish loved ones who have died in the past year.

Your Brother on the Journey,

Fr. Greg

October 15-16

Let me thank all of you who will be responding this weekend to our Treasure Commitment drive in the current Stewardship/Discipleship campaign. We count on the vaunted generosity of our dear Parishioners to keep our parish running smoothly and in the “black”, financially speaking. I will be reporting preliminary results of the campaign in the next week or two as we are able to input them into our data banks.

One charming and welcomed commitment to Treasure has come from the adults and teens who went on the Whitesville Mission Trip in July 2011. They have donated $1,500 from their recent yard sale toward the upgrade of the sound systems in the church and parish hall. They want to extend their heart-felt thanks to all of the parishioners who supported them this year, and this gesture is a most admirable way to express their gratitude. The remainder of their “excess funds” will, of course, be used to fund the 2012 trip to Appalachia.

The Parish Work Day on October 8 went nicely. We had a smattering of our Anglo parishioners present for the day, but the overwhelming majority of folks who came out were our Hispanic brothers and sisters. I appreciate everyone who joined in the effort, and hope to see a huge turn-out for our Spring Parish Work Day (date TBA). To all: thank you and gracias!

I want to take this opportunity to introduce all of our parishioners to Kate Oates, our new Director of Parish Life and Communications. Kate joined the parish staff two weeks ago and will be the point person for all of our communications efforts: web page, electronic bulletin boards, constant contact e-blast newsletters, posters, flyers, bulletin insert flyers – you name it. If it has anything to do with getting word out of your group’s activities (either in-house or to the larger civic community), Kate is the person to contact. Kate is also assuming control of the Master Calendar of the parish. Henceforth everyone should send room reservations requests/set-up, event scheduling requests and so on to Kate. She can be reached at the parish main number (770-495-4501, ext. 112) or at koates@sta.org. Scheduling communications can still be sent to schedule@sta.org.

Moreover, Kate will be assisted in all of her efforts by Maria Piccolo, who will assume the title of Associate to the Office of Parish Life and Communications. Maria will be working with Kate Oates to support our ministries by getting out consistent and timely communications efforts. In addition to collaborating with the various commissions, ministries and groups of the parish she will be helping to produce our bulletin and maintain the parish census records. Note well: Maria
is the principal point of contact for the parish bulletin. Continue to send items to bulletin@sta.org. Maria will continue to be the main Staff assistant to our Stewardship Commission. She can be reached at the parish main number (770-495-4501, ext. 105) or at mpiccolo@sta.org.

The above two paragraphs lead me to express a deep and heartfelt expression of gratitude to Joanne Garrett who has been our scheduler and bulletin editor for such a good long while. I’ll particularly miss her keen editorial eye on my weekly column. Joanne will continue to manage our master calendar and our parish bulletin until November 15, after which the division of tasks between Kate and Maria will take full effect. Thank you, Joanne, and best of luck in your new endeavors!

Your Brother on the Journey,

Fr. Greg