Dear Parishioners, 

For those of you who are looking ahead on your August calendar, you may have noticed that August 15th falls on a Saturday this year. The fact that this Solemnity is on a Saturday means that it is NOT a Holy Day of Obligation this year. However, many still like to celebrate this day to honor our Lady. Our Saturday morning 9:15 a.m. Mass on the 15th will be our celebration of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary this year. 

Remember how I always ask for prayers for vocations? Your prayers are certainly working! But now this also means that you need to continue to pray. Perhaps you noticed one of the young men that serve for us on the weekend Mass: Noah Bohan. He has been thinking about the priesthood and has applied to the Diocese of Kalamazoo and has been accepted to enter the seminary this Fall. Noah will be leaving for school shortly and I know he will appreciate your prayers and support as he begins this journey. I ask that you keep him in your prayers and continue to pray as well for additional vocations to the priesthood.

Prayers for vocations have always been an important part of what I ask parishioners to pray for. As one can see, I am the only priest here at St. Catherine currently as Fr. Joseph has been assigned to another parish. I know that Bishop Lohse is thinking about what to do as we could use another priest or two here at St. Catherine due to our activities and the size of our parish. Please be patient with me as it might take me longer to get back to your requests or other things. One area that I will do my best to keep up with is the Saturday morning confession time. I know many appreciate the fact that we normally have more than one priest available. Until something changes, I will be the only priest hearing confessions. 

I am thankful to Fr. Fabio Garzon for helping me with some of the Masses this month of August. Fr. Fabio is our Vicar General for the Diocese and works with the Bishop at our Diocesan Pastoral Center in downtown Kalamazoo (which is now just across the street from the new arena that is under construction). Thanks for being available Fr. Fabio to help us during this time!
 

Thanks for reading!

Fr. Mark