Dear Parishioners,

At all our Masses this weekend, we welcome a visiting missionary priest: Fr. Thadeus. He is a priest from the Tanga Diocese in Tanzania. Each year our parish welcomes a visiting priest from a missionary diocese to tell us about the work and ministry as well as what the Church is like in that part of the world. As our new Holy Father, Pope Leo has reminded us in these first months of his papacy, the Catholic Church is a missionary church. We are to continue to carry the message of the Gospel to the world around us. As this weekend is part of the missionary cooperative for the Diocese of Kalamazoo, there will be a second collection to support the work of the Diocese of Tanga.

It's been a few weeks since I spoke about BAA, our 2025 Bishop’s Appeal. I was hoping that I could announce that we have completed our goal for the year, but as of this past week, we were still $8,000 away from reaching our goal this year. If you haven’t pledged or would like to pledge to help us make our goal, please help support the work of the Church in the Diocese of Kalamazoo. Pledge envelopes are still available in the entryways of the Church. Thanks to everyone who has given this year to bring us near our goal.

Weather permitting this week, we are planning to have the last steps of our parking lot maintenance done this week (seal coating and striping the lines). We will be open the entire week for Mass and there will be access to the offices, but sections of the lot will be shut down for a day or so (East lot, West lot) and some entrances will be closed due to the parking lot needing time to cure and dry.

As we reach this final week of July (it sure seems like this month has gone very quickly), just a reminder to mark your calendars for our annual Parish Picnic which is the Sunday following Labor Day (or September 7th). Also, if you have students that haven’t registered for our Faith Formation classes for the fall, please contact our office or check the St. Catherine Website for registration information.

Thanks for reading! 

Fr. Mark