Dear Parishioners, 

With bulletin deadlines, we are always behind a bit in the news about the Bishop’s Appeal. Congratulations are definitely in order! Thank you for your support and prayers that you have offered during these past few weeks to help us achieve our goal and support the work of the Church throughout Southwestern Michigan. As I mentioned at the beginning of the appeal, with any monies that come in over and above our goal of $245,829.00, they will be used to help pay off the parish loan debt incurred when we added on and completed the renovations to the main building 20 years ago. In addition to this, once again our Knights of Columbus Council is offering a donation for each gift made to our Bishop’s Appeal that will go to the Catholic Charities Bread of Life program. Donations to the Bishop’s Appeal will need to be made by this weekend to qualify for this matching gift.

Looking ahead, we are just a month away from the start of our annual Vacation Bible School. I’m not sure what it is, but the summer months always seem to go a lot quicker than the winter months. Therefore, I’m also reminding you to save the date for our 60th anniversary celebration of the founding of our parish in 1966. We will be celebrating this at our annual parish on September 13th after the 11 a.m. Mass. St. Catherine was the last parish founded in Kalamazoo County. What was once an area of the county that consisted of farms and orchards when I was a boy, is now a thriving and growing area of Kalamazoo County.

Thanks everyone for your patience with all the road construction going on in front of the church on Centre Ave. It’s been interesting to navigate all the cones. From what we were initially told when construction started, it will last another 2 months! The completion date is scheduled for August 15th. Hopefully, this means everything will be completed by the time the next school year begins and when we have our anniversary celebration.

In just a few weeks, we will also be celebrating America’s 250th anniversary! I was still in grade school when we celebrated the bicentennial in 1976 and that was very memorable for me. As our founding Fathers remembered to keep God and faith as an important of who we are as Americans, let us continue to go and do the same in the years ahead! May the Lord continue to bless us and our Country!

Thanks for reading!

Fr. Mark