From the Pastor's Desk
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August 25, 2023My dear Parishioners,
It has been a while since I updated you all on what is going on around the parish and the school. I thought I would wait until after summer break is over and everyone is back from your vacation. It is now a great time to share with you a few things as everyone are refocusing on parish life.
First of all, I want to share with you that even though I haven't shared with you much recently, things were happening in the back ground. The parish Pastoral Council was busy planning a way to engage parishioners into our church community and to widen our reach in our neighborhood. For this purpose, a Long-Range Planning committee was set up and they were working assiduously to develop a survey to gather the opinion and thoughts of the parishioners about our parish. It is almost complete and they will roll it out in September. I would like to ask everyone to expect it and respond to it quickly. This will help us to revitalize our community.
Now that summer vacation is over, it is time to return to another catechetical year. Registration is now on for Continuing Christian Education (CCE). It is our hope to build a strong youth formation in our parish. It begins with forming their faith and leading them to deeper commitment to Catholic Faith and to our parish community. I would like to ask, therefore, to all the young parents who have children of catechetical age to register them immediately and bring them to Mass and catechism. Your commitment as parents is the most important aspect for the church to form your children in faith. I count on your enthusiasm and love for the church.
Ms. Daphine Sands who led youth ministry in our parish was recently recognized by the Archdiocese of Galveston Houston for her outstanding service towards youth ministry. It is a proud moment for us. Ms. Sands is now handing over the reign of youth ministry in our parish to Ms. Cherie Washington. Ms. Washington is a very committed parishioner who loves her faith and is excited to guide our youth to be true servants of Christ. I would like to ask all parents to meet with Ms. Washington and see how your child can be part of our youth ministry.
I am sure you have questions about the progress of our Kitchen project. The Building Committee and the Finance Committee with inputs from the Pastoral Council have been working diligently to move this project along. We now have a contractor with whom we are working to finalize the details before breaking ground
for construction. Forney Construction is our contractor. Working along with them, it is our goal to engage thirty percent minority and women owned businesses into this project. Our goal now is to begin the construction in March-April 2024 and complete it before October 2024, in time for the Gumbo Festival.
Plans are underway for the Gumbo Festival 2023. I am sure you have already received your raffie tickets. It is important that we all work hard and together to raise money so that it will pay for our Kitchen and help the school to educate young minds. Please contribute generously and volunteer your time in various areas of the bazaar so that it may be another year of great success.
The Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) are proud to invite you, parishioners of St. Mary's, to the Centennial Celebration of St. Augustine's Seminary in Bay St. Louis, MS, on October 28-29, 2023. St. Augustin's Seminary was the first Seminary founded in the United States to form African-American men to priesthood and religious life. It is one of the most important missionary contributions of the SVD to the African American Community and to the Catholic Church in the United States in general. I would like to ask as many parishioners as possible to attend this event. They are also asking for generous benefactors to sponsor various aspects of the celebration or to make monitory contributions to defray the cost. If you are interested in helping, please contact me for more information.
Finally, I am glad to report that the new academic year has gotten off very well at our School St. Mary of the Purification. We have 129 students from Pre-K through 5th grade. We have a great team of teachers and support staff. We can use more volunteers to help with various roles at the school. If you can help, please reach out to Ms. Deena Wolf, the principal.
I will start celebrating Mass at the TSU Newman Center on Wednesdays at noon. I am very excited about this collaboration with TSU.
Welcome back to everyone after the summer break and I look forward to another great year of celebrating our faith and community at St. Mary of the Purification.
In the Divine Word,
Pastor
