Happy Thanksgiving!

The word “Eucharist” is another name for Mass, and it means “Thanksgiving!” We’d love to have you start Thanksgiving day with us in prayer at SSP church at 8 am. Our Seasonal Choir will present music for a special Mass, we’ll collect non-perishable food items for the benefit of the poor, and the monetary collection at that Mass will benefit our local Society of St. Vincent de Paul in their work with our neighbors in need. (See in this bulletin the annual letter from our SVDP conference.) And then consider migrating to Whitewall Field at Carondelet Park at 9:30 a.m. for the annual Turkey Bowl soccer match between the 8th grade and their parents. Hot chocolate and coffee will be served!

I am grateful for everyone whose worship offerings on the weekend make it possible for us to carry out our mission. Next week, we’ll ask everyone to consider their worship offering and to make a commitment for the coming year. To help you start that discernment, as you leave this week we’ll give you one of the cards that we’ll fill out during Mass next week. The offering we make to God in worship is a way we can grow as disciples.
 
A big thank you to everyone who helped us with our St. Stephen Protomartyr School Strategic Plan, especially our indefatigable Board of Education and Mr. Greg Sturgill, our principal! I am excited about the future of our school. Now it’s time to dig into the work to make the plan reality. I encourage you to read the summary of our school strategic plan that we are handing out today, to view the entire plan on our website, and to pray about how our Lord might be calling you to be a part of it. 
 
In the bulletin today we have a forecast for our parish finances in the current fiscal year. Your questions about the forecast, parish operations, or parish finances are very welcome. Our annual parish business meeting this Sunday, Nov.19, 2023, at 12:30 p.m. in the Father Keaney Center on the Immaculate Heart of Mary campus is a great venue in which to ask those questions.
 
We had only a few people come forward to serve on our Tree Team, so I’ve decided that it will be best to use artificial trees at all of our churches for Christmas. Thank you to the people who offered their time; we would still love to have your help with Christmas setup. Christmas setup at SSP and IHM will take place on the afternoon of Sunday, Dec. 17, and at SJB on the morning of Monday, Dec. 18. More details to come!

Here’s a question from one of our parishioners.

We have a lot of organizations in our parish, and some have overlapping ministries. Will we be trying to blend such organizations together?

This is something that we are still feeling our way through, little by little. Barb Crockett, one of our wonderful volunteers, has helped us contact the leadership of all our organizations and learn more about them. We hope over the coming months to learn even more about the mission and leadership of our organizations and how they might support our parish vision. We are also hoping to learn from their leadership what advantages and barriers they see as they think about combining with another group. While we work on this project, we encourage everyone to continue the good work they are doing, and to among yourselves think and talk about exploring what cooperation might be possible.

God bless you!