Big News To Start 2016

Dear Parishioners,

It has been well over a month since my last posting, but with all the activities surrounding Advent, Christmas, and the new year, I must admit that I let the blog slip. However, that does not mean that there was nothing going on. In fact, I have three major things I would like to share:

1. This coming Sunday at 9:30 AM, I will host my ongoing Catholicism 101 series. This time around, I will be discussing the current status of our building project for a new church. It's been some two years since we began the discernment process which included imagining our needs, surveying the property, getting several engineering reviews of our current church building, creating several drawings, doing a feasibility study, and even drilling core samples of the ground where the new church would go. And while some have wondered if anything was happening, I can assure you that we have been very busy. So, I urge you to come to this is a very important meeting, probably the most important since we've begun the process. As always, the meeting will take place in our Parish Center Sky Room. Grab a donut and coffee and hear about the status as well as participate in a Q & A period.

2. New Website: I am currently designing a total overhaul of my current website. It will look totally different that its current incarnation. I've created and used this website design for 10 years now... in the world of the internet, that is a dinosaur! So, hopefully within a couple more weeks I will bring it live. It will include most of all the things currently on this site, but some pages will disappear. I won't say much more about it, since I am experimenting with templates and layouts.

3. With the experience I get from rebuilding my personal website, I hope to then extend that to our parish website and completely overhaul it too. The current design is seven years old and ready for a change! But, will a website as large and extensive as our current parish website, it will take a few months to create and debug, and eveb then there will be many adjustments to make when it goes live. So, be patient as things move along.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

A Year of Gratefulness

Dear Parishioners,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! With all the bad news in the world that covers our headlines, it is important not just to be nostalgic, but to once again, root ourselves in those things that are truly good, beautiful, and true (cf. Philippians 4:7- 9). For in these things are true joy and peace. For in these things we encounter the Good News who is Jesus Christ.

This year, for me, I look back and I am thankful for the work of all our pastoral ministers who have tirelessly worked in the vineyard with equally passionate volunteers. Events such as Joe’s Camp to Summer Bible School to the events surrounding Our Lady of Guadalupe show how much God had been working in the lives of our people. For a second year in a row, those who entered the Church through the Easter Vigil celebration, made up a group so large that the room where their classes where held was moved to a much larger one in the Parish Center. This year our sacristan crew (those who help prepare for Mass), more than tripled in size! I am so humbled to see their selfless dedication to this important task each week.

I am grateful that the Lord has blessed our school with a large increase in students which has allowed us to spread the Good News to more children and their families. The school community continued to grow in vibrancy. I am also so grateful for our wonderful teaching and administrative staff at the school. The sense of camaraderie and morale is inspiring.

I am excited about the work and direction our Core Building Committee who have taken a year to explore all the options for a new church building. Please note that I did not say renovation. In the course of our explorations, it turned out not be a significant cost difference to rebuild versus renovate the existing structure. So, early on after making that decision, we explored almost every location and arrangement of a proposed new church. In the Spring, we will have a feasibility study done in order to determine what financial potential there is in this project. I am so pleased with the discernment that has been so seriously undertaken in this task. I believe you will love what will come out of it all.

Finally, I am so very thankful for all the people who have newly come to worship here at St. Anne’s. They have helped us have new people helping with ministries. They have brought fresh eyes and ears to help us with our mission. I hope that we continue to be that church where Jesus is prophetically preached, hearts are healed, and the Mass becomes ever-more the center of our faith, for it is there that we encounter the sacrificed and risen Lord, Jesus Christ. In all, there is much for which to be grateful. May all these things give glory to God!

May God bless you all!

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor