Did You Know?

For the past several years, we have had the families of our First Communicants choose at which of the six weekend Masses they would make their First Communion. Even our very large church would not be able to accommodate all of the First Communicants’ families and friends at one Mass! There are some ‘spiritual benefits’ to doing it this way: many of our parishioners expressed their appreciation at being able to participate in a First Communion Mass – some for the first time in years! The celebration of First Communion is not just one special day in the life of a family who have a First Communicant; it is a special day in the life of a parish and for the whole Family of God! Second, because of the smaller groups of children at each Mass, more attention could be given to the individual children; photos will be taken at every Mass and the child is not just one small face in a sea of faces taken from much further back in the church; and the Priests are able to personalize the Homily for that particular group of children! Third, the First Communion Masses are the ‘ordinary’ Mass of the Sunday, not just one ‘special day of the year’ - and so, hopefully, the children are beautifully introduced into regular weekly attendance and reception of Holy Communion! A special word of thanks to those who worked so hard (and so well) to prepare our young people for this most wonderful experience: Genevieve Rivera, our Director of Religious Education, and her great team of Catechists: Regina Kelley, Brandi Granke, Suzanna Ignacio, Maria Ayala, Dianna Eggers, Tammy Isabel, Jenny Brumfield, Scott Barton, Mary Perry, Ashley Savage, Danielle Weinberg, and Aiden Breen-Kelley!

Please take time to congratulate and welcome our First Communicants into the Eucharistic community! And take a few moments in thankful prayer to recall your own First Communion!

CONGRATULATIONS to the newly elected Board of Directors of our Ladies of St. Andrew’s: Kathy Calabrese, President; Viollaunda Ruiz, Vice President; Rita Thompson, Secretary; Mary Ellen Lewis, Treasurer! And our thanks to Fran Cassidy, who has served as President of the Ladies of St. Andrew’s for 18 years – and Brenda Malarchik, who has served as Vice-President for over a dozen years! Through their fund-raising activities, the Ladies of St. Andrew’s have donated over $20,000 to various Parish and Community charities this past year! If you are a woman parishioner, you are a MEMBER in good standing of the Ladies of St. Andrew’s! Come and join them in one of their many social and charitable activities and programs – a great group to grow spiritually with!