Dear Parishioners,

I just thought I’d give you an update as to what has been going on regarding St. Anne’s pastoral ministries since the departure of Carolyn Trumble and Randi Lauby. Their departures have made an immediate impression as to how much work they had been doing. Their absence has also shown how valuable they were to us. I certainly wish to lift them up and wish them the best in their new ventures. Upon their departures, I immediately opened up both positions and formed a search committee. The results were that we did not hire anyone for either position.  This has left us in a tough spot. Yet, I am confident that God is at work, though I must admit, I don’t fully know how.  I do know that we need to reset and rethink these positions and plan to start our search over in the Spring. That being said, good things have been happening ever since.

Regarding ministry for our children, Jennifer Perez, wife of Ramey Perez our Coordinator of Music Ministry, stepped forward to temporarily steward our Faith Formation for Children.  She had been already serving in a support role for Carolyn, so she knows our history and direction going forward. Her role is that of coordinating the catechists for our grade schoolers in Faith Formation as well as RCIC. Sandra Lopez, whom we hired earlier in the year, has continued to serve in many wonderful ways to help Faith Formation, Youth Ministry, and has been an effective liaison to our Hispanic community, maintaining our commitment to serving all of parishioners regardless whether they speak English or Spanish.

Regarding Youth Ministry, our Confirmation classes began this past week, lead by Reneé and Gabe Snodgrass with catechists, Sean and Kristin Bachmann, and Nilda Arms serving in the very needed administrative role.  The Confirmation classes will run concurrent with Faith Formation each week.  At this writing, there is no program for gathered events (aka “Youth Nights”) for Middle School or High School on Wednesday’s and Sunday’s, respectively.  This remains a hole we need to fill. So, I will be hosting a “Youth Ministry Summit” for anyone who has an interest in these two age groups.  Parents, teens, and any adults are welcome to attend.  I will be hosting that meeting at 9:30 AM on Sunday the 22nd of October in the Kelly Youth Center.  Please come with your thoughts, questions, ideas, and most of all, passion to help lift up our young ones in our parish.  Despite not having a youth minister or a concrete plan for youth nights, we are committed to host vicariate event for teens called, XLT, which is basically praise and worship along with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.  Fr. Jeff Eirvin, the Vocation Director of the Archdiocese, will be the guest speaker and will share his thoughts on our vocational call.  That will take place on November 10th at 7 PM the Kelly Youth Center.

Many ministries are in transition this year. That means change which can be very hard at times.  I want to thank all who have been prayerfully supporting our ministries, and ask you to please continue.  If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor