A Year To Remember Ends and a New One Begins

Dear Parishioners,

Last week, we concluded the academic school year, one that will go down in the history of amazing years for our humble school. God was blessing this important ministry all through the hard times of constant change and in the months when some regulations were rescinded. We added two new teachers, Katie Alderman and Samantha Austria-Gerig amidst the throws of the pandemic. New drop-off and pick-up procedures were created and executed. Grants and other funds were miraculously made available to help us excel in creating a safe environment for our students, faculty, and staff. The PTO stepped up to do new and heroic things for the school. And the list goes on. With Summer Vacation beginning, please keep our children and their families in your prayers. Ask God to protect them and help them grow in faith and wisdom. Please pray also for the new teachers who have and will be hired between now and the end of the Summer. God is doing some amazing things in and through our school.

Next weekend, we say goodbye to Fr. Arjie who has been serving here for the past three years. Last weekend he offered Mass at our Missions of Our Lady of the River and then St. Patrick of the Forest. Next weekend, he will be offering all the Masses here at St. Anne. Maybe you might let him know of your support this one last time as time allows after the Masses. He will be heading to St. James in McMinnville and its missions as the Parochial Vicar with Fr. Mike Walker. Please keep in your prayers, as he begins a new journey in his priestly ministry. We wish him well and pray that his gifts will shine forth for the glory of God!

Following Fr. Arjie, we expect to received our new Parochial Vicar, Fr. Stephen Kenyon, in the days that follow. Work will be done, as per usual, to the parish house on Churchill in preparation for his arrival. He will immediately be scheduled in our common weekday and weekend Masses schedules  starting July 1st. Please extend him your prayerful support and warm welcome St. Anne style!

Anthony Hoangphan will be concluding his Pastoral Year on Sunday, July 4th. He will be returning home in Tigard for the rest of the Summer and will continue on his Theological studies at Mount Angel Seminary in the Fall. God willing, he will be ordained a deacon next Summer. Please let him know of your prayerful support. 

It has been a year to remember. Through the good and bad, we kept the faith and did our best to offer what we could in the ways of ministry, Sacraments, and most importantly, the Mass.  May God who has been with us through it all continue to keep our hearts and minds open to the things he wants to do in us in the coming year.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Lenten Reconciliation Services

Dear Parishioners,

Lent is the season to refocus our attention on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Last time I wrote, I described how we might consider the idea of fasting and feasting… fasting from those problematic issues we have in our lives while feasting on areas where we can to do more. Today, I would like to offer a more explicit fast from sin and a feast of forgiveness. We all have sinned. We all have areas where we are tempted and have given in to evil. Jesus came to heal us from this reality. One way to battle our sin is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Let us feast on God’s forgiveness through this Sacrament. In my homily of last weekend, I reflected on the uncertainty we all have about our last day on earth and how we all encounter tragedies. None of us know when it will be or what tragedy will befall us. Yet, we should all be ready for these events with hope. Hope comes from an encounter and knowledge of God’s amazing grace and mercy. Again, the Sacrament of Reconciliation offers us those gifts so that we can boldly live our lives bearing the Good News of Jesus’ mercy.

This coming Thursday at St. Anne, we will offer our lenten Communal Reconciliation Service with the help of nine priests from around our Vicariate. It will be held at 7 PM and lead by our very own, Fr. Arjie. Please mark your calendar and don’t let anything get in the way of this important Sacrament. For those of you in the area of Cave Junction we will be hosting our lenten Reconciliation Service on Monday at 7 PM. If evenings are an issue for you and you cannot drive to church in the dark or your schedule simply won’t allow that evening, we have a daytime opportunity where Fr. Arjie and myself will be available in the confessionals of the church at St. Anne on Tuesday from 3 PM to 5 PM. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is a most powerful way to feast on God’s mercy and be given hope amidst the tragedies in our lives.

May God bless you all!

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor