A Heart Full of Gratitude

Dear Parishioners,

My time here at St. Anne and her missions comes to a close this week. It is poetic that this is the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary time as well as my 13th year as your pastor. This is a very sad thing for me and for many of you. This is the longest I have stayed in one parish assignment which makes this all the more difficult to bid you, goodbye. But, looking back, my heart is full of gratitude. So, pardon if this last letter rambles some. So be it.

I leave with wonderful memories and lessons. I have had the privilege to work with your children, been on retreats with your teens, offered blessings for your graduations, helped you prepare for marriage, presided over your weddings, baptized your children, blessed your anniversaries, anointed you when you were sick, offered some of you the commendation of the dying, and celebrated your loved ones funerals, and mourned with you at their burials. I have been deeply touched that you allowed me in to your struggles and was humbled to hear your confessions. I was honored to join you in your many celebrations of life and visited many of you in the hospital, care facilities, retirement centers, and homes. I made many friends, and have felt your prayerful support throughout these thirteen years. I could go on and on.

I became a priest as an effort to thank God for all that he has done for me. And in return, he gave me a grand adventure unlike any I could have imagined. All of you are part of that adventure which now turns a page to a new chapter. And so, thank you for what you have taught me. Thank you for your patience with me. Thank you for gently correcting me. Thank you for saying yes when I asked you to join a ministry. Thank you for stepping up to serve without even being asked. Thank you for putting up with my long homilies. Thank you for listening and sharing your faith with me. Thank you for being Christ’s hands and feet for me. Thank you for laughing at my silly jokes. Thank you for Helping me when I needed it. Thank you for giving me a ride when I needed to go to the hospital for health needs. Thank you for being kind to me when I failed to be kind. Thank you for forgiving me when I messed up. Thank you for sticking around to clean up after an event. Thank you for being gentle when I was hurting. Thank you for the cards you sent me on my birthday, Christmas, and Easter. Thank you for letting me take your picture for our website or social media presence. Thank you for bringing me cookies. Thank you for taking me out for meals. Thank you for participating in the planning, and building of our new church! Thank you for letting me park my trailer on your property so I could go camping. Thank you for listening when I was trying to teach. Thank you for speaking when I needed to listen. Thank you for reminding me that I am precious in God’s eyes and that he delights in me.

Thank you to all the wonderful staff I have known in my thirteen years. Thank you to those parishioners who visited our sick and dying. Thank you for checking on fellow parishioners when you noticed that they were unusually absent. Thank you for being so generous when a need arose. Thank you for accompanying new parishioners and visitors alike. Thank you for participating in our annual church open house and booth at the county fair. Thank you for your patience through all the changes during the pandemic. Thank you for stepping up to make our Food Box Program so successful. Thank you for giving money to the church so we could employ the talented staff that we have. Thank you for naming St. Anne, our school, and/or her missions in your estate planning. Thank you for coming and participating at Mass. Thank you for serving in our liturgical ministries, bible studies, music groups, rosary groups, our grade school, Faith Formation, youth and confirmation ministry, and even auxiliary ministries, most notably the Knights of Columbus and St. Vincent de Paul. Thank you for praying, serving, cleaning, fixing, and helping when no one was watching. Of course God saw it all… and sometimes I did too.

Thank you, most of all, for loving me, and showing me what it is to be a saint, being passionately in love with our Lord, and willing to share that joy with others. I take all these things with me, as I move to Holy Trinity. You have been a gift of immeasurable value to me. You have blessed me with Christ’s presence, for which I will be forever grateful.

So, don’t hesitate to come to Mass at Holy Trinity in Beaverton. Pray for me so that I can be the pastor that they need at this time, and that I will be responsive to their needs as God would want me to be. I will continue to pray for you. A big part of my heart will always be here. I will pop in to check on you on Facebook an YouTube. I hope to see the new and amazing things that will happen under Fr. Wolf, your new pastor.

My heart is full, and there is not enough room to write it here. So, I leave with the miraculous prayer given to me from my mother which has changed so many hearts: O Jesus, I surrender myself to you. Take care of everything!

Blessings! Goodbye! God be with you! Thank you!

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor (2009-2022)

Our Bazaar & November Remembrance

Dear Parishioners,

Thank You

A big thank you needs to go out to all those who participated in this year’s annual Bazaar. While I don’t know the financial results, it was a huge success as far as participation is concerned. Many people have been waiting for two years either building up a storehouse of crafting goods to be donated to the Bazaar or waiting to go shopping for that perfect hand-made item that they will enjoy for years. A shout out and thanks to this year’s coordinator, Susan Finley. She joins a lineage of people who have shouldered the burden and joy of putting it together. A thank you is needed to all those who have been meeting continuously over the past many months to make the amazing crafts possible! Thank you also to the kitchen crew who offered us cinnamon rolls and turkey dinner! I also want to thank our Evangelization Team who hosted our Open House which accompanied the Bazaar. It, too, was a huge success.

November, A Month of Remembrance

We are now well into November, kicked off by our celebrations of All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Traditionally in the Church, the whole of the month of November commemorates those who have died. Our culture, unfortunately, prefers a more antiseptic approach to death which often finds families not offering funerals for their loved ones. And while we certainly should be celebrating the lives of our deceased loved ones, it is highly problematic to either ignore or pretend that we are mourning. It is not a bad thing to mourn, but rather a healthy part of healing. We don’t like mourning and would prefer avoiding it. But, if we don’t properly mourn, then that unresolved loss can come out in unexpected ways such as fits of anger and lashing out at others, all of which are defense mechanisms to keep us far from our deep-seated hurts. 

The Church, in her wisdom, knows that it is important to mourn and say goodbye. We Christians mourn with hope (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:13). It is with this understanding that the Church ritualizes the process of mourning in her beautiful rites of a funeral Mass. I personally find great consolation through every funeral in which I participate. They are not merely sad gatherings, but events that challenge us to hope, seek counsel, and understand how great the gift of salvation is for those who die in the friendship of the Lord. The funeral Mass is ultimately our prayer to the Father for our beloved dead through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ which conquered death and opened up the possibility for heaven.

Through the month of November, we are encouraged to pray for our beloved dead, for many are on their journey of being purified by the grace of God (a.k.a. purgatory) and could use our help as we accompany them on their way. To this end, I want to encourage you to consider writing the name of a deceased loved one in our Book of Remembrance which is located near our votive candles on the south side of the church. I also want to encourage you to consider attending any of our funerals regardless of whether you knew the deceased or not. It is a great spiritual and corporal work of mercy to pray and bury the dead.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Our School & Auction

Dear Parishioners, friends, and families of St. Anne Catholic School,

This weekend, we hosted our annual auction for our school.  I write this column prior to the event, but I am sure it will be a great time for all who attend. I want to offer a big thank you to all those who spent countless hours preparing for the auction as well as to the companies, individuals, artisans, and the like who donated the items for the event.  It all goes to further the four-point mission we have for our children: “faith formation, scholarship, leadership, and service according to our Catholic values” (St. Anne Catholic School Mission Statement).  Our children are our precious jewels.  While we endeavor to raise them, they, in turn, inspire and challenge us back. In a culture so divergent from our Christian values, St. Anne School stands out as a beacon of hope. Next time you bump into one of our teachers, staff members, or especially any of our school families, thank them for the sacrifices they are making to raise our children in the faith. Let them know of your prayerful support. you might even want to take on or sponsor a family through prayer or financial assistance.  

Our school is a vital and vibrant ministry of the parish. Next school year, while the construction of the new church is underway, things will get messy.  Our school will be adapting to the sounds, sights, and activities that will be taking place literally next door to their classrooms. This will add some excitement, curiosity, and even stress in the classroom environment.  Some of the school’s necessary fundraisers will have to be rethought out and possibly moved to other venues.  So, again, keep them in your prayers. 

In conclusion, be mindful how important it is that we have a parish school.  Be prayerful towards the students, staff, and teachers. It is a ministry with a complex infrastructure that has a serious task to educate and inspire a coming generation of leaders.  Finally, I want to express my gratitude to Colleen Kotrba, our Principal, and Shawna Prestianni, our Office Manager, for their spirit-filled love and labor in our school.  Together, they are the glue that keeps it all together.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Church Clean-up Day

Dear Parishioners,

Thank you! Thank you all who gave of their time, talent, and treasure this Saturday during our parish’s “Spring Cleaning Day.” Yes, it is technically Summer, but it was originally thought up for Springtime and was later moved. Anyhoo, those details are not important. What is important is that we take pride in our faith community and subsequent campus where we worship, gather, learn, and commune with God and each other.

When people come to a new church or office, they make a quick assessment by the way things are kept up. Are the bathrooms clean? Are the sidewalks clear of debris? Is it clear where to park or where offices are located? Is the grass or shrubbery in good manicured order? Are books and other items where they should be? Is there useless clutter? Is the sanctuary and other liturgical goods in good repair and well organized? These are all good ways to determine the level of care that parishioners have for their faith. We may not always succeed in all of these areas, but it was heartening to see those who came out giving selflessly with a joy in their heart. Our campus is big, but many hands made light work.

So, I can only say thank you. Thank you all for the love you showed and the work you offered. Our Church and campus look so much better. Thank you!

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger

Pastor