Sunday, February 17th 2019
Dear Parishioners,
We had a wonderful and blessed weekend with many different events and celebrations, which was hard for us to keep up with them. We thank the dedication of the parish leadership team, parish staff, Sisters and Priests who shared their love of their ministry to serve our parishes. We experienced some heavy snowfall, freezing roads and bad weather, which made it more challenging for our parishes activities and ministries. We had to cancel a few events, which were unexpected and other celebrations we were able to have because you were there to support and make it happen. I could not believe all the love and care shared with each other when support is needed, which is so powerful to witness.
We had an informative meeting with the parish staff to share with each other what was going on, what we are working on at this time and how we are planning for the coming events and celebrations. We are in the transition for the coming year 2020, for the change of partnership with other parishes and how we are planning for our own parish for the coming years budget and ministry. We need to have a good plan to set the priority for the project that we have to do, so we can share the information and we have good communication to share with you this information so you can support us. We had a good meeting with the Financial and Pastoral Councils at St. Anns Church on the First Wednesday of the month and we had a wonderful meeting with the Financial and Pastoral Councils at Sacred Hearts Church for the Second Wednesday of each month. It was an informative Deanery meeting at St. Andrews Church sharing on how each parish within our Pierce Deanery is doing. Our Dean shared information with us (Pastors, Priests, Parish Administrator, Parish Coordinator, and other staff of different ministries within our deanery such as those from the Hospital Ministry, Jail Ministry, Detention Ministry and Catholic Community Service for the poor and other Catholic charities). We shared with each other the information on how to assist those people who come to our parish asking for assistance and how we can assist them?
We thank the core team who will assist us to lead the retreat for the Confirmation program for next month. We had planned this event last Saturday, but we had to cancel it and reschedule it for next month. The retreat is one of their requirements in preparing for this Sacrament before they receive Confirmation from the Archbishop on May 8th at St. Anns Church. We will have the Archbishop this year preside at this celebration and you are cordially invited to be at this event to pray for our parishes youth when they make the decision to receive this Sacrament. I am very proud of the Candidates for this year and we have two classes, one at Sacred Hearts Church and the other is at St. Anns Church.
We thank you for making an effort to attend Masses and other parishes events throughout the week, even though, we had heavy snowfall and bad weather, which did not stop you from coming to support our parishes and joining others for prayers. We had to cancel many different events and meetings, due to the difficulties in traveling and we need to be very cautious to prevent any accidents that may occur. We thank you for your help and support in keeping all those that attend our Churchs events safe and well protected.
We thank you for supporting those families who are mourning for their love one and we thank you for praying for parishioners who are homebound (who are not able to come to our Churchs event). We thank the homebound ministers who are able to visit our parishioners who are homebound to bring communion and to pray with them in their home. It is a blessing for our homebound parishioners to be able to receive Communion and the Sacrament weekly, as they want to have. We have a well-organized group of Eucharistic Ministers for the homebound in serving us in this area. We thank the Young at Heart Group for organizing activities for our seniors, which is very important for them as they have the chance to meet and socialize with each other. They participate in many different parishes events and they support the parish in the area that they are able to.
Happy Valentines Day to those couples who are newlyweds and for those couples celebrating a romantic time together, may they continue to sustain their relationship with intimate joy for their vocation in marriage and family life. We also pray for those who are single, who are looking for their soul mate, the true love of their heart, may they find each other and can celebrate their love for the rest of their lives. We congratulate all couples that are living up to their marriage vocation and family life. We thank you for your fine example in believing in the love of marriage between a man and a woman. We pray for those married couples that are finding in their vocation many challenges and may they overcome them to sustain their love and vocation.
We thank you for your support of our regional parishes. We also ask you to engage and be involve more with your home parish, by keeping up our own heritage, tradition and cultural background (where we were born) and how we are able to nurture our Faith and what we Believe to worship our Faith in our own culture and way of life! May the Lord continue to bless upon you and your family!
Sincerely, Yours in Christ,
Fr. Tuan Nguyen, D. Min
Regional Pastor