My Dear Friends:

Today the Church celebrates Catechetical Sunday, and at our 10:30am Mass our catechists from our Religious Education program and our teachers from our parochial school will be commissioned as catechists for this school year. We have 250 students in Religious Education and 910 students in our school, so 1160 children will be receiving catechesis across the street in our school. We cannot forget our adult formation catechumens and candidates of the Order of Christian Initiation who are preparing to either be baptized next Easter or receive one of the sacraments of initiation next May. They are formed by our deacons who are aided by a small but dedicates team of catechists.  

All of these fellow parishioners who dedicate their time and talent to catechize our children and those adults who entering their faith, do so with great dedication and sacrifice. We have one catechist who is entering her 70th year of instructing our little ones. You read that correctly: 70 years! We just began our first day of classes with Religious Education this past Wednesday and the students and their catechists were excited to begin a new year of formation. I ask you to pray for all of our catechists and teachers on this Catechetical Sunday. They are helping our parish fulfill its mission to help all of our families raise their children in our beautiful Catholic faith. 

In other important news, today, September 15, 2024, marks the 99th birthday of St. Teresa School. In the weeks to come I will give you a more detailed update on how our Centennial Campaign is going and the events and festivities that we have planned for the Centennial Jubilee. But today, we begin the official countdown to the 100th birthday of our parochial school which will kick off an entire year of celebrations in and around our parish. Our school children are learning so much about our school’s history and humble beginnings, and they are so excited, along with our Carmelite Sisters and teachers, to reach that centennial milestone in just one year’s time. Through the intercession of our patroness St. Therese, may we all continue to perfect her “little way” of following Christ so that we may reach our 100th birthday ready to begin a new century of building up the Kingdom of God here in our parish. 

God bless you all,