April 11, 2021

Dear St. Martin of Tours Family & Friends,

A Happy Easter to all! I want to thank all of you who made this year's Triduum so very lovely. I thank my staff. Bridget cleaned every square foot of the church interior, including the pews, under and over, to make the church clean and sparkly. Rick tended to the lawns and the essential landscaping outside the church.

I thank all of those who helped with the flowers, which includes our Administrative Assistant Patty Stevens and many other volunteers (If I try to thank you all, I will miss someone, so…you know who you are – thank you!).

I thank George Mueller our Acolyte for setting up and breaking down every Liturgy with extraordinary care and thoroughness. I don't know what I would do without you, George. George also recruited our “12 Apostles” to have their feet washed. Thank you, men, for volunteering your feet.

I thank Apollo Westrich and Josh Foster for their cheerful and faithful assistance. I thank Sr. Kathleen Donovan who chose the hymns, and who procured for us some wonderful organists and singers for every Liturgy. The music was uplifting to my spirit, and I hope yours as well. I thank our regular organists, Mary Pancella and John Paul Walsh who were fantastic as usual, as was our regular soloist Marty Signaigo. I also thank Alex Weingart who sang so beautifully at the Easter Vigil, and also Jordan Wok and Tom Doctor (cantor and organist respectively) who stepped up at the last minute to provide beautiful music for the 7:30 Easter Morning Liturgy.

I thank Dotti Gruber for arranging the Lector schedule and for being amenable and flexible to a few last minute changes. I thank our readers: our Deacon candidates Greg Hrbacek and Will Brown; also Mike Ackerman, Dale Bachle, and Marge Fedke.

I thank our Deacons, Kurt Loeffler and Ed Fronick for their help and reliable service. (They keep me on my toes!) Finally, I thank you, the Saint Martin of Tours Parish Family. Our church has not been this full for well over a year. As I mentioned at Easter 10 o’clock Mass, it felt like being in a Catholic church again! Also, your financial support and your kindness to your Pastor have been nothing short of tremendous. We've had a difficult year, of course. Frankly things could have gone very badly for us, emotionally and economically. However, your generosity and charity allowed us to remain afloat. Now we've raised our sails and are back on course.

One last thing: The Divine Mercy Novena ends today. Through the Divine Mercy Novena, Our Lord has promised to shower graces and blessings, not only upon those who participate, but also upon our families, friends, our Parish Community, the Archdiocese of St Louis, and the Universal Church. Our prayers are like lights that pierce the world’s darkness, and which give us hope. Jesus, We trust in You!

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Pastor's Pen

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Dash's Den

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