June 30, 2019

Dear St. Martin of Tours Family,

As we approach the second anniversary of my arrival at St. Martin of Tours Parish, I want to thank you for making this place my home. Of the eleven years of my priesthood, the past two years have been the happiest, and much of that joy is due to you.

As we approach our 80th year, I want to thank all of you who have remained here, many through thick and thin, in devotion to your parish community. You are the pillars of the parish!

This is why I decided to rehang the lovely quilts back in the foyer of Runge Hall, and also why I have decided to ask any and all of you to donate framed photos and collages of all kinds so that we can fill the walls from floor to ceiling with memories.

However, my goal is not just to celebrate the past of our parish, but to imbue it with new life and hope for the future. I have said this before, and I’ll say it again: My goal is to be certain that this parish is the one that stays here in this community and becomes - perhaps as it was in its inception - the central place for Catholicism in all of Lemay.

So I would like you all to celebrate with me on recognizing the 75 new registered persons who have joined the parish in the past two years! On the weekend of July 13 - 14 at every Mass I would like to acknowledge our new parishioners by calling them forward to the altar, and by giving them a special blessing. I will pray over them, and I will ask all of those parishioners who have been here since my arrival also to extend their hands in prayer.

We wish to do so to give thanks to Almighty God for the gift of new life, new friends, and an opportunity to grow and flourish as we, the family of St. Martin of Tours did when we were first established, eighty years ago.

St. Martin of Tours, pray for us!

In Christ,