My Brothers and Sisters,

On Sunday the 11th os September at St Mary's Parish, we had our Annual Parish Breakfast which is followed by our State of the Union report or brief reports from all ministries.  We also received a poer point presentation from parishioner Bill Waters on both St Mary's and Nativity website.  You could tell how much work Bill and his crew have spent making this a first class online experience, on that we can all be very proud of.

We also gave our retiring lead cantor, Mary Petersen, a plaque to commemorate her 30 years of service to our choir at St Mary's Parish.  The plaque was presented by my daughter-in-law Kerry, who gave a heartfelt speech about how much of an impact Mary has had on our parish and the members of the choir.  Her dedication to our parish and the members of the choir.  Her dedication to our parish and to our community members will always be appreciated.

With all the activities we had at the beginning of the month, it is sometimes helpful to look back to see what was positive and to reflect on what was not.  The positive for me was the success of both parish stands at the Fair this year - both had a banner year!  This is the positive and it's a good one because we need the money that comes from this and other sources to keep providing what we do.  What became apparent was the need for more help next year.  I'm talking about younger members of our parish communities.  And this is the negative.  Due to the age of many of the volunteers, thay are finding it harder to not only get to the Fair but to put in the longer shifts required because of our lack of volunteers.  As you get older, it can get harder to drive at night, stand for long periods of time and sometimes even hear what is going on around you (us).  It has become obvious that we could use some younger bodies and more of them.  I know that our lives are hectic and time is precious, but what keeps a parishalive and vibrant is the willingness of its parishioners to volunteer to give up just a little of their time.  This will go a long way to insure that we will always have an active faith community.

May God Bless You,

Deacon Ray