Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

WOW! What an awesome week! Everything was perfect. The celebration continues this weekend with our Saturday evening Dedication Adult Event and with the Holy Name Society’s Pancake breakfast this morning after both of the morning Masses. Please stop over and enjoy a tasty breakfast with your fellow parishioners as we finish up our celebration of our new church.

I want to thank each and every one of you for what you did to make this past week possible. I know that just about everybody was involved in one way or another. I hesitate to start naming names, because I know I will leave somebody out who’s name should also appear in this letter, but many people’s efforts cannot go without mention. First of all, thanks to Dan and Liz Mattingly and Mark and Karen Hill for chairing and heading up the entire celebration. They had a committee of hundreds of people, who also certainly deserve to have their names mentioned, but limited space prohibits me from doing so. Thank you! I’d like to thank John Dolan and Herman Landau and all the Silver Angels who gave up multiple hours to clean the new church not just once, but several times. Thank you! I’d like to thank our Music Director, Cathy Rund and the forty-some musicians who worked for months getting the beautiful music ready for the Dedication Mass. Thank you! I’d like to thank Bishop Higi, Monsignor Sell, Monsignor Duncan, Fr. Brian Doerr, who served as our Master of Ceremonies, and all of the concelebrating priests for joining us for the Dedication of our new church. I was particularly moved that Bishop Higi, who has struggled so much with his ankle in recent weeks, was so committed to being here and to not delaying the Dedication. Thank you! And wasn’t it great to see Deacon Weldon again!

The new building is quite amazing. I thank Scott Schutz and everybody from Eden Enterprises. They have built us the building of our dreams. Thank you! Mike and Kim Lucas spent the last year and half building the most incredible Altars, Ambos, candlesticks, and kneelers that anybody could ever want. The woodwork is truly amazing. Mike and Kim didn’t want anybody to know what they had done. I’m sorry. The work is simply too amazing not to give credit where credit is due. Thank you! Tom Harford did the Ambry, the awesome Baptismal font, and much of the wood trim, including the massive glass and wood entryway from the church narthex into the main body of the church. It is beautiful and adds a warmth and character that a lot of places this big can lose. Thank you! Phil Hammes crafted the most beautiful bronze screen and Tabernacle. This was an extraordinarily difficult job as the screen had to fit in a custom frame and match glass that nobody had ever seen before, and then set on top of a marble and wood Altar that was not fabricated yet. Phil was great. The result of his work will inspire us for many, many years. Oh, I am running out of room! Thanks to Jeff and Gail Bowen for providing and installing the new Stations of the Cross. Thanks to Art and Kathleen Duchene who provided the marble “The Last Supper” and to their son, Art Duchene Jr. , who did the final marble preparation work for its installation. It will remind us all of Art Sr. and the beautiful marble work that he did in churches across the country. Thanks to Jolene McCann for the great Altar cloths and for the beautiful privacy screens in the Reconciliation chapels. Thanks to Carla and Tom Erickson for finishing our credence table and gift table, and the tables in the Reconciliation chapels. And thanks to Eric Vetesy for his upholstering work on the new kneelers. Eric, you were an answer to my prayer!

Everybody’s name could be written here for something. This truly is OUR church. We did this together. We all worked hard. We all sacrificed. Now may we enjoy our spiritual home and use it to build up God’s Kingdom!

PLEASE !!! Do not forget this Tuesday’s Advent Reconciliation service at 7:00 PM. Several priests of the Deanery will be here to help us receive this Sacrament of God’s forgiveness. We all need to be here. Let us not let this slip by, with everything has been going on the last week. There is simply no way that we can all go to Confession on Saturdays. We need these Penance services so that as many of us as possible can receive this Sacrament. We’ll see you in the new church on Tuesday night for Confessions.

Isn’t God great? We are so blessed!

In Christ
Fr. Kevin