Triduum Thanks
Holy Week and the Triduum require so much dedicated effort in order to lead our folks in prayer.
My heartfelt appreciation to:
Gene Garcia and the Liturgical Arts staff, including Judy Petrie and many talented musicians and singers as well as the many who served as Proclaimers, Eucharistic Ministers, Ushers, Greeters and the leads for each of these ministries, as well as all those who serve in the Loft working sound, lights and cameras.
Kristen Berryhill is so generous with her volunteer time and effort, as well as other volunteers who helped with the church environment.
Our Knights of Columbus, under the leadership of Grand Knight Rick McMahon, who assisted with the Holy Thursday procession, hold a prayerful Honor Guard and assist with traffic control on Easter Sunday.
Scott Biaetti and our Operations staff, including our Maintenance staff – Bob Clough, Jay Kleeman, Oleg Starostin and Ed Wodka,
Mary Whiteside and the OCIA team who guided our 15 adults into full communion with the church
Alice and Bill Brown who once again wrote the script and directed our teens in the Passion Play with help from Gene Garcia, Kristen Berryhill, and Maureen Cochran from our staff, as well as Jeri Garcia who assisted with costumes.
Here are the teens who presented this year’s Passion Play three times on Good Friday, but also put in many hours practicing and rehearsing:
Maya Bondinell, Scarlett Ceja
Chloe Cheripka, Sofia Commodaro
Chris Galvan, Jackson Harris
Lexi Horn, Kevin Jeyananth
Emmett Kaiser, Evan Kelly
Sophia Kennedy, Michael Knuth
Caitlin Adler, Timmy Lau
Will Lau, Amos Katende
Mike McHale, Maria Namakula
John Patchak, Katelyn Patchak
Diyanka Paul, Ivanka Paul
Dylan Pazur, Kenny Ramser
Caylin Sgroi, Jillian Simonian
Thanks also to these teens who assisted in the A/V loft:
Blake Kaz, Erik Stanson
Gerry Caglar, Dominic Watrobka
Patrick Zondlo, Sean Halloran
This is twice as many teens involved than last year. No other parish empowers teens to lead people in prayer by carrying out the drama of Christ’s life, passion, suffering and death on Good Friday the way we do here.
Thanks to our Deacons, Dennis Brown, George Flaherty and Bob Lanigan who assisted with liturgies.
Dawn Mayer, our Parish Manager and Pastoral Associate, who along with Nick Fiddick, our Director of Stewardship and Development, Kevin Jeyananth and Bill and Alice Brown for presenting such a moving proclamation of the Passion on Palm Sunday
Michael Patti, our Director of Digital Marketing, who shares so much of Holy Family through our website and announcements before Mass. Michael reports that 2,869 people have joined us SO FAR in viewing the Triduum liturgies. This is an increase of over 1100 from last year.
All in all, Holy Week was another example of the unique, creative, prayerful and relevant way that we express our Catholic faith here at Holy Family. So many of you have commented that it was truly a special, moving and inspirational week. Please make sure to share your positive experiences of our faith community with others. We will give new energy to the statement BE MORE after Pentecost, and a simple way that we can BE MORE is for YOU to share our unique mission here at Holy Family. Many others may be looking for a spiritual home in a vibrant expression of our faith. Your invitation and sharing can help us to BE MORE. Our attendance continues to increase, but there are so many other opportunities for us to BE MORE as a community of faith.
Lenten Social Justice Project
So far, we have exceeded $100,000 in support of our Lenten Social Justice Project. The people of Immaculate Conception Parish and School will be so happy and grateful for our support. Once again Holy Family shows tremendous generosity for a great need.
Lenten Mission Success
This year’s Lenten Mission, led by ValLimar Jansen and her husband Frank, was the most attended Mission in my 17 years here. Thanks to Mary Whiteside and others who volunteer in Adult Faith for their efforts in bringing ValLimar here.