Charter Member Robert Ostrowski passed away on October 12, 2020. A funeral Mass will be held at St. Catherine's tomorrow, Wednesday, October 21st, with a rosary at 10:30 am and Mass at 11 am, followed by burial at Fort Custer National Cemetery. To view Robert's obituary, please click on the title of this article. Eternal Rest Grant Unto Him, O Lord, and Let Perpetual Light Shine Upon Him. May He Rest in Peace. Amen.

Due to COVID-19, the Primetimers will not be meeting for the rest of the year. The group encourages everyone to be safe and patronize their favorite restaurants by ordering take-out or home delivery. Primetimers are people 50 years old and over and their friends who enjoy eating out. They usually meet at an area restaurant on the 1st Monday of each month at 11:30 am. Each person picks up their own bill. If you're interested in joining them at a future date, please contact Paula White (330-3762 or pwhitentc@mac.com).

St. Vincent de Paul will be putting together Thanksgiving baskets to be delivered to those in need. This year due to Covid-19, tags for the St. Vincent de Paul Thanksgiving Basket donations will not be placed in the Narthex on the Cornucopia stand. Instead, please go to https://bit.ly/SVDPThanksgiving2020 to select the items you would like to donate for this year's baskets. Please return your donated items to the designated tables at the church (Narthex before/after weekend Masses and vestibule - open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week). Turkey envelopes will also be available on these tables if you would like to donate towards the purchase of turkeys. Please make checks payable to St. Vincent de Paul and the memo line should say "Thanksgiving Baskets". Turkey envelopes can be placed in the poor box located just inside the main church entrance. All donations should be delivered to the church no later than November 1st. This will allow sufficient time to purchase any supplies that are still needed. Questions? Please contact Alan DeMars at ademars@stcatherinesiena.org or 978-2338. Thank you in advance for your generosity!

Family and friends of parishioners that have passed away in the past year are invited to attend our annual Evening Prayer of Remembrance service on Monday, November 2nd, at 6:30 pm in the Church. If you are related to or friends of a parishioner that passed away from November 2019 – October 2020 we invite you to attend this service. Please RSVP to our Front Office (327-5165 or FrontDesk@stcatherinesiena.org) with your name, number of guests attending, along with the name of the deceased.

October is Respect Life Month in the U.S. Catholic Church and kicks off a year-long observance to help Catholics understand, value, and become engaged with building a culture that cherishes every human life. This year’s theme is “Live the Gospel of Life” in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Pope St. John Paul II’s powerful encyclical, Evangelium Vitae. Learn more about upholding the sanctity of every human life at http://respectlife.org/respect-life-month.

We're so excited to announce that we will be bringing back donuts, COVID-19 style! Sadly, we cannot have Coffee & Donuts as it used to be, but thanks to the generous donations of several Parishioners, we will be able to make a few batches of donuts and bag them up by the half-dozen (all bags will have exactly the same kinds of donuts) to give out at the 9 am and 11 am Masses on Sunday, November 1st. We hope to continue to do this monthly, but it will all depend on funding the project. We have a great group of volunteers coming in to make/bag the donuts and clean up the kitchen, but we still need to purchase the ingredients. If you're interested in helping to support the "Bring Back the Donuts" project, please contact Deb Dozeman (ddozeman@stcatherinesiena.org).

We are less than two months away from the Christmas season. We’ve already started planning for our Christmas Eve Masses and we need your feedback! For Christmas Eve Masses, we are *considering* the times of 4 pm, 7 pm, and 10 pm. Times are different from last year because of the cleaning process we need to follow in between Masses. Please click on the article title to take a brief survey about your plans for Christmas this year. Thank you for helping us plan accordingly for this wonderful season!

Tired of looking at those cans piling up in your garage? Moms of Preschoolers (MOPS) is collecting cans for their group! If you would like to donate cans to their Ministry, please contact Debra Dozeman at ddozeman@stcatherinesiena.org to schedule a drop off time. If you’re interested in joining MOPS, or learning more about their Ministry, please visit their page on our website at https://stcatherinesiena.org/mops.

Are you heading south for the winter? Please let the office know at FrontDesk@stcatherinesiena.org or 327-5165! We would appreciate as much notification as possible in order to have your envelopes held or forwarded as needed. Thank you in advance and enjoy your time in the south.

Bishop Paul J. Bradley warmly welcomes and applauds Pope Francis’ latest Encyclical, Fratelli Tutti (Brothers and Sisters All) released October 3 in Assisi on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. Bishop Bradley invites all the Clergy and Faithful of the Diocese to read this landmark encyclical on fraternity and social friendship, which adds greatly to the Church’s Social Teachings. (http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20201003_enciclica-fratelli-tutti.html). Also read Bishop Bradley's response (https://diokzoo.org/news/bishop-applauds-pope-francis-latest-fratelli-tutti) and delve into Pope Francis' latest writings.

St. Vincent de Paul will be putting together Thanksgiving baskets to be delivered to those in need. This year due to Covid-19, tags for the St. Vincent de Paul Thanksgiving Basket donations will not be placed in the Narthex on the Cornucopia stand. Instead, please go to https://bit.ly/SVDPThanksgiving2020 (click on the article title or scan the QR code on the flyer at http://bit.ly/2020SVDPBasketItems) to select the items you would like to donate for this year's baskets. Please return your donated items to the designated tables at the church (Narthex and vestibule). Turkey envelopes will also be available on these tables if you would like to donate towards the purchase of turkeys. Please make checks payable to St. Vincent de Paul and the memo line should say "Thanksgiving Baskets". Turkey envelopes can be placed in the poor box located just inside the main church entrance. All donations should be delivered to the church no later than November 1st. This will allow sufficient time to purchase any supplies that are still needed. Questions? Please contact Alan DeMars at ademars@stcatherinesiena.org or 978-2338. Thank you in advance for your generosity!

The annual Diocesan 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration has been canceled; however, couples celebrating their golden anniversary are still encouraged to submit the form found at http://diokzoo.org/50th-anniversary by October 15 to receive a congratulatory certificate signed by Bishop Bradley. Please click on the article title to go directly to the online form to submit your request.

Children’s Faith Formation (CFF) registration for 2020-2021 is complete and over 150 kids have enrolled in our online classes! Our classes will begin this week and continue through May 2021. For 2020-2021, our Children's Faith Formation classes will take a hybrid approach with online instruction (offered through the Diocese of Kalamazoo) and in-person fellowships as they are scheduled. If you have questions about our CFF program or requirements, please contact Karen Galloway (cff@stcatherinesiena.org or 327-0861).

Please join us in gifting Bishop Bradley with many prayers and devotional acts for his birthday. (It’s a surprise so mum’s the word). On October 18th Bishop Bradley will celebrate his 75th birthday and it is our hope to gather the prayers of his flock into a spiritual bouquet as a way to express our love and gratitude for his ministry as shepherd of our diocese. Please submit your prayers and acts of devotion by Wednesday, October 14 at https://www.diokzoo.org/spiritualbouquet.

We’ve received several inquires since Governor Whitmer issued Executive Orders 2020-183 and 2020-184 permitting certain indoor sports venues and entertainment facilities to open with limitations. This order includes allowing increased limits on social gatherings and Bingo. Unfortunately, even with the Executive Order in place, the decree from our Bishop is still in place and enforced. Our primary focus for our Parish at this time is Mass and the Sacraments (First Communion, Confirmation, Weddings, etc.). Social gatherings and events are not permitted at this time. We hope to do so again in the future, but at this time, we are not renting out the church, rooms, or the gym for any social occasions. Thank you for your understanding.

Thank you to the 252 families who have pledged about $122,000 toward our parish's 2020 BAA goal of $283,014! We're incredibly grateful for your generosity and your support. As a reminder, once 50% ($141,507) of our parish BAA goal has been *paid* (not just pledged), any contributions beyond that amount will be returned directly to our parish to support our mission and our programming. As mentioned at this weekend's Masses, Father Jeff has created a video on his experience as a Bishop Annual Appeal supported seminarian (before becoming a priest) and how he ministers today in many of the BAA supported ministries. To view this video, please visit http://bitly.com/FrJeffBAA2020. To learn more about the Bishop's Annual Appeal and what it funds, or, to make your pledge, please go to the Bishop's Annual Appeal page of the Diocesan website: https://diokzoo.org/bishops-annual-appeal.

Congratulations to all who were baptized at St. Catherine's in the month of September 2020. Please click on the article title to view the complete list of September Baptisms.

Please join us in welcoming our newest parishioners! Please click on the article title to view the full list of parishioners joining our parish in the month of September 2020.

It's time to get your flu shot! Ascension Borgess staff will be in the Narthex tomorrow, Saturday, October 10th, from 2 pm until 4 pm to provide flu vaccines. Multiple forms of the vaccine are available and some insurances are accepted. Please see the flyer on our website for more details (http://bit.ly/SCSFluShotsOct10) or click on the article title to visit the Borgess Ascension Flu Vaccine Information page. Questions? Please contact Paula White (330-3762 or pwhitentc@mac.com).

Our Knights of Columbus Council #6980 is sponsoring a "Fatima Rosary Rally" which is organized by America Needs Fatima (https://www.americaneedsfatima.org/). America Needs Fatima is a campaign to capture the heart and soul of America with the Message of Our Lady of Fatima. In 1917, Our Lady appeared at Fatima to three young seers with a message of warning and hope for humanity. Our Lady asked for prayer, penance and other measures. Last year, there were over 21,000 Rosary Rallies all across America. The Rosary Rally will take place this Saturday, October 10th, at 12 pm noon, and will last about an hour. Our location will be on the public sidewalk at the intersection of Centre Avenue and Westnedge in Portage. Per Michigan Executive Orders, we must limit the number of people to 100 so we want people interested to contact our local captain, Bob Woleben, to sign up. Bob's email address is rewoleben@gmail.com and his phone is 269-303-9755.