Dear Parishioners, A few weeks ago, we kicked off our Bishop’s Appeal for 2024. When I gave my talk at Mass, I mentioned that the annual mailing from the diocese would be arriving shortly. Sure enough, my packet of information and pledge card arrived just a few days later and I have made my pledge to support the many ministries of the Diocese of Kalamazoo. Thank you to everyone that has already made a pledge and I ask all parishioners to prayerfully consider a pledge to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal. If you didn’t receive your packet, there are pledge envelopes at the entrances of the church or pledges are accepted online at the Diocese of Kalamazoo. Your help and generosity made it possible for us to meet our parish goal last year and I am hoping that we can once again do the same. Our Knights of Columbus are also giving a matching gift for each pledge received before June 1st. The same weekend that I talked about the appeal was also the weekend that Bishop Lohse ordained 13 men to the permanent diaconate for the Diocese of Kalamazoo (and confirmed our St. Catherine youth on Sunday). One of the things that was different about this ordination (besides the number of deacons that were ordained) is their assignments. At the ordination, the Bishop announced that he was temporarily assigning the deacons (the official term is pro tempore) to their home parish. Our parishioner, and now a permanent deacon, Doran Lefaive, has therefore been assigned to St. Catherine for the near future. The Bishop has also hinted that he is looking to have some of these deacons fill other positions in the diocese besides ministering to their parish communities. We will hear more about this in the future as he makes his final decisions on diaconal assignments. Please keep all of our new deacons, and their ministries, in your prayers! I am also thankful for the ministry of our current deacons Brian Kaluzny and Ron Brown who have assisted our St. Catherine community over the past several years. Please pray for our seminarians that are approaching their ordinations in the next few weeks. Transitional Deacon Andrew Schmidt will be ordained as a priest on the first weekend of June. Paul Thuantho will be ordained as a transitional deacon a month from now. Your support of our seminarians through the Bishop’s Appeal has made their seminary educations possible (I hear it is about $60k a year now to educate one seminarian). That’s all the clergy updates (and upcoming clergy updates) that I have for now. May the Lord bless all our clergy with a fruitful ministry, especially during this year of Eucharistic Revival! Thanks for reading! Fr. Mark