Dear Parishioners, Pentecost. It’s a day where the entire Church celebrates the birth of our faith tradition. The disciples had been entrusted with the teachings of Jesus during the three years they had been with Him. At Easter, they became witnesses to the Resurrection and would be able to recognize the Risen Christ in the breaking of the Bread. Now, on Pentecost, the fullness of their faith would be completed by the gift of the Holy Spirit. No longer were they afraid or hesitant to call themselves disciples of the Risen Lord. Once they received that gift of the Holy Spirit, the courage and strength that they had hoped for was in all that they did. They would preach the message of Christ. They would baptize and bring many into the faith. The missionary spirit of the Church was there from the beginning and the Apostles, and the early Church recognized that the message of Christ was not just meant for the Jewish people, but now their mission was to go out to all the world, to all peoples, to proclaim the Good News. Pentecost is a new beginning! May we also be encouraged and filled with the faith and the Holy Spirit so that we too may not be afraid to call ourselves Christians. And let us seek to live in faith and spread the Gospel to those around us. On this Pentecost Sunday, we also celebrate our second group of youth who are receiving their First Communion at the 5 PM Mass. May all of those who have received the Sacraments this Easter season remind us that we can always find Christ in the celebration of the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Congratulations to all who have received their Confirmation and First Communion this Easter Season! Due to all the deadlines for the bulletin, I’m always writing my column ahead of time. Hopefully, as you are reading this column, you will discover that we were able to complete the addition of kneelers in the rest of the body of the church. Not only were our contractors able to figure out a solution with the style of our pews, but the cost of the project was much less than anyone anticipated. Thank you to those who donated to this project to help us complete this work. After all the devastation from the tornado, not only here at St. Catherine, but throughout our area, Bishop Lohse will be joining us on Sunday Morning at 9 AM to pray with us and be with us at this time. Thanks for reading! Fr. Mark