Things are very busy at St. Catherine's right now, but maybe not in the "normal" ways.  This week, we have had Bible Study, Women of the Word, RCIA, GriefShare online using Google Meet or Zoom,. We continue to do "drive-in" confessions in our main parking lot every Saturday from 11 am until 12 pm.

Last Sunday, we had our first 3 well-attended sessions of in-person Youth Ministry for our 7th and 8th graders. We will again have 3 sessions (1:00-2:15 pm; 2:45-4:00 pm; 6:30-7:45 pm) of in-person Youth Ministry for 7th and 8th graders this Sunday, and there is still space available in all 3 sessions. The deadline to sign up for this week's Youth Ministry sessions is tomorrow, Saturday, September 26th, at 12 pm noon. You must register in advance for Youth Ministry by contacting Philip Dezern ( pdezern@stcatherinesiena.org or 616-633-0994); we cannot accept walk-ins.

Last Saturday, we celebrated several First Communions at the Saturday 4 pm Mass and some Confirmations at the Sunday 5 pm Mass. We'll have more First Communions this weekend at the Saturday 4 pm Mass and more Confirmations at the Sunday 5 pm Mass. First Communions will continue each week through at least late November, and Confirmations will continue through the month of October. We continue to have baptisms nearly every weekend, too, as we attempt to catch up with all the Sacraments rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our in-person Masses (Saturdays at 4 pm, Sundays at 7:30 am, 11:00 am and 5:00 pm) continue to be near capacity each week, and several have had overflow capacity seated in Marian Hall. Last week, we re-started our 9 am Sunday Mass in the Gym at the Stanley Centre in an attempt to manage some of the near-capacity numbers we've been experiencing at some of the other Masses. We will continue to offer the Sunday 9 am Mass in the Gym at the Stanley Centre indefinitely. We'll also continue to live-stream our Saturday 4 pm Mass and broadcast Mass at 9 am on Sundays. And, of course, our in-person Saturday 4 pm, Sunday 7:30 am, Sunday 11:00 am, and Sunday 5:00 pm Masses will continue as usual in the Church.

This week our MOPS group begins meeting online using Zoom (for more information, please visit our website), and all of our other online programming continues. There's still time to join RCIA (offered Sunday afternoons at 1 pm using Zoom); contact Father Mark if you are interested in RCIA. Classes for 2020-2021 Children's Faith Formation will begin the week of October 5th, so please consider signing your 1st through 5th-grade students up for classes if you haven't already done so. Registration is only available online this year. Please contact Karen Galloway with questions.

There's a lot more happening behind the scenes, too. Our Knights of Columbus continue to offer an online rosary using Zoom every Sunday morning at 9 am (please see the event on our website calendar for login information), and several other ministries are actively planning new ways to offer their programming during these unusual times. Please stay tuned to the bulletin, our website news and announcements, and our Facebook page for the latest information about our parish activities and events.