Congratulations to Fr. Ken Schmidt and Sharon Froom for their nomination by Catholic Extension as Lumen Christi finalists. As co-founders of the Trauma Recovery Program (TRP), they seek to serve adult survivors of childhood abuse and neglect. See the article from Catholic Extension by clicking on the article title.

On October 18th Bishop Bradley will celebrate his 75th birthday and the parishes in the Diocese of Kalamazoo are preparing a SURPRISE spiritual bouquet of prayers and acts of devotion for him. If you would like to participate, please submit your prayers and acts of devotion by Wednesday, October 14 at diokzoo.org/spiritualbouquet.

If you are looking for a volunteer opportunity, Catholic Charities Diocese of Kalamazoo could really use the help! Please check out their website (http://www.ccdok.org/volunteer or just click on the article title) for more information on different volunteer opportunities. Please prayerfully consider helping this great organization with your gifts and talents by signing up for a volunteer opportunity.

Registration for 2020-2021 Children's Faith Formation Classes for Grades 1 through 5 continues through Sunday, October 4th; classes begin the week of October 5th. This year, 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. Registration will be online only using the registration form on our website: http://www.stcatherinesiena.org/cff2020registration. The fee for 2020-2021 is $35.00 per family and is due at the time of registration. Please use our Online Giving and Payments Portal (https://www.stcatherinesiena.org/onlinepayment) to pay your $35.00 fee. Our parish accepts electronic checks, credit cards, and debit cards through our online portal. If you have any questions, please contact Karen Galloway (269-327-0861 or kgalloway@stcatherinesiena.org). We look forward to welcoming our children back to Children's Faith Formation for 2020-2021!

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. Click on the article title to go directly to the online form on the Diocesan website.

We just learned Sister Sarah Simmons, a native of Kalamazoo, took her vows with the Congregation of St. Joseph on August 15, 2020. She initially entered the Sisters of St. Joseph through the community of Nazareth, here in Kalamazoo, before transferring to Cleveland, Ohio. Read more about Sarah’s journey to becoming a Sister by clicking on the article title.

Our Overeaters Anonymous (OA) group, who used to meet at St. Catherine’s on Saturday mornings, is now meeting online via zoom. To join them virtually on Saturdays from 11:00 am—12:00 pm, log into Zoom (zoom.us) and enter the access code: 899 3716 8614 and password: 508288. For other OA online meetings, you can also go to their website at http://oa.org to see other meetings taking place on different days and times. If you have any questions, please contact Kathy at kathydavies@yahoo.com.

Though our programming may be different than previous years, we still have a lot going on around the parish. Please click on the article title to read our update about events and activities going on at our parish this fall.

This weekend we make our commitments to the 2020 Bishop's Annual Appeal campaign. All registered households in the Diocese should have received a letter and a pledge card from the Diocese of Kalamazoo in the mail. Please bring that completed pledge card with you when you come for Mass this weekend and drop it in the dropbox near the Baptismal Font. If you didn't receive a pledge card or need another one, you can find one here: https://bit.ly/2020BAAPledge. Remember, once the parish reaches 50% of its 2020 goal, every dollar donated beyond the 50% point is returned directly to the parish to support our own programming and ministries. To learn more about the Bishop's Annual Appeal and what those funds support, please visit the Diocesan website: https://diokzoo.org/bishops-annual-appeal. Thank you in advance for your support and your generosity!

We have a few reminders from Philip Dezern about our Confirmation process and requirements. Please click on the article title to see these reminders.

Are you interested in learning more about joining the Catholic Church? Do you have questions about the Catholic Faith? Now is a great time to join the RCIA class that just started this month using Zoom. Contact Father Mark at fathermark@stcatherinesiena.org for more information on this class.

Join the Kalamazoo 40 Days for Life Campaign as they pray and fast for an end to abortion from today, September 23rd, to November 1st. Sign up to peacefully pray in front of Planned Parenthood (4201 W. Michigan Avenue) on the public sidewalk. You can sign up by visiting https://www.40daysforlife.com/kalamazoo, emailing 40daysKalamazoo@gmail.com, or calling Joe Magalski (989-992-6085).

Our Knights of Columbus Council #6980 will be back on Saturday, October 10th, at 9 am to again help us with our on-going church grounds maintenance projects. We always need help keeping up on the weeds and pruning around our church grounds. Please consider helping them! This can easily be a family event! If you’re interested in helping, please contact Marianne at mverner@stcatherinesiena.org. Thank you for considering assisting with this overwhelming task!

Upright Roofing recently finished the rectory roof project. Hoekstra Roofing has started Phase II: the Narthex Roof on the Church. Roofing professionals will be on-site and working on the repairs and recoating the Narthex roof. This project will take some time to complete. Please be aware that ladders and trucks are going to be around the main entrance of the Church while this project is being completed. Phase III will be the repairs on the gym roof on the Stanley Centre. We are grateful for the Diocesan Loan that made these necessary repairs possible.

It's time to get your flu shot! Ascension Borgess staff will be in the Narthex on 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. Questions? Please contact Paula White (330-3762 or pwhitentc@mac.com).

Registration for 2020-2021 Children's Faith Formation Classes for Grades 1 through 5 is underway. This year, 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. Registration will be online only using the registration form on our website: http://www.stcatherinesiena.org/cff2020registration . Classes will begin in October. The fee for 2020-2021 is $35.00 per family and is due at the time of registration. Please use our Online Giving and Payments Portal (https://www.stcatherinesiena.org/onlinepayment) to pay your $35.00 fee. Our parish accepts electronic checks, credit cards, and debit cards through our online portal. As a reminder, parents of first and second graders must enroll their child(ren) in Children's Faith Formation classes this year if they want their child(ren) to make their First Communion the spring of the child’s second-grade year. Sacramental preparation in our Diocese is a two-year program. If you have questions about this requirement, please contact Karen Galloway. This year’s third-graders are encouraged to use Saturday morning "drive-in" confessions (every Saturday from 11 am - 12 pm in the main parking lot ) for their First Penance. However, if this is inconvenient for your family, you can make an individual appointment with either Father Mark (frmark@stcatherinesiena.org) or Father Ben (frben@stcatherinesiena.org). If you choose to make an individual appointment, please contact Karen Galloway once the sacrament has taken place so that she can clear your family to sign up for First Communion. We look forward to welcoming our children back to Children's Faith Formation for 2020-2021! If you have any questions, please contact Karen Galloway (269-327-0861 or kgalloway@stcatherinesiena.org).

Our El Sitio group regrets to inform the Parish they will be unable to travel to El Salvador this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. If you were signed up for the trip and would like to go next year, please contact Avril at lcumstomplbg@aol.com. Our El Sitio group is always looking for ways to get funds to our Sister Parish. If you would like to donate to this group, please consider doing so on our website at https://www.stcatherinesiena.org/give and select the El Sitio option.

Our St. Catherine’s Golf Leagues recently finished up their 2020 season. We’re happy to announce the winners of the Golf League this year are: Mark Schuster & Joe Bennett from the Men’s League; and Gary Hunt & Inez Pochyla from the Couple’s League. Congratulations Mark, Joe, Gary & Inez! If you are interested in learning more about our Golf League for next year, visit our website at https://stcatherinesiena.org/golf-leagues.

This weekend we participate in the collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. In the United States, one in six people live in poverty. Your contribution supports programs that address the causes of poverty and provide a sustainable future for those who are struggling locally and across the country. In addition, 25% of the funds collected will remain in our diocese to provide grants for local anti-poverty projects. Our most recent local grant was to the Tiger Room project at St. Philip, Battle Creek. More information about the Catholic Campaign for Human Development can be found at https://www.usccb.org/committees/catholic-campaign-human-development.

Thank you to everyone who has patiently waited for Fr. Mark, Karen Galloway, and our Diocese to work out a plan for us to give our First Communion class from 2019-2020 their First Communions this fall. We are starting the process to get all the children and their families scheduled by the end of November at the Saturday 4:00 pm Masses. Up to six children per Mass will have their First Communion starting tomorrow, Saturday, September 19th. For third graders who need to sign up for their First Communion, they should use the Sign-Up Genius link sent out by Karen Galloway. For a copy of the First Communion Protocol for 2020-2021 (emailed to First Communicants and their families by Karen Galloway), please click on the article title. Please pray for these children as they accept their first Holy Communion!