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!

Join the Kalamazoo 40 Days for Life Campaign as they pray and fast for an end to abortion from 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).

Did you know that there is a patron saint of computers? There is! His name is St. Expeditus!! Please join our Children's Faith Formation students on Sunday, September 20, 2020, at 1:00 pm on the grounds behind the Stanley Centre as Father Ben blesses our computers and Chromebooks for the school year. This blessing is open to teachers and students alike. We will gather behind the Stanley Center, near the Mary Grotto. Bring a chair and your computer. Displays featuring other patron saints of students will be on hand as well as some “COVID- cool” snacks. Masks and social distancing are required. Please note that in the event of rain, the event will be canceled. Questions? Please contact Karen Galloway (269-327-0861 or cff@stcatherinesiena.org).

We are happy to announce Confirmations for the 2020 Confirmation candidates (who were unable to be confirmed in June as originally scheduled) will begin at the end of September. Bishop Bradley has made a one-time exception to allow individual parishes to do Confirmation with their pastor during the Pandemic. All Confirmations that were delayed earlier this year will now take place at the 5:00 pm Sunday Masses with Fr. Mark starting September 20 and will continue through October 18. Due to Social Distancing rules, we will have to limit the number of youth confirmed each Sunday. Youth are asked to only bring their sponsor and no more than five other guests due to church capacity. Please pray for our youth as they are confirmed this fall!

Registration for 2020-2021 MOPS has begun! Due to current restrictions on activities at the parish, MOPS will meet virtually using Zoom on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month from 6:30 pm until 8:30 pm (beginning Sunday, September 27th). We hope you'll join us and Decide to Rise to the challenges we're all facing, embrace everything that's good, and celebrate what keeps us connected...TOGETHER! Want to know more about MOPS? Contact Kristin Beers (stcatherinesieanamops@yahoo.com or 616-893-9604) or join us tomorrow evening, Thursday, September 17th, from 6:30 pm - 9:30 pm, at Latitude 42 on Portage Road in Portage for Moms Night Out! Come learn more about MOPS and meet some other moms!

We would like to express our thanks to the parishioners who were able to use the SignUp Genius to contribute to the Back-to-School Giving Tree donations this year. Your flexibility in adjusting to this new method of collecting items was appreciated and made it possible to carry out this project despite COVID-19 restrictions. Organizations that requested help and were the recipients of your generosity included Generous Hands, Family and Children's Services, and Kalamazoo Gospel Ministries. Many various school supplies and anonymous cash donations were also passed along. Thank you again for donating!

Beginning on Sunday, September 20th, the 9 am Sunday Mass will return in the GYM at the Stanley Centre. Due to the increased cleaning protocols we must follow in between Masses in the Church, we do not have enough time following the Sunday 7:30 am Mass to clean and disinfect the Church building in time for the 9 am Mass. To address this challenge, we've opted to hold the 9 am Sunday Mass in the Gym at the Stanley Centre. We will continue to live-stream Mass on Saturdays at 4 pm and Sundays at 9 am indefinitely. Because of our increased numbers at multiple Masses, we are now in need of more Ushers and Sacristan volunteers for all Masses, including the Sunday 9 am Mass in the Gym. If you are healthy and willing to help with one of these ministries, please contact Alana Murray at amurray@stcatherinesiena.org. Training for the position (including a detailed explanation of COVID-19 safety precautions) is provided. We are also in need of more AV volunteers to help us at the soundboard in Church. Since we are running a video feed to Marian Hall and/or the internet for many Masses, having a volunteer present to assist our staff at the soundboard or in Marian Hall is very helpful. Training is provided and volunteers sign up for Masses according to their schedules (we are not automatically scheduling any volunteers at this time). This is a great opportunity for high school students (accompanied by a parent) who need service hours and are comfortable with technology! We've had several great parent/student pairs serve in our AV Ministry over the last 15 years and would love to have you as part of our team! If you would like to help us with our AV needs during weekend Masses, please contact Kendra Stampor (kstampor@stcatherinesiena.org).

COVID-19 has had a huge impact on our local blood supply as many blood drives have been canceled during the pandemic. St. Catherine's will host a Versiti Blood Drive this Wednesday, September 16th, from 10 am until 4 pm in the Gym at the Stanley Centre. To sign up to donate, please visit https://bit.ly/SCSBloodDriveSept16 or click on the title of this article. Thank you in advance for helping save lives!

Registration for Children's Faith Formation Classes for Grades 1 through 5 begins today, Monday, September 14th. 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. 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).