As a Church, we pray for one another that the Lord continue to bless, guide, strengthen, and console us. One incredibly beautiful and ancient way we can pray for someone is to have a Mass offered for that person. It is a holy and devout practice to have Masses offered for a loved one, living or deceased. Masses may be offered on any day, but many offer them on a birthday, anniversary, or for a special need. To learn more about Mass Intentions, or to schedule a Mass Intention online, visit our website at https://stcatherinesiena.org/massintentions. Please click on the article title to see the Mass Intentions for January 23-31, 2021.

Join Bishop Bradley for Mass tonight, Friday, January 22 at 6:00 pm at St. Augustine Cathedral in observance of the National Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. If you cannot attend, the Mass will be live-streamed on the diocesan website (http://www.diokzoo.org/live) and also simulcast to the diocesan Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/catholicdioceseofkalamazoo).

Join Catholics across the country for the annual 9 Days for Life Novena beginning today, Thursday, January 21, and continuing through Friday, January 29. Each day's intention of the 9 Days for Life novena is accompanied by a short reflection and suggested actions. Participants can sign up to receive the novena by text message or email in either English or Spanish at https://www.respectlife.org/9-days-for-life. Each day, dioceses across the country will be live-streaming prayer events for the protection of human life. To see a list of these events for each day of the novena, please visit: https://www.respectlife.org/9-days-livestream-events. Today's intention is for the end of the tragic act of abortion. To read today's reflection, please click on the article title.

The annual National March for Life Rally and march to the Supreme Court on January 29th will take place virtually this year for the safety of all. You can join the March by RSVPing for the broadcast at https://marchforlife.org/2021-virtual-events/. On January 29th, you will receive a link in your email inbox containing the link to watch the March for Life Rally and March.

On Monday, Bishop Bradley published a video update with information on the coming Lenten season, Spring Confirmations, and more. Check it out here: https://youtu.be/e0NDYOxcd0s or just click on the article title.

Join Catholics across the country for the annual 9 Days for Life Novena beginning tomorrow, Thursday, January 21, and continuing through Friday, January 29. Each day's intention of the 9 Days for Life novena is accompanied by a short reflection and suggested actions. Participants can sign up to receive the novena by text message or email in either English or Spanish at https://www.respectlife.org/9-days-for-life.

Our Music Director, Tricia, is back from her leave after having surgery in November. She is doing well and glad to be back at the Parish. Read about her recovery in her letter to the Parish; click on the article title to view the letter or visit https://bit.ly/TriciaUpdateJan2021. Welcome back, Tricia!

Persons with Disabilities are invited to a virtual "Creative Connections" gathering, sponsored by the Diocese of Kalamazoo, from 1:00 – 2:00 pm this coming Sunday, January 24, 2021. The focus is to build fellowship and have fun. We’ll spend some time getting to know each other and catching up, have a brief reflection on Sunday’s scripture passage, and end with prayer. Tomorrow, January 20th is the registration deadline for this event. To learn more or register, go to https://www.diokzoo.org/personswithdisabilities or contact Lisa Irwin at 269-903-0177 or lirwin@diokzoo.org. Zoom link will be sent to those who register.

Cleaning out your closets, drawers, and files in the New Year? You can recycle your newspapers, catalogs, magazines, junk mail, phone books, office/school paper, and hard and softcover books by dropping them off in the green Paper Gator bins next to the maintenance shed on the west side of the parking lot. Please do not put cardboard in the Paper Gator bins. For a complete list of what is and is not accepted in our Paper Gator bins, please click on the article title. Thank you for recycling!

New! We have a "Text to Give" option at the Parish through Vanco. Click on the article title to check out our flyer for more information. Email Al DeMars at ademars@stcatherinesiena.org or Linda Reaume at lreaume@stcatherinesiena.org with any questions.

Dear Parishioners, Some people are still finding it hard to believe that the priests of St. Catherine’s are out there in the parking lot (in all weather) to hear confessions from 11:00 am until Noon. Most of the Saturdays, we have been pretty lucky. However, you might find us on some weeks sitting in our cars in between confessions, staying warm and out of the wind. Hopefully, no blizzard conditions will happen on a Saturday this year! We will continue Drive-In confessions until further notice or basically until health conditions improve, possibly later in the year. It’s hard to believe that just one year ago, we were just starting to hear some news about something called a pandemic. No one realized how much it would change all of our lives here and around the world. Your priests continue to pray for you and for all who are fighting this illness. But as it took a long time for us to plan what Christmas was going to look like, we are also starting to plan, with diocesan guidance, what Lent will look like this year. More to come on this later. This time of year is also when everyone starts thinking about taxes. We have been working on the 2020 donation statements in our business office. Once again, I would like to offer my thanks and gratitude for the financial support that the Parish has received in 2020. It was indeed a very difficult year to manage things, but we were able to make the cuts we needed and “right sized” our expenses to match to our income. Besides our Sunday envelopes and online giving, we have been able to add a “Text to Give” service. If you are interested in this, we have more information in this week's bulletin or by any of the collection boxes in Church. Your support has indeed been a blessing! Thanks for reading! Fr. Mark

Join Bishop Bradley and Christians from around Kalamazoo for a 30 minute focused and interactive prayer time that will highlight that “All Life is Sacred” next Sunday, January 24, at 4:00 pm on the grounds of Kalamazoo Christian High School. Donations of diapers and wipes will be collected for Caring Network and Alternatives. This is an outdoor event so please dress for the weather. For more information contact Lisa Irwin at 903-0177 or lirwin@diokzoo.org.

As a Church, we pray for one another that the Lord continue to bless, guide, strengthen, and console us. One incredibly beautiful and ancient way we can pray for someone is to have a Mass offered for that person. It is a holy and devout practice to have Masses offered for a loved one, living or deceased. Masses may be offered on any day, but many offer them on a birthday, anniversary, or for a special need. To learn more about Mass Intentions, or to schedule a Mass Intention online, visit our website at https://stcatherinesiena.org/massintentions. Please click on the article title to see the Mass Intentions for January 16-24, 2021.

The new session of Alpha begins next week via Zoom! Come and explore the basics of the Christian faith in a friendly and informal online environment. For more information, or to register, please visit the Alpha page of our website - https://www.stcatherinesiena.org/alpha. If you have any questions, please email alpha@stcatherinesiena.org.

Join Bishop Bradley for Mass next Friday, January 22 at 6:00 pm at St. Augustine Cathedral in observance of the National Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. If you cannot attend, the Mass will be live-streamed on the diocesan website (http://www.diokzoo.org/live) and also simulcast to the diocesan Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/catholicdioceseofkalamazoo).

Formerly a seminarian and deacon at St. Ann in Augusta, Fr. David Pinto was ordained by Bishop Bradley in the newly renovated St. Augustine Cathedral on December 19, 2020. Fr. Pinto will serve as Associate Pastor at St. Philip Parish in Battle Creek. To read more about his road to the priesthood see this article at http://bit.ly/FrPintoOrdained.

Join Catholics across the country for the annual 9 Days for Life Novena, Thursday, January 21, through Friday, January 29. Each day's intention of the 9 Days for Life novena is accompanied by a short reflection and suggested actions. Participants can sign up to receive the novena by text message or email in either English or Spanish at https://www.respectlife.org/9-days-for-life.

This Sunday, January 17th, we will have 2 sessions of n-person Youth Ministry for 7th through 12th graders - 3:30-4:45 pm or 6:15-7:30 pm. The deadline to sign up for this week's Youth Ministry sessions is Saturday, January 16th, 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.

Boy Scout Troop 255, chartered by St. Catherine’s, is proud to announce Alex Conway and Nathan Cochran have attained the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest possible achievement for a member of the Boy Scouts of America. The award was conferred by BSA Troop 255 Scoutmaster Steve McNeil. For his Service Project, an Eagle Scout requirement, Alex demonstrated leadership through the construction of replacement benches for the waterfront area of Pretty Lake Camp. Nathan led a donation drive and toy creation benefiting the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Many current and former Scouts and parent volunteers assisted in both projects. Both Alex and Nathan are students at Portage Central High School. Less than four percent of Scouts attain the rank of Eagle, and those who do are expected to set an example for other Scouts and to become the leaders in life that they have demonstrated themselves to be in Scouting fulfilling their duty to God. They are highly represented in the military, service academies, higher education and academia, and in business, politics, and the clergy. For more information about Troop 255, please contact Paul Franz at paul.c.franz@gmail.com. 

Please consider joining us for Daily Mass during the week. We have Daily Mass Monday through Friday at 9:15 am in Marian Hall (no Daily Mass on Saturdays). Please note that only the Marian Hall entrance will be unlocked for Daily Mass. Doors open at 8:45 am. Please wear a mask and bring hand sanitizer with you for use prior to Communion and throughout Mass as needed. Thank you!