Dear St. John Paul II Parishioners,

Our mission now: Love God. Love one another. Make Disciples.

We are members of the Body of Christ that is the local church of St. Louis. We should be rightfully proud of our heritage as Catholics in St. Louis and for the many significant contributions we have made to our community from works of charity, to our Catholic grade schools, high schools and universities, to our leadership of the Respect Life Apostolate, our seminary, hospitals, senior services and so on. Please complete your pledge card for the Annual Catholic Appeal so that we can continue building God’s kingdom of justice, love and peace.

Mr. Michael Brancato will be ordained to the permanent diaconate for service to the Church of St. Louis and to our particular parish, St. John Paul II Catholic Church, on June 2, 2018. Mike will be ordained with 24 other men at the Cathedral Basilica. On June 3, we will have Mass of Thanksgiving for Deacon Brancato at 11:00 a.m. with a reception to follow in the parish center. Since we have celebrated our first Masses together this weekend (on Pentecost Sunday), the second Donut Sunday in the month of May, we will not have Donuts and Coffee on June 3. Please keep Mike and Tina, his wife, in your prayers.

We had a wonderful Golf Tournament on Saturday, May 12. The tournament is in honor of Mrs. Laura Albes, a longtime member of the former St. Dominic Savio who worked as the parish development director and worked tirelessly in support of Catholic education. After her untimely death, the parish renamed the annual Golf Tournament in her honor. I’d like to thank Bob Puricelli, Robin Lukasek, Dan Roper, Rick Bakersmith, Lee Kent, Scotty Hark, Matt Tabash and Karen Stolarski for putting the tournament together this year. 100 golfers at Columbia Golf Course enjoyed some great meals, memorable shots, and fraternal camaraderie.

We are asking all of the able-bodied parishioners to park in the large parking lot across the street from the school building. We intend to set aside the parking lot between the rectory and the school for those with limited mobility. Orange traffic cones will be set out each week to provide a drop-off area on Heege Rd. for those parishioners who need direct access to the church.

Please extend a warm welcome to one another and join us after Mass this weekend for fellowship. Pope St. John Paul the Great took his ministry outside the Vatican to all the nations. He is a great role model for us in so many ways, but especially in reaching out to others. In one homily, St. John Paul the Great said, “Welcoming Christ in the brother and sister tried by need is the condition for meeting him perfectly and ‘face to face’ at the end of the earthly journey.” In other words, if we want to meet Jesus when our earthly journey is at an end, we must welcome him each day, especially in our brothers and sisters in need.

The former St. Dominic Savio church is now the chapel for St. John Paul II campus of Holy Cross Academy. Holy Cross Academy is a “school system” owned by Archbishop Carlson and operated by the people of St. Michael the Archangel, Annunciation, Our Lady of Providence, Seven Holy Founders and our parish. It is led by the President, Dr. Greg Densberger, with a principal on each of the four campuses. We have one school, the Academy of the Holy Cross, with four campuses. Three campuses have children from pre-school through fifth grade. These three elementary campuses send their sixth, seventh and eighth graders to Annunciation for middle school. So, we have one first grade with children on three campuses. One eighth grade from five parishes, etc.

Congratulations to Sandy Leibrecht on her retirement after 45 years at Bishop DuBourg High School. She has taught religion, been Campus Minister, directed the Liturgical Music Group and Director of Retreats, the Kairos retreat program and class retreats. Congratulations to Sandy for her years of Ministry at Bishop DuBourg.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us,