My Sincere Thanks! To all our parishioners and guests who participated in the Easter liturgy—from Holy Thursday’s Mass of the Lord’s Supper to the Great Easter Vigil and Sunday Masses. The gift of your presence truly made the celebrations wonderful and I am most thankful to you all.

I am also grateful to the staff here at Saint Catherine of Siena Parish: Lisa Cerchia in our office, Kathi Bonner our director of Religious Education, Mike Grappone our Facilities Manager and Sacristan, Judy Pluta our director of Youth Ministry, Susan Zybert our director of Music, Erin Smith who leads our Contemporary Choir, LoriAnn Ruiz who works with our Children’s Choir, Mercedes Featherston our accompanist, and Diane Whittemore who assists in our Youth Ministry program. Because of their efforts so much happens here at Saint Catherine to inspire others to become great stewards of God’s love and compassion. I am most lucky to be assigned here and to have their expertise in so many areas.

I am also grateful to our dedicated volunteers who do so much and truly are the life blood of this parish: I want to thank Kathy Moore for her talent in the care of the altar and sanctuary decorations—all the sewing and the brilliant ideas; to Janet Fischer and Barbara Hopkins for our floral decorations—Barbara has for years been caring for the flowers and their placement around the altar and tabernacle and is joined this year along with Janet who has designed some beautiful new arrangements, including the rising sun behind the tabernacle. Dennis Hannon and his sons, Gregory and Bryan, for their tremendous help in hanging the material high above the sanctuary walls and for building the fire on the Easter Vigil; and to the ushers who help us each and every Sunday but also in organizing the details of the lights, the added seats, the candles, and the traffic flow on Good Friday—their help is greatly appreciated.

I must thank all the volunteers who made this year’s Alleluia Party an-other great success! This five-year tradition is always a good time. I want to expressly thank Kevin and Ann Frazier and their family for being the leaders in this year’s event…they are new to the parish and really deserve kudos for taking on such a huge project and doing it like pros. Thanks!