As the Faith Formation year heads to a close, I want to express my sincere thanks to aeveryone who makes our program such a success—the parents, the students and the teachers. We are blessed at Saint Catherine of Siena with a large and growing Faith Formation program: dedicated and committed parents—that is not always  the case in every parish, with more than 650 students who are active and involved, and of course a dedicated group of catechists (more than 60 volunteers). Kathi Bonner, our director of Faith Formation, puts herheart and soul into this program and your children’s successes.

With Confirmation and First Holy Communion yet to come, I owe a great deal of gratitude to all of you. The Church must continue to grow and to flourish for the good of society. It is not a
pie-in-the-sky idea that the Church has given so much to the world: from the education of the masses in university systems, to medical breakthroughs, social justice standards and the feeding, housing and care of untold millions—more than any other private entity in the world—we are a Church that seeks the excellence of all of God’s sons and daughters. And it all thus begins in the parish.

It begins with parents who have hope for their children. Hope that they will believe in a God who
loves them and desires for them only the best; a God who wants everyone to be with Him in heaven. That has to be the greatest legacy any parent could wish for their child (greater than any material wealth we could leave behind) is the idea that our children will be with us in heaven for all eternity.

It begins with children who see in their parents a deep and abiding love (even through the
terrible two’s and teenage years. They see a love which you have for them still resonating in the midst of any “attitude.”

And it begins in the hearts of love in all of the volunteer catechists who want to pass on their faith and their hope in God to others—not their children but yes, their brothers and sisters in Christ. This is the third love of CS Lewis, “Friendship” which is not an exclusionary friendship but rather one that sees us as all created in a singular family of God) and calls us into a deep caring for each other.

All this and more is exemplified in our Faith Formation program and it is due to so many wonderfully generous, kind and loving people. What a great way to end our year!