Happy Pentecost

Happy Birthday, Church!
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem.
At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused
ecause each one heard them speaking in his own language.
                                                   Acts 2: 4-6

Okay, okay, I called the Ascension the birthday of the Church and now I’m calling Pentecost the birthday of the Church, but who doesn’t stretch their birthday out for a week?

The curious thing about Luke’s account of Pentecost is that it gave rise to a speaking spiritual phenomenon where the believer is speaking something that can’t be understood. But Luke is talking about the Spirit enabling people to understand across the language divide. There are people of all nations praising God in their own tongues, and the witnesses hear them in their own tongues.

We’ve grown to be a fractious society in the United States, both in secular politics and in the Church. It’s almost as if we’re speaking different languages. We would do well to take a deep breath and listen to what the other has to say and to listen to what is not being said as well!

And I would also like to say, WELCOME ST. MARY’S!  We look forward to hearing your story and to working together to make our new community bigger and stronger than we were apart.

The Annual Catholic Appeal is the main funding sources of the Church of Western Washington, accounting for almost half its revenue. Parishes benefit directly from Archdiocesan services in terms of the management of staff payroll and services and consultation on facilities, personnel matters, religious education, liturgy and loans for facilities. The ACA also helps fund the training of seminarians, the CYO camps and athletics, the marriage tribunal and much more. The largest single use of funds goes to the Catholic Schools Department, which oversees 72 schools serving almost 20,000 students.

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In his powerful appeal for the ACA, Tom Hesselbrock noted the hope engendered by Pope Francis’ recently announced reorganization and re-missioning of the Roman Curia, the papacy’s administrative offices. More details can be found here.

Ministry Opportunities
Thank you to Susan Koenig for working the livestream at 8:30 Mass last Sunday! Yea Susan!!! Of course, more help is still needed for this vital ministry. If you can work a computer you can manage the live stream. Email Nicole at nicoles@st-therese.cc.

Volunteers have sprung up to rid the parish garden of its evil weeds, but more help is still needed. If you like to get your hands into the Earth but don’t have a garden, this is the ministry for you! All produce goes to kitchens for the homeless. Contact Victoria Ries at victoria.ries@comcast.net to get down and dirty.