March 16, 2025

Dear Friends in Christ,
One of the main purposes of Lent is to prepare us to celebrate the paschal mystery of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection. This is the central belief of the Christian Church, and the reason for our hope in the face of whatever is before us. This is no abstract or sentimental exercise. Through the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we prepare our hearts and minds, bodies and souls to be transformed into Christ. The Catholic tradition emphasizes what St. Athanasius said long ago. “God became human, so humans could become like God.” We are a sacramental church that encounters the divine through water and oil, bread and wine, candles and incense, icons and crucifixes, and other people
We see this process of transformation in people preparing to enter the life of Christ and his body the church through the easter sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and first Eucharist. This year we have combined our Order of Christian Initiation process into one program serving all four of our parishes. We are very blessed to have 16 catechumens preparing for baptism, and two candidates already baptized who are preparing for reception into the full communion of the Catholic Church. Of these 18 people, 4 are young people ages 8-12. We will be getting to know them more in Lent. Special thanks to Alex Chopyak and Ellen Bollard who lead this program, and all those who support our catechumens and candidates. 
We also have 80 children from our four parishes preparing to receive their first holy communion. In addition, we have combined our confirmation program into one which is preparing 45 of our youth to receive the sacrament of the Holy Spirit. My thanks to Sarah Chopyak, Debra Ricard, Ellen Bollard and Ivy Wong who oversee these programs with the help of several parent volunteers.
Let’s unite in prayer for those preparing for life-changing sacramental moments this Easter…which hopefully is all of us!
Blessings of Lenten peace!
Fr. William Heric, Pastor