Just over a week ago, 257 teenagers and 60 leaders from the Diocese of San Jose embarked on a week-long retreat to encounter Christ in beautiful South Lake Tahoe. It was an incredible week consisting of an engaging Catholic speaker, daily themes to reflect on, various workshops and prayer experiences, and an opportunity to make new friends.
Averages for May 2017: Sat 5:00pm (SAG): $1,607; Sun 9:00am (SAG): $1,592; Sun 9:00am (OLR): $1,217; Sun 10:30am (OLR): $2,212; Sun 7:30am (STA): $1,100 Sun 8:45am (STA): $676; Sun 10:30am (STA): $415; Sun 12:00pm (STA): $497 Mail: $1,281; Online Giving: $2,372 - Total: $12,969 Total May Second Collections: $11,880 - Total Weekly May Stewardship: $17,000 Thank you for sharing God's gifts!
To involve young people in preparations for the Synod of Bishops on youth in 2018, the Vatican has released an online questionnaire to better understand the lives, attitudes and concerns of 16- to 29-year-olds around the world. The questionnaire — available in English, Spanish, French and Italian — can be found on the synod's official site: youth.synod2018.va/content/synod2018/it.html and is open to any young person, regardless of faith or religious belief. Click here to start the survey in English.
Thanks to our website vendor eCatholic and its special partnership with Word on Fire, we now have free and exclusive access to stream an hour-long episode from Bishop Robert Barron's newest film series, CATHOLICISM: The Pivotal Players directly on your eCatholic website. Go to http://paloaltocatholic.net and click on the “Pivotal Players” link towards the bottom of the home page. The Pivotal Players module is available June 1 through August 31, 2017.
St. Vincent de Paul Thank You for May 27/28 Collection Thank you generous St. Thomas Aquinas parishioners for your donations ($4,359) through our parish St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) Conference for people in need in Palo Alto. In addition to buying food for our daily food bags, we were sometimes able to help with car registrations and repairs. Some people are still living in cars. We were able to pay emergency rents for 7 families in Palo Alto Housing. You also paid rent for a woman who was injured at work. She is waiting for Workman’s Compensation to pay rent.
At the June 14 meeting on the Pastoral Stewardship Council, a new Executive Committee was elected from the membership to lead the group for FY 2017/2018. The following were elected: Chair: Anne Morrison; Vice Chair: Steve Carter; Secretary: Bill Morrison. Also, at the May 2017 PSC meeting, Jose Garcia because the representative for our Hispanic Leadership team, replacing Semi Gurbiel, who had served faithfully for four years.
The new books donated by parishioners to St. Elizabeth Seton 2nd graders were distributed on June 6 by Fr. Mikalonis to the excited children. These books will provide hours of reading enjoyment and learning while the students gain an awareness of a large caring community.