From the Pastor’s desk— September 14, 2025

Dear Parishioners,

           

This weekend will be my second weekend teaching Confirmation class. After a year of settling here at Sacred Heart, I’m excited to turn my attention to our PSR programs and be among the catechists for our weekend classes. Our youth are so important, and we have so many who are searching for what is good. We have a responsibility as a community to support our families and help them grow in faith, hope and love. For that reason, I want to share a few changes we’ve made for this year and possibilities in the future.

            The first change is updating the classrooms themselves. I’ve mentioned it before, but I can’t say enough how happy I am with the improvements to our classrooms. They are freshly painted with new lighting to make them much brighter and more inviting. We’ve had one of the classrooms touched up and added colorful welcome mats in the hallway. We have plans for more artwork to go on the walls in the hallways. Maybe we should have an open house sometime so families can come see the classrooms?

            A second change is prayer with the catechists together before classes. Our classrooms can be exhausting work for our teachers, and they make a great sacrifice to be there. This time for a prayer is a chance to commit our work to God, to bond as a team, and to fill us up spiritually before pouring ourselves out for the student-disciples. Our work is more than passing on information, we are introducing the kids to someone we both know and love, namely Jesus.

A third change is my presence as a catechist. I took the job of confirmation catechist because we needed someone to do it, yes, but also because of how much I value our PSR program. I wanted to be in the middle of it and to see how it worked, to get to know our catechists and to understand the struggles we have to overcome. Ultimately, because I want the best for our youth.

In the future, I hope to find more ways to draw in families and build community. I’d like to offer programs for post-confirmation youth. I’d like PSR to be something that our parents and youth are excited to be a part of because the love and joy of Jesus are known and felt.

         

           

 

             

  

Fr. Joseph