Dear Friends,

We have now completed the first half of “Big Daddy Boot Camp”, the process employed to train our new Altar As­sistance or Servers. Dave Schilling has been doing a great job preparing our young folks to assist at mass. Along with having well trained Altar Assistants, there has been the added bonus of seeing some of our young families attend the week day masses throughout the summer months.

I recently noticed with joy, the smile on the face of the fa­ther of a couple of our new trainees as they served at mass for the first time a few weeks ago. It reminded me that our parents want the best for their children and I couldn’t help but think that the most important thing parents can transmit to their offspring is a deep faith. In the end, there is nothing that will give a person greater joy and fulfillment than opportunities to serve the Lord.

It seems to me that parents need to be reminded often to review their priorities as it pertains to the upbringing of their children. Is the primary focus oriented toward imparting the faith to their children? Is Faith Formation: Catholic School, Religious Education, Prayer, Steward­ship and Christian Service, held in a balance with other aspects of young life and personal development? How are you doing as parents and grandparents when it comes to nurturing the faith of your children? Are there ways that we as parish can better support your efforts to form your children in the faith?

There are a multitude of distractions in our culture that can make it easy to lose sight of what is most important. Because of this reality, it is helpful that we step back on oc­casion and ask the question; am I giving enough attention to the faith formation of my child? May God bless our efforts.

Christ’s Peace

Fr. Bernie Etienne