A Note From Father Eickhoff
April 28, 2024
This Saturday, April 27th St. Anne Church held two First Communion Masses for the children of our parish who had been preparing for this moment for the past year. I hope you will join me in congratulating these children on this momentous day. I also hope that you will thank the parents of these children for helping to prepare them to receive Holy Communion. In addition to the parents and families of these children we also need to thank the staff and volunteers of our Religious Education program here at St. Anne Parish. We have a great many parishioners who volunteer their time to assist the parish staff in teaching the Catholic Faith to the next generation. These volunteers assist in many different ways. Some are classroom teachers and aides who directly instruct the children in their care. I have been fortunate enough to meet many of them during this past year as I have stopped by their classrooms during RE. Other volunteers help out in the RE office or monitor the hallways and open spaces during RE sessions. To everyone who helped make the First Communion Masses possible I want to offer you my thanks.
In other news I want to update you on the 2024 Diocese of Joliet Catholic Ministries Annual Appeal. You will recall that the appeal helps to support the administrative and charitable needs of our diocese. These needs include the education of men preparing for the priesthood and paying the salaries of the men and women at the diocese who directly support all the parishes by providing financial, legal, and administrative support. An example of this is the diocesan finance office that not only helps to train parish staff in accurately maintaining financial records; but also audits parishes on a regular basis to ensure that money that is donated to parishes is used wisely. The money raised also goes to support charitable organizations supported by the Diocese of Joliet so that the Church may carry out its mission to assist those in need. Currently St. Anne Parish has the following CMAA statement:
Goal Amount – 105,700
Amount Currently Pledged – 99,532
Amount Paid – 60,205
Last year St. Anne Parish comfortably exceeded our goal amount, and it would be wonderful if we could do so again. If you have pledged to the Appeal thank you for your generosity. If you would like to pledge or simply give money to the Appeal you can go to the Diocese of Joliet website and click the “Donate” button. Make sure to choose St. Anne Parish – Oswego on the pledge screen so that our parish gets the credit for your gift.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Stephen Eickhoff
Pastor