A Note From Father Eickhoff
June 25, 2023
It is time to mark your calendars for an auspicious occasion.
The feast day of our patron saint: St. Anne, the mother of Mary, is coming up on Wednesday, July 26. Since coming to St. Anne Parish, I have found it comforting that our parish has such an important patron saint. Every patron saint can be thought of as speaking up for his or her parish and its people before Almighty God. They are constantly asking God for graces to flow down upon the people of the parish to enable them to live a virtuous life; asking God for mercy and compassion towards the people of the parish when they sin; and seeking blessings from God towards the people under his or her protection. Our patron saint has the tremendous advantage of being the grandmother of Jesus, the Son of God. And before you say that such a relationship shouldn’t matter before God who is the creator of heaven and earth, remember that Jesus, the Son of God, has truly joined our humanity to His divinity. Our human relationships matter to Him. Or, to put it in other words: when grandma makes a request, the grandchild quickly says, “yes ma’am.”
In addition to being the regular anniversary of the feast day of our patron saint there are two other anniversaries of particular importance coming up. The first is that our parish will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of its founding this year. The second is that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the consecration of the current church after the previous church was destroyed in the fire (the actual date of the dedication of the new church is July 19, but we will celebrate the dedication a week later). These are both important anniversaries in the life of the church.
Therefore, on the feast day of St. Anne, the mother of Mary, we will have a special Mass at 7pm in the evening (there will still be the usual morning Mass at 8am). There will be a reception after the Mass with light snacks. I hope that you will come out and join us in thanking God on this day.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Stephen Eickhoff
Pastor