This weekend and last weekend we celebrated First Eucharist for over 100 children and it was wonderful to welcome so many families to those celebrations. In the weeks ahead I encourage you to congratulate each of those families and welcome them to the table each and every week. It is an opportunity for us to possibly welcome some families back to the Church. For the children who received their First Eucharist, we hope you had a awesome celebration, and we want you to know that we are very proud of you.

Just as there are stages in a child’s life, there are also stages in parish life. An old saying goes "The only thing that is constant in today's world, is change." How true this statement is in the world we live in today! Over the past few months, our community has gone through some significant changes. In November, we announced the change of Principal at the school. In December we announced the change of my position here at the Holy Spirit and the Diocese. This spring we have also been able to announce the gift of another priest at Holy Spirit - Fr. Mark Arnzen and the gift of a new principal - Mr. Mark Bistricky.

During the week we announced some more staffing changes. Jane Bramwell, our Catechetical Administrative Assistant, will be pursuing a new adventure outside of the parish, effective May 31, 2008. And Dorothy Carlson, Pastoral Associate, accepted a Pastoral Associate position a little closer to home at St. Justin Parish, effective July 1, 2008. This is a return to her former parish and home parish of 25 years.

Both Dorothy and Jane will be missed in a significant way. We have been truly blessed by their presence, and they have both added a great deal to our Parish Staff and our Parish Community. While we will miss them terribly, we wish them the best of success and the abundance of God's grace as they move forward with their pursuits.

It is now time for our Pastoral Team - including Fr. Mark - to begin planning for the next chapter here at Holy Spirit Parish. Now more than ever it will important for all parishioners to be involved in our ministries, so we can share the workload together. Over the weeks ahead the Pastoral Team will be engaging with all levels of leadership to address the changing demands of our parish growth. We look to the collective wisdom of each of you as we work together in this endeavor. As always, we will keep all of you informed on plans as we progress.

Be assured of my continued presence on staff as your pastor but I do ask you to consider now becoming more involved in meeting the needs of our community. Over the weeks ahead we will be asking people to sign up for ministries again and I really need to consider signing up for a new ministry or an additional ministry. We have a responsibility to our God to share in his work here in our parish. We know that the Holy Spirit is with us as we continue together to do the work of Christ in our world.

God bless,

Fr. Brendan