Fr. Mike's Message - 08/23/2020

Dear Parishioners,

As we heard last week at Mass, due to the generosity of our parish family, we have surpassed our goal for the 2020 Annual Catholic Appeal!  This is great news and another reflection of the generosity of the people who make up our St. Francis Borgia Parish.  I want to repeat my thanks to Tim and Barb Reis, our Parish ACA chairs, and to Tim and Gwen Mauntel, co-chairs, for this year’s appeal.  Also, as was mentioned last weekend, there is still great need out there among those who need assistance and there is still time to give.  Any amount you can offer will go a long way to helping many people, including our own neighbors in and around Washington.  Earlier this summer you may have received a mailing from Archbishop Carlson with an invitation to donate to this year’s Annual Catholic Appeal.  That card can be returned by mail or you may drop it off in the collection basket at Church or at the Parish Office.   If you need help with making a gift, please feel free to call our Parish office or go to www.aca.archstl.org.  God bless you for your generosity.  Let’s continue to keep the success of the Annual Catholic Appeal, those who donate, and those who receive assistance from it in our prayers.

Don’t forget about our Fall Festival Raffle!  We need your help to make this a success.  Please see page 4 of this bulletin for more information or feel free to call or come by the Parish Office if you need tickets.  We invite you to participate and invite your family members, friends, and neighbors to participate as well.  Raffle tickets have been mailed to each active parishioner and can also be purchased at the parish office and online.  Tickets are $50 each.  Prizes include first place of $5000, second place of $2500 and third place of $1000.  We will hold an early bird drawing of $500 on Sunday, August 30th.  The early bird winner will be placed back into the contest for the final prizes to be drawn on Sunday, September 13th.  Thank you for any support you can give to the Fall Festival Raffle.

Congratulations to Dave & Lucy Tobben as Dave prepares for his Deacon Ordination which will take place at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis on Saturday, August 29th.  Since only a limited number of people may attend due to crowd limits, the Ordination Mass will be live-streamed via these links : http://cathedralstl.org/live/ or https://www.facebook.com/cathedralstlmo/ The Parish Mass of Thanksgiving will take place on Sunday, August 30th, at 11:00 a.m. in Church.  All are welcome to attend this Mass, but it will also be offered via livestream on our Parish Facebook Live account.( https://www.facebook.com/borgiaparish). You can also watch a recording of the Mass on our parish website ( www.borgiaparish.org).  The recording will be available later in the day on August 30th. There will also be a reception on the 3rd Floor of Jesuit Hall after Mass. Please keep Dave in your prayers as he prepares for his Ordination.  We look forward to his ministry to our parish as a Deacon.

Also this week we will welcome Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski as the 11th Archbishop of St. Louis.  Archbishop Rozanski will be installed on Tuesday, August 25th, at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.  Please pray for Archbishop Rozanski as he assumes his new role and pray for Archbishop Carlson as he enters into retirement.

Our Grade School started the new school year this past week and we are off to a good start.  Many thanks to Mrs. Pahl and our fine faculty and staff for all their work to get the year started.  Joe Holtmeier and his crew worked hard to get the buildings ready and we are so grateful for them.  Beginning the year under these extraordinary circumstances is challenging to say the least, but we have a good plan in place to keep everyone as safe as possible.  Please keep our Borgia students, faculty, and staff in your prayers, along with our high school and college students who are returning to school.

Have a great week. Thanks for all you do to support our parish.
 
Fr. Mike Boehm, Pastor