Appreciation in the Month of May

Dear Friends in Christ,

The month of May is nearly over. It has been a very important month for our parish. We have celebrated the First Communions of more than 200 children. Bishop Flores confirmed more than 100 on May 18. The crowning glory of the month was our parish’s 50th anniversary celebration with Bishop Brown. The bishop was very pleased with all the dedicated service and hard work, as he mentioned in hishomily. He obviously enjoyed celebrating Mass for us and as he said, the Holy Spirit was present in the sound and the wind. He blessed our new stained glass windows, which include the great Holy Spirit window in the choir loft. This was truly like another Pentecost. Sincere and heartfelt thanks:

• To our committee members, who have labored hard and long for two years
• To our invitation committee who prepared and addressed invitations
• To our commemorative book staff who worked right up to the deadline and produced an admirable book that tells our parish story
• To our musicians who performed beautifully, including the offertory piece which was premiered yesterday
• To our ushers who helped everything go smoothly
• To our extraordinary ministers, altar servers, and lectors, who assisted so skillfully at the Mass
• To our carpenters and environmental workers under the direction of members of the Vietnamese community who spent three days late at night in building and preparing a magnificent setting for the Golden Anniversary Mass that had historical and liturgical significance
• To our cooks and food service volunteers, who presented an elegant and delightful reception after Mass.
• To our Knights of Columbus for their help and distinguished service
• To our financial advisors and benefactors who provided from their talent and treasure to make this an event not to be forgotten
• To our first aid workers, police, traffic control for their vigilance and direction
• To every one else who had anything to do with preparing, setting up and taking down the altar and environment, especially volunteers from the Vietnamese and Spanish communities.
  

May the Lord reward you for a job well done. I have good reason to be proud of the parishioners of St. Johnthe Baptist parish.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Hildebrand