News - April 2018 RSS Feed

Our parish once again responded with overwhelming generosity to the Bags of Hope food drive for the Catholic Charities Hunger Project. We collected approximately $4,500 worth of food to assist those in need! Thank you so much for your help in this effort!!

We have three seats on the parish council that will be opening for a three-year term beginning on July 1. If you are interested in serving on the parish council, please call the parish office ASAP (655-3302). If we have more than three parishioners interested in serving on the council, we will hold an election on the weekend of May 19-20. Parish council members must be registered parishioners and Catholics in good standing with the church. Parish council meetings are usually held 5-6 times per year.

There will not be a Mass this Wednesday evening since Fr. Busch will be returning from a meeting. All intermediate, junior high, and high school students are invited to join us for our weekly meal at 6:30 p.m. in the parish hall. We will enjoy brisket, potato casserole and peach cobbler prepared for us by members of St. Martha's Circle. After we eat, we will play Scripture Kickball on the north lawn of the church. See you there!

A practice for next Sunday's First Communion Mass will be held at 11 a.m. this Saturday (May 5) in the church. Please be on time! Thank you!

If you are planning to have your son or daughter baptized in the next few months, or if you have been asked to serve as a godparent, our next Baptism preparation class will be next Tuesday (May 8) at 7 p.m. in Meeting Room C.

Deacon Shane Wieck will be ordained to the priesthood and Taylor Elzner, our parish's former youth minister, will be ordained to the transitional diaconate on Saturday, June 2, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Mary's Cathedral in Amarillo. This will be a great celebration for our diocese. Please make plans to attend so that St. Ann's has a big representation at the Mass of Ordination. Shane will celebrate his "First Mass" on Sunday, June 3, at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Amarillo at 3 p.m.

Last Monday (April 9), Pope Francis issued the third Apostolic Exhortation of his papacy, entitled "Gaudete et Exsultate" ("Rejoice and Be Glad:  The Call to Holiness in Today's World"). An apostolic exhortation is an official letter to the Church, one level below an encyclical (which is the highest form of a papal letter). As with so many of the writings of Pope Francis, this is a practical, down-to-earth letter which addresses one of the prmary themes of the Second Vatican Council--the universal call to holiness. (Please click on "Pastor's Corner" above to read more, and for links to Gaudete et Exsultate.)

All women of St. Ann's are invited to attend the annual Christian Women's Dinner on Monday, May 7, at 6 p.m. Following the dinner, the reception of new members into the Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers will be held. The cost for the dinner is $6 for adults and $4 for children (ages 5-10). Children ages 4 and under are free. If you are interested in becoming a member of the Archconfraternity of Christian Mothers, please contact Belen Guevara. Please RSVP for the meal to Pam Shehan no later than Wednesday, May 2.

The deadline for signing up for this summer's Steubenville Conference is quickly approaching. We only have a few spots left, so if you are an incoming 8th grade student through graduating senior and want to attend this summer's conference, please contact Adrian Johnson, our youth minister, by no later than this Friday (April 27)!

All intermediate, junior high, and high school students are invited to join us for Mass at 6 p.m. in the church this Wednesday. After Mass, we will enjoy some pizza casserole and salad, followed by a high school session on decision making and an intermediate/middle school session continuing their study of the Ten Commandments.

The Parish Council will meet this Tuesday (April 17) at 7 p.m. in Meeting Room C in the parish hall. Please call the parish office at 655-3302 ASAP if you are not able to attend this meeting. Thank you!

All intermediate, junior high, and high school students are invited to join us for Mass at 6 p.m. in the church this Wednesday. After Mass, we will enjoy hot ham sandwiches prepared for us by members of the Holy Family Circle. After our meal, intermediate/middle school students will begin a study of the Ten Commandments, while high school students gather to reflect on this coming Sunday's Scripture readings. See you there!

Please remember to return your filled Bags of Hope no later than 12:30 p.m. this Sunday (April 18). Thank you for your generous participation in this project!

Once again, the Ladies of St. Ann's and the Knights of Columbus are providing book scholarships to parishioners who will be graduating from high school and planning to attend college. Applications for this scholarship are available on the table in the narthex or in the parish office. The application may also be downloaded from the parish website at:  https://stannsofcanyon.org/youth (on the right side of the page, under Forms, Schedules, & More ...). The deadline for submitting the completed application is this Thursday (April 19). Applicants must be registered members of St. Ann's and graduating high school seniors with an average of C or better. Selection for these scholarships is based on participation  in the life of our parish, financial need, and the applicant's desires and aspirations for the future. For more information, please contact Barbara Kline.

Please extend a warm welcome to our newest deacon here at St. Ann's, Deacon Beck Knox and his wife Mary, who recently moved to Canyon from New Braunfels. If the last name seems familiar, it's because Beck and Mary are the parents of our parishioner Mike Knox and the grandparents of Mike and Erica's six children. A lifetime rancher from Coleman, Texas, Beck was ordained a deacon in the Diocese of San Angelo on June 26, 2004. He and Mary moved to New Braunfels in 2007 and he has been serving as a deacon at Saints Peter and Paul Church here since that time. While officially a "retired deacon," Beck has received full faculties to function as a deacon here at St. Ann's from Bishop Zurek, and he is looking forward to serving our parish community in whatever capacity he is called to do so. Beck and Mary will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of their marriage later this year! We are so happy that they have made Canyon and St. Ann's Church their new home!

All intermediate, junior high, and high school students are invited to join us for Mass at 6 p.m. in the church this Wednesday. After Mass, we will enjoy some beef stew, prepared by members of the Circle of the Holy Spirit. We will then continue our celebration of Easter by meditating on a series of "Stations of the Resurrection for Teens." See you there! 

Each year, Catholics throughout the Diocese of Amarillo are asked to contribute to a variety of diocesan-wide ministries through the United Catholic Appeal. The income from this appeal supports the education of seminarians from our diocese, the diaconal formation program (in which St. Ann's parishioner Joe Roder is participating), Catholic Charities, Christian formation, youth ministry, campus ministry, and much more! Our parish's UCA quota this year is $53,935, which is an increase of almost $3,000 over last year. Please prayerfully consider how much you are able and willing to pledge to this year's United Catholic Appeal. On Sunday, April 29, we will distribute pledge cards during Mass and ask you to complete those cards. Thank you for your generosity and your willingness to continue to support the work of our diocesan ministries!

Fr. Busch, Deacon Gabe, Deacon Dave and all of the members of our parish staff wish you a blessed and joyful Easter! May the peace of the risen Christ fill your hearts and minds with his love and grace throughout this entire Easter season!

Many Thanks to everyone who helped to make our Holy Week liturgies so beautiful ... our choir and musicians, altar servers, lectors, ushers, Communion ministers, and all other liturgical ministers! Special thanks to Melissa Clarke for all of her work preparing the sanctuary for our liturgies! Thanks, as well, to our deacons, the members of our RCIA team, and the catechists who prepared those who were baptized and received into full communion with the Catholic Church at our Easter Vigil! The word "liturgy" literally means "the work of the people," and we are blessed as a parish community that so many parishioners put so much time and effort into this sacred "work!"

Congratulations to Trey Witt, Sabra Peregrino, Bode Miller, and Harper Miller, who were baptized at the Easter Vigil liturgy this weekend. Congratulations also to Maysun Hester, Erik Burdett, and Annie Miller, who were received into full communion with the Catholic Church and celebrated the sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist, and to Katie Foster, who completed her Christian initiation through the sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist. May the risen Christ continue to nurture and strengthen youas you strive to live as his faithful disciples!