St. Catherine of Siena Parish

Good evening. My name is Beverly Way. I have been a parishioner for 11 years but many of us have never met because I attend the 9 a.m. Mass.

Two weeks ago Sr. Mary kicked off our fundraising campaign to raise money for critical repairs on our church and parish center.

I never had any qualms about giving to the campaign. The critical repairs need to be done to ensure that the parish continues its work. I know the work being done here is effective, worthwhile and life changing.

The new roof is not just about repairing a building. It is about safeguarding relationships and protecting the parish life that we have built together. These connections are so important to me because they are an essential component of my spiritual growth. In our connections, God is revealed to me, God's love is made real to me and I am challenged to behave in a way that brings God's love to others. An example:

When my children were toddlers, Sr. Mary would always come over after Mass, throw open her arms and say to my children, "I am happy to see you!" She never mentioned the tantrum right before the Eucharistic prayer or the fact that one or the other spent the entire Mass lying on the floor under the pew. Her expression of sheer delight had no strings attached. My kids didn't have to earn her warm smile and her enthusiastic greeting. She welcomed them just the way they are. As I watched them together, it made me realize, this is how God greets me too. By acting it out Sr. Mary made it easier for me to imagine God's generous outpouring of love.

Every parishioner can play this role of welcome to each other. Just by sitting near each other at Mass, we are drawn into relationships of care and concern. We notice each other come in. We remark when someone is missing. We watch each other's children grow. How powerful it is when we let that care and concern be known by a smile or greeting.

My family is 3,000 miles away so it was the people who sat near me in the pews who had watched my pregnancies progress week by week. I imagined that they shared my joyful anticipation of the babies' arrival. For this reason, these were the people who shared my excitement when the babies were born.

I don't see them anywhere but Mass. We don't socialize. We don't always know each other's names. But this does not lessen the impact of our connection. In fact, I believe, it might make our connections more powerful, more healing and more revealing of God's unconditional love for us. I don't deserve the care of my neighbors in the pews because we are friends or family. I don't earn it. They just give it. This is one of the amazing gifts I receive in parish life. In response to this generosity and to the gospel message, I feel challenged to broaden the circle of my concern to include everyone in this random gathering of people that is our parish.

I love St. Catherine's for all it is and all it challenges me to be. I pray that we successfully build our future as a community gathered in and through the living Spirit of Jesus.

Thank you for your time.