Celebrating the Spirit of Unity and Gratitude: A Heartfelt Thank You

Dear Fellow Parishioners,

I want to say to all the booth chairpersons, food preparation volunteers, and all of you who generously offered your time, talent, and treasure before and during our festival- THANK YOU!  Your selflessness and commitment to serving as a community united in Jesus Christ’s name made this festival an unforgettable experience.

Thank you to our corporate sponsors for their generous financial support and donations of goods and services to help make our day possible.  Please patronize these local businesses found in our festival ministry booklet located in the back of the church.

I want to express my heartfelt appreciation to Fr. Richard for his outstanding leadership and unwavering vision for our parish, and in particular, our recent parish festival. His dedication to caring extends to all our parishioners and to the wider community. This is truly inspiring! His willingness to make a generous commitment to our local chapter of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society of Greater Latrobe was first perceived as a new concept and outside the box. But the reality is, this is exactly how we are to live and bless others. This shows Father Richard’s commitment to building our relationship with our neighbors, especially those less fortunate by being Christ to them.  This inspirational decision is at the heart of what I can only describe as a “revived parish”.  

As I reflect on our recent parish festival, I find myself filled with gratitude for the incredible support and unity we experienced as a parish community. When I was discussing the parishfestival with a friend, he listened attentively and then shared that it is not only an occasion for fun and enjoyment, but also an opportunity for evangelization – a chance to let Christ be woven into our hearts, minds, and lives. Our parish resonates our mission statement to “Pray – Love – Serve!”  I believe my friend’s reflection was spot on!  In my humble opinion, we came together to touch people’s lives in the true spirit of Saint Benedict.

Our Benedictine community came together to make our festival amazing!  Br. Gilbert Heaterwas an answer to our prayers and is nothing short of a miracle with his generosity.  He shared his life experiences and professional chef skills to plan and prepare a spectacular chicken dinner! His calm approach and willingness to teach our volunteers techniques were a treat for all of us to experience!  The high-quality dinners that were served under the chairmanship of Stephanie and Eric Butz and their family, created such a welcoming, fun atmosphere, manifesting our parish festival prayer of being Christ to all we encounter.

Thank you to Br. Bosco Hough, who coordinated Dunk–A–Monk this year.  A fun twist was a water balloon toss, where the junior monks while seated in a chair could dodge the incoming balloon thrown by adults and kids alike and were surprised when the balloon didn’t pop and was thrown back at them!

Randy Redinger, our Corporate Donations Chairperson, fulfilled a new role reaching out to local businesses to support our festival and received wonderful results.  I can’t thank Randy and his entire family enough for their generosity and commitment of time and energy to our parish mission, especially escorting guests to the festival through the van and golf cart shuttles.  

Andrea Kovalcin and her team developed new systems to handle reservations for the chicken dinner and kept our donations organized.

The word spread about our festival with the assistance of Meredith Saunders, who shared the good news with our followers on social media and encouraged others to be a part of our community event.  

Larry Sweeney, starting his second year as The Grove manager, transformed it into a place of peace and tranquility through his tireless labor of love.  He created a beautiful environment for community gatherings.  Larry mentored a crew of regular volunteers including his wife, Marlene, to add the finishing touches where needed and to share a good laugh.  And to Rob Lowe for coordinating the Adelphi teens for the festival set-up/tear-down and managing and repairing our ice and beverage dispensers.

To the parish staff, thank you not only for your ministry in serving our parish community, but being witnesses of Christ to everyone you encounter, whether in person or on the phone. Your daily commitment to our parishioners is essential to our ever-growing parish family.

A personal note of thanks to my family, especially my wife, Erin, who has been incredibly patient while I worked on organizing our parish festival, creating new QR codes, and handling registration forms.  Her unwavering support is invaluable in supporting me and our parish. She is a true treasure in my life!

With our renewed unity, faith, fellowship, and fun that we fostered during this festival let us pray: Through our Lord Jesus Christ and the intercession of Saint Vincent Paul, we pray our parish festival will be a source of joy and outreach to each other and our community. Father, give us the grace to see Jesus in each person we encounter and to be Jesus for each person we serve. Amen.

With heartfelt gratitude, Dan Colcombe