by Gabe Triplett

This week I want to introduce everyone to our youth leadership team.  Emily, Shante, Mylie, and Greysen are all high school youth who have shown themselves to be outstanding natural leaders. Two of them go to Madison and two go to St. Mary’s. As the leadership team they will be responsible for giving guidance to the Core Team on “what’s working, what’s not working”.    

Also they will help run some of the youth nights and take a large role in our outreach to other youth. Being on the leadership team also means having access to some super exciting opportunities.  One of those opportunities is to go to the LA Religious Education Congress Youth Day!  In LA they will meet Catholic youth from all around the world who are on fire and passionate about their faith.  They will also attend leadership and faith development classes.   

Right now the team has chosen to work  on putting together some planning meetings  to organize the first ever youth led rally and march through NE Portland for Martin Luther King Jr. day!!!  The first planning session is on Dec 4th during our regular scheduled Youth Group from 6-8. Youth from local high schools and NE parishes will be in attendance.  We want every parishioner, with a child or grandchild in 8th-12th grade, to encourage the youth to attend this planning session. It’s important and its fun. 

Some parish financial good news!

• For the first time in recent memory the parish is operating the black. For the first four months of this fiscal year (July - October) we are up by $2850. See chart below.
• This year’s spaghetti dinner netted $11,175 (up from $8800 last year).
• We are now at $25,000 for the south wall brick restoration. You have given $7000 in one week - WOW! Looks like we’ll reach our goal of $27,000!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!

Here is a brief financial summary as of end of October. As you can see, we are $2857 in the black for the fiscal year! Worth celebrating!

by Leif Kehrwald

I’ve had a few days to process in my mind and heart what occurred on election day. And while my wife and I have been in nonstop discussion about it since, I’m still struggling to find cogent words to express myself adequately. Gratefully, words from others have helped me. So here I share some of them with you:

"May we make God’s merciful love ever more evident in our world through dialogue, mutual acceptance and fraternal cooperation." - Pope Francis

“Your success as a family… our success as a nation… depends not on what happens inside the White House, but on what happens inside your house.” - Barbara Bush

“Let's remember that the US has elected a President - a political leader - not ordained a spiritual or moral guide. We are still each responsible for upholding the values we believe in - kindness, tolerance, compassion, among others - in word and deed. In the midst of all the ‘noise,’ love one another and work to protect the rights and freedoms of all.” - my dear friend Linda Roberto.

I resonate most with the message below from my friend Ed Kay, a Lutheran Pastor from Maryland. Here’s a portion of his recent post on Facebook:

“I woke up this morning unsure of this future our country has decided to embrace. I'm not unsure for myself - I have tremendous privilege as an educated, hetero, white man in a position of authority. I'm unsure for my female friends, my black and brown friends, my LGBTQ friends, my Jewish friends, my immigrant friends. I'm afraid for them because our president elect has used language throughout his campaign that has scared, threatened, and demeaned them, and they are waking up to a reality this morning where they fear for their future. If you are in that place, please call, text, or message me - I am here to pray, listen, cry, scream - whatever you need for where you are. 

“I also have friends who supported our president elect throughout the campaign, or ended up voting for him because they couldn't stand the other candidates. You are my brothers and sisters in Christ - you are my neighbors, too. I pray for you as well. 

“Either way, there is an air about our country today. Call it what you will: fear, shock, sadness, concern, division... but it's there. I don't have answers. I pray for you, our country, and her leaders.

“But don't jump to the unity, healing, and togetherness quite yet. Many are grieving, and we need to provide space for that. When someone experiences a death or loss in their life, you don't tell them to get past or over it immediately - this is the same thing. Yes, Jesus is Lord and God holds the world in God's hands. But the pain and grief that some (many?) are experiencing is real, so please let people be where they need to be.” 

Do you have wisdom to share? Post your comment here.

What an amazing afternoon we had last Sunday, Nov 6, providing a scrumptious pasta dinner for nearly 1000 people! So many volunteers poured their hearts out to make it happen — too many to mention by name here, but please know that whether you worked in the kitchen, dining area (gym), pie room, hospitality room, take out room, office, salad room, bread room, set up, clean up, promotion, seeking ads for placemat — YOU ARE DEEPLY APPRECIATED! And of course a HUGE shout out to Lindy & Logan Gibbons, and Rosa Barajas for their artful and enthusiastic leadership, and Sandy Bossom, Jo Martens, Mary Lynn Pierce, and Joe Schiwek for their tireless contributions throughout.

​And thanks to all who attended. Your presence with us was a true gift of authentic community. Enjoy the photos below!