Saint Andrew the Apostle

Dear People of St. Andrew the Apostle,
Welcome to our parish website, we hope that you find the information here helpful and easy to navigate. We have lots of opportunities at Saint Andrews for you to grow in your Catholic faith and we welcome everyone to our parish community. We ask that if you are a member of our parish community, to continue to seek out ways in which you can connect with others who are also living the faith, invite a friend or a neighbor to our weekend masses to join us at the table of the Lord.

Weekend Message:

Dear People of St. Andrew the Apostle

In this weekend’s first reading we are reminded that God raises up prophets among us to challenge us to live our faith more fully.  These prophetic voices are often not heard in their own lifetime, partly because they touch our consciences in ways we do not want them to be touched, and partly because we tend to deny that we need to change anything in our lives.

Although Jesus is greeted as a prophet in his own home town (he speaks with authority and has power over demons), his popularity is short lived.  If we were to continue the gospel, we would see that Jesus ultimately is rejected (for after all, did he not grow up in our midst, do we not know his family?).

I often wonder if I had been alive in Jesus’ times whether or not I would have followed Him as St. Andrew did.  Would I have been willing to let go of my possessions, my work, my life’s choices, in order to follow Him, learn from Him, and ultimately speak in His name?  Or would I have thanked Him for the invitation, and then gone back to the life I was accustomed to?

The apostles put their faith and trust in Jesus.  They did not always understand, but they stuck with Him in the good times and the bad times of Jesus’ ministry.  Perseverance is, I think the cornerstone of a faith lived well.  Being able to put life on “pause” and go to the Lord in prayer, believing that He is truly with us and truly cares about us.  Always being ready to ask, “What do you ask of me, Lord, in this situation, or at this time in my life?”

Seeking God’s will for our lives is “risky”, yet we pray for it every time we pray the “Our Father” … thy kingdom come, thy will be done, one earth as it is in heaven.  God’s will for our lives may entail change – repentance – a turning away from something and following the Lord more fully.  May we always seek God’s will for our lives and our parish.

A Challenge Grant

An anonymous donor has issued the following challenge to us as a parish family:

This donor will match, dollar for dollar, up to a total of $5,000 every gift given to the special project at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Orphange in Haiti, to build and put into operation a Boulangerie (bread bakery).  If we complete the challenge grant, the Orphanage will be able to cover all the costs of construction and initial operation.

The Boulangerie will provide the Orphanage with all the bread it needs, additional bread to sell in the marketplace, and offer skills training to the children.  Donations of any size are welcome.  Checks can be made out to St. Andrew the Apostle with “Boulangerie project” in the memo line.