St. Pius Catholic Church

    You may have noticed the new cabinets at the east and west entrances to the church.  They are a welcome change from the clutter of tables that we used to have there.  Thanks to the Altar and Rosary Society for funding this project.  A & R originally informed me of its willingness to purchase these if I would arrange for their design and fabrication.  As Margaret Wadsworth reminded me last week, it only took me 2 years and 10 months to get the job done.  In the end the design was the result of the combined efforts of Barb Roedel and myself, along with Tom Marxen of Tom’s Custom Furniture.  My thanks to Tom for his fine craftsmanship. 
    In order to keep the entrances looking neat and uncluttered, I’m asking everyone to get a stamp of approval from the parish office before placing any flyers, pamphlets or posters on the entryway cabinets.  One flyer that I just gave approval for is from Women’s Choice Center.  It’s an invitation to become a monthly financial supporter of the Center.  The program I’m referring to is Cradle of Life.  These are difficult times for publicly funded programs.  They are even more difficult for privately funded ones like Women’s Choice Center.  Our own parish is struggling, but there are other good works that struggle even more.  The Center is one that needs our help.  Food for the Poor also needs our help as we have heard this weekend from Fr. Jones.  It’s always easy to give from our surplus.  It’s more difficult to give from our want.
    Next weekend will be the ordination and first Mass of our parishioner Deacon (soon to be Father) Paul Carlson.  Congratulations to him.  You’re invited to his first Mass on Sunday, May 30th at 11:00 AM.  And congratulations to the graduates of Jordan and Alleman, our Rock Island Catholic schools, along with all the grade school, high school and college graduates in our parish.  We’re proud of you and pray the best for you.
    As you can see from the announcement in this Bulletin, we’re off to a pretty good start in our Annual Diocesan Appeal.  We very much need everyone’s participation in this yearly program to support the work of the Bishop and the Peoria Diocese.  If you haven’t yet pledged, please do so soon.  You need not pay anything initially.  You can indicate on your pledge card what month(s) you plan to actually pay the pledge.  Pledge cards are on the cabinets at church entrances.
    The confessionals are almost finished, thanks to the generosity of the Sladek family and several others that made this improvement in our church possible.  During the summer months I’ll be sharing this column from time to time with members of our parish staff.  If you have any topics you’d like any of them to address, please drop me or them a note.  Thanks.
    Finally, this is Pentecost Sunday, the last day of the 50 day Easter Season.  The Entrance antiphon says it all, “The love of God has been poured into our hearts by his Spirit living in us, alleluia.”  May the Spirit make us aware of God’s love dwelling within us, and may we daily find more and more ways of sharing that love with others.  May our lives be filled with Alleluia!!                                                    Mike Schaab, Pastor