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Today is Catechetical Sunday. We welcome all to continue their faith journey on this special Sunday. Please see Pages 8 & 9 of the bulletin for more Faith Formation Information.Read More -
Thank you to everyone who worked so hard and volunteered for our 2nd Annual Parish Picnic at Cascade Park. Thank you also to everyone who donated beverages and also sold or purchased raffle tickets. Your efforts help us to defray the cost of this free picnic.Read More -
Congratulations to Fr. Brendan on being named pastor after only three years as a carefree parochial vicar. (A year and a half of it was spent during the pandemic.) I am grateful for his cooperation, willingness to serve, and his non-stop Irish wit! At 6ft 6.6 inches tall, he stands head and shoulders above us all.Read More -
For those who have not yet met him, Dan Roberts is a seminarian for the Diocese of Pittsburgh. You might have seen him recently at Mass, serving at the altar, singing or as lector. You may have run into him at Vacation Bible School, Best of the Fest, or at Grill the Priest, where this photo was taken. Dan moved to New Castle in June to begin his pastoral year here at Holy Spirit Parish.Read More -
On Sunday, September 11th, our wonderful parish picnic will be at Cascade Park again. September 11th is the day many of us will remember and we will never forget the horrors of the terrorist attack on our nation and our freedom. That fateful day did indeed change our lifestyle and our world in many ways, particularly regarding security. Having been involved personally with the families of the victims and the FBI during the aftermath of the crash of Flight 93 in Shanksville, I encourage you to visit the memorial with your family, particularly the young people who were not alive or did not experience September 11, 2001.Read More -
Once again, my sincere gratitude to everyone who volunteered to make the Best of the Fest truly the Best! I am also very grateful to all of our participants from the community who came and enjoyed not only delicious food, but also friendship and camaraderie. Speaking of friendship, I would like to acknowledge this coming Wednesday as a special holy day. August 17th is Deacon John Carran’s birthday! So congratulations to Deacon John and to his lovely wife, Robin and their sons, Jonathon and Matthew.Read More -
Most people think the Best of the Fest refers to the delicious food our master chefs provide. That is true! But it means far more to me. The Best of the Fest also means our amazing parishioners themselves! What a fabulous group, people of all ages, willing to volunteer their time, talent and treasure to Holy Spirit Parish and our ultimate mission of living our Catholic faith and sharing our faith with others. The Best of the Fest on Friday and Saturday of this past week is a beautiful example, not only of our culinary skills, but more importantly, of our desire as a parish community to make an impact and a difference in Lawrence County.Read More -
The Best of the Fest is this Friday and Saturday on the grounds of St. Vitus. A huge thank you to all of our amazing volunteers! You truly are what makes Holy Spirit Parish the place to be. Lively music always makes a fest more enjoyable. To add to that enjoyment, two local groups will serenade listeners on Friday, August 5th. The Lawrence County Brass will play from 4:00 pm to 5:50 pm and Grandview Soul’s vocals will sound from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. The two groups performing on Saturday, August 6th are the Red Coat Band playing from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm followed by the Dorals from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm.Read More -
This weekend, we celebrate another of our seven churches’ Feast Days, that of St. James the Apostle in the New Bedford/Pulaski area. Our next feast day will be that of St. Mary. It will be celebrated on Monday, August 15th, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at 6:00 pm in St. Mary Church.Read More -
Next Saturday, July 23rd, we will be celebrating the Feast of St. James the Apostle at 4:00 pm at St. James the Apostle Church, 4019 US 422. A light reception hosted by the Women of Faith will follow the Mass.Read More
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August 4, 2019 Holy Spirit Parish in action
This week, beginning on August 7th, the first major festival of Holy Spirit Parish will begin and continue for four days! A huge thank you to everyone who has donated, volunteered and assisted in any way in making our first festival a reality! Special thanks to the festival committee which has worked for many months pulling this all together. It is a wonderful event of fellowship and fun for the entire community. None of it would be possible without many hours of volunteer help and organization. We give thanks to God for his many blessings and also for the gift of each other. See the schedule on our cover page which highlights the food special of each evening as well as the entertainment.
This past week, Sr. Annie led a summer work camp for girls in the parish of Holy Spirit. Three sisters of St. Francis and nine young teenage girls spent the week doing service projects at the parish sites of Christ the King and St. James. They also helped at the wonderful, young people’s and families’ picnic at St. James site this past Sunday. They washed tables down at St. Vitus for the upcoming parish festival and they hosted a pro-life baby shower with over 100 women and girls who came with gifts for Alpha & Omega and Catholic Charities. They ended their week visiting the Franciscan sisters in the Wexford area.
There was a fabulous family picnic for the young families of the parish hosted at St. James site this past weekend, Sunday, July 28, from 1 to 5 p.m. Thank you to Rose Butch for organizing the Holy Spirit Family Gathering and its activities, and all her volunteers, especially the core crew of Ilana Ilongo, Heather McCosby, Amy Chornenky, Jean Pascale, Joe Mercurio, Pete Pascale, Doug Butch, Lorrie Millette and Chris Baker, who got drenched in the dunk tank. See page 12 for pictures and more information. We look forward to having many such celebrations to get the families with children to know one another! Look out for their next adventure. Rose is already planning for a September 29 event from 5:00 to 9:00 pm.
God love you,
Fr. Mac
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July 28, 2019 Strategic Planning has begun
A few weeks ago, I invited all the interim Pastoral Council and Finance Council members, and some folks who have expressed interest in participating on these councils, to come to a very important strategic planning meeting on Saturday, July 27. This meeting took place from 9:30 am to 1:30 pm in McGurk Hall at St. Camillus. Facilitating this endeavor was consultant, Tom H. Murray.
Mr. Murray, founder and principle of Wexford Run Consulting, assists executives and senior managers with strategic planning, marketing, product management, and M&A activities. He leverages his expertise, structured approach, creativity, and coaching style to help executives and their teams create and implement growth initiatives.
Tom is a proven executive with over 20 years’ experience in high tech strategic planning, marketing, and product management. He has worked for high growth firms, both domestically and internationally, ranging from start-ups to multi-billion dollar organizations. His accomplishments include identifying and justifying strategic acquisition and OEM relationships, developing over 40 strategic analyses/proposals, managing over 15 product lines, conceiving and developing a $100M+ product line, and establishing the marketing foundations for two start-ups.
Mr. Murray is also an adjunct professor of Strategic Planning and Product Management courses at CMU's Graduate School holding a BSEE from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh.
Over several hours, he guided us as we studied what it means to be a parish, developing our purpose and our goals as a parish community. In addition, we explored and examined all of our resources and how best we could use them to achieve our goals.
My hope is that after going through this process together and refining it with the leadership team, we will be able to come to all of you as a whole and go through the same process together to glean your input, insights, wisdom, and suggestions. We will host town hall meetings to ensure transparency. Please watch the bulletin and the Holy Spirit Parish website (see note below) at www.hsplc.org for announcements of these upcoming meetings.
God love you,
Fr. Mac
