June 21, 2026

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, With this weekend, we observe Fathers’ Day here in the U.S. Many thanks to all of the fathers in our community, who have blessed us so deeply with your love and your sacrifices for our sake. I pray that everyone can enjoy some good time with family, either this weekend or sometime this week. Happy Fathers’ Day! Thinking of fathers, I thought I might take the opportunity to talk about one of the most important things that happens in families: evangelization. I think we often just think of passing on the faith as something that happens naturally in our families. But evangelization doesn’t just happen the way that an apple falls out of a tree. It’s an effort: explaining things that we ourselves may take for granted; modeling Gospel behaviors and attitudes that we ourselves need to grow in; and recognizing the unique way that God speaks to every human heart. In fact, teaching the Catholic faith to each generation is a lot like evangelizing a new culture. There are good things that need to be celebrated and built on. There are challenges that need to be addressed. And we ourselves have to be creative in engaging with each generation of kids: finding new ways to speak the old stories of the Catholic tradition. That creativity is something that’s very much on my mind this week as we begin Vacation Bible School. I’m always amazed by all the talent and love and energy that our volunteers bring, and I look forward to a wonderful week of seeing God at work, as we teach our young parishioners what it means to love Jesus as part of our Catholic family. Before I close, I’ll add yet another word of invitation to any families who will be in town but who haven’t yet signed up! We will have an opening Mass at 8am on Monday, then the official start of VBS at 9am. I’m looking forward to seeing a great turn-out. Know of my prayers for our parish, our VBS volunteers, and especially our young people, through the intercession of Mary, the Mother of God, and our patron St. Thomas! God bless,

Father Jantz