In case you weren't at Mass this past weekend at Sacred Heart Church, you may not know that I announced that our parish, as of August 21st is blessed to have a new employee, Cathy Silk, who will serve as a "Pastoral Associate," focusing on the "Parish Life" ministry at Sacred Heart Church.  Cathy and her husband Jeff (who is a sheriff's deputy in Saline County) have been active members of our parish for around two years.  Cathy has served for over a year in the area of Parish Life and has been a Parish Life representative on the Pastoral Council.  As a volunteer, she has given many hours to planning, organizing and seeing through a number of large activities including our marriage anniversary reception (in February), the reception for Deacon Nelson after his ordination to the diaconate last December, and receptions to say farewell to Deacon Bernie and Marilyn and the one following the Memorial Mass for Monsignor Malone. Her efforts have been commendable in these instances and in behind-the-scenes work in other happenings in the parish. It is hard to ask a volunteer to do so much so often, so the decision was made to hire Cathy and let her continue to work on these kind of activities, as well as other areas that need more attention than they are now receiving.  I believe Cathy will be offering new opportunities for our parishioners (and others) to gather for fellowship and to hear speakers who make presentations that will hopefully appeal to many.  I am hoping that Sacred Heart can, through Cathy's leadership, connect our parish and parishioners even more with the larger community here in the Village - and maybe beyond, as we seek to be witnesses of who we are and what we believe to the world outside of our parish.

Cathy has much enthusiasm and drive to get things done and recruit others to help.  She and her husband, Jeff, have four adult children, one of whom, Sarah, lives in the Village and is a member of our parish, along with her two-year-old Abbi.  Please welcome Cathy in this new position and don't hesitate to share your ideas with her.