Annual Catholic Appeal (ACA) 2024



One Mission, One Family, Together in Christ is the theme of this year’s Annual Catholic Appeal, and this weekend kicks off the 2024 Campaign. The ACA funds ministries and services for our local Catholic community across Western Washington - including your neighbors and parish. This combined effort of parishes and missions ensures the availability of outreach ministries, education, faith formation, administration services for parishes and much more! You should have received Archbishop Etienne’s in-depth letter this week, officially kicking off the 2024 Annual Catholic Appeal! 

OLGC Parish Goal: $9,881         HD Parish Goal:  $87,912 

All gifts received over our goals will be returned to our parishes to cover the cost of a 2nd handrail for the sidewalk leading down to the basement (OLGC) and for the expansion of the parking lot which has become essential for our weekly 10:30AM Sunday Mass (HD).

Please prayerfully consider how you can participate in helping our parishes be a light to others!    

Family 39 Update

Letter from Fr Woody McCallister

Dear new friends in Parish Family #39,

Hi there! My name is Woody McCallister, and I am excited to join you as the new pastor of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Holy Disciples, Ss. Cosmas and Damien, and Our Lady Queen of Heaven this July. (Parishes named in the order I found them on the map.) In some ways, this will be a homecoming for me, because I already have little bits of “history” with your communities. (1) In 1991, when I was newly ordained and still had training wheels on, I was sent to work with Fr. Tom Belleque at St. Andrew AND Ss. Cosmas and Damien for my first three years. MANY times, the Wednesday morning Mass and group Scripture study over coffee and usually-homemade pastries was the highlight of my week. (2) I spent 12 years as pastor of All Saints in Puyallup, and developed a close friendship with Fr. Paul Dalton at Holy Disciples/Our Lady of Good Counsel while I was there. We had a little competition going, taking turns each Friday hosting one another for dinner, trying to outdo each other in the kitchen. I am also friends with Gary Southerton, your founding pastor, and Fr. Matthew O’Leary, of recent happy memory. There are lots of additional connections, which we can explore together over the next several years. (3) Although I’ve only visited Our Lady Queen of Heaven a few times, I am proud to share that I was the one who talked one of your favorite youth ministers, Chad Hill, into going to seminary and becoming one of our finest young priests. (4) I have a fondness for the mountain, so I’m looking forward to having easy access on my time off. Being close to JBLM also brings me joy, since I come from an Army family, and am at home in the culture.

I’m trying to keep this letter short. We’ll have plenty of time to get acquainted soon enough. Soon, you will also be served by Frs. Navy and Vijay, from the diocese of Nellore in eastern India. I can’t tell you very much about them, since I don’t know them myself, but my past experience of priests from India leads me to believe that they will be a faithful, joy-filled, hard-working presence in our midst. Some of you may be wondering what my “vision” for the parish(es) is. Full disclosure: I don’t HAVE a vision for all y’all yet. That’s because I don’t really know you. My pastoral style is NOT to come in with a ready-made vision, asking you all to get on board. Rather, I prefer to get to know you, after which WE will figure out OUR shared vision TOGETHER. The only real agenda for Year One will be (1) to keep the “good stuff” going, and (2) to come to know each other – not just people getting to know priests, but even more important, people of these 4 communities getting to know each other.

For now, I need to focus most of my time and energy on wrapping things up and saying quality good-byes to my people at Immaculate Conception Parish and St. Therese Parish (both in Seattle.) These next few years will be challenging, interesting, faith building, and, I hope, an awful lot of fun!
 
Peace, with love,
(Fr.) Woody