Upcoming activities Sunday 5/17, during 11 am Mass, we will say goodbye to Maria de Jesus Guitierrez (Hispanic Ministry Director) and her Husband, Deacon Jaime. I will preside at the Mass (Fr. Mikalonis) and both of them will assist during the Mass. It will be our humble way to thank them for so many years of ministry in the parish. After Mass, representing the entire parish, I will invite them for a social distance lunch at the parish rectory. Unfortunately, we will not be able to have others present at that time. Please, if you wish, send your appreciation cards for them to the parish office 3290 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto, CA. 94301.
Upcoming Parish Maintenance Projects The Parish Building and Equipment Maintenance Board, The Finance Board and I the Pastor, are working hard to plan the Saint Thomas Aquinas Church exterior restoration. We already have the money for this project in a restricted Fund donated by a parishioner in his trust. We thank this donor and are happy to be able to work on this project. We will share more updates as we have more information. We hope to start the project ASAP since construction workers are now back to work and we can benefit from the church closure to avoid conflict with other activities.
COVID Update Every Thursday morning all pastors have a meeting with Bishop Cantu and chancery staff to plan the next steps. Among many other matters, the Bishops of California are working in collaboration to try to start opening churches by mid June. Please pray that things get better so we can slowly resume our activities following the Health Department Directives. The diocese in collaboration with the pastors and staff are working on how to come back to our activities in safe ways.
Parish Easter Sacraments / First Communion / Confirmations The Bishop did not grant authorization yet to have them in our local parishes. I, as Pastor, in collaboration with Maria de Jesus Guitierrez, Susan Olsen and Carmel Caligaris, will work at putting together a plan to be able to provide these sacraments to our parishioners.
Fr. Stasys, Pastor