Last Saturday after the Easter Vigil I received a wonderful compliment about St. Ann’s Parish, and I want to share it with you: A woman approached me and told me she had recently moved into the neighborhood. Like many people do today, she went church shopping to find a community that was warm, faithful, and welcoming, just like the one she had to leave behind. After trying out several other parishes, she encountered St. Ann’s and decided this is the parish she wants to call her own. She mentioned how people greet her Sunday after Sunday and have made her feel a welcome part of our parish. Others recognized a new face in the crowd and immediately went up to her and asked if she was new to the area and welcomed her to the family. She has enjoyed our hospitality on Hospitality Sunday. She appreciates that the priests here offer authentic Catholic worship and teaching, and she is looking forward to being a more active member of her new family. She is considering joining ChristLife in the fall and has a few people in mind she wants to bring with her. Obviously, you can see that I was beginning to feel farklempt! Everything she said is everything I have always prayed and striven to have St. Ann’s be. It was a wonderful affirmation of the success we have all had as a parish. I am grateful to her for sharing this with me, but most especially, for all of you for being the welcoming family in Christ that she was looking for. Thank you for being Christ to her and to many others who I’m sure have been touched by the warm, family spirit here at St. Ann’s. When I became your pastor 10½ years ago, a lot of people told me they were convinced that St. Ann’s was going to close and that we had no future. No one can say that about St. Ann’s today! You have truly helped me build a Christ-centered community where Jesus is worshipped properly and faithfully at Mass and served properly and faithfully in our outreach to others. Thank you for being great people! I love you all! May Jesus Christ be praised! Alleluia!