My Dear Parishioners,
   Are you ready to join your children and grandchildren for their Sacrament of Confirmation?  Bishop Kemme will celebrate the Holy Sacrament on Saturday, March 7th at 4pm in our church.  It will be a special blessing for our church family and for all our Confirmation children.  I was told that it has been a long time for such an important event to be held in our church.  Last year, I attended the Confirmation Mass at the Cathedral.  Immediately, I said to myself that we will have our Confirmation in our own church.  Our church is our spiritual home and it’s as big as the Cathedral.  Also, we have plenty of parking lot space for everyone.  I also don’t care to see people attending this important Mass in the hallway or a foyer because the church is too full.  Everyone should be in church with God and to be with each other, singing and praising God.  I can’t wait to see our children being blessed and empowered by God with His heavenly blessings. 
   Saturday, March 7th at 9am, all Confirmandi are required to attend the retreat led by Fr. Curtis Hecker in the Fischer Center.  At 11:20am in church, we will have adoration, confessions with guest priests, followed by the rehearsal in church.  Parents and sponsors are welcome to join us for adoration and confessions and the rehearsal.  Please keep our beloved children in your daily prayer this week as they are preparing their bodies, minds and souls for the coming of the Holy Spirit onto them. 
   EIGHTH GRADE:  Xitlalli Aguilar-Maldonado, Brandon Chandler, Julien Dickerson, Vy Do, Arianna Guzman, Luis Hernan-dez Herrera, Colton Hill, April Huynh, Lucas Jones, Isabel Landwehr, Emily Le, Annie Nguyen, Tammy Nguyen, Joshua Sanchez, Madalyn Spaulding, Kevine Tchoukedjoup, Dylann Thompson, James Tran, and Kara Whitaker.
   FRESHMEN: Alana Aguilar, Vanessa Goheen, Evelyn Hay, Alyssa Hengel, Ricardo Hernandez-Herrera, Lexi Hoang, Areli Jimenez, Nicholas Kucera, Paul Lies, Emily Leithoff, Riley Logan, Kamilah Martinez-Vargas, Link Moore, Alex Nguyen, Kevin Nguyen, Tammy Nguyen, Teresa Nguyen, Tom Nguyen, Nathan Pham, Sydney Pham, Chris Ramos, Jordan Rangel and Brit-ton Zavala. 
   Sophomores: Chelsea Callejas, Sasha Cash, Jennifer Dao, Tina Dao, Travis Do, Hunter Huddleston, Laura Le, Minh Le, Michael Ludlam, Ashley Murguia, Kevin Nguyen, Jason Nguyen, Sydnie Nguyen, Tony Nguyen, Tuan Nguyen, Aaron Pham, Diana Pham, Peter Phung, Athena Schauner, Logan Spachek, Blaise Stewart, Katherine Sullivan, Jude Tran, Tiffany Tran and Minh Vu. 
   All students are to be in Fischer Center-West at 3:15pm then our confirmandi will go to the foyer of our church at 3:45pm for a special group picture with our bishop.  Confirmation Holy Mass will start at 4pm with the music being provided by the Vietnamese choir of our parish.  Our All Saints’ Catholic school children will proclaim the word of God, bring up the gifts, etc.…  Immediately after Mass, each student will take an individual picture with the bishop by the altar area.  Please be respectful in church by NOT talking or carrying on a conversation in church.  Everyone is invited to the reception in the Fischer Center after Mass.
   A special thanks to our confirmation facilitators & teachers:  Sandy Nettleton, Carissa Cash, Jean Gengler, Susan Goheen, Marilyn Grommesh, Mary Hengel, Lien Kucera, Jenny Logan, Jami Moore, Linda Rangel, Anne Schock and Kim Spachek.  They have spent so much time to be with our children and to help them on their journey.  Thank you for being God’s faithful stewards of your time and talents.    

God bless you and all of us, Fr. Hien

My Dear Parishioners,  
   Are you ready for Lent?  40 days of Lent will begin this Ash Wednesday, February 26th, with Holy Masses at 8am, 12noon and lastly 6:30pm in English and Vietnamese.  Yes, everyone can receive ashes on their forehead after the homily.  On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, we are not to eat meat and can only eat one full meal and two lesser meals. 
   On all Fridays during Lent, please make every effort to join us for our Stations of the Cross at 5pm in English.  Our Knights and Altar Society will help lead the Stations.  I will have a handheld microphone for the leader to use.  Please read slow and loud with the microphone by your mouth so that everyone in the church can hear you and follow along with you.  If you cannot hear yourself through the speakers, you are not holding the microphone correctly.     
   We would love to have three people, adults or older children, carry the cross and the candles during Stations.  Trained servers can put on their albs, everyone else can wear their normal clothing or put on an alb if he/she knows how.  The cross bearer, servers with candles and the leader are to start in front of the Altar.  Once the leader finishes the opening prayer, they will move to the First Station. 
   At 5:30pm the Vietnamese parishioners will lead the Stations of the Cross in Vietnamese.  Booklets will be available for everyone to follow along.  Praying the Stations of the Cross is an old Catholic tradition of remembering the sufferings and love Jesus had to endure for all of us sinners.  It’s the best way during Lent to grow spiritually for you will love the one who loved you first, Jesus, our Lord and Savior.  Please pray the Stations of the Cross as much as you can during Lent, at home or at work, in the chapel or in the church.  We are also blessed with Stations of the Cross in the Chapel so that you can pray to Jesus in front of the Blessed Sacrament, with your eyes seeing Him in His Passion.  Of course, everyone is encouraged to spend some time with Jesus in front of the Blessed Sacrament for personal adoration in the chapel.  Jesus would love to be with you, to touch you and to heal you.  Invite your spouse and children or friends to be with you too.  If you or your group are the only people in the chapel, you can sing and pray out loud or you can always go to the church and pray out loud there.  Jesus can be your joy, peace, happiness and salvation.  If you don’t know the door’s code to the chapel, please contact the church office.  Happy Holy Lent Everyone, Fr. Hien

My Dear Parishioners,
 
             Once again, go Chiefs!  They are the world champions.  They brought home with them the Super Bowl trophy to make us super happy.  Chief’s fans like myself are so happy for our team for it has been 50 years to the Super Bowl.  What a blessing for them to come back towards the end of the game and win the game fair and square.  The Chiefs are the current champions with the best quarterback.  Everyone loves his energy, skills, talents and youthfulness.  PS. Anyone who has not been a Chief’s fan yet, now is your time to join the Chief’s Kingdom with Fr. Hien!  :-)  ha ha
 
Happy Valentine’s to everyone.  Valentine’s Day is February 14th. May your love for one another be true and real like that of God’s love for us all.  True love will never fail regardless of what is being thrown at us.  Let all of us love God unconditionally so that our love for God will be shown in words and actions to others.
 
This year’s Ash Wednesday is February 26th with Holy Masses at 8am and 12 noon in English and at 6:30pm, half in English and half in Vietnamese.  Please join us for worship to God and to receive ashes as a reminder that we are all dust and unto dust we shall return; however, the Lord will raise us both body and soul to eternal life in heaven.  There will be no Gloria at Mass during Lent until Easter Vigil on April 11th.
 
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent.  Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting and abstinence.  All Fridays during Lent are days of abstinence—that is, do not eat meat.  In fasting, a person eats one full meal, and two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal.  Fridays during Lent, we will hold Stations of the Cross at 5pm in English, to be led by our Altar Society and Knights of Columbus.  At 5:30pm the Vietnamese prayer group will lead the Stations in Vietnamese.  We will have booklets for everyone to follow in English or in Vietnamese.
 
Finally, I would like to invite our Parish Council and Finance Committee members for a dinner and meeting on Wednesday, February 19th at 6pm in my house.  A special time for us to pray, to enjoy a meal, and to play some pool, ping-pong, and of course, hold a short business meeting too.  Please RSVP to Barb at the church office.  Love you all, Fr. Hien
 
PS. Our Knights are holding their breakfast this Sunday after 8am and 9:30am Mass,
and also, a soup super next Saturday after the 4pm Mass, please support them.