My Dear Parishioners,
 
   How are you doing?  Are you loving your life?  I am doing great and enjoying my life.  It’s a happy occasion for me and all of our Vietnamese parishioners as we are celebrating our Vietnamese New Year this weekend with a special New Year Mass this Saturday, January 25th at 10 am, follow by a reception luncheon in the Fischer Center.  Everyone is invited to Holy Mass and to celebrate with us with lots of food and fun. 
 
   Did you know?  Recently, we paved with concrete many areas around our church, rectory and school buildings.  The biggest piece was the parking lot by the church’s office.  This parking lot is for everyone coming to our office.  Now you can park and walk to the office door in seconds with ease.  It’s also handicapped accessible.  This parking lot is needed for convenience and safety, especially on school days.  Sometimes the traffic backs up to this area.  The second parking lot is by the Fischer Center-North.  Of course, we can use more parking lots in front of the church and for the Fischer Center.  Now this area is very open and safer for everyone.  Please feel free to park there and enjoy what we have. 
 
   We also paved many small areas for different reasons.  One long piece is by the school and the powerhouse.  We had to pave over the area of the 50 feet pipelines that had to be removed and part of a sidewalk to fix the steam line.  We also paved another sidewalk north of the powerhouse, where we had to dig down to fix the broken water line a year ago.  Another important piece was by the school’s playground to keep weeds out around the drain area.  About 90 percent of the drainpipes were plugged up with weeds and dirt; therefore, it caused water backing up to the school offices, etc.… We also paved a small area in front of the church where people walk by day and night.  Now, it’s a little safer for them to walk there.  We finally paved five additional areas to keep the weeds out and for better visibility such as the All Saints sign in front of the church/Fischer Center.  When I have time, I would like to paint the sign and put a nice cross on top of it.  In addition, we also hauled most of the dirt from the new parking lots and placed them north and east of the powerhouse to keep rainwater from coming into the powerhouse.  We also hauled some of the dirt to the football and softball fields to fill up some low areas.
 
   Again, we are so blessed with what we have since the day this parish was established.  However, the hardest part of every building or house is maintenance.  We are blessed with much and there is so much more maintenance to be done.  If you want to help or to donate your time, talent and treasure, please let us know.  Now that we have fixed the broken steam line, about 50 feet, it’s time to fix some leaks in our roofs.  Can I take a vacation yet?  Every priest has one day off a week plus 30 days off in a year for vacation. 
 
Love you all & love All Saints, Fr. Hien

My Dear Parishioners,
 
   We are in mid-January  of 2020.  I am thankful to God for my life, my priestly vocation, my big family near and far, and my many friends and parishioners from all over.  God has been so good to me and blessed me with so much, especially the many good-hearted people in my life.  Because of God’s goodness revealed through you, I have always loved my life and felt the blessings everyday, whether I am celebrating Holy Masses, hearing confessions or working in the yard.  The Holy Spirit is always with me to lead me and to guide me.  Thank you everyone for your love, prayer and the good you have done and shared with me, especially during the holy season of Christmas.  Thank you for your personal notes, cards, best wishes and monetary gifts too.  I will continue praying for you and my benefactors.  Of course, I will do all that I can to serve our parish.  Do you know that All Saints has so much work for me to do that I will never get it all done?  However, I will not give up—just like the Chiefs last Sunday—but will continue getting one thing done at a time with God’s help and with your support.
 
   One of the Christmas letters I received this year was from a 7th grader from St. Thomas Aquinas.  His name is Micah and he had 3 questions for me:  how long did it take me to become a priest, what do I do in my free time, and do I get to see my family on the holidays?  Answers:  it took me 5 years of undergraduate studies, majoring in Philosophy and minoring in Theology, at The Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Winona, MN.  After that I spent 4 years of graduate studies of Theology at The Pontifical College Seminary in Columbus, OH.  I really don’t have a whole lot of free time because I always keep myself busy.  I love to celebrate the sacraments, and to keep up our church and school facilities.  I do my laundry and handwash my dishes.  Whenever I can, I like to go fishing, deer hunting and play pool.  Of course I have a garden and a fish pond too.  Most of my family members are living in Wichita and I see them very frequently.  My family consists of my parents, 5 younger siblings and 12 nieces and nephews.  I also have over a hundred relatives back in Vietnam and so I try to see them once about every 5 years.  For more information about me, please visit AllSaints.com and click on Fr.Hien’s story.
 
   Finally, my heart is still full of joy and happiness because we had so many people coming to our church for Holy Masses.  Thank you everyone.  I am looking forward to meeting with our 1st Confession/Communion parents and children on Wednesday, January 22nd, at 6:30pm in the Fischer Center.  A reminder that there will be no 11 am Mass this Sunday, January 19th.  Everyone is invited to the Diocesan Vietnamese New Year celebration on the 19th  at 3pm, at Church of the Magdalen, followed by the dragon dance and reception in the gym.  On Saturday, January 25th at 10am, All Saints will have a special Vietnamese New Year Mass.  Everyone is invited to our Holy Mass and a reception afterwards in the Fischer Center. 
 
Happy New Year to all Vietnamese, Fr. Hien

Happy 2020 Everyone,
  
   Blessings from our Lord Jesus, His Mother Mary, Saint Joseph and all the angels and saints be with you all.  2020 is here and there is nothing more important every day than to know that we are loved by so many people, and especially by God with all His Holy angels and saints.  This weekend, we’ll celebrate the the feast of the Baptism of the Lord to remind us that through our baptism, we are all one with the Holy Trinity.  God is with us and in us.  God is dwelling in us.  Let us love who we are for we are God’s temples.  Our bodies and souls are images and likeness of God, who is invisible and eternal.  Yes, if we truly love God, we will live forever for all things are possible with God.
   A reminder that the readings for Mass on Tuesday, January 14, 2020 will be from Tuesday of the First Week of Ordinary Time.  Next weekend, January 19, our readings will be from the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time.  Also, on Sunday, January 19, there will be no 11am Vietnamese Mass so that everyone and I can attend the diocesan Vietnamese New Year Mass at Church of the Magdalen at 3pm, followed by the dragon dance and reception dinner in the gym for everyone. 
   All Saints Tết Nguyên Đán—on Saturday, January 25 is the Vietnamese New Year Day.  We will have a special Vietnamese Mass at 10 am to celebrate the new lunar year, followed by a luncheon in the Fischer Center for everyone. 
   Now that our children are back to school, parents, please keep them healthy and don’t send them to school sick.  Make sure that they have plenty of sleep every night.  Spend time with them to help them with their homework every night.  Always remind them to honor their elders and to be respectful to all people and their properties.  I would like to meet with all 1st confession/communion parents and children on Wednesday, January 22, at 6:30pm in the Fischer Center.  Thank you.  It’s very important that every family attend Holy Mass and pray together as a family as often as you can at home and even when you dine out.  Lastly, please pray for the following children as they are growing so fast in their physical, emotional, mental and spiritual journey at All Saints Catholic school.  7th Graders with Mrs. Jean Gengler: Gabrielle Bates, Faith Brown, Nautica Cash, Victoria Cruz, Thien-Y Do, Jaydin Embry, Jonathan Fajardo, Jonathan Goheen, Ethan Hay, Johnny Hengel, Adriel Hernandez, Lena Jones, Patrick Lawrence, Abigail Le, Lily Logan, Olivia Meier, Faustine Nguyen, Kevin Nguyen, Alex Pham, Skyler Pham, Daniel Rocha, Christopher Sanchez, Alexandria Stewart, Xavier Tejeda and Lia Tran.  8th Graders with Miss Nikki Erker: Xitlalli Aguilar-Maldonado, Brandon Chandler, Cole Cooper, Julien Dickerson, Vy Do, Arianna Guzman, Luis Hernandez Herrera, Colton Hill, April Huynh, Lucas Jones, Isabel Landwehr, Emily Le, Annie Nguyen, Tammy Nguyen, Jesus Rocha, Joshua Sanchez, Madalyn Spaulding, Kevine Tchoukedjoup, Alondra Tejeda, Dylann Thompson, James Tran and Kara Whitaker. 
 
Love you all, Fr. Hien
 

Happy New Year Everyone,
 
   What is your New Year’s resolution?  First, would you consider loving yourself, who you are the way God made you?  Please don’t compare yourself with others, whether it’s your physical, mental, social skill or talents.  Rather, please love who you are the way God made you so that you can be the best person you can be each day.  A person full of love for God and oneself and others.  A person who is responsible for every action you take.  A person who would make the best out of each day you live.  A person who is happy and grateful to God and to others, etc.…   Second, would you consider praying daily for the salvation of your loved ones?  Do you know that your one Hail Mary daily for each person in your family will go a long way towards eternal life?  I believe so.  Thank you everyone for attending the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God on January 1st.  I am very proud of you all.  My hope and prayer is that every one of us will be blessed by God with eternal life.  My goal for this year is to help everyone have greater love for their Catholic faith, especially our Vietnamese parishioners, now that they can attend Holy Mass in their own language.  Our Vietnamese parishioners and I are so happy that we have a Mass in Vietnamese to help them grow in their Catholic faith and to pray and to worship God in their own language.  Thank you, God, and thank you to my parish leaders and parishioners.  God bless your kindness and your love for others. 
   Thank you to all those who helped me and our parish with our Christmas decorations and displays outside and inside of our church.  Yes, we did well, and it is beautiful. 
   Thank you to all those who have returned their stewardship forms to our church.  If you have not, I guess it’s better late than never, right?  A special thanks to families that filled out the direct deposit method. 
   Finally, please join me in praying for our beloved All Saints students.  4th Grade:  Mr. Sean McKinney: Mary Bui, Tin Bui, Michael DeVega, Juan Galarza, Ava Jones, Alyssa Lawrence, Olivia LeDonne, Cecilia Meier, Audreey Nguyen, Quan Nguyen, Lebron Oduor, Savannah Pham, Josef Rumback, Nathan Salcedo, Giovhany Sanchez, Lucas Stewart, Mateo Vargas and Wess Whitaker.  5th Grade:  Mrs. Jessica Rose: Zoey Buckner-Franklin, Jayden Dao, Danh Hoang, Megan Huynh, Lawrence Landwehr, Adrian Luna, Max Maldonado, Moses Miranda, Jonan Moore, Abraham Moreno-Avila, Angelina Nguyen, Joshua Nguyen, Christine Nkouga, Giselle Perez, Jordan Pham, Kenney Pham, AnnMarie Phillips, Anne Tran and Eileena Wheaton.  6th Grade:  Mrs. Mary Carol Greene: Jayda Delarue, Alexander Dickerson, Thanh Do, Daniella Estrada, Milagros Galarza, Elaine Hesse, Andrew Kucera, Diana Mendez, Fatima Moreno, Isaac Mosqueda, Mia Murguia, Sophia Mweberi, Brandon Nguyen, Catherine Nguyen, Lac Nguyen, Thinh Nguyen, Thao Pham, Tjaden Pham, Avery Rangel, Anne Rayappa, Benjamin Salcedo and Leann Tran. 
 
May God bless our children so that they will continue to grow in wisdom and in love, Fr. Hien

Merry Christmas Everyone,

   We are in the Holy Season of Christmas, full of God’s blessings and love for one another.  We are to love God with all our hearts, minds and souls.  We are also to express God’s love to one another.  Every time we wish someone “Merry Christmas,” we are sending them God’s heavenly blessings.  Therefore, please always fill your hearts with Jesus’ love so that each day you spread His love to others.  Merry Christmas everyone and I love you all.  Let us give thanks to God at Holy Masses this weekend as we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and St. Joseph.  My intention for these Holy Masses is to ask the Holy Family to keep your family close to each other in this life and together as a family in heaven.  The reason the Church wants us to celebrate the feast of the Holy Family is for us to ask them to watch over our families so that we will always be together with God and with each other.  We are also to imitate them.  A family that prays together, stays together.
   Vietnamese Mass at All Saints: Beginning this Sunday, December 29th, our 11am Mass will be in Vietnamese.  That means that we will have three Masses in English and one in Vietnamese every weekend.  The weekday Holy Mass of Obligation will be two Masses in English and one in half Vietnamese and half English—all the prayers that Father says will be in English, everything else in Vietnamese.  The upcoming Holy Mass of the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, in Vietnamese will be Wednesday, January 1st at 11am.  The English Masses for this Holy Day will be at 4pm on Tuesday and at 9:30am on Wednesday.  Again, all Masses will fulfill our obligation, and everyone is invited to all of our Masses.  Of course, everyone is invited to all our All Saints parish activities, too, regardless of the purpose of the celebration, such as All Saints’ feast day celebration, our parish picnic or Vietnamese New Year celebration.  All Saints is one family parish with one parish council and one finance committee.  We are blessed with so many parishioners from so many cultures and nationalities.
   As a foreigner, it’s very important for me sometimes to pray in my own tongue as well as help others to pray in their own language.  If a member of our parish needs to attend Holy Mass in their own language such as Spanish, please feel free to do so occasionally.  The diocese is blessed with many Spanish Masses in town for you to be in touch with your language, culture, and people.  It is also very important for you to keep and to pass on your language, culture and tradition to your children and grandchildren.  It’s also important to be faithful Catholics by registering in our parish and practicing your stewardship of time, talent and treasure. 
   America is beautiful because of people like you coming from different cultures and backgrounds.  The word “Catholic” means universal.  Therefore, Jesus wants every people, every culture and every country to be Catholic and to celebrate His love in their own language if possible.  Catholics are to cultivate a culture of life for every born and unborn person and to care for the salvation of everyone.  Jesus came from heaven for all people and He died for all people, regardless of their culture, language and race or if men, women or children.  All Saints parishioners are here to help each other to love our Catholic faith and to be the best Catholic you can be before God for the good of one another’s salvation.  Do you know that for years, frequently, our Filipino parishioners would invite guest priests to All Saints to have Mass in their own language?  Monthly, they rotate their Filipino Mass at different parishes too.  That’s beautiful. 
   Finally, please know that you and I are here to help each other to heaven, the old and the young, the sick and the healthy, the regular church goers and the C.E. (Christmas & Easter) Catholics, the native-born Americans and the immigrants, etc.…  We are one family under God and united we will stand for God and for the salvation of all souls.  We are going to be an “open minded” parish in order to serve God in one another.  
 
                   MERRY CHRISTMAS WITH HEAVENLY BLESSINGS, FR HIEN
 

My Dear Parishioners,
   Are you ready for Christmas?  It’s very near.  We have been praying and preparing our bodies, minds and souls to celebrate Christmas--the birthday of our Lord Jesus--with joyful and happy hearts.  Our Holy Masses to worship our Lord Jesus in the manger will be Tuesday, December 24th at 4pm in English and 6pm in Vietnamese, and Christmas Day at 9:30 am in English.  Jesus will bless all of us at these special Masses for we will praise Him, worship Him and adore Him together.  I will offer all these Masses for your personal intentions as my Christmas gift to you all.  May you know the love of God through the voices and hearts of one another and the holy angels and saints with us at our Holy Masses.  Let us love God with all our hearts, minds and souls this Christmas.  Don’t forget to be joyful and wish each other a Merry Christmas from your hearts.
   On Wednesday, December 18th, our All Saints Catholic school children attended Holy Mass, with adoration and confession after Mass.  We were blessed with Fr. Marco A. De Loera, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish, and Fr. Matthew Siegman, assistant pastor of Blessed Sacrament, to help our children receive their sacrament of reconciliation.  A special thanks to the many priests who came to our penance service on Sunday the 15th to help us clean our body, mind and soul for Christmas.  Thank you, Fathers, and may God bless you and reward you with good health and many heavenly blessings.  Also, thank you to our All Saints school children for the Christmas program.  God bless our children!
   Holy Mass in Vietnamese will begin on Christmas Eve at 6pm (thereafter, our 11am Sunday Mass will be in Vietnamese).  Everyone is invited to our Holy Mass and to join us for our special Christmas celebration reception in the Fischer Center with lots of Vietnamese food.  I learned that the best way to know somebody or their culture is to eat their food.  Do you know that Vietnamese love to eat foods that are crunchy, spicy, salty, hot, bitter, sweet, and even sour, all of that in one bite?  Oh yes, we love fish sauce, too.  Come and join us and celebrate Christmas with us.  Of course, I will have candies for everyone to make you a little sweeter to Jesus and to everyone else in your life.  Merry Christmas everyone!  I love you all, Fr. Hien
 
   PS. A special thank you to the family of Agnes Urban who donated $20,000 to our All Saints Catholic School.  I was honored to celebrate Agnes’ funeral Mass with her many family members and friends.  Thank you to the Urban family and to all families that have given memorials to our church & school.  Another THANK YOU to an anonymous family who donated $1,000 to our church after they have sold their small business.  We are blessed because of your love for All Saints, Fr. Hien.
 

My Dear Parishioners,
   I want to thank those who have completed their stewardship forms and returned them to us.  God bless you for your love for God and your stewardship way of life in our church and school.  Our parish leaders and I hope that everyone will do all that they can for our church and school with their time, talents and treasures.  This is my first time asking every family to complete and return their stewardship forms to us since I have been here, about 1.5 years ago.  Why is it so important to complete your stewardship forms?  It’s because you are the heart and soul of our church and school.  We need your commitment to your Catholic faith by helping us at Holy Masses, by cleaning our church and facilities, by helping with the upkeep of our buildings and grounds, by helping us form, educate and evangelize our children through their high school years, by helping us pay all necessary bills of about $1.5 million a year.  We need your hands, your heart, your skills and talents and your financial support too.  Your best gift to God in our parish is your faithful stewardship way of life.  If you cannot give much of your time and talents because you are so busy with other commitments at home or at work, then please support us with your donation.  Thank you!  Deadline to return your stewardship forms is this Sunday, December 15th.
   Parish Penance Service this Sunday, December 15th at 4pm:  We are blessed to have WAM, a special group of Catholic singers, who will be leading songs during our adoration and confession.  Adoration will start at 4pm with 70 of our confirmation students.  Please pray an Act of Contrition in church so that you will not have to pray it in the confessional.  Also, please prepare yourself well before going into the confessional.  Begin with the sign of the cross, then tell the priest how long ago your last confession was and start telling him your sins, the sins that you are most sorry for and can remember.  Please do not mention other people’s problems or world problems in the confessional because so many are waiting in line to go to confession.  Confession should be - admit that you are a sinner and mention your personal sins so that they can be forgiven.  Priest’s names will be posted: Fr. Ben Nguyen (west confessional), Fr. Doug Campbell (west sacristy), Fr. Paul Oborny (east confessional), Fr. Curtis Hecker (east entrance area), Fr. Eric Weldon (library), and Fr. Dwight Birket (choir room). Please give to Jesus the gift of your clean heart and soul at one of our Christmas Masses: Tuesday, December 24th, Christmas Eve at 4pm (English) and 6pm (Vietnamese), Christmas Day at 9:30am (English).
   Finally, please know that beginning December 29th, our 11am Sunday Masses will be in Vietnamese.  Everyone is welcome to join us.  Of course, it will fulfill your Sunday obligation.  Please pray for me as I am helping and training our Vietnamese parishioners to take care of all the liturgical ministries for our 11am Vietnamese Mass.  The more people who can serve God is the better for them and for us.  God bless you.  I would like to ask those who have been serving the liturgical ministries at our 11am Mass in the past, to please consider helping at our 4pm Saturday Mass, or Sunday at 8am and 9:30am Masses.  We can really use your help, especially bringing up the gifts at Holy Mass.  Thank you and God bless everyone, Fr. Hien
 

My Dear Parishioners,

   About six months ago, I met with members of our parish council and the finance committee.  Many were present but no Vietnamese parishioners.  One of the subjects we talked about was Mass attendance.  Although we are blessed with a large church that holds over a thousand people, our four weekend Masses are only about twenty to thirty-five percent full at each Mass.  Technically, our church is big enough to hold everyone in one Mass.  My suggestion was to eliminate one Mass or to have one Mass in Vietnamese.  Since I have been here, many Vietnamese parishioners have asked for this.  We have many Vietnamese Catholics in our church and school.  A third of our 1,616 members are Vietnamese.  Sadly, we have lost about 600 families in the past decade due to different reasons, situations and circumstances. 
   Today, All Saints is a multi-cultural parish with a large number of Vietnamese who love our church and school.  At one point in the meeting, I left the room for about 15 minutes so that parish members could talk openly about my suggestions.  When I returned, they voted to have one of our four Sunday Masses be in Vietnamese.  I informed them that I must visit with Bishop Kemme for his approval.  A week later I met with Bishop at the chancery.  He then called a special meeting with the Diocesan Vietnamese Council (DVC) (Fr. Ben Nguyen is the chairman and Vietnamese representatives from most parishes in Wichita are members).  Four days later, the meeting was held at the chancery.  Everyone strongly suggested to Bishop that there should be another Vietnamese Mass in the diocese to serve not only the spiritual needs of All Saints’ Vietnamese parishioners, but also those Vietnamese in other parishes who might wish to attend Mass in their own language.  For many years throughout the diocese, including most parishes in Wichita, there have been Masses in Spanish but only St. Anthony has Vietnamese Masses. 
   On Sunday, November 24th at St. Anthony of Wichita, on the celebration of the 118 Vietnamese Martyrs, Bishop Kemme announced to everyone that there will be Masses in Vietnamese at All Saints.  Our first Mass in Vietnamese will be on Christmas Eve Mass at 6pm.  Thereafter, one of our four weekend/Holy Day of Obligation Masses will be in Vietnamese.  The reason to wait until Christmas Eve for the change is to allow time for adjustments.  So, yes everyone is welcome to any of our Masses to fulfill the Sunday obligation - three Masses in English and one in Vietnamese.  Do you know that it will be a challenge to me to use two languages in one weekend?  Do you know that reading, writing and speaking English is hard enough for me; but to read, write and speak Vietnamese is harder?  After my third grade in Vietnam, I skipped many years of schooling to look for food to feed my family.  I started learning A, B, C at North High of Wichita and continued learning English in my 9 years of seminary colleges.  I am 47 years old—a slow learner in languages; however, I trust that God will come to my aid.  God has been good to me ALL-THE-TIME.  Thank you--Jesus, Fr. Hien

Stewardship:  Please complete & return your forms to the office before December 15.  Thank you! 
Parish Penance Service:  4pm Sunday, December 15th with guest priests: Ben Nguyen, Doug Campbell, Eric Weldon, Curtis Hecker, Paul Oborny, and Dwight Birket.  All confirmation students are expected to attend and to have dinner with guest priests in Fischer Center.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone,
 
   Blessings from our Lord to all of you as you are celebrating this special time--THANKSGIVING--with your families and friends.  If you are reading this message before Thanksgiving Day, please join us for Thanksgiving Mass on Thursday, November 28th at 8am.  Wherever you may be, please be thankful and always be safe in your travels.  Most deadly accidents and serious problems can be avoided if we all follow the traffic laws and are patient with each other.  Also, please remember to attend Holy Mass by visiting Masstimes.org for Catholic Masses near your traveling locations.  Can we ever be too busy for God?
 
   We thank Bishop Kemme, who came to us on Friday, November 15th to celebrate Holy Mass for our children and bless the statue of our Lady of Guadalupe for us to use in our church.  May our Blessed Mother Mary keep us close to God and to each other now and forever.  Did you know that we pray for our bishop by name at every Mass and for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, too?  They always need our love and prayer so that they can minister to God’s children throughout the world with Jesus’ love for all human life from conception to natural death.  Every person in the world, born or yet to be born, always needs to be loved by us with blessings from God.
 
   Please keep the follow All Saints students and teachers in your daily prayer.  2nd Grade with Mrs. Samantha Somes: Neal Atsou Dzini, Nolan Atsou Dzini, Yenna Chang, Katherine Diaz, Jennifer Do, Jennifer Thi Do, Michael Eastman, Aria Henry, Joseph Le, Dawson Lippert, Eva Loveall, Baylee Medicus, Ailyn Mora, Kathlene Navarrete, Alan Nguyen, Hoc Nguyen, Jonathan Pham, Lucia Rolfe-Murray, Jocelyn Stewart, Jenna Thompson, Emilio Vargas, and Ian Wheaton.  3rd Grade with Mrs. Nancy Clark: Christopher Bramhall, Anthony Bui, John Do, Olivia Florentin, Caleb Guzman, Beyonca Irwin, Alejandro Jimenez, Minh Le, Diem Quynh Mai, Zemirah Melton, Daniel Miller-Rodriguez, Ariel Moreno Avila, Brayden Pham, Jamal Rolfe-Murray Jr and Olyve Tajchman.
 
   Finally, let us enter the new liturgical season of Advent full of love for the Holy Trinity so that we will enjoy the fullness of joy, peace, love and the blessings from God to us in the person of Jesus at Christmas.  Beginning this Sunday, our Mass readings will be taken from Cycle A.
 
   PS:  Due to the many Vietnamese in our parish, Bishop approved that one of our 4 weekend/Holy Day of Obligation Masses will be in Vietnamese beginning with Christmas Eve Mass.  More details in next week’s bulletin.  
 
   Always love you all, Fr. Hien
 

Fr. Hien’s Stewardship Letter, 2019
   My All Saints Parishioners: Blessings from our Lord and God be with you all.  Thank you for being a member of our church family.  We are blessed to have you in our church family.  I am happy to be at All Saints to serve God and His people.  I love Jesus and I know that you love Him too.  Let us become one with Jesus in His Holy Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity at Holy Mass.  With Jesus, we will live with God now and forever. 
   As Catholics in the Diocese of Wichita, we are to be Jesus’ disciples with our time, talent and treasure.  Together, we will carry out the mission of All Saints’ Parish:  All Saints is a diverse Roman Catholic community, centered in the Eucharist, guided by the Holy Spirit, nurturing one another through friendship, prayer, education, service and stewardship, on the journey with Christ to the Father.  Bishop Kemme, the parish leaders and I are asking for your stewardship commitment to our parish.  We are dependent on your ministries and generosity to continue educating our children, to pay the bills and to keep up our old church and school buildings.  The parish will tithe 10 percent of your financial contribution to the diocese toward the education of seminarians for the priesthood, like Fr. Matthew Siegman of our parish, to feed the poor in the world, etc...  If it’s possible, would you consider tithing 8-10 percent of your family income to our parish like the diocese suggests.  The parish needs about $27,000 a week to pay our bills (the first 10% tithe to the diocese plus the 7.5% to support the Catholic high schools in Wichita, about 80% pays for our All Saints’ Elementary school and our high school students attending Catholic High schools).  As you can see, we don’t have much for the upkeep and updating of our church and school buildings.  Last year, we were able to pay all the bills, thanks be to God and to you.  Many people volunteered in our church and schools and about 30% of our parishioners gave beyond their normal tithe to help with our building funds.  Today, we are hoping and praying that every family would tithe a percent to our parish, whether it’s 10%, 8%, 5%, we would greatly appreciate your commitment for the salvation of souls.
   Please complete your stewardship form and pledge and return them to us by Sunday, December 15th so that we do not have to contact you by phone to remind you.  You can place it in the collection basket, send or drop it by the parish office.  If you have a bank account, please consider completing the orange sheet for the direct deposit method to cut the costs of collection envelopes and mailings.  There is no cost to you for using this method.  Please avoid putting cash in the collection basket.  All cash should be in an envelope with your name so that we can record your donation for your tax-purposes. 
   Please join me, our parish staff, teachers and leaders in carrying out our parish mission.  Let us make it a reality in our church and school so that others will know that we love them for we are all brothers and sisters in Christ.  Thank you for opening your hands and hearts to welcoming everyone to All Saints, regardless of their race, color, language, culture, background, health condition, etc.…
   Finally, may our Lord bless you and your family with a happy Thanksgiving full of love and life for each other.  The parish penance service with guest priests – Fr. Dwight Birket, Fr. Ben Nguyen, Fr. Eric Weldon, Fr. Curtis Hecker, Fr. Paul Oborny - will be Sunday, December 15th at 4pm in church with adoration and confessions.  WAM—Wichita Adorers, singers will lead the adoration music/program.  All our confirmation students and their parents will join us too for adoration, confession and dinner with guest priests.  Have a Holy Advent that leads to a Merry Christmas everyone.  Love you all, Fr. Hien