{"id":1896,"date":"2016-09-02T06:14:54","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T12:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/?p=1896"},"modified":"2016-09-02T06:14:54","modified_gmt":"2016-09-02T12:14:54","slug":"pastoral-letter-september-4-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/?p=1896","title":{"rendered":"Pastoral Letter September 4, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Priest asked, \u2018Teddy, do you say prayers before eating?\u2019<\/strong><\/em>
\n \u2018No Father,\u2019 little Teddy replied, \u2018I don’t have to. My mom is a good cook.\u2019”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,<\/p>\n

I know, I know. But I couldn\u2019t resist.<\/p>\n

I am dedicating this message, completely to last week\u2019s celebration of our Parish Name Day Picnic, so why not begin with a prayerful tribute to good cooks? It is no small or insignificant feat to bring together, provide for, and entertain a couple hundred people on a Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n

But that is exactly what happened when we departed from a beautiful Divine Liturgy and drove to Canyon Rim Park to honor our Matron St. Anna, give thanks to God for the goodness He has showered upon our parish, and to spend some more time together. The afternoon was a true testament to the love we have for each other and the presence of the Holy Spirit Who binds us together. Really, is there a more beautiful community of which to belong?<\/p>\n

Of course the hundreds of people who attended the Picnic would just be standing in a park were it not for the many people who assisted and provided in several ways to the success of our gathering. I would love to gratefully identify the following people for their acts of generosity in time, talents and donations.<\/p>\n

Our Picnic Leaders are as follows:<\/p>\n

Elaina Simos was the Picnic Chair and she did a remarkable job.<\/p>\n

Our Food Co-chairs were – Mary Feotis & Sophie Wondolowski. Thanks, ladies!<\/p>\n

Kids Games Chair \u2013 Pres. Andrea Savas. Fun was had by all!<\/p>\n

Pilafi – Chuck Karpakis. Have Dutch ovens, will travel!<\/p>\n

Salads and baked beans Chair – Pat Daskalas. Thanks, Pat!<\/p>\n

Cookies – Donated by Phil & Liberty Mudrock. As if the dinner wasn\u2019t good enough!<\/p>\n

Melons – Donated by Gerard & Klea Gallegos. Nothing better on a warm summer afternoon.<\/p>\n

Rolls – Donated by Barb & Harry Hillas. Good carbs, not bad carbs!<\/p>\n

Music – Donated by Mike Varanakis. Also provided the microphone for a pre-meal prayer!<\/p>\n

Drinks Chair- Carolyn Leitko. Thank you, Carolyn!<\/p>\n

Soft Drinks \u2013 Donated by Beverly Bartell. \u201cBev,\u201d short for beverage and you provided tons!<\/p>\n

\u201cOther\u201d Drinks\u2013 Donated by and provided from his home barrels, Chuck Karpakis. Cheers!<\/p>\n

Set up\/clean up – Men’s Ministry team. No easy task, but it\u2019s gotta get done. Thanks, guys!<\/p>\n

Who brought salads? I\u2019ll tell you, who brought salads: Connie Floor, Mae Georgelas, Denise Hoyle, Colette Khoury, Penny Mills, Elaine Petrogeorge, Tanya Smirnov, Elaine Zambos and Sandra Zoolakis. Thank you!<\/p>\n

And who brought beans? Saunee Cairo, AnnaSophia Clark, Pauline Jensen, Liberty Mudrock, Bunnie Varanakis and Heidi Varechok brought beans! Tons and tons of beans!<\/p>\n

Joanne Dokos picked up the chicken. Can\u2019t have a fried chicken picnic without fried chicken, so much appreciated!<\/p>\n

Sports equipment provided by Gerard Gallegos. Actually, Gerard provides smiles and laughter above everything else.<\/p>\n

If there is anyone else who contributed in any way, I humbly ask your forgiveness for not mentioning you. Thank you for all you\u2019ve done in secret.<\/p>\n

The picnic was a tremendous opportunity to celebrate the end of the summer and bring us back into the fold of our church community. You may recall, a few months ago I gave you my \u201cTop Ten Reasons not to come to Church during the Summer.\u201d I think my flippant point was made in that last week, and for the past three months, our church has been nearly full almost every Sunday. You are a faithful people who don\u2019t just come together for picnics and parties.<\/p>\n

I am humbled by your desire to draw near to the Lord, feast at His heavenly Banquet and partake of His Mysteries. Though the timing may not have been intentional, our Name Day Picnic yielded the perfect opportunity to close out our vacation season and time of rest so that we can return, full-force, back to church and resume our normal schedule of ministries and activities.<\/p>\n

Please pay attention to the accompanying flyers that will be distributed in the coming days which concern our calendar and schedule of events.<\/p>\n

If you are out of town during this long Labor Day Weekend, please return safely to your homes, places of work and place of worship \u2013 St. Anna\u2019s! If you are home this weekend, I trust we\u2019ll see each other on Sunday. Where else would you possibly be?<\/p>\n

And once again, thank you Picnic People! You truly gave us a day to remember.<\/p>\n

With Love in Christ,<\/p>\n

Fr. Anthony
\n(I was the chairman of just showing up, eating too much, walking around and talking to people)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Priest asked, \u2018Teddy, do you say prayers before eating?\u2019 \u2018No Father,\u2019 little Teddy replied, \u2018I don’t have to. My mom is a good cook.\u2019” Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I know, I know. But I couldn\u2019t resist. I am dedicating this message, completely to last week\u2019s celebration of our Parish Name Day Picnic, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastoral-letter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1897,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896\/revisions\/1897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stannagocutah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}