St. Bernadette Parish

Greetings from St. Bernadette Parish! With praise and thanksgiving for your faith and generosity, St. Bernadette has met its goal of “Fifty and Free”- being debt free before our 50th Jubilee. We have much to celebrate in 2010, but now is not the time to stand still, there is more to accomplish.

Our “Fifty and Free” campaign had a key second component, “Free to Serve”. With the help of the Diocesan stewardship campaign, “Advancing the Mission”, we endeavor to continue our progress and move forward. All 169 parishes of the diocese have taken part in this program.

The central focus is to instill a deeper sense of stewardship and ministry in parishes through understanding prayer, service and sharing as the components to a “stewardship way of life.” These are the lifeblood of every parish community and the tools that make us stronger as a church community and as Catholics. It answers the question posed in our Lenten song, “What return shall I make to the Lord our God?”.

	Although our long term debt has been eliminated we have much yet to accomplish as we move into 2010 and our Jubilee year. “Advancing the Mission – Free to Serve” presents us with the unique opportunity to meet current and future needs within the parish and concentrate our financial and spiritual commitments on prayer, service to others and continued growth as a faith community.