Welcome

Welcoming + Nurturing + Transforming

Welcome

My dear brothers and sisters, welcome to SS Mary's & Stephen's and to this website meant to be a "window" into our community of faith.

As Eastern Catholic Christians we understand our need for one another. When we join together in a common purpose and vision, we find ourselves in the presence of God, Who is the source of our hope and Who supports and sustains us. All are welcome, wherever one may be on their faith journey: a practicing Catholic, a seeker for truth with no church affiliation, a Christian of another denomination investigating Catholicism, or someone who has been away from the Church or from our Parish for whatever reason.

Together in Christ for the greater Glory of God, we quest to have SS Mary's & Stephen's be a community where all experience the presence of God and the welcome of God's people. Our prayer is for "all that we are" to speak a wordless invitation to those who are seeking, those who are wearied by life's burdens, and those who are drawn to lift their hearts in prayer.

Throughout our lives, we discover holy people and places where our seeking leads to finding, where we love the Lord and our neighbor, where we encounter Christ, where our faith is enlivened, and where our deepest identity is confirmed. This indeed is all that SS Mary's & Stephen's, our people and place by God's Grace, carry on and carry out to be.

We seek to proclaim the Word of God faithfully. We seek to celebrate our communal prayer and worship, in particular the Eucharist, reverentially and joyfully. We seek to envelop our love for Christ in works of charity, in service to the poor and needy and to each other. We seek to mark our faith for our children and ourselves with study and action. We seek to demonstrate Christian hospitality at all times. We seek to offer our gifts of time, talent and treasure at the Altar of the Lord. And above all, we seek to live the Greatest Commandments: first to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and with all our souls and with all our minds; and secondly, like the first, to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Welcome to SS Mary's & Stephen's!

fr. James D. Hess, O.Carm.

Priest

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