Good Turns
4 Jul 10: A Note from the Vicar for Vocations' Desk
Dear Parish Family, I wanted to take a moment and thank all for
the
wonderful farewell Mass and reception. It was amazing!
A special thank you goes out to all those who brought
such good food, our combined choir, liturgical ministers,
and those who organized the reception. In particular, my
family had a great time and enjoyed speaking with so
many of you. Please know of my daily prayers. It has been an honor to
be your pastor. I will miss your smiling faces! My the Lord bless you
with abundant Graces. Peace, Father Mike
20 Jun 10: Thank you to the priests for
concelebrating and the many parishioners from our cluster
parishes who participated in the “Farewell Mass” for Fr. Mike as
Liturgical Ministers, the cluster choir, and helping with the reception.
We are grateful for everyone attending this mass and showing their love
and support of Fr. Mike.
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25 Apr 10: “Portsmouth Volunteers for the
Homeless and St. Paul’s hosted the homeless women in the Fr. Walsh
Center Easter week. We averaged 14 women per night and they were very
appreciative of a place to sleep for the week. PVHs homeless sheltering
continues at other churches through the middle of May. After that the
homeless of Portsmouth will be back sleeping on the streets until the
shelters open again mid November. It is PVHs long term goal to have the
shelters open all year round. To achieve that
goal we need two things: Funds and shelter sites. If anyone has any of
either that can be donated, we are very happy to accept! I would like to
thank the following people for their time volunteering at the Fr. Walsh
Homeless Shelter: Brian Peroni, Romeo Zacarrias, Gil Cantillo, Bruce
LaLonde, Terry Tagg, Mari
Whiteman, Jeff Whiteman, Erin Whiteman, Laura Whiteman, Peggy Crabtree,
Ada Howard and Bob Derr, who helps clear out and clean-up the rooms
before and after. We could not have not done this without all of
you so thank you very much for your time!! ~ Deborah Brunick
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21 Feb 10: Thank you so much for your generous support of Catholic Relief Service in its effort to bring aid to the people of Haiti following the recent earthquake. So far donations among the Cluster Parishes are $22,869.52. CRS will put this money to great use for the benefit of our brothers and sisters in Haiti.
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14 Feb 10: We have received many thank you cards from those that are homebound and also those who received gifts from our Christmas Giving Tree. Here is a sample of the many notes received: “Dear Members of St. Paul’s: The poinsettia was absolutely beautiful. It was so very thoughtful of you to think of us. It gives us great comfort to know that we are in your thoughts and prayers. Ron’s improvement is truly a miracle!! Thank you so much for all your prayers and kindness throughout the year. Ron and I pray for you all every night. God bless you and the angels protect you.” ~ Ron and Maureen Friel
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17 Jan 10: “Dear St. Paul’s Family: I wish to thank each of you who included me in your prayers during my recent hospitalization and recovery. Your cards, words, thoughts, and visits were heartfelt and were a great support to me and my family. God’s continued blessings on our church family. Thank you!” ~ Bessie Livermon
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3 Jan 10: Thank you to Foster Funeral Home and Baker-Foster Funeral Home for donating the 2010 Catholic Extension Calendars to our parish.
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3 Jan 10: A GIVING TREE 2009 THANK YOU!
We extend our sincere appreciation to all
who participated in this year’s Giving Tree
Outreach Project. Through the generous
spirit and caring hearts of St. Paul’s
parishioners a total of 451 gifts and
poinsettias were given to the children, the
sick, the shut-ins, and the bereaved of our parish and surrounding
community. Many, many thanks to everyone who picked up a
‘tree ornament’ and provided a gift for someone who otherwise
would have gone without this year.
Much appreciation goes out to those who donated through the
‘green gifts’. The total sum of each $7.50 gift provided for 94
poinsettias, as well as the gifts that, unfortunately, were not
returned to church. We thank our ‘awesome shoppers’ who
volunteered to do that extra bit of shopping for replacement gifts
so no Christmas wish was left unfulfilled.
Thank you to all volunteers, including several confirmation
students, who gave of their time and energy to make sure every
gift was accounted for, properly tagged and delivered. This
year’s response for volunteers was so wonderful! With the many
helping hands, we were able to complete the whole process in
one afternoon. It would not have been possible without you!
Many thanks to Fr. Mike, Fr. David, and Pat Cox for their help
and support as the stages of this project unfolded. Pat, thank you
for your gracious assistance whenever we called or dropped by
the office with our ‘needs of the day’!
A special thanks to Helene Benjamin and Lee Foster who hand
cut each of the tree ornaments used for the gift requests. Thank
you Betty Callahan and Catherine Thompson for your individual
contributions to this process.
This has been our third year with the Giving Tree and it has been
such an uplifting experience for us to witness! Christ’s Love in
action!! From the generosity and goodwill of everyone involved
to the manner in which the Holy Spirit guides every little detail of
this project into place, it is truly a blessing beyond what words
can express!
We wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy
new year! God bless us everyone!!
~ Cathie and Phil Whalen
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20 Dec 09: Many thanks to Betty Callahan, Dick Clark, Joni Didio, Bernie Duffy, and Jack Miller for helping with the bulletin each week. You are a blessing and we are grateful for your help!
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13 Dec 09: Thanks to all cluster parishioners
for generously contributing to Birthright. We collected $2,994.96 and a
few more bottles have recently been returned. If you still have your
bottle, you can place it in the collection basket and we'll return it to
Birthright. Your financial support and continued prayers are helping the
most vulnerable members of our human family; together with Christ, we
can give the
unborn a voice.
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8 Nov 09: Many thanks to those parishioners who supported the History Committee Christmas card sale. It was a great success. We completely sold out! The proceeds will be donated to the Restoration Fund.
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8 Nov 09: Despite the chill in the air on the
day of our picnic, St. Paul’s parishioners came out to enjoy a great
time! There was plenty of delicious food , cotton candy, popcorn and
games for the children.
Thank you to all of our parishioners who participated and shared in the
fun and good fellowship! The
success of our picnic was due to the hard work and cooperation of many
including St. Paul’s Knights of Columbus, the ladies of St. Paul’s, and
especially the many parishioners who brought all of the desserts! Again,
thank you for your generosity!
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28 Jun 09: “Dear St. Paul’s friends, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude for all the love and prayers. My recovery has been painless and swift because I have all of you pleading to our Loving Savior on my behalf. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! ~ Chaty Harpen”
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28 Jun 09: “To the parishioners of St. Paul’s Parish, Thank you so much for the preparation of food and the reception at Resurrection after the funeral of our son, John Paul Facenda on May 9, 2009. Everything was outstanding and was a great help to our family. Thank you! ~Love and Joseph Facenda”
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17 May 09: “Portsmouth Volunteers for the Homeless would like to thank the following people for volunteering their time at the Father Walsh Center last week while St. Paul’s Catholic faith community hosted the homeless women: Bonnie Harris, Ada Howard, Virginia Harden (ODU student), Roxanne Lucha, Lakesha McLeod, Elaine Bush (Green Acres Presbyterian), Gil Cantillo, and Romeo Zacarias. Thank you all so very much for your time!” ~ Deborah Brunick, Coordinator
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8 May 09: “A special thank you to all the St. Paul’s “Seniors” who attended the Senior’s Luncheon on March 13th! We enjoyed having you join us; it was a wonderful couple of hours. I also want to thank the volunteers: Peggy Crabtree, Bob Derr, Ray and Darlene Faircloth, Bill Ficenec, Lillian Haythe, Jim Resolute, Bruce Rogge, Margaret Whitehurst, and Donna Williams, who so graciously gave their time for your enjoyment; and also those who made the delicious desserts! Mark your calendars now and help us make the next luncheon , Friday, May 8th a success by planning to attend. See you there!” ~ Lynne Rogge, Coordinator