Pastor's letter for this week
July 11, 2025
Dear Parishioners of St. Andrew,
I hope you are all doing well and staying strong! This has been a hot week but, thankfully, all our AC units are fully functioning. Our July 4th Mass was rather surprisingly full. That speaks highly of our parishioners’ desire to pray for our country. I hope you enjoyed your holiday. On Monday I had a meeting with all our catechists to introduce our new Director of Religious Education and review some important points about this apostolate. I’m happy that we have an excellent team of catechists for the upcoming academic year.
Most of our parish groups are not meeting during July and August, which provides a little respite for catching up on other projects. The renovation work on the Social Hall is ongoing and I hope it will be completed well before school restarts. Other details of church restoration continue. We had two of the light fixtures in the vestibule damaged recently when the scaffolding was used for the restoration of the ceiling. Replacing them is no easy thing. It’s not the type of thing you can purchase at Home Depot. They have to be duplicated and created from scratch. We found a company that can do it but it takes a long time. Today we got some of them. I took the opportunity to also replace some of the side light fixtures which were mismatched and those are coming slowly as well.
This is also the time at which lots of people are on vacation. I will be taking some time this month and take the rest of my vacation later in September. I will still be sending you my weekly letter, however. It seems impossible to escape from technology these days.
Here is the rest of the news from the parish:
FOCUS MISSIONARY VISITING THIS SUNDAY - The mission at FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) is simple: Make disciples for Christ. It begins by inviting people into a relationship with Jesus in the Catholic Church. Then, offering accompaniment with them along their journey. Finally, equipping them to share the Faith with others too. FOCUS serves college campuses and parish communities across the United States and around the world.
FOCUS sends teams of missionaries (four on average) to encounter people in friendship, inviting them into a personal relationship with Christ and accompanying them as they pursue lives of virtue and excellence. Through Bible studies, outreach events, mission trips and discipleship, missionaries inspire and build up others in the faith, sending them out to live out a lifelong Catholic mission wherever they are.
This weekend we will welcome Julia Zelaya who will speak briefly after Communion at the English Masses. I have found them to be a very worthwhile organization to support.
SUMMER=WARM WEATHER=VACATIONS=HIGHER EXPENSES=LOWER INCOME – The headline pretty much says it all. During the summer a lot of our parishioners go on vacation to enjoy the warm weather. This is wonderful and we wish them well. It is also a time in which we are able to make major repairs on the parish plant since the School and Religious Education Program are both closed. Right now, the Social Hall in the school building is being extensively renovated with new flooring, ceiling, lighting and painting of walls.
We are blessed here that we have air conditioning in the church, which we all appreciate a great deal in this heat! I don’t know how they used to go without it.
But, of course, all this means that our expenses in the summer go way up. The irony and difficulty is that, while expenses go up, our income goes way down due to vacation absences. This year it’s been worse because there has been great fear in our Hispanic community due to immigration raids. Many people are staying home on Sundays even though the church is completely safe.
As you make your weekly donations, I would ask you then to consider the possibility of giving “a little extra” in order to make up for these higher expenses.
May God reward you for your generosity!
ALTAR BOYS – Summer is a good time to train new servers. If you have a son in grade 3 and up, he is eligible to become an Altar Boy. We have ongoing training for new Altar Servers. If you are interested in enrolling your son, please stop by the Pastoral Center to fill out a registration form. Training is beginning this week.
Serving at the altar is a tremendous privilege for a boy. It allows him to:
- develop a closer relationship with God
- have a better understanding of the Mass
- learn reverence and discipline
- learn to have a spirit of cooperation with others
- get to know the parish priests and consider a priestly or Religious vocation
- overcome shyness and fear of being “in front of others.”
The way I like to think of service at the altar is to remember the Last Supper. Our Lord was there with the Apostles. However, there were others who were there as well and who assisted: those who prepared the meal, those who served it and those who cleaned up. What a privilege it must have been for them to be so close to Our Lord and the Apostles and serve them on such a momentous night! In a similar way, our Altar Servers are those who serve Our Lord in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and are so close to the Holy of Holies. Let us encourage our children to take part in this “most beautiful thing this side of Heaven.”
Please stop by the Pastoral Center to fill out a registration form. You will then be contacted with the training dates and times.
We also have our group of servers called the Knights of the Altar. These are young men in high school and above who take the leadership roles during our liturgical services and act as Masters of Ceremonies. All the boys who are currently servers and are now in high school or college are eligible to join the Knights of the Altar. For further information please contact me at: FrGonzalez@aol.com
GROUPS FOR GIRLS - We also invite the girls of the parish to join one of our two groups for girls:
"Girls with Goodness" for ages 8-12 and "Girls with Grace" for ages 13-18. Please call the pastoral center for more information at (626) 792-4183.
BEST EDUCATION IN PASADENA – St. Andrew Catholic School provides the best possible education for children grades Pre-K to 8th grade in our community. Our graduates go on to the very best high schools in the region and consistently test above their grade levels.
Open Enrollment for the new academic year for St. Andrew School which begins on August 27 is now taking place. For families which need financial assistance, scholarships are available. If you are interested in enrolling your child, please stop by the school office as soon as possible. Visit the school website at: www.saspasadena.com
ST. VINCENT DE PAUL BUNDLE SUNDAY- Next Sunday, July 20th is the St. Vincent de Paul Bundle Sunday in which they collect clothes, household goods, small appliances, etc. which are given to the poor. Please see the flyer in this week’s bulletin for details.
In Christ and St. Andrew,
Father Gonzalez
ETIQUETTE AND MANNERS IN CHURCH
CENTENNIAL ORGAN AT SAINT ANDREW CHURCH
HOW TO RECITE THE HOLY ROSARY
PROCEDURE FOR THE RECEPTION OF HOLY COMMUNION