Thank you!

To a truly amazing group of people: 

I just wanted to take a few minutes to thank all of your for giving of your time, creativity, energy, strength, laughter, prayer, hearts, love, joy and patience this past weekend to the youth that attended the confirmation retreat!  You are each an incredible gift from God and I cannot thank you enough for all that did to make it a truly special and memorable weekend.

FR. JERRY, FR. CAMILO and DEACON MAC: 
Thank you so much for blessing us with your presence throughout the weekend!  We loved having you at the meals and appreciated so much the gift of providing the  Sacrament of Reconciliation on Saturday evening.   It was truly so incredibly healing for the teens to receive God's mercy during the retreat!  I know that you both had a packed day with other masses, funerals, weddings and earlier confessions, so please know that our heartfelt thanksgiving goes out to you both for being so giving of yourselves and so very AWESOME!

Deacon Mac, thank you so much for coming down late on Friday evening to provide Adoration and Benediction for us!  You are so amazing!  A BIG thank you goes out to Deb and Marah as well for giving up that time with you!  Thank you all for the many sacrifices that are made in order minister to the countless parishioners of our parish.

We are blessed beyond words to have EACH of you here at the Cathedral!


THE BACKANGELS: 
To the Back-Angel team, you are AM-A-ZING!  You are all such an incredibly talented, FUN, thoughtful, hardworking, faith-filled and inspiring group of young people!  What a tremendous blessing each of you are!

You each went above and beyond to make everything so special.  From decorations, to the Champion skit, the tunnel and each of the testimonies.  You are all serious ROCKSTARS!  

Thank you for  being so incredibly positive and joyful and so eager to help!

Undoubtably God has such amazing plans for your lives and I know that I can speak for all the adults in our program that we each feel so blessed to know each you and to have you involved in our program!

The CORE TEAM:
A HUGE "Thank-You" goes out to all of you who gave so much of yourselves in ministering to the hearts of our youth last weekend (and EVERY SUNDAY)!  There were several times throughout the weekend that I was moved to tears as I watched you minister in such profound ways to our teens.  Johnny and I talk often about how humbled and moved we are to work with such an extraordinary team of people who have such amazing gifts of faith and who are so willing to give of themselves.  You inspire us more than you could ever know~

Marty, thank you so very much for all that you did to make the UNDERGROUND CHURCH so amazingly successful!   This year it was seamless!  Thank you for taking time off of work, purchasing all the things necessary to make it happen, coming down early to set-up and staying late to put everything away.  You truly have such a gift for making things memorable, BIG and impacting!

Thank you for all for your joy and great sense of humors!

Thank you for being open and vulnerable, for sharing your lives and your own faith stories!  Thank you for praying and guiding and loving these young people in the ways that you do!

Andrea and Saul, thank you for all that you did to communicate with so many of the parents and teens prior to and during the retreat!  We are so blessed to have you both on the parish staff youth ministry team as we continue in our efforts to bring our young people together and to minister to those whom God has generously entrusted to us!

Thank you all for being willing to get very little sleep and to give up time away from your families, your jobs and other commitments to be 110% present to the teens.

A BIG thank you goes out to all those who SPOKE this weekend!  Thank you Daniel, Megan, Dr. Tim Johans,  Dan and Peggy, Andrea and the Backangels who gave amazing testimonies: Alison, Alice and Olivia.

Thank you Alex and Noah for the beautiful music you provided during the weekend!

DJ STREET: Thank you for all that you did throughout the weekend and in preparation the week prior!  I'm so very thankful for you!

Natalie, Savannah and Cecely and Rachel!  Thank you for all that you did to help lead the backangel team and for all the shopping, late night runs to the store and all the delicious meals and snacks you provided!   Everything was so organized and incredibly well thought out!  The work you did was undeniably exhausting and yet you each always had such a joyful spirit willing to give so sacrificially!

Peggy and Maddie Minneart: Thank you so much for all that you did to clean and mop after the retreat was over!  I cannot begin to put into words how much of a GIFT it was to walk into the parish hall after mass was over to find the floors sparkling clean!  WOW!  You both are seriously awesome!

Thank you Savannah, Ryan and Saul for taking so many great pictures!

I'd like to also thank my amazing husband who works so hard and passionately in this ministry and who is always there when I need him most (which is always)!  I'm so thankful to be your teammate Johnny!

I know that there are countless "thank you's" that I've forgotten to mention, but please know how truly thankful that I am to each and everyone of you! You are such a gift!

 Here are a few more pictures to enjoy!