A Note From Our Pastor: April 12, 2026

Christus Resurrexit! Holy Week was wonderful, although I’m grateful that we’re not doing it again this week! I want to write to you about our communication channels. I meet weekly, with a team with the purpose of discerning what items we believe we need to communicate to our parishioners, but also, discerning which channels of communication (as opposed to communicating everything in every way).

Currently, our channels of communication include the 1) Sunday Bulletin; 2) the St. Philomena website [most of which is applicable to St. Thomas parishioners]; 3) social media (Facebook and Instagram); 4) signage at the entrance of the church; 5) parish apps; and 6) before-Mass-announcements. In the coming months, we plan to add a weekly email to parishioners. With all these channels, we try to fulfill our responsibility of informing parishioners about events, schedules, etc. Occasionally, we miss something, but I believe we do a pretty good job.

I mention all this because on Good Friday, a parishioner asked me about Mass times for Easter Sunday. I directed her to the sign posted at the main entrance. She then told me that people are going to be upset because they will assume the Mass schedule for Easter Sunday is the same as our ordinary Sunday schedule. I commented to her that we communicated this change (e.g. Sunday bulletin, before-Mass-announcements, signage at entrance, website, parish app, social media).

I realize that we are all bombarded with information and it’s hard to process it all. That’s why I believe it’s very important that we communicate to you all in a way that’s clear as we utilize our communication channels, to try and make it easy to discern and digest—especially the spoken announcements before Mass.

I say all this also, because occasionally I’m told that most people don’t read the bulletin (Ha!…except for the handful of you reading this!); that most people don’t utilize our website (which is in both English and Spanish); that most have not downloaded our parish app (or if they have, they have not adjusted their device settings to receive instant notifications from us). I also recently had someone say to me that it’s hard to process all the before-Mass-announcements.

I, and the team I work with, will do our best to communicate effectively (clear, timely, etc.). As for your part, I recommend that you discern perhaps two of our communication channels that work for you. One of those should include either the website or bulletin. With those, be consistent in referencing them.

I am happy to receive your recommendations on how we can better serve you, acknowledging that we can’t do everything, especially right away. Thank you for your patience and for doing your part to contribute to the life of our parishes.

Yours in Christ,

Father Todd O. Strange