A Note From Our Pastor: January 11, 2026

Perhaps I’ve said this to you already, but I believe there are five things a parish and its people should put their energies into doing well: 1) cultivating a prayerful environment and helping parishioners to grow in their life of prayer; 2) fostering community within the parish members; 3) teaching the faith; 4) evangelization of the faith beyond our parish and parishioners; and 5) caring for and supporting those in need.

Honestly, we do some of these things in our parishes, but we could grow in all five of these areas. One area I want to talk about in this note is the last one mentioned: caring for and supporting those in need. I like to refer to those as Works of Mercy.

At St. Thomas, there is the Community Garden on the north end of the property, utilized by a local partnering organization to give gardening space to those who need it. There is also a functioning St. Vincent de Paul Society that meets at St. Thomas and is comprised of St. Thomas parishioners. As a side-note, the rebate for the current year’s Annual Catholic Appeal has provided almost $13,000 (so far!) that will go to support our St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Thomas. I’m grateful for those who are involved in these programs. We can and will plan to do more at St. Thomas.

At St. Philomena, we plan to put a couple things in place this month. First, we have created a Works of Mercy envelope (bright yellow!), which we plan to put in the pews. The envelope lists five local organizations we plan to partner with: 1) Des Moines Food Bank; 2) Thea Bowman Housing [Catholic Community Services]; 3) Respect Life Ministries; 4) Des Moines Pregnancy Aid; and 5) St. Vincent de Paul Society.

On the fourth weekend of each month (starting January 24/25), we will take a second collection at the Masses, in which parishioners can contribute, in support of these partnering organizations. At the end of each quarter, we plan to distribute the funds collected to the respective partnering organizations. It’s our hope that with time, we can become more connected and involved with these five partnering organizations.

One way that we are, as recently announced at St. Philomena’s Masses, in partnership with the Des Moines Food Bank and other local churches, on the fourth Friday of each month, we will begin serving a meal to the hungry in our parish hall. I’m grateful for the team who proposed this Works of Mercy initiative and is driving it.

Again, more we can do, and I believe more to come. We must try to do so in a way that is congruent with our faith. More to come.

Yours in Christ,

Father Todd O. Strange