October 10, 2021
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
One of the things I have been wanting to do since coming to Mary Our Queen is to present a State of Our Parish Report on an annual basis. In my Pastor’s Column this week, I would like to take this opportunity to present this report to you since my appointment as Pastor.
The mission of our Parish is Making Missionary Disciples of Jesus. We accomplish this by forming a family of faith through community, worship, evangelization, and service. All we do at Mary Our Queen is in furtherance of that mission.
We strive to make missionary disciples though our largest ministry, our school. Despite the challenges that we faced last year, we thrived as a school community and created an even stronger academic foundation for our students. Some key highlights include:
- MOQ School was awarded Cognia Certification.
- Our Faith Formation was enhanced with the addition of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd for our Preschool within our new atrium in the Early Childhood Education and Youth Center.
- Our already strong STEM initiatives are now STEAM, with the addition of a new Art program and teacher. We also have a nationally recognized robotics team.
- 25% percent of our 8th grade class received scholarships to area high schools.
- Principal Hoy was recognized by the Archdiocese as Metro Administrator of the Year.
We launched new Preschool programs in our new Early Childhood Education and Youth Center building to great success on September 8, 2020. Last year we enrolled 77 students in Preschool/Pre-K and this year we are currently at 79 students. We are excited with our new Preschool programs and the opportunity to continue to grow in student enrollment and faith with our youngest learners. For the 2020-2021 school year, there were 487 students enrolled in Kindergarten through 8th grade. As of today, 512 are registered for the 2021-22 school year.
Our school mission is: To form students of faith to pursue academic excellence and live in Christian service. I am proud of our teachers, staff, students, and families for working together to create a different learning environment to make sure that our students continue to be challenged in the classroom.
Making missionary disciples means to evangelize, or to know God personally through ongoing formation and bringing others into an encounter with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. We do this not only in our school, but also in our Religious Education Program and various ministries and groups in our parish.
The past couple of years we have found new ways to grow the faith through our Religious Education Program. Last year we launched Family Faith Formation that assisted parents to share the faith with their children. This year, we are offering both Family Faith Formation and CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine). To continue to assist our Confirmation candidates in their preparation, we introduced ALPHA as part of their curriculum this year. A parish program of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd will begin next week for children ages 3 through 6 in the new atrium located in the Bride’s Room. Our active high school and middle school youth ministry groups, Oremus and Oremus Jr (Latin for “Let Us Pray”), support and form our youth by helping them navigate life’s difficulties and challenges through the light of Christ. The group focuses on deepening each individual’s relationship with Christ and building a deeper understanding of Christ’s love for them through gatherings, worship and praise, prayer, and faith sharing.
As a people of God who are called by name, we aim to provide a welcoming environment and opportunities that support our mission. We offer spiritual growth and formation programs such as bible studies, small faith groups, prayer groups, ALPHA, Christians Encounter Christ as well as faith and fellowship opportunities through various organizations: Catholic Daughters, Knights of Columbus, Ladies Guild and Men’s Club. To support our active parish life and foster its growth, we continue to update our campus facilities. Several notable projects include the entrance plaza to our church, the new windows in our school, and the replacement of HVAC equipment in our facilities. We are also creating environments for prayer through the grotto project at the south side of our gym and a renovation of the Adoration Chapel. We hope to foster a greater love for the Eucharist through the renovation of the chapel, which will allow the Tabernacle to be accessible from the Church and for the Eucharist to be exposed in the chapel for Perpetual Adoration.
An integral part of discipleship is service, or answering the call of Jesus to help others, especially those most in need. We offer a variety of opportunities to serve our community and beyond through our Human Needs Committee, our work with our Sister Parish in Tanzania, and through many other service and social outreach groups: Funeral Luncheon Committee, Bereavement Ministry, Pro Life Committee, Refugee Resettlement Community, Sienna Francis House support and Craft Ministry.
Service also means serving those in our parish community. Realizing that life brings on sets of challenges that can be difficult to navigate, we are working in partnership with Catholic Charities to provide services to help members in our Parish to navigate some of life’s most difficult challenges. We are able to offer therapy services for individuals, couples and families by a mental health practitioner at no cost.
Since July 1st, 2019, we have registered 192 new families, received 7 new members into our Church through our RCIA program and baptized 105 children. This can only be done through the wonderful community of Mary Our Queen.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support for the Mary Our Queen community.
God’s Blessings,
Fr. Marc