St. George Parish
5306 13^th Ave S
Seattle, WA 98108

 Dear   St. George Parishioners, 

Fall marks the beginning of our parish life and school year.  It is season of transition and also a season of new opportunities.  Unfortunately, my list of obligations seems to grow longer as the day grows shorter.

We are each blessed with 24 hours in a day, though I wish I had more.  As my schedule fills up, daily prayer and meditation become even more important.  I am blessed to begin each day in communal prayer with my brothers in the rectory.  I hope you and your family will also make time for God on a daily basis, perhaps by saying a prayer at breakfast or on the way to work or school; or by attending daily mass.  I am amazed at how much more visible God is in my day when I start each morning with Him. 

July 1st marks the beginning of our church fiscal year, and with that comes new appointments for many of our priests.  We bid farewell to Fr. Marc Powell in June and welcomed our new priest, Fr. Bob Kenny, to the cluster in July.  Fr. Bob comes to us from Immaculate Heart of Mary in Kelso and Saint Mary at Castle Rock. 

Fr. Kenny was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and first thought about being a priest in 2nd grade.  This would last until junior high, when he started to become interested in movies.  (Not surprisingly, he worked at a movie theater before attending the seminary.)  Pope John Paul II’s visit to the U.S. while Fr. Bob was in college re-ignited his interest in the priesthood.  He love pets, primarily cats, but also dogs, and has several animals living with his parents in Longview.  Fr. Kenny looks forward to getting to know everyone in the three parishes, and yes, he still loves movies. 

We also welcome a new face to our regional cluster.  Kevin F. Murphy is our new Pastoral Assistant for Finance, Administration and Facilities.  Kevin is a Seattle native coming home after a ten year stay in California.  He is an O’Dea graduate, with undergraduate degrees from the University of Washington, and an MBA from Seattle University.  He has a background in business management, including having been in charge of all the concessions at the Kingdome, and more recently, managing operations for a west coast wholesale hardware business.  Kevin was active in the St. Vincent de Paul Society in his parish in California. 

He was selected through an open recruiting process, with a panel selecting finalists. The panel included a member of the finance council from each of our parishes, the director of parish financial services for the archdiocese, the parish administrator at St. Michael’s Parish in Olympia, and our former administrator, Francisco Ebreo. We were blessed with several highly qualified candidates.  I believe Kevin will be of great service to our parish communities, and I know he comes into the position with great enthusiasm and a sense of ministry. 

Later this fall we’ll begin our fall Stewardship Renewal, a chance to revisit our gifts of time, talent and treasure to our parish.  Volunteers are a key component of parish life and without them many programs simply would not exist. 

We recently celebrated Catechetical Sunday, blessing the Religious Education and school teachers who give so generously of their time and talents to help educate our children.  In the next few months, we will have our annual training for liturgical ministers in each parish.  If you have thought about serving as a Lector, Eucharistic Minister at Mass or to the homebound, Altar Server, Sacristan, or Usher, now is the time to join.  Please call the office to let them know of your interest and look for upcoming announcements about the training. 

We continue to celebrate our Family Mass on the third Sunday of the month during the school year.  The St. Edward Family Mass is at 9:00 a.m., the St. George Family Mass is at 10:30 a.m. and the St. Paul Family Mass is at 10:30 a.m.  Our school and Religious Education programs work together to ensure children actively participate in these liturgies.  If your child does not attend Religious Ed. classes, I hope you will consider enrolling them.  Be assured that all our masses are open to everyone, including visitors and families of other faith traditions, so please feel free to invite your friends and neighbors (or your children’s friends) to join us.

In Christ, 

Father Felino Paulino, Pastor
St. Edward, St. George and St. Paul Parishes and Schools