Fr. Tom’s Letters

Each week Fr. Tom writes a letter to parishioners in our bulletin. Every letter is comprehensive, including current information about the Parish, an explanation of Scripture for that Sunday, and an invitation to become more engaged in the life of the parish.

November 2, 2025

Dear Parishioners,

WE CAN DO THIS!

Those familiar with Saint Anne’s know the tremendous generosity of parishioners as we help others celebrate the great feasts of Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year, we have received an increased number of requests for assistance, At this time, we are committed to assisting a total of 700 families and seniors who live alone with Thanksgiving meals. The numbers are slightly higher for Christmas. For Thanksgiving, our assistance takes the form of purchasing food and packing it into two large reusable shopping bags. In addition to packing these food donations, we accept monetary support with the check notation, “Thanksgiving Sponsor a Family” or you can give through WeShare.

At Christmas time we sponsor families with food donations and new clothing and toy Christmas gifts. The need is great for both efforts, yet I know WE CAN DO THIS! I know we can because we have done so in the past. This year the need is just greater in the Wyandanch and Uniondale communities with whom we have developed such a special relationship at this time of year.

The need is greater for many reasons. We all know the increased cost of basic food items and groceries. We know that when we do our own shopping. We know too that the government shutdown and cutbacks in various assistance programs has had an increasing impact on the poor. Still we know our community is greatly blessed and WE CAN DO THIS.

Pope Leo has written to all the Church about the necessity for love of the poor. About 35 parishioners gathered last week to discuss the Pope’s October 4 letter about love for the poor. Eloquently, Pope Leo writes about the poverty of Jesus from his birth in a manger to his death on the Cross. Leo XIV highlights the history of the Church and the growth of Church ministries in responding to those who experience poverty. Pope Leo is precise in identifying political and economic policies, social and cultural practices that make it so very difficult for the poor to leave behind the experience of lack of food, clothing, and shelter. Yet, Pope Leo knows that as Jesus encountered the poor, so when we encounter and give of our blessings to the poor, great things can happen. So with the encouragement and inspiration of Pope Leo, WE CAN DO THIS!

We are a parish of 3000 families, Imagine if each family filled two bags with non-perishable food for a Thanksgiving meal. This would mean 6000 bags – and we only need 1500! You know that together WE CAN DO THIS! Pope Leo knows we can too.

Time is important for this effort. Thanksgiving food is being delivered to Wyandanch and Uniondale on the morning of Saturday, November 22^nd. There will be lots of prep work to be done before then. Drivers are needed to help deliver on the morning of 11/22. Early drop-off is possible. Lots of information can be found in the bulletin – please read the information so you can join in because you know that together WE CAN DO THIS!

Very soon, you will be finding information in the bulletin for our Christmas sponsorships. The Christmas food and gifts will all be prepared and delivered on Saturday, December 13. We won’t have much time between Thanksgiving and Christmas to do all that has to be done for the 700 families. But if you help us, we all know WE CAN DO THIS!

Let’s get our kids involved. We have more than 3000 children involved in various ministries for children. Classes in the parish school and faith formation can organize with the leadership of a parent to sponsor a family, CYO teams, scout troops, teen groups, altar servers, school sports teams together could probably sponsor 100 families if we put together all our youthful energies with parent guidance and leadership. With our parents and kids involved God knows WE CAN DO THIS! (If you would like to get involved, please email Linda Leone at lindaleone@stannesgc.org or Stacey Young at syoung@stannesgc.org)

Please consider joining the parish in this great WE CAN DO THIS effort for Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Have a Blessed All Souls Day!

Fr. Tom

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