Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

First, please note the change in the daily Mass time for Memorial Day, Monday, May 28 at 9:00am. There will be no confessions or 5:30pm Mass this day.

This summer, St. Mary's warmly welcomes Rafael Ghattas, a seminarian for our diocese entering 2nd Year Theology at St. Mary's Seminary in Houston, Texas. Although originally from Egypt, Rafa's home parish is St. Andrew's in Myrtle Beach. Welcome, Rafa!

Don't forget that we will have a special Mass for our retiring school principal, Mrs. Peggy Wertz, Wednesday, June 6, at 8:30am in the church. After Mass, drop into St. Angela Hall to express your appreciation to Mrs. Wertz for her remarkable years of dedicated service to our school and parish communities.

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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Congratulations to Jimmy Touzeau and Francisco Vargas, who were ordained as transitional deacons Friday, May 18. (Transitional deacons are seminarians who are ordained on the way to priesthood, as compared to our permanent deacons.) Many of you will remember Deacon Touzeau when he was assigned as a seminarian here the summer of 2015. Please continue to pray for him and his classmate as they complete their last year of seminary and prepare for ordination to the priesthood during the summer of 2019. Congratulations, Deacons!

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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Deacon Robert Waters, who has served our parish and the Diocese of Charleston for decades, the last twenty-seven years of which in Holy Orders as a Deacon, entered into eternal rest at his home in Aiken on Monday, May 7, surrounded by his loving family, including his wife of fifty-six years, Donna. (Since the bulletin must go to print on Tuesday morning, full arrangements have not been made as I write this.) Deacon Bob's greatest love was our Lord. He was able to love everyone in the deepest, most beautiful way because he loved them through the love of Christ his Lord. He was likely the person most prepared for death that I've seen. In the words of one of his daughters: "My father looked at death as a very beautiful thing. He said he always waited for the special moment that he would be with our Lord. ... His wish to his family was to always love the Lord because He was good to him and helped him at the lowest moments of his life. Let us go and rejoice in the Lord because my father made it to the place he worked his whole life to get to." Well done, good and faithful Deacon. May you rest in peace. Amen.

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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Welcome one and all to our annual Parish Picnic! Every first Sunday of May, we gather as one parish after Holy Mass for food, fun and fellowship. One of the difficulties of a large parish is that, if we are not careful, it can become like five smaller parishes who use one campus. Since we are by nature creatures of habit (and that can be just fine in general), we usually like "our" Mass time and rarely go to other Masses. One unfortunate result is that those at one Mass time may never get to meet anyone else of the over 1,800 families, or roughly over 4,500 registered souls, who are also part of the broader St. Mary's family. So hopefully, for this hour, we have broken out of our comfort zones and are attending the events today. Try to introduce yourself to parishioners you haven't met. You can always start with, "Hello! What Mass do you usually go to?"

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