St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

Steeped in a rich and vibrant history of service and growth, St. Francis of Assisi has been serving the needs of Catholics for almost 125 years and welcomes young and old from all walks of life into our faith and social community. St. Francis prides itself on being a family-friendly church. We believe that all members of our church community are important to the celebration of the Eucharist.

We invite you to learn more about the parish by exploring this website. Please visit the “Our Parish” section to learn more about the church and its rich traditions. You can also learn how to exercise your stewardship of time and talent in one of the wonderful parish ministries by visiting the “Parish Ministries” section. Some of the many ways that you can become involved include: being an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion or Lector, singing in our choir, serving the needy through the Ministry to the Poor, or by joining our Senior Associates group. For the youngest members of our parish family, opportunities to get involved include serving Mass as altar servers and Children's Ministry, a group which coordinates a variety of activities including weekly Children’s Liturgy of the Word, Christmas Nativity Program, and May Crowning.

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Reverend Michael J. Schneller
Pastor

August 14, 2022

The Special Olympics is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering individuals with intellectual disabilities to become physically fit, productive and respected members of society through sports training and competition. The Special Olympics provides opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.

In the Special Olympics a few years ago, something happened that demonstrates the truth of today’s letter to the Hebrews and what we have experienced as a community in the years following recent hurricanes in our state. This particular year children who have physical disabilities when it came to walking, running, or using their motor skills were invited to participate in a hundred-yard dash. All the children were excited about being asked to run in the race.

When the starter gave the go sign, all the children took off trying their best to reach the finish line. One young boy with multiple sclerosis, however, stumbled and fell about five steps into the race. As the other children kept running, a little girl noticed that he had fallen. She stopped and yelled for the other children to look. They paused and watched her as she turned around to go back to help her fallen comrade get up. She put his arms around her shoulder and started out again for the finish line. All the other children came back to join her, to help her, and to make sure that their fallen comrade finished the race. They all crossed the finish line together.

The Letter to the Hebrews encourages us in a marathon race of discipleship. Thousands of people take part in city marathons around the world. For years we have been in a marathon of recovery from recent hurricanes in our state, especially Ida almost one year ago.  Hurricanes have done significant damage to many of our homes, and other facilities.  The Archdiocese is still assessing the damage with the hope that FEMA will cover the costs to recover from ninety million dollars of damage. We are still waiting for news of when the roof damage to the rectory and the fence damage surrounding the rectory back yard and the church air-conditioning units will be repaired.

The author of Hebrews exhorts his readers to persevere in their faith, regardless of the cost. A cloud of witnesses, those who have already reached the heavenly finish line, cheers us on. Ahead is the great Pace Setter, Jesus, who ran through the flames of opposition and death to take the prize of resurrection. Remember the lesson of the Special Olympics: that it is not who finishes first, but that all finish together!

As we move into the peak of the hurricane season we implore the intercession of Our Lady of Prompt Succor that the people of our region and our brothers and sisters in our twin parish in Giles, Haiti will be protected from further damage to life and property. Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hasten to help us!