Parish celebrates 50th anniversary
By Frank Flegel
REGINA — A yearlong celebration of 50 years service to the community ended the weekend of Sept. 6 - 9 as parishioners of St. Martin de Porres Parish celebrated their 50th anniversary.
The year began Nov. 5 - 6, 2011 with the reading of a special proclamation written by parish member Rita Hengen and read by celebration chair Lynn Jones. The final weekend began with a mass celebrated by pastor Rev. Gary Lindenbach and a wine and cheese reception, Saturday afternoon mass with Archbishop Daniel Bohan followed by a barbeque and Sunday mass again celebrated by Lindenbach followed by a brunch.
“We were very happy with the entire weekend,” said Jones. “Everything went well, we had more people attended than expected.”
The main and largest event was the Saturday mass with the archbishop and the following barbeque. It had special historical displays and an old-fashioned fishing pond along with other activities for children.
Bohan’s homily began with a history lesson on the life of St. Martin de Porres who dedicated his life to the sick and the poor. “So you have a wonderful patron here in your parish.”
The archbishop went on and touched on familiar themes of the challenges the church faces today; children not going to mass and grandparents seeing their grandchildren unbaptized. “For people like us who believe in Jesus as our light and our life, we find these realities unsettling and perhaps discouraging.” He referred to the strong faith of the parish’s original members who overcame obstacles to build the church and a vibrant community.
“We face our own challenges today. But we have the same faith and the same strength to meet and overcome our challenges.” He called Pope Benedict’s proclamation of a Year of Faith to begin in October timely. “I will be asking the people of St. Martin’s to begin the next 50 years of parish life by entering into this Year of Faith along with the church throughout the world and to seek and rediscover the joy that is to be found in our Catholic faith.”
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