STILLWATER

St. Michael and St. Mary churches

Catholic Worker

“One of the best things happening at the churches of St. Mary and of St. Michael in Stillwater is our Stillwater Catholic Worker Community,” Father Brian Lynch said. “With the guidance of Thomas and Karen Loome, we in the St. Croix River Valley have an opportunity to live the Christian values championed by Dorothy Day, especially solidarity with those who are poor in one way or another. This manifests itself in a number of houses of hospitality through which our Catholic Workers offer assistance to women in need.

“If you would be interested in learning more about the Stillwater Catholic Worker Community or the Catholic Worker Movement in general, visit: www.stmichaelstillwater.org/life/parish-groups/catholic-worker-group.”

ST. PAUL

NET Ministries

30 years in ministry

“NET Ministries, an international Catholic youth ministry based in St. Paul, will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this coming year. NET is committed to challenging young Catholics to love Christ and embrace the life of the church. It offers training in youth evangelization and leads more than 1,000 retreats annually. This year, 130 young adult volunteers will be sent out in teams across the United States to conduct retreats for Catholic teens. The 11 NET teams share their faith with more than  60,000 youth nationally every year,” wrote Alison Duffy

Visit http://www.netusa.org for more information, or call (651) 450-6833.

FOREST LAKE

St. Peter School

50 years, many youth

“This school year is exciting because St. Peter’s Catholic School in Forest Lake is educating its 50th group of students. In September 1961, the School Sisters of Notre Dame and the St. Peter’s community began a joint venture to educate the youth of St. Peter’s and the Forest Lake community.

“Initially serving 162 children in grades two through six, we are now serving 320 children in grades preschool through six. As we educate the second and third generation of students, we strive to continue the wonderful tradition of educating children both spiritually and academically that was begun by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. We are looking forward to our 50th anniversary celebration Aug. 6-7,” wrote Karen Anderson.

ST. PAUL

St. Cecilia Church

Hand-crafted vessels

“When the word came out several months ago that churches needed to use precious metal vessels for celebrating Eucharist, [St. Cecilia’s] knew that [it] would have to discontinue our traditional use of fine Waterford Crystal,” reported Father Michael Byron, pastor of the St. Paul parish.

“We elected to have vessels hand crafted specifically for our parish. We partnered with the same metal craftsman, Chris Rand, who fashioned our altar candle stands a few years ago. Chris is the son of a Presbyterian minister and has taken great interest in helping our church. Through his careful artistry, he incorporated images taken from our church building into the new vessels.”