St. Anne Catholic Church in Gresham, OR

On this First Sunday of Lent, the Gospel recalls the themes of temptation, conversion and the Good News. Mark the Evangelist writes: “The Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan” (cf. Mk 1:12-13). Jesus goes into the desert to prepare Himself for His mission in the world. For us too, Lent is a time of spiritual “contest”, of spiritual struggle: we are called to confront the Evil One through prayer in order to be able, with God’s help, to overcome him in our daily life. We know that evil unfortunately is at work in our existence and around us, where there is violence, rejection of the other, closure, war, injustice. These are all works of the Evil One. Immediately following the temptations in the desert, Jesus begins to preach the Gospel, that is, the Good News. And this Good News demands our conversion — every single day — and the Church invites us to pray for this. In fact, we are never sufficiently orientated towards God and we must continually direct our minds and our hearts towards Him. (Angelus, 18 February 2018) [www.vaticannews.va/en.html]

                                               - o - o - o - o - o -

                                    PALABRAS DEL SANTO PADRE

The Governor’s Office notified the Archdiocese of Portland that the capacity limits for faith institutions are public health recommendations only, not legal requirements. As a result, directives for parishes have changed: Catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Portland may accommodate as many people as possible in both church buildings and satellite locations, while strictly maintaining 6 foot distancing, up to 50% of the fire marshal’s maximum capacity for the space. At St. Anne our maximum for the time being is 80 people. Please note that few, if any parishes, will be able to reach 50% of capacity due to seating configurations and church layout while observing the 6 foot social distancing requirement. For some parishes Sign-ups for Masses are no longer required; however, for St. Anne, because we are a large community, we recommend you to Sing-up for Weekends Mass or Holy Days of Obligation. Masking continues to be required and cleaning protocols will still be maintained.

As always, in behalf of our parish staff…thank you for your support and patience as we await a pandemic free future! Masses continue to be live streamed on Facebook at St-Anne Parish

La Oficina de la Gobernadora notificó a la Arquidiócesis de Portland que los límites de capacidad para las instituciones religiosas son solo recomendaciones de salud pública, no requisitos legales. Como resultado, las directivas para las parroquias han cambiado: las parroquias católicas en la Arquidiócesis de Portland pueden acomodar a tantas personas como sea posible tanto en la Iglesia como en ubicaciones satélites, manteniendo estrictamente una distancia de 6 pies, hasta el 50% de la capacidad máxima del espacio. En Santa Ana, nuestra máxima capacidad por el momento es de 80 personas. Tenga en cuenta que pocas parroquias podrán alcanzar el 50% de su capacidad debido al acomodo de las bancas y el diseño de la iglesia; y siempre respetando el requisito de distancia social de 6 pies. Algunas parroquias ya no requieren que se registren para las Misas; sin embargo, para Santa Ana, debido a que somos una comunidad muy grande, les recomendamos que se anoten para la Misa de los fines de semana o los días de obligación, para asegurar su lugar. El uso de cubre bocas sigue siendo requisito y los protocolos de limpieza se seguirán manteniendo.