A Note From Fr. Bob

October 17, 2021

Dear Friends,

Grace and peace to you!

Recently, someone asked, who serves on our Parish Council? I am glad they asked and pleased to introduce our council members. They are: Cheri Deckard, President, Ann Allman, Pat Cunningham, Paul Farrar, Caleb Grothoff, Jeanne Kielhofner, and Jeff Pattison. Beginning with this bulletin, and for the next few bulletins, we will provide a brief biography of the members to assist in getting to know them.

Cheri Deckard is president of the Parish Council. She has been married to Joe for almost 30 years. They were married at Saint Blaise in the old church in February 1992. They have two sons, Joe and Jake. Joe lives in Kansas City and Jake lives here in St. Louis. Cheri has been involved in various ways at Holy Spirit over the years. Currently she is involved with the HandS Food Pantry and Faith in Action. Having participated in the Archdiocesan Lay Formation Program a couple of years ago, she felt called to be part of the Parish Council. For Cheri, she felt that this would be an opportunity to help bring our parish community closer together. She is grateful for the opportunity to serve our parish.

Jeff Pattison has been a Holy Spirit parishioner for 21 years along with his wife Lori and two boys, Bryce (High school senior) and Reid (4th grade).  Both boys attended Holy Spirit school throughout.  Jeff has previously served on the Finance Committee, served as an HSAA representative and has been highly involved in ACTS and many other efforts at Holy Spirit.  As a Human Resources professional, he has a strong desire to understand what people want and need and try to make that possible.  He brings that same desire to his involvement at Holy Spirit, working to directly and indirectly evangelize to bring others to Christ. 

Ann Allman and her husband, Rick, I grew up in Our Lady of Presentation Parish where they were married 55 years ago. As newly-weds they moved into St. Mary’s Parish and were members there for 35 years until it was closed for airport expansion. In 2001 they joined St. Blaise Parish which became Holy Spirit Parish. They have 4 children and 7 grandchildren, 3 who attended Saint Blaise/Holy Spirit School. Ann has been involved with ACTS retreats for almost 20 years and she currently serves on the ACTS Core Team. Through the years, she has volunteered for many activities in the parish, but her favorite is maintaining Mary’s grotto.

Thank you to all our Parish Council members for representing our parishioners.

Let’s pray for each other this week.

Peace,

Father Bob