When St. Mary's Parishioner, Stephen “Steve” Gerus receives his doctoral degree in sociology at Graduate School Commencement on Dec. 16, his family, including his grandchildren, will be in the stands at Cassell Coliseum to watch him. At 75, he will be one of four graduate students in Virginia Tech’s history to complete a Ph.D. at age 75 or older.
On December 2-3, 2022, the Glean Team will hold its 13th potato drop at the AGAPE Center in Christiansburg. They need volunteers to help sort/organize/inventory 40,000 pounds of potatoes for distribution to over 30 food banks and organizations in the New River Valley. It takes many hands to run this event so if you can give two or more hours of service to the those in need in our community and to all of SW Virginia, please sign up by clicking this article. The event will take place at the Agape Warehouse located at 501 Church Street, Christiansburg.
Thank you to the Knights of Columbus, Fr. Fox Council for the donation of a new wheelchair to St. Mary's. The chair will be stored in the Narthex and able to be used by parishioners to bring individuals into and out of the church from their vehicles. With the use of this chair, the parish has 3 other chairs in the church that can be borrowed to take care of family members at home. To borrow one of the chairs, please contact Teri Wysocki, officestaff@stmarysblacksburg.org
Thank you to everyone who helped make our annual parish picnic a huge success! It was a beautiful day with food, fun and fellowship for all! A special thank you to the Knights of Columbus for grilling, Marie Castillo for coordinating the kitchen helpers, and her son, Peyton for calling Bingo, McCoy Funeral Home for loaning their tents, Vintage Cellars for donating the wine, John DeLuca & Pepsi for donating the non-alcoholic beverages, the Church Ladies for coordinating the 50/50 raffle, Judith, Avi & Beni Liberman for working the beverage station and Mary Arnold for coordinating ice cream. Thank you to all of the wonderful volunteers who helped with set-up, food serving side dish/desert donations and clean-up!
The Parish Picnic has been moved to Sunday, September 18, 2022 after the 11:30am Mass. The Parish will be providing hamburgers and hot dogs, being cooked by the Knights of Columbus, and parishioners are to bring side dishes and desserts. Contact Teri Wysocki at officestaff@stmarysblacksburg.org to volunteer to help at the picnic.
The Mother's Garden is a prayer location near the Gazebo in front of the Church. This garden was built and dedicated to Teresa Gabriel Cohill by the Cohill Family in memory of their mother and wife. This garden is for all St. Mary's Parishioners to sit and pray in a tranquil place. The garden was dedicated on Saturday, September 3, 2022 by Fr. John Asare and attended by family and friends. Please take the time to go sit and pray at the statue of Mary and enjoy the flowers that are surrounding her statue.
The St. Mary's Ministry fair will take place in the parish hall on August 27-28 after each mass. Come and visit the ministries offered at St. Mary's to see what they are doing and to sign up and join. All the ministries are in need of new people to provide food to poor, comfort to those in need and to beautify the parish from flowers to the grounds. All are welcome.
Support Maureen Fuller, a recent engineering graduate of Virginia Tech. She married her husband Alex here at St. Mary's in July 2021 and now she is beginning a 3-year mission with EMI to serve low-resource communities and ministries in the US and around the world. Maureen will be working on water and sanitation engineering projects while sharing the joy of the Gospel, and she needs your help to sustain her mission! Donate or get involved: maureen.fuller@emiworld.org
Troop 706 will be in 'full uniform' and helping out at our Souper Bowl Sunday event on Feb 6! Join them as they will be a visible reminder to the parish of their service orientation.
If anyone has a snowblower (new or in good condition used) that they would like to donate to St. Mary's, please contact Elizabeth Zirkle, Business Manager, 552-1091.