A welcome from Fr. Michael Barbarossa

 

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Dearest Friends,

 

On behalf of St. Rose parish in Longview, St. Catherine Mission in Cathlamet, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Kelso, and St. Mary in Castle Rock. I’d like to thank your interest in our parish and for visiting our website. I hope you will find the information here helpful.

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The reason our parish is here is to transform the people of Longview into Saints. Saints are ordinary people like you who see, think, and live like Jesus. We don’t learn to see, think, and live like Jesus the same way we learn a natural skill. We learn to see, think, and live like Jesus by receiving the Grace of God. In other words, Jesus actually transfers his own spirit into us. He fills our heart (our “core”) with the same love that he has for God and for others.

 

This is why we pray a prayer called “Mass” on Sundays. There are four main parts of the Mass. First, we call to mind our sins and ask God to have mercy on us. Then we listen to the Word of God in the scriptures, and the priest or deacon explains what they mean and helps us understand how they are applicable to our lives. Then we reenact the Lord’s supper like Jesus commands in the Gospels (Luke 22:19-20) and partake of communion, which is the Body and Blood of Jesus (John 6:53). Finally, we are sent forth in peace to glorify the Lord with our lives by serving the community and living the words Jesus teaches us.

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If you were a Christian living in the west prior to the 1500s, the Mass is the prayer you would have prayed on Sunday when you went to Church. Nowadays, many Christians are unfamiliar with the Mass and worship Jesus in Churches that are much less formal. This can make the Mass intimidating for a lot of people who aren’t used to it. If praying the Mass with us on Sunday is something you’d like to do, please contact us.  

 

You do not have to be Catholic to attend Mass. In fact, we have many people join us on Sunday who are not Catholic. They like the way we pray and they like what they hear, but they don’t quite believe everything we believe so they don’t take communion. If you aren’t Catholic, we’d love for you to join us but we’d also like you to contact us first so we can give you a proper welcome and show you around our parish.

 

In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about our parish and how we see, think, and live, please visit our blog, and find us on Facebook and Instagram.  

 

 

Thanks again for visiting our website,                             

 

Fr. Michael Barbarossa