St. Ignatius of Loyola Parish
In July we celebrated the Feast of St. Kateri Tekakwitha with our annual Mass celebration. The Mass has native drumming by our Native American parishioner, Stoney Cuthair. Stoney began drumming at a very young age and has become a local favorite among our parishioners. We always end our Mass with a Native American blessing and lunch afterwards. We constantly pray to Kateri for her to intercede and bring more Native American families back to the church and she does.
The last weekend of July we celebrated our 124th San Ignacio Fiesta celebration. This celebration was originated by the first Jesuit priest of St. Ignatius of Loyola in the community of Ignacio, CO and includes parishioners and all community members (tribal and non-tribal). This year’s celebration began with a parade on Saturday, hosted by St. Ignatius Parish and continued with community events. On Sunday, before Mass we gathered around our bell tower to watch the Matachine Dancers from Mexico who have a love and devotion to Our Lady de Guadalupe. Afterwards, we continued with a procession, Mass, dinner, food, music and fellowship. We open our doors to everyone and it has become an annual family celebration.
We proudly hosted a Eucharistic Adoration at St. Ignatius Parish as part of year-long pilgrimage that has been taking place between our community parishes. The pilgrimage just happened to fall on the Feast Day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which made it even more beautiful. This pilgrimage began in October 2023 and we would meet monthly at different locations, including St. Columba Church, Sacred Heart Church, Mercy Hospital Chapel, Greenmount Cemetery and Silent Meadows Chapel. We are so grateful to our pastors: Fr. Kevin Novack, Fr. Heriberto Torres, Fr. John Jatau, and Fr. Jim Koenigsfeld for opening our hearts and eyes to how beautiful and inspirational Eucharistic Adoration truly is.
Now we begin preparing for our religious education program and work into our winter programs. God is Good!
