Hello, St. Clement parishioners and friends!
With this dispatch, we are launching a weekly email newsletter to keep everyone up to date on parish doings, ways to get involved, and resources for the life of faith. We’d love to have your input on what would be helpful to you, so please click "reply" at the end of this message to let us know!
🗓️ Calendar Notes:
- Knights of Columbus pancake breakfast after the 8am Mass this weekend!
- Reminder: no faith formation apologetics classes this weekend due to Fall Break
- DCYC for High School students next Saturday 26 Oct at Cox Convention Center. Permission slips are required.
- Fall parish grounds clean-up day next Saturday 26 Oct at 8am!
- The Feast of St. Clement of Rome is November 23rd. That’s a Saturday this year. We’re planning a Mass and potluck to celebrate! We need volunteers to help plan and make the event happen. If you’d like to be a part of that team, please join us this Sunday 20 Oct at 9:15 over pancakes in the Marian Center for a planning meeting. If you’d like to be a part of the planning team but can’t make the meeting, please click here to let us know of your interest!
St. Clement Feast Day Planning Committee
Sign up here to be a part of the planning committee for the Feast of St. Clement of Rome parish celebration on Saturday 23 Nov 2024!
Disciple Maker Index (DMI) opening next week!
As announced last weekend, our parish has the opportunity to participate in a process to identify strengths, weaknesses, desires, needs, and goals via the Disciple Maker Index (“DMI” for short), a survey of sorts that all parishioners aged 18 and older are invited and encouraged to complete. The DMI will open on Wed 30 Oct and close on Tues 26 Nov. It will be available in both online and paper formats. The more input we get from the DMI, the better we will be able to serve the current needs of the parish and plan for the future. Your input is very important!
🎶 Music Notes for October
Since October is the month of the Rosary, we will continue singing the Marian antiphon Salve Regina after Mass each week. For easy reference, the number for this antiphon is posted second-to-last in the list on the hymn board. To learn more about the antiphon, check out this video, which is also available as a podcast in apps such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Pocket Casts. Find it there by searching for Chant School, then look for episode 5. Alternatively, here’s a two-minute recording of the chant.
Parish Staff Introductions 👋
In the first few issues of this newsletter, we plan to introduce the various folks who play some sort of leadership role in the parish so that parishioners and visitors know whom to ask for help or make suggestions to. We’ll start with the staff.
Pastor Juan A. Grajeda came to St. Clement in July 2024 and celebrated a birthday this week! Please pray for God’s richest blessings upon him! Originally from Guadalajara Jalisco Mexico, Fr. Juan was ordained 7 years ago after finishing his theological studies at Mount. St. Mary’s of the West seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, in July 2017 in his home parish San Miguel Arcángel by Bishop David Konderla. His first assignment was as associate pastor at St John’s in Bartlesville. After 2 years he was assigned to St Francis Xavier in Tulsa, where he served for 5 years.
Deacon & Parish Life Coordinator Neal Harton has been a parishioner at St Clement since1985 and was ordained a permanent deacon on May 31, 2014. He and wife Margaret (Muffie) have been married for 48 years. They have two daughters and two grandchildren.
Deacon Bill Monteith was ordained a permanent deacon on June 24, 2023, and came to St. Clement in July 2023. Dcn. Bill serves as the food market manager at Catholic Charities. He and his wife Christine have been married for 24 years. They have no children.
Enilda Reyes has served as St. Clement’s office manager and director of Hispanic ministry since February 2010. She has been married to Pedro Velazquez since 1995. They have 4 children: Ester (our youth director), Alex, Jesica and Ana. Enilda was born in Puerto Rico and is a cradle Catholic. When asked to serve the Hispanic community with marriage prep, RCIA, etc., she wanted to be better prepared, which led her to acquire her master's degree in theology from Newman University.
Molly Garrison has served at St. Clement since August of 2020 as the religious education director. St. Clement is her home parish. She is married to her husband Jake Garrison of 13 years and has 3 daughters Josie (13), Maci (10) and Mylee (6). In her spare time, she volunteers coaching girls’ lacrosse and spending time with family!
Ester Velazquez has served at St. Clement as youth coordinator since 2015. She’s been married since 2021 to her husband Victor Flores. She enjoys spending time with their two fur babies, Maui & Mia. Born in Ohio but raised in Bixby, she is a cradle Catholic and daughter of our mffice Manager, Enilda. While Ester excitedly participates in many aspects of our parish, the youth are her main interest and where her heart is. In her free time you can catch her singing her favorite songs, traveling, finding the newest restaurants, and entertaining her family and friends in Bixby.
Bonnie Griffin has served as music director and keyboardist for the three Masses in English each weekend at St. Clement since August of 2017 and is a longtime liturgical musician for the Diocese of Tulsa, beginning as a high schooler in her home parish of Sts. Peter & Paul in Cushing. She is also “Mom” to four teenagers, one in college and not a teenager for much longer.
Griselda Duran de Meraz has served at St. Clement for the last 6 years as custodian and in many other things that she does around our parish. She is Mexican with the blessing of been born in a Catholic family. She has been married for 32 years to Jose Meraz. They have three children, Kenia, Roger and Anthony, and have been blessed with three grandchildren.