Giving Thanks

Friday, Nov. 20, 2020
Giving Thanks
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Father Tai Nguyen, pastor, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish
“What I am most grateful for are my life and my good health. God has helped me to overcome all trials, hardship, difficulties in life as a pastor of God. For my parishioners and my parish, who are still doing well physically, spiritually and financially. That our bishop is always in good health.”

Sister Martha Garcia, DC, executive director, Give Me a Chance
“I am most thankful for the wonderful group of volunteers that I have the privilege to minister with at Give Me A Chance. I am also very grateful for the staff and their generosity of time and talent. Our clients offer a source of reality of our service by entering the center with a greeting, a smile, a mask and a joy of being a part of the GMAC ‘family.’ The children in the after-school program attend with an eagerness to improve in their academics and are eager to enter into the special activities that are offered. So, I am truly grateful for the children and their parents.  The gratitude that all the clients have for the opportunities offered them gives me a thankful heart for them. All of this is an offshoot of 100 years of diverse service that the Daughters of Charity have offered in education and social work.”  

Randy Chappell, Basic Needs director, Catholic Community Services of Utah
“As CCS’ Basic Needs director, I am thankful for multiple things. I am most thankful for my wife and four kids and the support they give me to follow my heart in what I do. When it comes to CCS, I am thankful for the staff in Salt Lake and Ogden and the love they show while serving individuals facing homelessness and families and children facing food insecurity. We are blessed to be in a position to serve individuals in need with help from our community.”

Father Albert Ndepachio Kileo, ALCP, pastor, St. Anthony of Padua Parish
“I am grateful to God and the government for allowing churches to continue to worship, although in a limited number, during these challenging times. Let us continue to pray that God will save us and the world from this pandemic.”

Susan Nakaba, principal, Kearns-St. Ann Catholic School 
“As the principal of Kearns-St. Ann’s, I am most grateful for the health of all of our beautiful students, staff and families. KSA has shown a true community and selfless spirit in keeping everyone safe.”

Father Martin Diaz, rector, Cathedral of the Madeleine
“I am most grateful for my faith. Jesus rose from the dead! God always brings good out of evil. Throughout this challenging time, I have seen time and again the goodness of people reaching out to assist others. I don’t know when we will be past the pandemic, but I do know by faith the goodness on the other side will be greater than the goodness of before.”

Dustin Pollock, newly baptized St. Rose of Lima parishioner
“I am thankful for the life the Lord has given me. I am thankful for the dark times I have lived through; they make me appreciate the light that Our Lord sheds on me today. I am thankful for my wife, who has been the rock in my life.”

Deacon Joaquin Mixco, coordinator, Diocese of Salt Lake City of Detention Ministry
“I keep the words of St. Paul to the Romans, 14:8 in my heart: ‘If we live, we live to the Lord, if we die, we die to the Lord.’ I give thanks for being able to serve another day, and I hope to draw closer and closer to him when my time comes to be called to his glory.”

Father Kenneth Vialpando, Vicar for Clergy, Diocese of Salt Lake City
“As I slowly and cautiously resume my post here in the Chancery, I am thankful for all the prayers that you sent my way during the last month and a half as I recovered from the coronavirus. Thanks to God’s grace and your support, I am not only a stronger man today, I am a more grateful man! As we enter into Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas, I pray that God will continue to bless you and your families abundantly with all the blessings that heaven can provide. May his gifts of faith and hope encourage us to look for the Christ child, not only in the manger there in Bethlehem, but in one another as we welcome a new Church year, a new calendar year and a new season of refreshment.”

Mother Therese Bui, OCD, mother superior, Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
“We, the Carmelite nuns of Salt Lake City, give thanks to God for the gift of faith that sustains and encourages us through dark times; for our Carmelite vocation as we raise our hearts and prayers to the almighty God on behalf of the entire Catholic Church; and for our friends and the wonderful support we have received.”

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