Trunk or Treat Halloween –  Sunday, October 29th 3:30-5:30 pm in the church parking lot. This family event is now in its 3rd year. If you would like to decorate your trunk, donate treats or help out with this event, please use this link contact Katy 542.0321 or kmckinnon@sfxmissoula.org

Remembrance Service –  a candle light prayer service  November 2nd at 7:00 pm where we remember our loved ones who have recently passed.

A sampling of recent events:

Parish Picnic – Sunday, September 10, 2023 following the 10:00 am Mass. Come join in the fun at our annual Picnic following the 10 am Mass on September 10th. The Knights of Columbus will be cooking up hamburgers and hotdogs and we ask that you bring a favorite side dish or dessert to share. We will be having our pie contest again this year so select that special recipe! And, of course activities for the children. See you there!

Vacation Bible School –  June 12th – 16th 2023 and July 24th – 28th 2023 

Children’s Easter Egg Hunt – April 8th 2023 at 11:00 am on the church lawn

Novena of Grace –  annually March 4 -12th at St. Francis Xavier Parish in honor of our patron, St. Francis Xavier.  Although the Novena of Grace is a Catholic prayer tradition in Jesuit communities, it is open to people of all faiths. It affords all who participate time to reflect, and to open one’s self to God’s Spirit and the healing grace that rejuvenates and transforms our lives.

Men and Women’s Advent Prayer Breakfast – All are Welcome. A great way to prepare for the coming of our Lord! Come and join us. When: Wednesdays – Nov. 30th, Dec. 7th, 14th and 21st at 6:30 am Where: Loyola Building Dave Thomas Room For Guest Speakers with reflections on Scripture As well as Reflections on ‘Joy to the World: How Christ Coming Changed Everything’ (and still does) by Scott Hahn Fabulous Breakfast: Homemade scones, cinnamon rolls, frest fruit, yougurt, coffee and juices.

Coffee & Donuts –  Sunday  following the 10:00 am Mass. On hold during  the renovations in Reidy Hall.  Thank you to our volunteers and supporters that made this ministry happen!

Taize Service – March 24th, 31st and April 7th at 6:00 pm In this Lenten season, we invite you to join us for a Prayer Workshop Series. We are offering three evenings of prayer and reflection. Each evening, we will begin with Taize music and then encounter our God through different prayer methods

Taize – Young Adult Advent Taize Dates: Dec. 3, 10, 17 @ 6pm  All are welcome to join us in prayer. The Social Gathering (with wine & cheese!) afterwards is for young adults.

Craft Fair – Get your holiday shopping done early!!  Please come support local artists and parishioners (even some SFX kids!) at our St. Francis Xavier Craft Fair. High School Youth Ministry will also be there selling snacks and drinks!  

Women’s Scripture Study –  Thursdays at 10am – 11:30am for 8-10 week sessions in the Fall and Spring.

Fall 2023 Session lead by Fr. C. Hightower, SJ Women’s scripture class starts September 14th at 10:00 am, Dave Thomas Room in the Loyola Center. For the first few classes we will be looking at church history. We will be using the book ‘A Concise History of the Catholic Church’ by Thomas Bokenkotter. It can be purchased on-line from $6.50 to $20.00. If you need help ordering or purchasing the book, please contact Fr. Hightower or Katy McKinnon at the parish office. Where: SFX parish, Loyola Center, Dave Thomas Room.

Martha’s Ministry  Do you love to knit or crochet? Please join the Martha’s Ministry group on the 3rd Wednesday of each month in the Parish Office to make prayer shawls. This is a fun social time and you are welcome to bring other sewing projects to work on as well. Meets at 11am in the Parish Office. Questions? Call 406.542.0321

Catholic Men’s Spirituality Group –Every first Wednesday of the month Meets in the parish office building. Questions: Eric Reiber 406. 370.1777

Men’s Groups –When: Option #1 Weekly, Friday Morning, 6:30am, Upstairs Meeting Room of Parish Center  Option #2 Monthly, First Wednesday of Every Month, 7pm, Parish Office & Sanctuary Come to one or both! What: An opportunity for Catholic men, and men interested in Catholic faith, to gather and explore faith, masculinity, fatherhood, being a man, husband, servant, leader, and follower of Jesus. Prayer, discussion, learning, fun.

Men and Women’s 2023 Lenten Breakfast – Wednesday’s March 1st thru April 5th 6:30-7:30 am in the Loyola Center for a delicious breakfast, fellowship, prayer & reflection. Contact Mark Brown 406.370.5366 or mark@greatgrizzly.net

Ministers of Care – Visit & bring Eucharist to fellow parishioners. Members of SFX regularly minister to those who are unable to leave their residence by providing regular pastoral visits and the reception of Holy Communion. If you or a loved one are in need of pastoral care in your place of residence, or if you would like to know more about participating in this valuable ministry, please contact the parish office

Mary Martha Ministry – Knit Prayer shawls for the sick or hospitalized. Martha’s Ministry is back! Do you love to knit or crochet? Please join the Martha’s Ministry group on the 3rd Wednesday of each month in the Parish Office to make prayer shawls. This is a fun social time and you are welcome to bring other sewing projects to work on as well.Meets at 11am in the Parish Office. Questions? Call 406.542.0321

Funeral Hospitality – provide a side dish or dessert or assist in facilitating luncheons. Contact Katy 406.542.0321

Knights of Columbus – Grand Knight Kevin Whitton

RCIA Sponsor – Consider being a team member or sponsor for someone seeking full communion with the Catholic Church through RCIA – Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults.

CGS Assistants & Catechists – Share your faith with the youth of this parish as a Catechist or Children’s Liturgy of the Word Minister.

Vacation Bible School – June and July

Marriage Ministry – Just as Mary was invited to bring light into the world and she offered a resounding yes, you are invited to do the same. If you are a married couple and interested in journeying with couples preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage, we invite you to join our Marriage Ministry. You needn’t be the “perfect couple”…simply a couple who believes in the Sacrament and is willing to help engaged couples begin their life together. The time commitment is flexible, the ministry team is a welcoming community and the enrichment for your own marriage is priceless. To offer your “Yes” or for more information, please contact Susan Standley sstandley@sfxmissoula.org

We are most grateful to all who made 2023 Vacation Bible School a success!

Join us next Summer

Being a sacristan is a very beneficial way to serve our parish community and an active way to participate in Mass. The Sacristan is responsible along with the priest for the overall preparation of the mass. Setting out the vessels for Eucharist, making sure the books are out and ready, and making sure all necessary items for worship are available. This ministry is behind the scenes and very rewarding. We offer training so no experience is necessary.It offers lots of flexibility…simply sign up for any Sunday mass you are available. We need sacristans at the 5pm, 8am, 10am and 6pm. You can choose how often you serve…once a month or more.
This is a vital ministry for our parish and our priests very much appreciate the work of the sacristan. If you are willing to serve as a sacristan, please contact Erin Turner at eturner@sfxmissoula.org

Our parish has a long history of beautiful and rich liturgies due to the incredible volunteer help you, as parishioners, have given over the years.
The pandemic reduced a number of our regular volunteers and we are in need of new volunteers to support our wonderful liturgies!
Whether you are a seasoned minister or have never helped at mass before, we need YOU! We will provide all the training necessary to make you feel comfortable!

Here are ways you can help….
-Lector (reading at mass)
-Cantor or any musical instrument (sing, playing piano or anything else. These ministers receive a stipend))
-Eucharistic Minister (administering Eucharist at mass or to home bound)
-Ushers (greeting parishioners and assisting in getting them seated) *greatly needed
-Altar Servers (2nd grade and up….all ages welcome)
-Sacristan-(Assist in setting up before mass) *greatly needed*
-Tech minister (live-streaming mass. This position receives a stipend. Ideal job for a young teen or young adult but anyone is invited)

None of these roles appeal to you? We also need people to wash and iron altar robes, take vestments to cleaners, help decorate the church, polish chalices and other mass items, and more behind the scenes jobs!

We hope you consider helping breathe new life into our liturgies by helping out in any way you can!
All are welcome!

Please contact Erin Turner, Director of Liturgy at eturner@sfxmissoula.org

Might you enjoy recording our 10:00 am Mass?

Training and support on the sanctuary livestream system is provided.

This ministry is extremely important to those parishioners who can not attend in person. They rely on our livestream every Sunday to stay connected to our community. We are losing some of our longtime tech ministers to college. So, we need some new help! Anyone 13 yrs or older are encouraged to consider joining this ministry! The parish will pay you $40 for each mass you livestream. We will provide as much training as you need. It’s not complicated but you will want to be comfortable with operating a computer. This is a great ministry for middle school. high school or college students who want to earn some money! Please contact Erin Turner at eturner@sfxmissoula.org for more information or to sign up!

Our Virtual viewers Thank you!

Contact Erin eturner@sfxmissoula.org

Family Promise

Help us serve the homeless families of Missoula by volunteering with Family Promise at the Meadowlark. St. Francis Xavier has been part of Family Promise since it began in Missoula ten years ago.  Volunteer options include: providing salads, fruits, or desserts to go with dinner (drop off at the Meadowlark building for that night’s dinner); assisting in serving and cleaning dinner 5:00 – 8:00pm); serving as an evening host (8:00 – 10:00 pm).  Thank you for your help in serving our community!

Anette Blaskovich is our new Family Promise Coordinator. 406.493.0281

• Family Promise Thank You! Family Promise volunteers, thank you for your heartfelt help as our 2023 commitment at the Family Housing Center is finished for this year! This is an excerpt taken from a thank you card we received this past summer from a resident of the Family Housing Center:
  “You deserve more thank yous than you probably get! You are wonderful people and you put a smile on our faces, thank you so much.”
  To give you a heads up, the Family Promise volunteer weeks are set for next year 2024. Please take note:
  March 18-24 (week before Holy Week)
  June 10-16
  September 23-28
  December 23-29 (Christmas Week)
  In the interim, if you would like to volunteer to help other churches or organizations fill up their sign-up, please contact Anette 406493.0281 or ablaskovich@sfxmissoula.org  
• Spare a blanket for Family Promise? – Clean, gently used twin, full & queen size blankets are welcome. King size is too big – sorry. Bath towels are also welcome! Anette Blaskovich ablaskovich@sfxmissoula.org Family Promise Coordinator

Giving Tree Thank you! 

Dear Friends at St. Francis Xavier Church, On behalf of the board and staff of the Missoula Interfaith Collaborative (MIC), thank you for your very generous donation. We are most grateful for your important support of Family Promise of Missoula and the Giving Tree. MIC continues to empower congregations and community organizations to work together, leveraging strengths to meet the needs of the community and address challenges such as homelessness, hunger, and unemployment. We are working for a day when people who identify themselves as homeless can be housed immediately and can be supported in putting their lives back together. Your financial assistance is helping us reach that day. MIC could not do this work without you. We, and those who serve, sincerely appreciate your generosity. Thank you for your thoughtfulness! Many thanks! Nancy S., Missoula Interfaith Collaborative Directors

Habit for Humanity –  Habitat helps create stability and self-reliance through shelter for our local families.  Katrina at impact@habitatmsla.org.

Learn more – https://habitatmissoula.org/about-us/

Donations to ReStore  The sales from ReSore help fund Habitat for Humanity of Missoula afforable homeownership program

3655 Highway 200 East, East Missoula Hours to drop off/shop Monday – Saturday 10am – 6pm and Sunday 11am – 5pm    406.549.8215 You may schedule a pickup.

We accept new and used furniture, building materials, appliances and home fixtures in working condition.

Please note, we cannot accept:
– mattresses, box springs or linens
– clothing
– used carpeting
– used florescent fixtures or bulbs
– picture tube TV’s

The Poverello Lunch team – is seeking volunteers to help prepare and assemble sack lunches each Wednesday & Thursday from 1:15 to 3:00 pm. 1110 West Broadway Street No sign up necessary, just show up. Thank you!

Baskets are located in the rear of the church for donations of non perishables for your neighbors in need.

 Thursday, October 5th 6-7:30pm Delegates Assembly & Mayoral Race Accountability Forum location change now at Free Cycles Please register at  https://www.commongoodmissoula.org/2023_mayoral_accountability_forum_and_fall_delegates_assembly 

Fr. Hightower is our representitive

About Common Good Missoula https://www.commongoodmissoula.org/

Common Good Missoula unites everyday Missoulians to work together across traditional divides like race, class, and ideologies. We listen. We plan. We organize. We act. We celebrate.

Common Good Missoula is an affiliate of IAF (Industrial Areas Foundation) Northwest and has 19 member organizations based in Missoula – All Nations Health Center, labor unions, faith communities, neighborhoods, and other non-profits. In our tradition, organizing is led by the people most directly affected by the issues the organization is working on.

Well-being throughout our community requires everyday citizens, particularly the most impacted to be meaningfully involved in creating the solutions shaping our community. Recognizing this, we continually build leadership from within our community, working to understand and address the root causes of the issues, not just the symptoms. When everyday folks realize they have the agency to create change and that they aren’t alone in their struggles, their human dignity shines and they are motivated to make change and become leaders in the community.

We bring these leaders together to build power they wouldn’t have individually and use that power to create systemic change. We see ourselves as part of a larger movement for social change and work towards strengthening that movement.

Common Good addresses inequity by creating a large and racially/socially diverse network of everyday leaders working to address local challenges such as structural racism, lack of affordable housing, and community safety.

We would like to personally thank each and every one of you who donated to the Giving Tree this year! Your generosity is overwhelming and we were able to raise just over $14,000 to give to Mountain Home, Council Groves, Essential Eats, International Rescue Committee, and Family Promise. The SFX Outreach donations gave us the ability to establish a fund to assist more in the community throughout the year, which there is always a need for. Once again we
appreciate the generosity in the parish and Happy New Year.

Dear St. Francis Xavier Community, I wanted to personally reach out to thank you all for your incredible & continued support for the young families we serve at Mountain Home. There woould need to be much more paint for all the finger you’ve impacted, like Charlie 3yrs who helped paint/decorate the attached card. Your generosity demonstrates that there are folks who believe in them & care about their futures, two gewnerations at a time. Thank you for investing in healther & happier futures for so many. Deepest Gratitude, Steph Goble, Executive Director

Dear Friends at St. Francis Xavier Church, On behalf of the board and staff of the Missoula Interfaith Collaborative (MIC), thank you for your very generous donation. We are most grateful for your important support of Family Promise of Missoula and the Giving Tree. MIC continues to empower congregations and community organizations to work together, leveraging strengths to meet the needs of the community and address challenges such as homelessness, hunger, and unemployment. We are working for a day when people who identify themselves as homeless can be housed immediately and can be supported in putting their lives back together. Your financial assistance is helping us reach that day. MIC could not do this work without you. We, and those who serve, sincerely appreciate your generosity. Thank you for your thoughtfulness! Many thanks! Nancy S., Missoula Interfaith Collaborative Directors

To our dear friends at St. Francis Xavier church – Thank you so much for your very generous contribution to Essential Eats Distributers. Because of you and others we can continue our mission of providing essentials to the hard to reach Indigenous families of Montana. From coats to pantry boxes, bicycles to books, plus additional support for Indigenous led programs. Together we are making a difference. Best, Sara Wecker – Director

On behalf of the International Rescue Committee in Missoula, please accept my heartfelt thanks for the generous gift from the SFX community this holiday season and your continued support of our work throughout the years. It is only because such compassionate supporters as you take the important step of partnering with us that the IRC can help so many uprooted people – not just to survive conflict or disaster, but to recover and gain control of their futures.

This year, staff at the IRC in Missoula are working around the clock to offer safe haven to newly arrived families fleeing conflict zones from around the world, giving them the opportunity to enjoy security, hope, and freedom in the United States. Your gift will enable the IRC to continue providing newly arrived refugees with crucial services that include community and cultural orientation, English language instruction for those who will benefit from it, career development, healthcare, financial literacy, school enrollment, and other programs to support them in becoming productive, healthy, and self-reliant. 

We are grateful to you for being an important part of the IRC community and for your commitment to our ongoing mission of helping people on their journey from harm to home in Missoula.  Sincerely, Eamon Fahey Deputy Director

Information on our 2024 Lenten Project Coming Soon

Lenten Project 2023 Update  – Once again we were overwhelmed to have additional hours turned in after we reported the results last week! We are adding 468.5 hours to our total from last week of 673.75 hours for a TOTAL of 1142.25 hours of true giving from your hearts to assist the Missoula Community in so many ways. On behalf of the SFX Priests and Staff we would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all of you who participated, what a blessed parish we are to have such amazing people among us!

Lenten Project – The theme of this year’s Lenten Project is ‘Be the Salt – Be the Light.’ Instead of donating money to a particular charity or organization, we are challenging each of you to donate your gift of time during Lent. We are asking you to be both the salt and the light. Live the gospel message (Matthew 5:13-16) in your community by donating your time. In doing so you will become a light for others. A light which is a beacon to those around you and casts out any darkness. A light which will shine brightly gathering all.

We’re raising ‘volunteers’ and not money this Lent so please keep track of your volunteer hours! There are extra pledge cards located in the entry ways of the church. Please grab a few and fill them out with your completed volunteer hours or pledged hours for the week. Simply drop them in the offering basket each week as your gift of time! Or, feel free to email Katy at kmckinnon@sfxmissoula.org with pledged or com pleted hours. We look forward to seeing you Be the Salt & the Light in our Missoula community!