November 1, 2026

Dear St. James Parishioners,

Welcome to All Saints Day! This is the day we celebrate all those people who are in Heaven but don’t have a particular feast day. There are probably billions of people there who are mostly unknown to us today. We think also of our family and friends who have gone before us. Heaven is a very exciting and wonderful place that we, hopefully, very much look forward to getting to.

One of our joys will be to meet all these folks. Imagine what it will be like when everyone is perfected; there will be no one sinning there; everyone will be very loving and charitable. It will be gloriously beautiful and there will be no time pressures. In other words, we will never be in a hurry and we will get to know everybody there.

This Monday is All Souls Day and that is the day we remember those who are on the way to Heaven but are currently undergoing purification in Purgatory. This is not a scary thing for them as they know they have been saved and will shortly be with all the saints in Heaven. We also believe that we can help the souls there by offering up our Masses, prayers, actions and indulgences for them.

There is so much confusion and misinformation about what happens at the end of life, and in particular about Purgatory and indulgences, that folks don’t know what can be done for our beloved on the way to Heaven. The reality is that we can help them a lot and that any good we do, offered up for them, is helpful and greatly appreciated by them. If we are able to get a soul out of Purgatory, we have just made a best friend for all eternity and an intercessor for us now.

As we celebrate All Saints and All Souls Days, let us keep our beloved dead in our prayers and show them that our love is undying. We don’t know for sure if they have made it yet into Heaven and no prayer is ever wasted. Let us keep them in our prayers.

Just a couple of reminders: As you can see on page 2, our Volunteer Thanksgiving Dinner is next Saturday evening, November 7th at 6pm in our Parish Center. If you are a: deacon, lector, EMHC, sacristan, usher, musician, PRE teacher, committee member, or a volunteer in any way for our parish or school, we invite you to come to our free dinner next Saturday. Please call the parish office by this Wednesday, November 4th.

Also, as you can see on page 2, our SJS SOAR Dinner is coming up on Saturday, November 21st. This year it will be held at the View on State. This is a great fundraiser for our school, and we invite everyone to come and share the evening with our school members and our friends. This is a new venue for us, and we look forward to a wonderful evening!

Have a great week everyone and may God bless you!

Fr. Tom Weisbecker, Pastor