Parish Visit

St. Ann’s Mission Catholic Church Palisade, Colorado

Traveling as a family cross-country means we make time to find a church to attend on Sunday morning. We were heading to Grand Junction, Colorado for a family wedding of a beloved cousin. The wedding was wonderful. We were so glad to see our family and celebrate a long weekend together. Sunday morning we found ourselves at St. Ann’s Mission. St. Ann’s Mission is part of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Grand Junction, Colorado.

St. Ann’s Mission has Sunday Mass at 9:30am. A modest sized church with a cheerful aging community. Prayers for the health of all parishioners were said at the close of mass as well as prayers for vocations. This was a parish of devoted people. You can tell that this community is diligent with their willingness to share time with one another. After mass an assortment of birthday cake was served with coffee and juice in their Fireside multipurpose room. The cake was served to celebrate all the parishioners with September birthdays. At the end of each month this is their tradition to take joy in the celebration of life. What a great message. It is also a nice way to ensure that people who may not get told “happy birthday” or get recognized for the value of their life they are being given this gift of community here at the parish.

In the vestibule a table to your right filled with vegetables greets you as you arrive in the church. This table is where the parishioners share the bounty of their gardens with the church. You can take what you need. It was such a great idea I think that this is something that many parishes could do too.