Members of St. Francis enjoy a number of ministries. We rely on our members to be lay readers, Eucharistic ministers (who assist Rev. Kathie at the altar) and Eucharistic Visitors (who may take Communion to the home-bound). Other members serve on the Altar Guild, the Bishop’s Committee, and act as groundskeepers, ushers and greeters.
As members of the Diocese of San Joaquin, we actively supported the Tour Against Trafficking, a nearly 800 mile bicycle tour to raise awareness and funds to help eradicate human trafficking in the Central Valley. The October tour, led by our Bishop, David Rice, has raised nearly $50,000 to date.
Members of St. Francis serve our diocese as members of the Standing Committee and the Commission on Ministry, and in the past, Rev. Kathie served as a deputy to General Convention. These are all important ministries related to the governance of our Church.
We also support a number of outside ministries: United Samaritans, a group that distributes hundreds of meals each month in our locale; Franciscan Brothers of the Friary of San Damiano, who assist the needy in the Mission District of San Francisco; the Food in Faith ministry, a food pantry run by members of St. Paul’s in Modesto; and Turlock Gospel Mission. We are a host church for the TGM Winter Ministry, housing homeless women and children for one week in January, and we provide a hot meal each month during the rest of the year. We make monthly contributions to the Diocese of Haiti and to Episcopal Relief and Development. We also helped the children of Turlock at Christmas by adopting a family through the Operation Blue Santa Project of the Turlock Police Department. Volunteers from St. Francis helped with the Point in Time project this year, interviewing homeless women to hear their stories and assess their needs. We are in the process of developing a team to help WeCare with meal service on a regular basis.
Other Opportunities at St. Francis
We have a lively group of Daisy Scouts (for girls in kindergarten through first grade) that meets on the first Monday of each month at 4:30 p.m.
We are privileged to have an active AlAnon group that meets on Friday evenings at 5:30 p.m. in the parish hall of St. Francis. There is also an AlaTeen Group meeting concurrently.
We are also blessed by the presence of Holy Cross Armenian Orthodox Church, which meets at St. Francis one Sunday a month for a worship service that begins at 3:00 p.m. This is usually on the third Sunday.