Dear Friends,

     I wish to share with you some reflections on the “State of the Parish”. This past year was the 139th in our Parish History.

     The children in our Religious Education Program celebrated their Sacraments. For the new school year we registered over 270 children that encompassed our two communities in Truckee and Kings Beach. Bishop Jamie Soto celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation in May at our Lady of the Lake Church in Kings Beach and in November he became the ninth Bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento.

     The reflections at our Lenten Soup suppers were on Pope Benedict’s second encyclical letter “Spe Salvi”.

     Our community at Our Lady of the Lake lived its mission recognizing its unique circumstances and challenges in fulfilling their commitment to the Lord.

     Our “Concern for the Poor” program celebrated its 7th anniversary. This year a new pilot program was added to help parents in need purchase proper winter shoes for their children. It came to our attention that this need was great in our local school. Depending on the success of this program, we hope to expand it to include other schools in the area.

     We recognized two of our parishioners with the annual  Pastor’s Recognition Award, for their love and commitment and service to Assumption Parish. This special honor was bestowed on Jack Ahern and Sheila Reever.

     Much of our efforts in the past year was devoted to the Building Project of our new church facilities in Truckee. The Parish Building Committee shepherded our project through conceptual approval of the Diocese of Sacramento, East West Partners Inc. the donors of the parcel and preliminary submittal to the Town of Truckee. The Q&D Construction was selected to obtain pre-construction estimates for the project. The “Sharing our Faith - Building our Future” Capital Campaign went over $2.1 million of which we have already collected over $800,000.00. Our other parish building fund is now over $1.2 million. Depending how well things go when our architects submit formal proposal to the Town of Truckee at the end of January, we could have ground breaking for the project as early as the summer of 2009, but more conservatively 2010.

     This project is very special to me and to see it through is very gratifying. I have been here as pastor for 14 years and have witnessed many challenges and opportunities and know that this is our mission at this time of our Parish history to work diligently to accommodate our needs and to leave a legacy for the future generations of God’s people.

     I take this opportunity to thank you for all that was accomplished this past year and pray that we will continue to meet our challenges with renewed faith and zeal.

     My thoughts and prayers are with you.

With God’s Blessings,

Fr. Stanley Poltorak