#7 - Week April 10, 2026

Hi! My name is Angel. I attend PSJXXIII STEM Academy and I will be confirmed in May 2026. As part of my Confirmation preparation I had the chance to interview a member of  Visitation Church who serves our faith community in a special way. Here is what I found out: 

I met Mary Anne  who has been a part of this parish for many years. She grew up and came to Visitation School and graduated from here. The ministry that she is involved in is the ministry of the Poor: Food and Clothing Bank, and she is also the Treasurer of that ministry. She has been in this role for four years. This ministry allows her to actively live out to some extent the corporal works of mercy, by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and providing shelter for them. Our food bank serves soup and sandwiches 5 days a week to those that need a meal. They serve bagged groceries for those that have a home but need a little extra. She does this because she loves to help people. That’s in her personality. It helps her remember the blessings she has been given when she looks at people that may not have been blessed or have chosen a different path.  It reminds her to share what she has been given and help them and it reminds her to be compassionate, to be empathetic, and to be non-judgmental of where this person is in their life because we never know what could be happening to them. If they’re in need and we can supply something for them, that’s rewarding from her perspective. I asked her if she had ever painted or drawn something and she said that she is far from being artistic but yes, throughout her life, obviously for school projects and things like that, you have to provide artwork. The most memorable art piece that she ever did was in a nun’s class who loved art and it was a mosaic of the Blessed Virgin Mary where we had to break up all the glass pieces and glue them onto a board. That was her most memorable artistic attempt. I like how much she loves helping people in need since not most people are like that. I think it's very inspiring and a beautiful trait to have.

#5 and #6 - Week April 5, 2026

Hi! My name is RiAnne. I attend PSJXXIII STEM academy and I will be confirmed in May 2026. As part of my confirmation preparation I had the chance to interview a member of  Visitation church who serves our faith community in a special way. Here is what I found out:

The name of the faith community member I interviewed is Mrs. Pacita, and she is an usher. As an usher, she greets people, helps new parishioners, encourages people to participate during Mass, helps people keep the church clean and is friendly to those around her. Ushers try to give new parishioners a good first impression, especially paying attention to their needs, helping them feel at ease and welcomed. Mrs. Pacita also helps assign roles and organize responsibilities, making sure that they are ready for Mass. Mrs. Pacita has been a parishioner since 1979 and an usher since 2014, starting a few years before her husband. She talked about how when she became an usher, she received training from Andy. Ushers are crucial, having important responsibilities, so she and her husband make sure to attend Mass regularly. As an usher, she helps the community grow and others stay close to their faith. Mrs. Pacita said the reason she became an usher is because she wanted to become closer to God. Mrs. Pacita enjoys being an usher because she likes serving and worshipping God, returning his love for us by serving others. Mrs. Pacita talked about how she likes the community, and by doing this, she gets to help others and help them enjoy going to Mass on Sundays. She said that this ministry makes her feel happy and fulfilled in glorifying and praising our Lord. Participating in this role allows her to grow spiritually and practice her virtues of kindness, patience, faithfulness, and generosity to the church. I asked Mrs. Pacita what her favorite dessert was and although she said she doesn’t love desserts, she enjoys the rice cakes and coffee that she gets after Mass. I liked how she is passionate about being an usher and helping the church. You could see how much she loves the church community and her role as a parishioner.

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Hi! My name is Henry Schlatter. I attend PSJXXIII STEM Academy and I will be confirmed in May 2026. As part of my Confirmation preparation I had the chance to interview a member of  Visitation Church who serves our faith community in a special way. Here is what I found out: 

His name is Mr. Rencio  and he is an usher.Mr. Renico has been in his role  since 2019. He has to be welcoming and kind to the parishioners so they will feel at home at Visitation Church. He also has to ask people to be the gift  bearers.  He likes being in his role as an usher because he can help people reflect Christ’s love. He likes helping  people when they come to Visitation, especially those with a disability at Mass. He and his wife bring some people with disabilities with them to Mass each Sunday. The special question I asked was what is your favorite thing to do in the church, he said he likes helping those with a disability at Mass because he wants them to feel important. I really like learning about his role as an usher and how he helps the church and those who are disabled and it shows me how much he likes serving God and God’s people.

#4 - Week March 29, 2026

Hi! My name is Joseph Chen. I attend PSJXXIII STEM Academy and I will be confirmed this May. As part of my Confirmation preparation I had the chance to interview a member of Visitation Church who serves our faith community in a special way. Here is what I found out: 

Josh Silome is a lead altar server at Visitation Church and he’s been doing this for 17 years. Josh likes helping people out and he said he likes bringing the youth to be altar servers and teaching them the ways that he serves Mass for our Lord. He also says that whether you’re young or old, it doesn’t matter. Josh says he likes it because he enjoys teaching people what it is like to serve our Lord and it makes him feel good. He says he used to be very quiet and now he has become more out spoken and he has learned a lot of leadership skills from altar serving. He especially likes serving at Christmas and Easter and he does a lot of training to make sure it looks fantastic. Josh especially likes using incense and being an altar server brings him closer to God. I liked meeting Josh because he is like me as I am also an altar server. And he taught me some stuff that has changed my life. Here’s what I mean: He reminded me that, in serving, mistakes can happen; there are big and small mistakes and I was afraid that I would make mistakes which would lead me to want to quit altar serving. But he taught me to never back down just because of mistakes and to be an altar server still.

#3 - Week January 25, 2026

Dea’s interview of Lasini Silone, a Eucharistic minister at Visitation church

Hi! My name is Dea. I attend PSJXXIII STEM Academy and I will be confirmed in May 2026. As part of my Confirmation preparation I had the chance to interview a member of Visitation Church who serves our faith community in a special way. Here is what I found out: 

Mrs. Lasini’s role in ministry is being an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist. When she was younger she wanted to be a nun, but became a minister of the Eucharist because she felt like she had a calling to do so, and that's why she's so confident and passionate about what she does. Before she was an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist she served the Church on and off for a couple years: she said that she has a calling to do so and believes that she was born to do it. One of the reasons why she loves teaching us in the  confirmation class is because she gets to share her story, life with God, and her experiences with God through her journey of becoming a part of the Church. For my first special question I asked her if she has a favorite in our class, and she said that she believes that she 'favorites' everyone and that she sees potential and believes in everyone. For my second question I asked what she loves about teaching and she said that what she loved most about teaching is that she gets to share her story and spread the love of God.

#2 - Week January 18, 2026

My name is Christina Tran. I attend PSJXXIII STEM Academy and I will be confirmed in May 2026. As part of my Confirmation preparation I had the chance to interview a member of Visitation Church who serves our faith community in a special way. I interviewed Ms. Vida and I found out that:

She helps churches pre-plan funerals when someone in their family passes away and helps with the difficult emotions that they have to deal with. She is a Lector at St. John of the Woods Mission Church and Pope St John XXIII. Ms. Vida enjoys what she does a lot because it helps keep her on track with Sundays and being a Lector is also very important to her. She supports people that need greater support and helps them deal with their sorrows. A special question that I asked Ms. Vida is what her favorite thing about God’s creation is. She didn’t have a favorite but she really likes nature, especially Mt. Rainier. These are the ways that Ms. Vida serves in our faith community in a special way.

#1 - Week January 11, 2026

Hi! My name is Emma. I attend PSJXXIII STEM Academy and I will be confirmed in May 2026. As part of my confirmation preparation I had the chance to interview a member of Visitation Church who serves our faith community in a special way. Here is what I found out:

Ms. Anne Kelly is the sacristan at Visitation Church, where she watches over and helps with altar serving, and is the assistant to the priest. Ms. Anne has been in this role for over 50 years, and she says that out of all the churches she went to when she moved here, the community at the Visitation Church was the most welcoming and good-hearted out of all of the other churches she went to. Serving and worshipping the Lord is something that Ms. Anne really cares about, so that is one of the reasons she enjoys being in this role of service. Another reason she enjoys being in this role is that she has always worked in the church. Her favorite thing about this role is that she gets to train the kids of the church and teach them about how God is faithful and righteous. Ms. Anne shared that she remembers every priest that has been at the church while she has been there and if they are still alive she still is in contact with them. Ms. Anne also hopes that this church will continue to thrive in the future to keep serving the Lord and that it will not shut down. She is grateful for any prayers coming her way and believes that prayers for her is what keeps her going so well. The thing I liked best about meeting Ms. Anne was hearing about how much she loves her job, our parish community, and hearing her stories.