By now our former Director of Religious Education, Dino Durando, is into his new digs in Kansas City, and has begun teaching his first semester at Bishop Finn’s Helmsing Institute. His drive across the frozen wastes of the Southwest to their new home took four days, but now his wife Cathy, seven children (plus one in the oven) and Mama Roxanne are safely settled in. We wish him God’s blessings in his new place. He sent me this email on January 5: “We have mostly settled in our new home and I'm starting to not feel quite so disoriented in this new place. I certainly miss St. Joseph's, but I grow more certain each day that this is exactly where God wants me to be now. Our new parish is St. John LaLande and the liturgy was pretty good. Seems like the pastor is very thankful to have an Institute instructor (me) at his parish and he was very welcoming of our children. Our home is very nice on a quiet street where the children can play on the street and a park just a block away. Three deer walked behind our house at early dusk two days ago and I think it's a pretty regular occurrence. The kids are loving the space to play inside and out and my mom is also doing really well.” Who is our new Director of Religious Education here at St. Joseph’s? It is Michael Webster, who actually started his new position at the Parish on January 4, although he and Dino had spent many hours in December working through the transition. We welcome Michael with open arms. Michael ―Rediscovered Catholicism‖ as a teen at his home parish of St. Timothy’s in Mesa, Arizona (the famed ―LifeTEEN‖ parish). After being fully initiated into the Catholic Church at St. Timothy’s, he did two years of missionary work all over the United States through NET Ministries (National Evangelization Teams), in which he served as team leader. His next stop was Franciscan University at Steubenville (where both Dino and Carlos Gonzales, our Youth Minister, got their theology degrees). Michael graduated from Steubenville with a double major in Religious Education and Theology, Summa Cum Laude. Next he worked two years as Director of Youth and Young Adult ministries at Sacred Heart Parish near San Diego. He came to Modesto to discern his vocation, met his wife Erin at St. Joseph’s, and has been managing her family’s winery in Linden since then. Michael and his wife have been volunteering in our parish Youth Ministry program for three years, so he already knows the lay of the land quite well. We are most happy to welcome him officially to our parish staff!

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