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Parish Blessed With Volunteer Spirit

The Rev. Michael Palmer has seen the programs offered at Our Lady of Fatima parish mushroom in the 33 years he has been pastor.  

All the programs have done  “tremendously,”  he said, especially those for religious education and senior citizens. 

Religious education has tripled in size during his tenure and now has about 1,000 students, he said.  And the youth ministry program has 100 actively involved high school students and routinely takes mission trips to places in need.

Palmer said that with the help of Sister Mary Jane Card the parish has developed programs for Wilton’s seven senior living facilities.   The priest said he, Sister Card and volunteers from the parish visit with residents of the homes and make sure they have transportation to Mass.

Most suburbs do not have as many residences for the elderly, Palmer said, and it is difficult to serve all of them.

“We rose to the challenge on that,” Palmer said.

However, Palmer takes none of the credit for himself, instead handing it out to the church’s staff and many volunteers.

“In all these things, we depended a lot on good-willing, faith-filled volunteers to carry on the mission of these programs,” Palmer said.

The pastor said getting volunteers has never been a problem for Our Lady of Fatima and the number has risen as the parish has grown.  And he said it doesn’t hurt that while Wilton has grown the church has started drawing parishioners from outside the town.

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