Holy Name Society

The Holy Name Society is the men’s organization at St. Mary. The national organization formally identifies itself as a Confraternity, which is defined as “a voluntary association of Catholic lay people that exist for the promotion of special religious devotions (the Holy Names of God and Jesus), acts of piety and spiritual and corporal works of mercy.”  The National HNS has ties to the Dominican Order.  Although the St. Mary Holy Name Society is not directly associated with the national organization, we are inspired by these same basic principles.

All men of St. Mary parish are considered to be members of the Holy Name Society.  They meet monthly on the second Wednesday of each month at 7:00 pm.  They also sponsor the Fellowship of Work and meet on Monday evenings to work on capital improvement projects, such as painting the railings, hall maintenance, and other activities.  We also construct the Christmas Nativity Crib, Raising of the Christmas Star and Holy Sepulcher displays in Church during those significant seasons of our shared faith.

Our activities are funded through donations (annual envelope). They also fund various St. Mary parish capital improvements and have provided financial support for several past projects, including windows, organ renovation, and most recently, the boiler replacement fund.

Members of the Holy Name Society can be identified each week at Mass as Lectors, Lay Distributors, Choir Members and Ushers.  For more information, we invite you to attend one of our meetings or drop in on a Monday evening to see what our latest project involves.  Please watch the bulletin for up-to-date activities or ask someone at Mass for more information.  All men are welcome!  You can also call St. Mary parish office at 937-256-5633 and give your contact information to the secretary or leave a message for Jerry Woeste.