St. Anthony of Padua
Parish Library

Our parish is blessed to have a wonderful Parish library staffed by volunteers from our community. A special thank you to our library ministry coordinator Leona Garzelli and her volunteers for providing the following information about our Parish Library. We invite you to visit the library, which is open each weekend following every Mass.

Library Update:

This year's theme has been "Christians at Work for Christ".

We now have information flyers for several ministries within our church as well as a"free basket" of magazines, small prayer cards and other miscellaneous religious readings that many parishioners have donated. Parishioners may take as much as they want from that basket, which is labeled for them.

We have rosary beads made of plastic. And for a very small donation to the library ministry, they would make a nice gift for a small child or anyone who wants to carry a rosary on themselves instead of their more expensive rosary.

We are still in desperate need of volunteers. Anyone wanting to help out after mass for 15 minutes is most welcome.

In Christ,
Leona Garzelli

Library History

In 1985, our parish library was named the Rita Kokes Memorial Library in memory of an active parishioner whose memory was wished to be preserved by her friends at St. Anthony's. The parish library displays a photo plaque of Rita Kokes in her memory.

Our Library Today

Since 2003, Leona Garzelli has been the coordinator of our Parish library, which is located in the Bullard wing at the East entrance of our Church. Many of our past coordinators remain very active with other parish ministries. Thanks to Msgr. Harguindeguy, Mr. Bob Bond, Sister Rosa and Norma Jean Liscano, our library has remained open for all to use.

Our library is very small, but contains hundreds of books categorized according to topics within the Catholic Church. We do not sell materials. Our parish library received donations of books, cassettes, video tapes and other materials. Recently, the library has purchased a selection of DVD movies.

The libraries holdings contain books in over 25 categories, detailed to the right. In addition, parishioners can check out tapes by such speakers as Cronin, Sheen, Corapi, Griswold, Catholic Apologetics International and more. Movies available through the library cover such topics as saints, bible stories, family issues, the Vatican, apparitions, pro-life topics, Pope John Paul II and more.

The parish library ministry reaches out to other ministries who may be in need of materials. They also post flyers and information for other parish ministries, serving as yet another information source for parishioners.

At present, the library is staffed weekly by 8 volunteers and is open after each Mass on Sunday. If the library is not open, parishioners may leave a written message in the library drop box or contact Norma Jean Liscano is the Parish Ministries office.

The library's check out system tracks materials effectively and assists parishioners who become frequent visitors. The library has also provided an avenue for fellow parishioners to mingle, converse, share their curiosities, concerns and support to one another along our walk of faith.

Each year, the library offers a new theme. This year's theme is "Imitate Christ". Parishioners are encouraged to visit the library and take a look at the wealth of materials provided. For additional information contact Leona Garzelli or Norma Jean Liscano at 435-0700.