Dear Friend,

On behalf of the entire Catholic Community of Gesu, I welcome

you to our parish website.

Gesu, the Italian name for Jesus, has a long history of service to

others since it was first established in 1920. For 84 years, Gesu

was under the pastoral care of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits.

In 2004, responsibility for the parish was transferred to another

religious community, the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. With the

Jesuit spirit as a solid foundation and with the present gift of

Salesian spirituality at Gesu, we at Gesu work to build God’s

kingdom together, right here in Toledo.

The heart of every parish community is the weekend celebration

of the Eucharist. At these moments we come together to hear and reflect upon God’s Word in the scriptures and encounter His son Jesus in the Eucharist. St. Francis de Sales wrote that the Eucharist is the “sun and center of one’s spiritual life”. It is our most important time together as a parish family. Hopefully someday we will have the opportunity to celebrate the liturgy together.

Gesu provides a great variety of organizations and activities that can also deepen one’s faith and their fellowship with other parishioners. Many of these organizations are explained on this website. Your participation with any of these groups is most welcomed. In fact, participation
and volunteering is a terrific way of getting to know people. I am confident that the more
involved people become in the life of the parish, including involvement in the weekend liturgy,
the greater will be their sense of belonging to this parish family. Our Parish Mission Statement
calls us to “Live Jesus” – and live the Gentle Spirituality of St. Francis de Sales.

Our parish staff is ready to be of service in whatever way we can. I pray that our service will be
a help to others in their efforts to grow in their relationship to Our Lord. Together may we build God’s kingdom by serving each other.

In Jesus Christ,

​

Fr. Martin Lukas, OSFS
Pastor