St. Katharine Drexel Picture Directory
By Ally Johnson
My first large project as staff here at St. Katharine Drexel Parish was our picture directory. Suzie presented it to me as a great opportunity to get to know our parish families! So, rather wide-eyed, I agreed. Suzie was right-I did have the opportunity to meet many, many wonderful people in our parish. What an amazing project to bring the founding parishioners together in a timeless book and to put a face with each and every family who is touching the lives of people here on the west side of Sioux Falls!
Andy, Ally and Colter Johnson
After chatting with Dan, the LifeTouch liason, and assuring him we would be “best friends” when this was all said and done, we had our first picture directory meeting May 2nd. In a mere six weeks from the initial meeting, we had signed up and photographed 330 families. The sixteen ladies that helped behind the scenes of the project really did a fantastic job and put in many hours. To accommodate the families that weren’t able to make the allotted portrait sitting times, we allowed the families to turn in a picture of themselves and we added them to the already photographed group. The goal for the directory was to get every family in our parish into this document. We wanted everyone that has put in such hard work starting this parish to be recognized not only today, but for generations to come.
What have I learned from this unique experience? We have a lot of adventurous, wonderful, and talented people in our parish. We also have a distinctive experience of being part of a ground-up project to build a church that will be a lasting witness to our part of the world. Finally, in 100 years, future St. Katharine Drexel Parish members may laugh at our hairstyles and outfits, but together we made this directory and church complete!
