Members of St. Maximilian Kolbe Community are honored

Sam Ward of Oak Park will be ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood on Sat., May 31 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. There will be a Mass of Thanksgiving in Ward’s honor at 11 a.m. Sun., June 1 at St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church, 5801 Kanan Road, Westlake Village.

Ward attended Oak Park High School, received BA degrees in history and psychology from UC Irvine and attended St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo. He has spent several summers serving as a deacon in a parish in Aquascalientes, Mexico. He also served an internship at St. Emydius parish in Lynwood.

In related church news, John Kruer, who along with his wife Paula, has been part of the Los Angeles Archdiocese’s diaconate program since 1998, will be ordained to the Sacred Order of Deacons on Sat., June 7 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. In honor of Kruer’s ordination, a Mass of Thanksgiving will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Sun., June 8 at St. Maximilian’s.

The Kruers have been part of the St. Maximilian community since the church’s beginnings. Paula is the founding director of Kolbe’s Korner Pre-school. Together they conduct an outreach ministry to the Cerebral Palsy Home in the local area, and John works with the Liturgy Committee at the church. As part of the diaconate program, the Kruers attended weekly classes together, put in many hours of theological study and participated in numerous ecclesiastical projects.

For more information, call the church office at (818) 991-3915.