{"id":179,"date":"2020-08-13T14:25:11","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T18:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sap.diocesanweb.org\/church\/?page_id=179"},"modified":"2025-11-20T14:59:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T19:59:00","slug":"welcome","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/saparish.com\/church\/about-us\/welcome\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"208\" src=\"https:\/\/saparish.com\/church\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/08\/st-anthony-campus-300x208-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-183\" style=\"width:393px;height:272px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Welcome. We\u2019re glad you\u2019re here. At St. Anthony of Padua, you will find a Catholic Community rooted in a genuine love of faith, service and compassion. These are the ties that bind us and the reason why everyone can feel welcome here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nestled on the northwest side of Grand Rapids, we are truly a neighborhood church, serving generations of families and individuals who have called our parish home for more than 100 years. Our scenic campus has sidewalks lined with oak trees and gardens brimming with fresh flowers \u2013 perfect spaces for prayer and reflection. Our church, which was built in 1994, features beautiful architecture and large gathering areas for fellowship, meetings, and celebrations big and small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1,700 families strong, we\u2019re large enough to have our own dedicated preschool through 8th grade Catholic school, yet small enough where you won\u2019t feel lost in the shuffle. We value our youngest parishioners and treasure the elderly members who have been with us for decades. More importantly, we\u2019re here to support you \u2013 whether you\u2019re dipping a toe into the Catholic waters for the first time, have been away from the church, or want to take the next leap of faith \u2013 St. Anthony of Padua will guide you on your journey of faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As this website hopes to demonstrate, we offer something for everyone \u2013 something for YOU! We invite you to consider St. Anthony of Padua as a place you can call home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Peace,<br><em><strong><span class=\"has-inline-color has-primary-color\">Father Tony Pelak<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Our Parish Mission at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We are a welcoming community \u2014 Sustained by the Word and strengthened by the Sacraments. Committed to knowing, loving and serving God.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\"><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"685\" src=\"https:\/\/saparish.com\/church\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/2018-04-22-St-Anthony-22-of-91-1024x685.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/saparish.com\/church\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/2018-04-22-St-Anthony-22-of-91-1024x685.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/saparish.com\/church\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/2018-04-22-St-Anthony-22-of-91-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/saparish.com\/church\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/2018-04-22-St-Anthony-22-of-91-768x514.jpg 768w, https:\/\/saparish.com\/church\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/2018-04-22-St-Anthony-22-of-91-1536x1028.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/saparish.com\/church\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/2018-04-22-St-Anthony-22-of-91-2048x1371.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-16018d1d wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/saparish.com\/church\/about-us\/history\/\">History<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/sapcatholic.flocknote.com\/register\">Join the Parish<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/saparish.com\/church\/giving\/\">Giving Options<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SAPCatholicCommunity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Our Facebook<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome. We\u2019re glad you\u2019re here. At St. Anthony of Padua, you will find a Catholic Community rooted in a genuine love of faith, service and compassion. These are the ties that bind us and the reason why everyone can feel welcome here. Nestled on the northwest side of Grand Rapids, we are truly a neighborhood&#8230;<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/saparish.com\/church\/about-us\/welcome\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":189,"parent":177,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-179","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Welcome - St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/saparish.com\/church\/about-us\/welcome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Welcome - St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Welcome. We\u2019re glad you\u2019re here. At St. Anthony of Padua, you will find a Catholic Community rooted in a genuine love of faith, service and compassion. These are the ties that bind us and the reason why everyone can feel welcome here. 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