From the Pastor:
Each week I am blest to experience many wonderful facets of our tri-Parish community. This week I share two of them with you so that you too are uplifted and encouraged by them. The first of those, and one of my greatest joys, is the people from our parishes who are preparing to enter the Catholic Church this Easter. Currently there are 34 preparing to do so, and half of them are in their teens and twenties. They each have their reasons for wanting to join the Catholic Church, for some it’s the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and others because of the biblical and intellectual foundation for our faith and morals.
Last Sunday, most of them traveled with their sponsors to our diocesan Cathedral in Toledo for the Right of Election. There, together with others throughout our diocese, they were officially greeted and welcomed by Bishop Thomas. His opening words to them were, “Welcome home!” Our Cathedral is majestic and beautiful, filled with images that inspire people to authentically live the Christian life while at the same time giving them peace to know we are surrounded and supported by God.
Being in the Cathedral filled with over 1200 people, with approximately half of them prepared to enter the Catholic Church, is powerful! It’s both humbling and awesome (awe-some) to be part of this critical step of their spiritual journey. Your prayers and good example are having an effect! Please continue these, knowing lives are changed as a result. It’s worth pondering what these high schoolers, collegians, young adults, teachers, and others see in the Catholic faith that they want to join the Catholic Church. There is more to the Catholic faith than almost everyone realizes. The more we know and live it, the more we realize we are at home!
The second exciting thing happening in our tri-Parish community is the Lenten Mission that begins this Sunday, which for many people reading this is today. The structure of our mission this year is the same as previous years. The first two evenings are at St. Peter, then the third evening (Tuesday) is at St. Mary, and the last evening (Wednesday) is at Resurrection. The spiritual talks each evening begin at 6 PM and last one hour. After the first three talks, priests will be available for the sacrament of Confession. On the last evening at Resurrection, the talk will be brief to allow time for Exposition of the Holy Eucharist, followed by food and fellowship. Also that evening, the youth group from Damascus Missionaries will be providing the music during our time before Jesus.
Our spiritual presenter this year is Fr. William Slattery, who currently serves as chaplain at the Damascus Catholic Mission Campus. He was born in Ireland and ordained by St. John Paul II at St. Peter’s Basilica. It’s very fitting he will be with us on Monday since it is the feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland! I expect he’s going to wear some green and share with us some inspirational details about St. Patrick.
In His mercy,
Fr. Miller