Beloved Family:
Sometimes, it is the relatively simple idea that proves quite fruitful. When it comes to parish life and pastoral planning, a perennial goal the Saint Mary Parish leadership team tries to keep before our eyes is: how do we continue to promote the building of relationships among us? Obviously, the foundational relationship we desire to nourish is the relationship each of us has with Jesus Christ. As long as Faith is understood—we would say misunderstood— as primary a matter of holding to a moral code, we are likely to experience limited progress, and our hearts are not so likely to burn within us. While Jesus indisputably endorses the commandments of the Father, He comes in order to reveal the Heart of the Father, who IS LOVE. When we excel in authentic love, cultivated in holy friendship, we are bound to grow in virtuous living.
All of this is a lead-in to sharing an idea we had, within the last couple of years, on how more fully to celebrate Catechetical Sunday (last weekend) to promote relationship. Yes, Fr. David gave a beautiful blessing for catechists at Mass. Yes, Mrs. Sarah Nussbaum, our nurturing Director of Faith Formation, along with Michaela Sheehan, our effervescent Campus Minister to Youth, and their cohort have enthusiastically launched the catechetical year, close on the heels of the start of the Saint Mary School year, led by newly-arrived and astute leader Mrs. Tiffany Gaffney— all wonderful.
Our “big” idea? Let’s simply invite those who teach in the day school AND those who teach on Wednesday evenings to share pizza and fellowship at the local brewery on a Sunday afternoon. The reality is: these two groups generally have little-to-no opportunity to come together over the course of a typical year. Not earth-shaking, yet it has proven to be a rather fruitful experience for the participants. Do not underestimate the “power of simple!”
When it comes to effectively transmitting the Catholic Faith, a Church prelate who historically provided one of the most outstanding and far-reaching illustrations has just become a “Blessed.” On Thursday of this week ending, the beatification Mass of Archbishop Fulton Sheen was celebrated in St. Louis, Missouri. Whether or not we have ties to Peoria, Illinois (where he was ordained); whether or not we have lived in Rochester, New York (where he served as bishop) or have ever traveled to Newport, Wales (over which he was appointed Titular Bishop by Pope Saint Paul VI), a great number of us and our relatives from past decades have had the opportunity to take in his archived radio and television programs, thereby benefiting from his teaching.
While the quality of the recordings may sound and appear dated, the content of his teaching, I believe, has more than stood the test of time. As I close this article, then, we offer a prayer to God seeking his assistance as a powerful intercessor before the throne of grace and mercy. As Blessed Fulton Sheen, himself, asserted:
“Prayer is helplessness casting itself on Power, infirmity leaning on Strength, misery reaching to Mercy, and a prisoner clamoring for Relief”:
Eternal Father, You alone grant us every blessing in Heaven and on earth, through the redemptive mission of Your Divine Son, Jesus Christ, and by the working of the Holy Spirit. If it be according to Your Will, glorify Your servant, ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN, by granting the favor I now request through his prayerful intercession (mention your request). I make this prayer confidently through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Let His Peace be with you,
Fr. Stephen
