Dear Parishioners,
Two ideas crossed my desk this week and I just want to share them with you. If you are interested in helping out with either of these ideas, feel free to contact me at my email toddcarterpriest@gmail.com or at the Parish Office.
The first idea comes from our Parish Cohort 18 Subcommittee of Evangelization. As some of you may know, one of our parishioners named Michael McCormick is the head of this Subcommittee and he was picked by me because he has a real heart for sharing the faith with others and has even written a pamphlet about why we need to attend Mass called “Common Sense.” (You may have seen it in the back of church.) In our meeting, we discussed how to best share the faith with those who do not normally attend Mass. This can be challenging the chicken and the egg situation since you cannot share the faith with someone if they are not at church. But, we came up with a clever idea that just might work. Our idea is to pass out copies of “Common Sense” to people attending Easter Sunday Masses. Easter Sunday is one of the days that people who should be attending Mass all year round, usually do come to Mass. So, it’s a good opportunity to share why it’s important to come to Mass every Sunday.
We need about 6-8 volunteers at all three Easter Sunday Masses (8am, 10am and 12 Noon) to be at the various exits of the church to hand out the pamphlets. They should be there before the Mass ends because people also have a bad habit of leaving Mass early and probably very many of those people are also the ones who do not come weekly. Michael McCormick has a lot of copies of his pamphlet and Easter is coming up in a few weeks. So, if you would like to help out and be part of this plan, please let me know. (N. B., If you would like to read the “Common Sense” pamphlet, the text can be found here: http://www.catholic365.com/article/4137/perfectsense-a-common-sense-explanation-of-why-each-one-ofus-needs-to-attend-mass-on-sundays-and-holy-days.html
The second idea comes from our Pastoral Council. Recently, one of the members of the Pastoral Council said that she has been asked over and over again whether or not we could have a forum to talk about the sexual abuse of minors within the Catholic Church. On one hand, I do see how it can be part of the healing process to have a forum like this since it may give people the ability to speak, who otherwise might not work up the courage to be heard. On the other hand, I do not think I’m particularly qualified to hold such a forum because I know just about as much as anyone who pays attention to the news and really not more than that. Furthermore, I am not getting the sense that many people would be interested in attending such a forum since I’m not sensing a lot of anger from parishioners over this issue. (Of course I know there is some, and I have already expressed my feelings on the scandal in a previous bulletin article.) However, if I am wrong about my inclinations, I would like to know. So, if you would like me to hold a forum on the sexual abuse scandal, please let me know. If a number of people express interest, we will hold one. In the meanwhile, please keep the victims of abuse, the sanctity of the clergy and wisdom of the bishops in your prayers.
God bless!
Father Carter