Pastor’s Corner — August 22nd, 2021
Reminder: Parish Council Nominations Due August 27th
Please either email them to me or drop them off at the front office.
Livestream Apologies
The past couple of months we have had multiple times in which our 9:30 AM Mass livestream wasn’t working correctly. Ultimately, these were the result of human errors and we sincerely apologize for them. Thank you for your patience.
Inviting People to Become Catholic (RCIA)
This weekend you heard at the end of Masses about the process of becoming Catholic called the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. I know every Sunday there are people who are present who are not Catholic. But I also know that many of us know people who might be open to the Catholic faith and might be willing learn more about the faith. The beginning step of RCIA is called Inquiry and it is perfect for those who are asking questions about faith and Catholicism. If you, or someone you know is open to even considering Catholicism, please contact Anne Guminik, who leads our RCIA team, at aguminik@stpatchurch.org. A member of our RCIA team will be at all of the Masses to give more information on the ways to connect and explore the Catholic faith.
New Parish Confirmation Program
A couple of weeks ago we unveiled to our 7th and 8th grade families our new Confirmation Program that is better able to engage teens where they are and accompany them into a living relationship with Jesus so that they are ready to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. What we had been doing was simply not working for a large number of kids. In fact, according to recent statistics, around five out of six teens who receive confirmation will not be practicing their faith in ten years. It’s demoralizing as a priest to watch so many kids never returning to Church after Confirmation. Yet we know that when kids come to know Jesus personally and grow in their faith in the context of a healthy community of their peers, they will not only want to be confirmed and practice their faith afterwards, they will be prepared to do so even in our challenging culture.
What also makes our new program unique is that it intentionally unmoors Confirmation from 8th grade and offers it to teens when they are ready, which will be in different ages for different kids. While many will get confirmed in 8th grade, others will choose to get confirmed in high school when they are ready. This “open” confirmation places the emphasis of preparation not within a fixed time-line that forces kids to be confirmed even if they don’t want to be or when they are not ready, but in time-line that respects the freedom of the teen and his or her readiness to receive what God wants to give to them. In other words, when we emphasize the subjective disposition of the teens in their preparation process this will not only make Confirmation a more meaningful for them, but most importantly, it will maximize the their openness to the real grace, power, and spiritual fruitfulness that the Holy Spirit offers to them in the Sacrament.
For more information on our new program, please click here. On this page Kevin, our Director of Youth Discipleship, and I recorded a video explaining the why behind the changes and we even add an additional option for the current 8th graders in this transition year to the new program.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias