Bulletin for Aug. 5

Dear friends in Christ,

We are just one week away from the dedication of our new Redeemer Activity Center, aka the RAC. You’re invited to join us next Sunday, Aug. 12 for Mass at 11 a.m. with Cardinal DiNardo presiding, and then afterward we’ll move over to the RAC for the dedication. As mentioned before, I know not everyone who wants to come will be able to fit into the church for Mass or into the auditorium of the RAC for the blessing, but we’ll do our best to accommodate all who can join us. Rest assured we’ll have plenty of opportunities for you to see and tour the RAC over the next few months so if you can’t make it next week, don’t despair. It’s going to be there for a long time.

The actual dedication and blessing in the RAC next week will likely start around 12:30 p.m. (it depends how long Mass goes and how much time it takes us to get over there after it’s finished). There will be a brief ceremony in the auditorium and then I suspect Cardinal DiNardo will walk through the building sprinkling it with holy water. A lot will depend on his schedule as I know he has another event to preside at downtown after we are finished. The RAC will remain open until the 5 p.m. Mass on Sunday, so if you want to come early for that last Mass and tour the building on your own beforehand, feel free to do so. We’ll have parishioners there to guide you and I’ll be around to answer any questions.

All that is the good news. Of course, there’s always some bad news, too, I’m sorry to say. It looks like the floor of the gym will not be finished in time for us to walk on during the dedication on Aug. 12. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the gym floor is a synthetic rubber material that is poured into place and then it is “cured” into its final form before the competition lines are painted directly on the surface. The moisture level in the concrete has to reach a certain level before the floor is put into place, and with rain, humidity and steamy summer days, that level has been difficult to achieve. A “Plan B” is now in motion, and while I believe the floor will be installed by the time of the dedication for us to at least see, it will not be cured or solidified enough for us to walk on. So you can look, but not touch. Sorry about that, but it is something beyond our control, and I’d rather be safe than sorry. If all goes as planned (which it never does, but still I pray!), we should be able to use it a few days after the dedication ceremony. 

Other final touches are taking place this week. The auditoriums seats are being installed, and various punch list items are taking place to make sure it is ready for us. There will always be additional items to come after we are using the building, but we are planning on it being fully occupied and in use for all our ministries in the coming weeks. Everyone who has seen it in its unfinished form loves it, and I can’t wait for you to see it too. I’ll have more information for you in the coming weeks and keep you up to date on additional open house opportunities. For now, join us next Sunday for the dedication and come see this beautiful building that will enable us to serve our parish community in a myriad of ways for generations to come.

In other news, it’s time to look ahead to the fall and the start of our Religious Education school year. Classes will begin the week of Sept. 16, but the all important registration period is open now. Registration is conducted primarily online on our parish website of ctrcc.com/re. Remember that R.E. registration is for any child entering Pre-K 3 through 7th grade. If you have an 8th grader or high school student, you will register through the Youth Ministry Department. Rise is the program for junior high and Encounter is the program for high school students. Registration information for both can be found at ctryouth.com.

We expect another large number of students to be registered (we were more than 2,400 kids last year), so please do not delay. Many of you took advantage of our early registration period back in the spring and I thank you for that, but we know there are many more families who still need to sign-up their children. We’re blessed with many classrooms in our Education Building, but class sizes still must be limited so remember that it is first-come, first-served for available days and times. Make plans to take care of registration now so you are not scrambling at the last minute. It only takes a few minutes to do so online and I think you’ll find the process streamlined and very user-friendly.

Remember as well that when you are registering your child for R.E. classes you can also sign up yourself to be a catechist or aide. We are in great need of a number of catechists to teach our children, from the littlest ones in the early grades on through middle school and high school. It’s a wonderful way to get involved in the life of the parish and to live out the call of Stewardship of your time and talent. We’ll train you and give you all the support you need. There is no greater gift than to pass on the faith to a child, so please consider joining this important ministry of CtR. The R.E. staff is happy to answer your questions and get you involved.

I would be remiss if I didn’t also remind you that our CtR Catholic School is preparing for its fifth year and we are still accepting applications for new students. We are expecting an enrollment of around 430 children this year in grades Pre-K through 8th, but we still have room for more. It’s a blessing to our parish community to have a school, and as we continue to grow I invite all parishioners with school-aged children to consider offering a Catholic education for your child.

Certainly our local public schools do a fine job of education, and we are blessed with many outstanding teachers and administrators in our parish. We wish them all of God’s blessings as they prepare to return to school. Yet there is something more that we can offer at CtR Catholic School that no public school can touch, namely Jesus. Our children are formed in the Catholic faith every day in every class as we seek to form hearts, minds and souls. If you haven’t done so yet, please come take a tour of our CtR Catholic School and let us show you what it can offer you and your child. The school has its own website with more information at ctrschool.com.

Finally, don’t forget about our wonderful Genesis Early Childhood Program, which is for our youngest learners, aged 18 months through 4 years old. It offers either a two- or three-day-a-week program to provide flexibility for families. It’s fairly full for this school year, but the Genesis ECP staff is also happy to give you a tour of its facilities and tell you the wonderful ways it is helping young children grow in knowledge and faith.

With all this talk about schools and education please remember that our annual Operation Backpack for school supplies is underway. We’re collecting supplies beginning now through Aug. 19. Bring them to Mass or drop them off in the Parish Office during the week. We are asking for new school supplies (wide notebook paper, folders, binders, spiral notebooks, pens, pencils, map colors, etc.) that we can distribute to local school children in need through Cypress Assistance Ministries (CAM) and also our sister parish, Our Mother of Mercy, in Houston’s Fifth Ward. We always have a great response from the CtR community so please remember to pick up a few items when you are at the store. There are plenty of sales going on now so stock up and bring them to Mass and we’ll make sure they get to children most in need.

Peace, Fr. Sean