Bulletin for Feb. 17

Dear friends in Christ,

Our Gospel on this 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time is the beatitudes, but not the ones we are most accustomed to hearing. The “famous” ones come from Matthew’s Gospel, but today instead we hear from Luke’s version. You’ll notice some similarities between the two, but St. Luke only has four as opposed to the eight in St. Matthew. Most striking, however, is how Luke balances his four with four “woe” statements. You know whenever you read a “woe” in the Scriptures that we should brace ourselves. It’s not going to end well! They are meant as a warning sign to not grow too comfortable or complacent in this life. Remember, beatitudes are meant to turn our world upside down. Pay attention, humble yourself, and stay hungry for the kingdom of God. Then we will truly know what it is to be blessed.

This week we say goodbye to our longest tenured employee, Debbie Hawkins, who is retiring after more than 17 years at CtR. We’re grateful for Debbie’s service to our community, especially in the Religious Education Department where she has been the registrar and record-keeper. She’s been a loyal friend and colleague who has always had the best interest of our parish and R.E. students in mind in all that she does. She and her husband, David, are retiring and moving to Florida to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Our community will miss them, but we wish them all of God’s blessings in this new chapter of their lives. Thank you for all you have done for CtR, Debbie!

As we say goodbye to Debbie we say hello to Marisel Menendez, who joins our staff as the new registrar for R.E. Marisel has been active as a catechist, usher and co-chair of our New Parishioner Welcoming Committee. She’ll be a great fit for us under the direction of Kathy Kelley, our Director of Religious Education. And speaking of R.E., next weekend we celebrate First Reconciliation for our 2nd grade students. They’ll have confessions in the church next Saturday, Feb. 23 beginning at 8:30 a.m. We usually wrap up with the kids about 10 a.m., and then Fr. Ralph and I will stay for any adults who are present, so please plan accordingly.

This Monday, Feb. 18, we are hosting an installment of Café Catholica for the Young Adults of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. It’s a program aimed at college-aged and young adult Catholics (basically 18-35 year olds) that brings them together for Reconciliation, Mass, dinner and an inspirational presentation from a Catholic speaker, and affords them the opportunity to mingle and to network with other Catholics in their age range. It’s a program that is near and dear to my heart as I helped start it long ago, circa 2000, when I was assigned to St. Michael Church in the Galleria area. It began as a six-week summer program hosted inside the loop, but has since evolved to rotate locations in the Archdiocese. This year it has expanded out of the summer to the winter (such as it is) months and has migrated to the parishes in the north and northwest area of Houston.

We’ve got an active young adult ministry here at CtR and I’m grateful to Matt Lane for heading it up for us. Matt, by the way, was recently discerned onto our Parish Pastoral Council so I’m very happy to see some of our younger Catholics taking on leadership roles in the parish. Deacon Bill Bradley (though he is far removed from being a “young” adult himself) is the liaison to the group and I’m grateful for his wise counsel to them as well. I invite you to spread the word to any young adult you might know to have them join us this coming Monday. They don’t have to live in the parish, either, so if you have a 20-something son or daughter maybe searching for something more in their life, let them know about it. Mass will be at 6 p.m. in the chapel, with confessions beforehand, and then dinner and the speaker will follow in the Parish Hall. No charge, of course, so spread the word and invite them to come check out all that it has to offer.

In mentioning Matt’s involvement with the Parish Pastoral Council, it dawns on me that I did not inform you of the other new members who were discerned to join the Council in January. I did so in my weekly Flocknote message, but don’t believe I did so here in the bulletin. Mea cupla! Our new PPC members in addition to Matt are Rosanne Cook, Victor Jackson, Marjorie Maloney, and Shawn Muldoon. We had an excellent discernment meeting and I’m grateful for all who came forth. Fortunato Barajas will be our chairperson this year. Please keep the PPC in your prayers. They’ll be partnering with me and the pastoral staff to see that our Vision 2020 is implemented. You may contact the PPC through our parish website.
   
Next Sunday, Feb. 24, I’ll be offering an additional Mass at 7 p.m. in the main church. This is our annual “Teaching Mass” for our high school confirmation students and their parents, but it is open to the entire parish. I’ve offered this in the past for our youth and our RCIA community as a way to “break open” the Mass a bit more for them. It will be the regular Mass for the 7th Sunday of Ordinary Time, but I’ll be “teaching” throughout it, stopping occasionally to explain more of what is happening and, perhaps more importantly, why it is happening. We’ve found it to be a good way to get the youth engaged in the liturgy of the Church.

Each year I offer this Mass the youth seem to like it and get a lot out of it, but it’s the adults who are there with them who say they, too, learned things they never knew. We’re never too old to be reminded of the beauty and power of the Church’s sacred liturgy. Anyone is welcome to attend. It’s a regular Mass that “counts” for your Sunday obligation just like any of the others next weekend. This Mass takes a little longer (because of the narration during it), but we usually wrap up around 8:30 p.m. or maybe just a bit later. Come join us. I think you’ll like it!

Peace,
Fr. Sean