Bulletin for Nov. 12

Dear friends in Christ,

This Thursday, Nov. 16, we celebrate the ninth anniversary of the dedication of our church. We give thanks to almighty God for the gift of our earthly spiritual home as we wait in joyful anticipation of union with Him in our heavenly home. It’s a day of great rejoicing for us at CtR as we recall the beautiful events of nine years ago and we see God’s manifestation in all the people who make up our parish community. We’ll celebrate our 9 a.m. daily Mass that day in the church itself as a sign of our thanksgiving.

As beautiful as our building is we know that it is the people of God who are the real shining lights of our parish. After all, this is only a building of brick, wood and stone made by man, but the Church is the living icon of Christ. It is the Body of Christ that makes the building, not the building that makes the Body of Christ. When that Body of Christ, united in faith, comes together with a single hope, dream and vision, we are able to do more than we ever think possible.

As important a date as Nov. 16 is I think back to all the days that led up to it as the real cause of our celebration. It was in your feedback to our Master Plan in 2005 that gave rise to what CtR should look like in the coming years. It was in countless meetings of the Parish Pastoral Council, Finance Council, and the Building Committee that the vision for the new church took root. And of course it was in your generous gifts of Stewardship in the “Our Faith, Our Future” Capital Campaign that so many families made the sacrifice that made it all possible. All of those things had to come together first before we could even have a dedication day to remember. That was the real work of our hands and I can never say thank you enough to all those who sacrificed to raise up this good and noble work.

Since the day of dedication nine years ago, we have welcomed nearly 2,300 new families to our community. We now number more than 6,800 families who call this their parish home. God’s holy Church is never static. It is always in mission to the world. I invite you today to take a moment and thank God for the gift of your faith lived here at Christ the Redeemer, and then resolve to deepen your faith by living it more deeply with a spirit of gratitude as a good steward of the many gifts God has given you. The church building itself is where we gather and are fed, but we are sent to leave the building and bring Christ to others through our lives in action.

Given that next year will mark our 10th anniversary, we’ve got a few extra events in the works to mark that momentous occasion. We’ll have more to say about it in the new year as we begin to prepare for it, but for now I invite you to celebrate nine years in thanksgiving. May God continue to bless us for years to come!

For those of you who join us for the weekly Mass with the CtR School, please note that this week only it will not be held at its usual day and time of 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Instead it will be two days later at 9 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 17, the last day of classes before our Thanksgiving break. It’s Grandparents’ Day at the school and so we welcome the many family and friends of our students who will be in town for the upcoming holidays, and they will all join us for Mass in the church at our usual daily Mass time of 9 a.m. on Friday. After a week off for Thanksgiving, our usual school Mass schedule resumes at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 29.

Speaking of our school, we offer condolences to the family of Mrs. Carmen Addis, one of our teachers who passed away Nov. 3 after a brief illness. Mrs. Addis joined our faculty this past August as a middle school Spanish teacher and in just a short time proved herself to be a favorite among our students. She was an excellent teacher and an even more beautiful soul. Her daughter, Mary Ann Addis, also teaches elementary Spanish and music for us and so our school is mourning deeply for the entire family. Carmen’s husband, Daniel Addis, is a deacon of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, where her services were held this past week. Please join our parish and school community in praying for the Addis family in their time of grief. May she rest in peace.

Remember that throughout the month of November we keep in our prayers all who have died, and we have a Book of Remembrance in the church by the baptismal font. You are invited to inscribe the name of those loved ones who have died and we’ll remember them in our intentions at Masses this month. In addition we are hosting a “ Planning for Your Catholic Funeral” workshop at 12:30 p.m. this Sunday, Nov. 12 in the Community Center to learn more about how you can make arrangements ahead of time in preparation for a funeral in the Church. We’ll walk you through the many choices and help you make decisions now that can be implemented at the time of our death or the death of a loved one.

Next Saturday, Nov. 18, we will celebrate the First Communion of 135 of our (mostly) 2nd grade children. Recall that we offer First Communion (and First Reconciliation) three times throughout the year – spring, summer and fall – to accommodate the schedules of our more than 350 children receiving their sacraments for the first time. We welcome our young children to the table of the Lord for the first time next weekend, and we look forward to not only their First Communion, but their reception of the precious Body and Blood of our Lord every Sunday for their rest of their lives! Note that due to the First Communion celebration we will not hold confessions on Saturday, Nov. 18. They will resume the following week.

Lastly I offer a sincere thank you to our community for the outpouring of support for our recent Catholic-Lutheran Prayer Service in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. We had a wonderful crowd of about 300 join us on Oct. 19 for the prayer service and the reports I heard from nearly everyone in attendance was that it was a spiritually uplifting night of song and prayer. The joint choirs of the two communities sounded outstanding together, and the coordination in the liturgical service of both Catholic and Lutheran youth was also quite moving. It was good to be in solidarity in praying to our one God and both communities have pledged themselves to seek additional ways we can help forge a path to communion in our little corner of the world. On behalf of Pastor Brad Otto of Messiah Lutheran Church I thank all who made it possible. I’m also happy to report we raised $1,360 in donations from our combined offertory at the service, all of which has been donated to Cypress Assistance Ministries to help those in need in our community. With the holiday approaching, CAM welcomes donations of food items, including small frozen turkeys, to help provide a Thanksgiving dinner for families in need this year.

Peace,
Fr. Sean