Bulletin for Jan. 22, 2017

Dear friends in Christ,

Last week I attended the first planning meeting of the year for our 32nd annual Spring Festival, to be held on April 29-30. That’s more than three months away, but the planning for a successful Spring Festival begins early. Truth be told, as soon as last year’s festival was over, Mike and Camille Havelka, our general chairpersons, were already planning this year’s event. Our dedicated Core Committee will be meeting regularly for the next several weeks in preparation for the weekend at the end of April.

Why am I telling you this so early? This year’s Spring Festival will be one of transition for one of our biggest events of the weekend, the barbeque dinner. After 30 years, the Holub family has let us know that they are stepping down from coordinating the cooking and serving of the popular Sunday lunch. This is a monumental moment. First, a word of gratitude to the Holub family. For 30 years members of one family (granted, it’s a big extended family covering several generations!) have served our parish selflessly in giving of their time and effort on Spring Festival weekend. They coordinated the purchasing, cooking, preparation and serving of not only the briskets, but all the sides and trimmings. They typically sold more than 1,200 dinners, 1,300 sandwiches, 250 pounds of coleslaw (homemade!), and 50 gallons of beans. Their team was on campus all weekend, slowly smoking the briskets, then slicing and serving it to hungry parishioners. Words can’t express my appreciation to all of the Holub family over the years. God bless them all!

But that leads us to the transition. We are in need of a team to step forward and carry forth the barbecue tradition from the Holubs. Fortunately they kept meticulous notes and are ready to assist the next cook team to take on the task. We are looking for those who love to cook and serve barbecue for a large number of people to step forward. Clearly this is a job larger than one person, and I would encourage those parishioners who might have an interest in preparing barbecue (I know there are a lot of “smokers” out there) to contact us. We want to identify a team early on that can help in this important part of festival. We’ll assist you at every step, but we need someone to shepherd this for the parish.

Likewise, we are seeking a Food Booth coordinator. Believe it or not, Debbie Ellison and Rose Gorney, part of the Holub family, did that for us in addition to the barbecue. We’d like to split those two tasks, and are seeking an individual to coordinate the purchasing and oversight of our various food booths. Again, they left us detailed instructions of what needs to be done and when, but we are in need of someone to take over this task and see it to completion. Finally, our dear, sweet Helen Rae, who coordinated the Flea Market tent, suffered a stroke last year and will not be able to return to coordinate that for us. We are seeking someone who loves flea markets and garage sales to coordinate that popular tent for Spring Festival weekend.

Our Spring Festival is our largest parish event of the year and it truly is a community event. Thousands of people come out for it every year and it is supported by hundreds of volunteers. Those volunteers are coordinated by a dedicated Core Team, led by the Havelkas, but they and other members of the team, can’t go on forever. We have to expect and prepare for transition over time. With a parish of our size, we should be able to identify people and families who can take what has been done, make it their own, and carry it forth for the next generation. That’s what being part of a parish family is all about. I ask you to help me in identifying parishioners who can assist us in this most important event. Please contact me directly about these positions we need to fill. The time to act is now. I ask you to join me in prayer that we might identify and help build up those who will help our parish in these most important tasks. Thank you!

Let’s look ahead to a couple of events that are on the radar for the next few weeks. First, next week we’ll kickoff the annual Catholic Schools Week. This is marked throughout the country as an annual celebration of Catholic education. Our own CtR Catholic School has a host of activities planned to mark the week, including an open house and other activities for students, families, parishioners and community members. Through these events, we will focus on the value Catholic education provides to young people and its contributions to our Church, our community and our nation. This year’s theme is “Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service.”

Next, I want to give you a “heads-up” on the forthcoming 2017 Diocesan Services Fund (DSF), which will begin next week in every parish throughout the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. You will recall that the DSF is the annual collection to fund those ministries and services offered in the name of the Archdiocese that no one single parish could ever possibly fund on its own. The DSF theme this year is “Go Make Disciples,” and that’s what DSF enables us to do – help make disciples. Your gift to the DSF helps reach people in need through more than 60 programs and ministries.

All registered parishioners will soon receive a letter from Cardinal DiNardo along with a personalized pledge card inviting them to participate in this year’s DSF drive. Please complete the enclosed pledge card and bring it with you to Mass in the coming weeks or return it in the mail in the envelope provided. If you prefer, you may go online to make your pledge. That’s what I do and I find it quick, safe and secure. We’ll also have pledge cards in the pews. I’ll share more DSF information with you at all the Masses next weekend.

Finally, tomorrow, Monday, Jan. 23, is a Day of Prayer for Unborn Children as we mark the 44th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal throughout the U.S. Since that tragic decision, nearly 60 million children’s lives have been lost to abortion, and many others suffer that loss often in silence. We’ll remember and pray for all human life at our 9 a.m. daily Mass, and I encourage you to keep a fast throughout the day if possible. In addition, it’s not too late to join the U.S. bishops annual novena, 9 Days for Life, which began Jan. 21 and continues through next Sunday, Jan. 29. The bishops’ website, linked on the front page of our CtR website, has much more information on the novena and how we can all use these days to pray and work for the respect and protection of human life.

Peace, Fr. Sean