A Letter From Fr. Bruce
What a blessing it was for me to share your Lenten Mission with you, my wonderful brothers and sisters of Christ the Redeemer parish! Yours is a diverse community that truly comes
together as one Body, filled with the Spirit. The participation in both the morning and evening sessions was full and vibrant, and the children in your school Mass were very lively and receptive.
I was most appreciative of the opportunities to share prayerfully with so many of you individually in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and elsewhere. Your parish mission collection may well have been the highest amount ever collected in the 160-year history of my Paulist community. Words cannot express our gratitude! You have helped greatly to keep us going as missionaries to America!
Love and blessings,
Fr. Bruce Nieli, CSP
From Fr. Sean Horrigan:
I want to thank everyone who came out to experience our Lenten Parish Mission two weeks ago. It was an incredible three days of life in the Spirit with Fr. Bruce Nieli, CSP. We had big crowds in the morning and evening sessions and the response from nearly everyone was describing what a blessing it was for our parish community. The “Live Lent” neighborhood small groups that formed out of the sessions have already begun to meet and I’m hearing great initial reports from them as well. In a real sense, the mission was a blessing that keeps on giving as people come together to break open God’s Word and are empowered to make it known in their lives and community.
Please join me in thanking Christy Wright, our edirector of Family Life, who worked tirelessly to bring the mission to life. She did a phenomenal job in coordinating so many of our ministries to work together over the three days, and was more than ably aided by her core team of Jim and Nancy Unverferth and Mike and Mary Jones.
Here’s a list of those groups that helped in some fashion during the mission (take a deep breath – it’s a lot!): ACTS Community, Knights of Columbus, Catholic Daughters of the Americas, Friends in Need, Youth Ministry, Religious Education Department (great work with the morning breakfasts!), CtR School, Respect Life, Divorced and Separated group, St. Anne Society, RCIA, Ushers, Eucharistic Ministers, Lectors, Art & Environment, Parish Pastoral Council, Journey through Scripture, Piece Makers, Music Ministry, and the parish pastoral staff. Whew! That’s quite a list and encompasses so many in our parish. Thank you one and all. Fr. Bruce sends along his gratitude as well for our hospitality and the more than $21,000 that was collected to support the work of his religious order, the Paulist Fathers.
Neighborhood Small Groups
Following the Parish Mission, we invite you can join a Neighborhood Small Group. During the mission you can sign up to participate in a small faith-sharing group in your neighborhood, or a near by neighborhood. These groups will meet in a home for the remaining five weeks of Lent. Please look for the sign up tables when you attend the mission. If you are interested in joining a small group, contact Christy Wright at christy.wright@ctrcc.com.
Christ the Redeemer Catholic Church hosted a Lent Parish Mission for our parishioners. The parish mission was on Feb. 19, 20 and 21. The theme of the parish mission was "Responding to the Spirit: In the Soul, In the Church, In the World." Parishioners filled the church during the three days of spiritual renewal as we hope to form missionary disciples according to Pope Francis' "Joy of the Gospel."
MISSION LEADER
The Rev. Bruce Nieli, CSP, is a nationally known Paulist missionary priest. In 2016, he was commissioned as a missionary of mercy by Pope Francis.
MISSION PRESENTATIONS
Monday, Feb. 19 - In the Soul
Tuesday, Feb. 20 - In the Church
Wednesday, Feb. 21 - In the World
MISSION IMAGE
The image for the parish mission (pictured on the top right-hand side) depicts the role of the Holy Spirit (white dove) descending upon faithful missionary disciples as they are called to reach out to others and share the joy of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Missionary disciples see the Holy Spirit alive in each and every person and are the hands and feet of Jesus as we proclaim the Good News as a response to the spirit in our souls, in our church and in our world. The white rays show the constant presence of God, His Son and the Holy Spirit with us.