Monday Message, August 26, 2024

Patrick Donovan

KNOW

Please use these letters to distribute to parents and invite them to this fall’s meeting with Bishop Caggiano and all parents of Confirmation candidates.

Fairfield – Deanery F – October 10, 2024
Wilton – Deanery E – October 24, 2024
Greenwich – Deanery I – January 8, 2025
Stamford – Deanery H – January 9, 2025
Bethel – Deanery D – January 15, 2025
Shelton – Deanery C – January 22, 2025
Bridgeport – Deanery A – January 23, 2025
Stratford – Deanery B – February 19, 2025
Norwalk – Deanery G – March 6, 2025

If you are having trouble remembering which deanery you are in, please see this handy cheat sheet.

All pastors will receive a memo this afternoon. Your sneak peak is here. It includes important information about Confirmation, sponsors, and more. We will discuss this in detail at our September 14th Fall Forum. Register here.

Another memo will go out today as well, inviting all parish leaders (except catechists who will have their own meeting) to gather with Bishop Caggiano on October 19th. Please see those details here.

If your parish administrative assistants have not yet signed up for a day of prayer and laughter on September 27th, perhaps you could share this memo with your pastors.

Catechetical Sunday will be celebrated on Sunday, September 15, 2024. The USCCB Secretariat for Evangelization and Catechesis has developed resources that can be used in local communities for this annual celebration. See details here.

If your parish has not yet signed up to host the Eucharistic Miracles display, please contact our newest team member, Sue Baldwin. Sue is now the coordinator of special projects for the Institute. In the meantime, inspired by the collection of Eucharistic Miracles by Carlos Acutis, local composer/artist, Marlane Tubridy and Martin Tubridy express the mystery and beauty of this gift in the music of this moving song.

SPECIAL REQUEST

I invite you to participate in the final phase of a twenty-five-year longitudinal study of Pastoral Leaders Ministering to Catholic Youth and Young Adults. This research is about you and ministry leaders like you. In collaboration with several other national ministry organizations, Dr. Charlotte McCorquodale with Ministry Training Source has contributed to our understanding of our field for many years. This final study will be the most comprehensive yet, so please consider being a part of it.

This research is for all Catholic pastoral ministers asked to lead a ministry that includes youth and/or young adults. You can be a volunteer or paid leader, focusing on just youth and/or young adult ministry or other ministries, including faith formation, Confirmation, Pastoral Juvenil, campus ministry, and RCIA, to name a few. Serve in a parish, school, campus/university, movement, itinerants, religious communities, or the diocese.

Let your voice be heard! Take the survey now!

Everyone’s voice, including yours, is crucial in this research. No matter how long you’ve been in ministry, where you live, or who you lead, your unique experiences and perspectives are highly valued and will contribute to the richness of our research. Thank you for considering this request and taking the time to contribute to this vital research.

Plus, all who complete the survey will receive free resources and have a chance to win $500 Amazon gift cards or equivalent donations to their ministry.

REFLECT

It appears, from the laundry list of things above, and from all the events listed here, that the summer break is over. I hope and pray you got some much needed rest, because when we meet on the 14th of September, you will soon discover how much work there is to do.

School starts this week, much to the chagrin of the children. Two are in college now, two in high school, Maureen and I celebrated 20 years of marriage, and somehow in the midst of all of it, I don’t remember taking a break. How we sprint from June to September every year so quickly is beyond me.

For now, let us reflect on the first reading from yesterday and determine how, like Joshua, we will serve the Lord. Will it be in welcoming parents? Will we serve the Lord by the way we reimagine formation so we can facilitate encounters with Jesus? Will we serve our family by making time to eat together, pray together, rest together? Will we serve the Lord by being people of peace?

How we serve the Lord might make the difference between getting to Advent calmly, peacefully, and with our wits intact – as opposed to waking up in December having no memory of the past twelve weeks.

May your week be blessed.

P.S. Need a prayer for the first week of school? Check this out.

LAUGH