Monday Message, January 17, 2022
KNOW
This week is our next Clergy Check In. Please encourage your clergy to check in and join us for a conversation.
Confirmation Directives and Planning Sheet for 2022 (Spring) are available in the Documents section of Monday Message (and the links at the beginning of this line).
Just in case you have not seen this, please pass on the invitation to this great event, featuring Christopher West.
Perhaps your catechists could form a parish reading group this spring. Or perhaps others in your parish might consider it. Either way, the information is here.
As we move towards the Spring (snow makes me long for it), I wanted to mention something about parish First Communion celebrations. During the pandemic (which is still going on, by the way), many parishes chose to play catch up by celebrating children’s first Holy Communions during a regularly scheduled Mass. I cannot tell you have much that meant to people. Many parents mentioned it to the bishop, to me, and to many of you. Please consider doing that again this spring. Consider choosing eight or nine Masses during a few weekends and allowing parents to choose the Mass they normally attend (which can also lead to a great conversation about how often they attend). Then, allow those children to come forward first and encourage the congregation to recognize this milestone.
This is not a mandate, it is a suggestion. If you would rather gather everyone at once and be done with it, fine. But don’t do that because you always have done it that way or just cannot handle more work. First Communions are all about second Communions – and third, and fourth, and on and on. Why not allow a family to celebrate within the community they are already a part of.
Just a thought.
REFLECT
On this day when we remember Martin Luther King, Jr. I thought I would share five of my favorite MLK quotes.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.”
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”
“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.”
“Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”
LAUGH
