Monday Message, January 6, 2025

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KNOW

Attached is a letter from Bishop Caggiano announcing the Called By Name Campaign for Vocations which will take place this coming weekend, January 11 and 12. It was to be distributed at all parishes this past weekend. Please distribute it to your catechists and volunteers.

Bishop Caggiano will meet with all parents of Confirmation candidates on Wednesday evening at 7 pm at St. Mary in Greenwich and on Thursday at 7 pm at St. Cecelia in Stamford. These meetings were announced in the fall, so I am confident you have already shared this news with your parents.

Invitations will go out today to all catechists enrolled in Catechist 2.0 formation to attend a special dinner with Bishop Caggiano on January 16th at Queen of Saints Hall. The featured speaker will be Sr. Johanna Paruch, one of the committee members who worked on the Directory for Catechesis. Space is limited so personal invitations will be sent. If you wish to attend, please make sure you are enrolled in formation.

Because of the event on the 16th, we are cancelling the Lunch and Learn on the 15th. Carmela will make arrangements to meet by Zoom with anyone who signed up.

All parish catechetical leaders are invited to meet with principals and with Sr. Johanna on the 17th. Details and registration here.

Our next check-in is on the 14th. Looking forward to hearing about the conversation from the December meeting that I missed.

REFLECT

I want to thank those of you that wrote and texted following the passing of my dear Aunt Barbara on Thursday evening. She had suffered a stroke earlier in the day and we were able to communicate with her, hold her hand, and keep her company. She knew she was loved and she knew she was not alone. We will celebrate her life later this month in Philadelphia. For my own children, it is and will be more powerful a loss than even my own mother. Barbara was their de facto grandmother and a part of our everyday life for several years. She was doing very well over the break and if the cancer had not reached her brain with such suddenness, she’d still be here. In the end, it was beautiful and surreal, as anyone who has been through this journey can understand.

I am back to half days following my bout with Pneumonia over Christmas. Sleeping 16 hours a day when you are supposed to be on vacation is not really what I intended, but when your body tells you to slow down, you have to do it. I will do my best to catch up with email and texts and all sorts of communication that awaits me at my desk in Shelton. I will accompany the bishop to some of the events this week but not all – I have to be careful to keep building my strength.

I spoke with the team about the December virtual check-in and when we meet on the 14th, we can discuss the opinions that were expressed. It boggles my mind that people actually had complaints about formation and seem unwilling to comply with the bishop’s requests that our children deserve catechists that are well-formed. More on that later.

I hope your break was enjoyable and that your new year is off to a wonderful start.

pjd

LAUGH