Monday Message, October 16, 2023
KNOW
This weekend, all parishes will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of our diocese in place of the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Please make arrangements to distribute this letter and the holy cards given to your pastors at the Mass the Bishop will be celebrating this weekend.
As was mentioned on the call last week, we are working on a personalized version of LEAD for your parish, which will include your own landing page, messaging, and online registration for your faith formation opportunities. Invitations went out to a planning session. If you did not receive an invite and would like to be a pilot parish, please let Patrick know. Only four spots remain.
Adult Confirmation formation is open and receiving new enrollees. This year, a hybrid version with online courses and the face-to-face formation will prepare adult practicing Catholics who lack only Confirmation. See our web’s home page for links.
Save the date – April 20, 2024 for Ministry Day: A Look Inside. The Bishop has asked us to prepare a second ministry day this year following the same format as our very successful one at the end of September. This time, instead of practical advice for doing ministry, our focus will be on personal spirituality. If a topic springs to mind that you would like us to cover, please email us.
A few items happening around us – St. Rose is inviting folks to participate in the Children’s Rosary this fall. Our friends in Region One are inviting leaders to a Day of Recollection with Jesse Manibusen.
REFLECT
NEW YORK – Echoing the call of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the U.S. Bishops are calling for a day of fasting, abstinence and prayer on Oct. 17 for peace and reconciliation in the Holy Land amid a rapidly escalating war between Israel and Hamas.
“On behalf of all the Ordinaries of the Holy Land, I invite all parishes and religious communities to a day of fasting and prayer for peace and reconciliation,” Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaball, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, announced in an Oct. 11 statement.
“We ask that on Tuesday, Oct. 17, everyone hold a day of fasting, abstinence, and prayer,” Pizzaballa said. “Let us organize prayer times with Eucharistic adoration and with the recitation of the Rosary to Our Blessed Virgin Mary.”
LAUGH
