13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Parishioners,

    During the summer months all of us keep a different schedule.  Some of us might be more able to do Adult Faith education than we normally would.  I like to offer opportunities for continuing education in the summer.  Usually I see some people who cannot come during the winter.

    This summer we will once again offer a series, on three Thursday evenings in July, opening at 7pm with prayer and a presentation with question and answer time.

On July 11^th parishioner Sandy Carlsten will provide a night of reflection on “Living the Works of Mercy”.  The spiritual and corporal works of mercy are ways that we put our Christian faith into practice.  Parishioners and others from groups and committees are being invited to share how they implement the works of mercy.  Our faith is not just personal but also about loving our neighbor and assisting them spiritually and materially.

On July 18^th Susan Nagele, M.D. will take us to East Africa in her presentation, “Maryknoll, Medicine and Miracles”.  Dr. Nagele worked as a Maryknoll lay missioner for thirty-three years.  Susan  put her faith into practice by providing medical care for the poorest of the poor in Tanzania, Sudan and Kenya.  In her presentation Susan offers information and stories of the missioners and the people they serve, and she welcomes our questions and comments.  Currently Dr.  Nagele  is back home in Champaign caring for her mother and continues doing mission education and advocacy with the Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns.

Finally, on July 25^th we will be having an open forum about the Clergy Sexual Abuse Crisis.  A Pew Research Poll was released last week that surveyed the attitudes of American Catholics in light of recent revelations about sexual misconduct in the church.  Fr. Matthew and I will offer the statistics that have been gathered and this will hopefully lead to some fruitful dialogue.  This topic is one that we all know about and it disturbs us all. Hopefully, sharing this research will be of some benefit to everyone.

All these sessions will start at 7 p.m.  I hope parishioners might be able to attend one or all of them.

Blessings,

Fr. Mark