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Dear Friends in Christ,
When the life of our family of parishes gets busy, I find it helpful to remember what the late Pope Benedict XVI often said are the three essential purposes of the Christian Church: Worship, Evangelization, and Care of the Poor. Let me offer a brief reflection on each of these.
The most important thing we do as Catholics is to gather to celebrate the Eucharist on a regular basis. I know summer activities challenge the frequency of many people’s Mass attendance, but I encourage you to make this a regular weekly practice. Hopefully, you have found a time that works for you in one of our parishes. Please note also the opportunities for weekday daily Mass in our family, as well as other prayer opportunities available like praying the rosary, spending an hour in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, or gathering for contemplative prayer. Please check our parish media to learn more about all these opportunities.
Proclaiming the Gospel of Christ is another essential purpose of the church. Fr. Bob Camuso is heading a committee made up of volunteers from our family to discuss and strategize how we can communicate and market the Good News that our church has to offer. Stay tuned for more on that. In the meantime, many of our young will be attending the Vacation Bible School offered at St. Bridget’s this summer. Plans are being made to regularly offer a Children’s Liturgy of the Word (CLOW) at each of our Sunday gatherings. Lastly, we will be combining our programs for forming adults and older children for Christian Initiation (OCIA & OCIC) which will be starting up in August. Please extend an invitation to anyone you think might be interested.
Caring for the poor is also at the heart of what it means to be a Christian Community. Our SVDP conferences have been joining together for the important outreach they offer to those in need in our area. They always welcome volunteers to join their efforts, as well as the financial support essential to care for the poor. A group of teenagers and adults from St. Catherine are in Tijuana Mexico to help build homes there. Many of our friends from OLL have been offering their help in supporting a refugee family from Nicaragua.
All of the above make us the Catholic Church in Northeast Seattle! Let’s unite around this mission the Lord has given us as his disciples!
Fr. William Heric, Pastor
Holy Mary Mother of God…pray for us!
St. Bridget of Kildare…pray for us!
St. Catherine of Siena…pray for us!
Live Jesus in our hearts…forever!
