Our Plan, Part Two

Long term, we want to build our various events into year-long programs, as well as add and beta-test other programming. Some of these will also require more recruitment, such as with the Mentor Couples, or long-term planning, like for mission trips.

Mission Trips & Pilgrimmages

Our parish recently hosted a trip to aid the Piarist Fathers' Appalachian Mission in Kentucky. The missionaries were able to quickly raise all the funds and supplies they needed and more, so there is obviously fertile ground for this apostolate in our parish!

It would be great to return to Kentucky and other domestic mission locations. As well, I'm sure there would be a lot of excitement for international missions and pilgrimages. For example, my wife and I went to Rome for our honeymoon and received a papal blessing on us and our marriage, which was all ... TOTALLY AMAZING!! Ashton and I would love for other young couples to have this kind of experience. Such a pilgrimage can't help but leave an indelible impression on the couple and their marriage. Maybe Ashton will write a post describing our honeymoon-pilgrimage in more detail [hint, hint] ;)

Speaking of pilgrimages, one amazing destination would be March for Life! I would love for a crew of young families to caravan together to March for Life in DC ... ROAD TRIP!!

Adult Catechesis: Year-Long Curriculum

So far, our Adult Catechesis program has been pretty spotty and decentralized. I teach 2-3 multi-week courses a year at St. Mary's. Past courses include "Hail, Holy Queen," a course based on Scott Hahn's book of the same title; "The Eucharist," based on Dr. Brant Pitre's Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist; and "The Pentateuch" based on my class notes from Notre Dame Seminary.

We need a whole year's worth of programming for consistency sake. That means we need more teachers! And more teachers means more classes, more diversity, and more subjects! Here's an example of a year-round curriculum (actually a half-year), more or less fit to the liturgical calendar:

• September - October (7 weekly classes): "The Eucharist"
• November 3: Dr. Brant Pitre event, "Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Marriage"
• November - January (10 weekly classes): Catholicism series by Father Robert Barron
• Facilitated (hopefully) by Pat Witty
• January - February (7-10 weekly classes): "Theology of the Body"
• Facilitated (hopefully) by Jennifer Bollich
• February - March: [class tailored to Lent]

Ongoing with all of this, Bible studies and book clubs are/will be ongoing.

Mentor Couples

This would be a great way to partner up the older and younger generations, to bring our parish community closer together. Marriage preparation in our Diocese (Baton Rouge) includes this. Ashton and I were partnered up with Deacon Tom and Ms. Patrice, and this was a great experience for us. It brought us a lot closer to the Robinsons -- they kind of feel like the godparents of our marriage. Anyway, I'm hoping the Holy Spirit will find us somebody interested in facilitating this program.

I envision this program as, basically, quarterly dinners. The mentor couples would host their "mentee" couples at their house for dinner 3-4 times a year -- or go out to dinner together -- -- maybe even at one of our Second Sunday lunches.

Softball League

Last, but not least! We need an inter-church, inter-denomination, co-ed, pan-generational softball league! That's ICIDCEPGSL for short! We had one tournament this year, which was actually more of a scrimmage between clabbered-together teams, but hey! it's a start. We used the "tournament" as a baby goods drive for the local pregnant women's shelter, too. Lots to build on! I'll probably be writing a separate post on this alone. There will be softball: we will not ...