Eucharist Class @ St. Mary's -- Starts THIS WEEK!!

I'm teaching a free course on the Eucharist over the next seven weeks. This course is based on Dr. Brant Pitre's book, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist -- Catholic Art & Gifts will have copies available for sale at class. Class will be held every Thursday at 6:30pm in the St. Mary's Parish Office Conference Room (or in the church depending on attendance). The individual class topics and dates are listed below:

1. The Mystery of the Last Supper & The New Exodus -- Sept 17
2. The New Passover -- Sept 24
3. [Pro-Vita Supper in lieu of class] -- Oct 1 
4. The Manna of the Messiah -- Oct 8
5. The Bread of the Presence -- Oct 15
6. The Fourth Cup -- Oct 22
7. On the Road to Emmaus -- Oct 29

THEN, on November 3, Dr. Pitre, himself, is coming to give a presentation entitled "Jesus and the Jewish Roots of MARRIAGE"!!

Our Plan, Part One

In this and the next post, I will outline the proposal for a young and marrieds ministry that we submitted to our parish priest. 

Short Term Goals

The short term goals included the following, which required little or no effort to put together or were already in place:

"Second Sundays" Lunches

Baptists are really good at potlucks. Our parish has tried this, but only ever intermittently for special occasions, never on a consistent basis.

Pat Witty, one of the bulwarks of our parish, has a saying his dad shared with him, "You've gotta keep your doors open, your lights on." If we want to build our ministry, we need to have consistent programming. People will walk through the doors -- more and more over time -- if we just stake out our place and time. 

So, Jennifer Bollich, our youth minister, gave us a time: "Second Sundays." Every "Second Sunday" of the month, we're reserving a big section of a local restaurant -- hopefully, something self-contained to help prevent the kids from wandering off. This has the added benefit of supporting our town's local businesses. 

Date Nights

The basic idea here is that we help married couples escape the helter skelter of daily life for the peace of date night. Couples drop off their kids at the church, where babysitters are provided for a nominal fee as well as youth programming -- two generations, one stone. The couples go off on their own for date night. We provide goodie bags with games and discussion questions. Then, after a romantic interlude all by themselves, the couples return for dessert at the church and a short program.  

We want to provide this on a monthly basis, as well -- to keep those doors open! The childcare idea is based on a self-funding model, so we aren't a drain on church funds. At the same time, we create a lucrative, regular job opportunity for some local teens. 

Adult Catechesis Classes

This is part of the New Evangelization called for by Pope Benedict XVI: the re-proposing of the Gospel "to those regions awaiting the first evangelization and to those regions where the roots of Christianity are deep but who have experienced a serious crisis of faith due to secularization." See Pope Benedict XVI, "Homily of First Vespers on the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul",

There was already a good bit of groundwork established here. I've been teaching theology courses, somewhat sporadically, in our parish for some time. There will be a subsequent post to provide some background here. My classes included Hail, Holy Queen after Dr. Hahn's book of the same title, "The Pentateuch" from my class notes in Dr. Pitre's class, and Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist from Dr. Pitre's book of the same title. 

Also, Dr. Brant Pitre is already schedule to come speak at our parish, so my class on the Eucharist is designed to build excitement and momentum for his visit. Dr. Pitre will be speaking on November 3rd starting at 6:30pm at St. Mary's -- more on this later!

Pro-Life Ministry

My ever-patient and loving wife and I also started our parish's local chapter of Louisiana Right to Life. We have already put together a year's worth of programming for this, so we just rolled this into the mix. On our schedule, we've got 40 Days for Life, March for Life, and our first annual banquet and fundraiser, set for February 18, 2016 with special guest Abby Johnson. For more information about these events, check out our Pointe Coupee Right to Life Facebook page, our Twitter handle @PCRTL, and the page on this blog site. 

1st Second Sundays Lunch TOMORROW!

After 11am Mass @ Satterfield's Ford Room

Too Busy To Be in Ministry, Too Busy Not To Be in Ministry

Have you ever noticed the ages of those involved in Church ministry programs?

 
There's the high school youth, who are involved in youth group activities, and then there's the near-retirement age group, who handle the crux of parish ministry. Where are the in-betweens?

The in-betweens are busy with babies. And work. And school and after-school activities. And keeping the house. And somehow carving out a moment for family time. And they would really love to be involved in ministry but there just has to be family time. I haven't been there, I am here. And I know other couples who are here as well.

Family time is important. We all know this. It's important, necessary, and healthy for the marriage, as well as the individual family relationship. But what concerns me is the dwindling participation in the communal church life, our spiritual family. This concern challenges my way of thinking: maybe the very reason I give myself not to be involved in my church community is the very reason I should be. 

Let me explain. As parents we have the most important job in the world. We have been entrusted with these little lives to shape and mold in accordance to the teachings of His revealed truth, to His Church. They are the now-Church, and they are the future leaders of the Church. It's a stressful job that we don't want to mess up. I'm realizing, though, that there is no easier way for me to mess up than to mess myself up. If I am not fed and supported spiritually than how can I raise these little ones to be spiritually equipped? It's like building a house without tools.

We are communal people. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says,

"The human person needs to live in society. Society is not for him an extraneous addition but a requirement of his nature. Through the exchange with others, mutual service and dialogue with his brethren, man develops his potential; he thus responds to his vocation. (CCC 1879)"

It is in our very nature as human beings to live and thrive in a society of people. We live in a community to support our social needs; to be healthy emotionally and physiologically, we all need some degree of human connection and friendship. We live in a community for the support and sustenance of our physical needs like food, clothing, electricity, medical health, and a job. Communal support is essential. Isn't it important to live in a spiritual community for our spiritual health and needs?

But how do we do this? This is the question that has plagued me since our first baby was born. How do I find time to minister, and be ministered to, without compromising the health of our family in other ways? The best answer that I can think of that actually works is becoming involved in our Church family as a family.

Note: This is not Lucy, but it could have been.

I'll never forget trying to live out the idea of a family ministry. I brought my firstborn, Lucy, along for a ministry my husband was involved in. He taught/teaches Adult Catechesis classes at St. Mary's and I wanted to help and support him. I'd bring Lucy to the parish office, set out some drinks and make some coffee, enjoy conversation with fellow parishioners, and then the class would start. At first Lucy was pretty well behaved, but after the first hour I was almost tempted to let her climb the fake potted tree in the corner. I'd dumped the diaper bag, which contained A LOT of things (our first-child parenting skills at that point consisted of packing a lot of stuff to keep the baby perpetually entertained) but Lucy had decided that she was going to be fussy until I let her under the conference table to pull at people's shoe-laces and eat the crud off of their shoes. So naturally, I would leave and sit in the next room with her, where I couldn't hear much of the class anyway.



My husband and I are not the only ones who have this same dilemma. There is a need in our Church to support these stages of adulthood that raise children because this stage of child rearing has the greatest influence on future generations. Young and Marrieds Ministry seeks to do this by enabling young families to partake in a ministry together, focusing on the communal nature of man.


Everyone has to eat, why not eat together? Our Second Sunday lunches are intended to unite young, faith-filled couples and individuals in community with one another in a setting  that enables families to partake in parish life together (i.e., children are wanted, invited, and welcomed)! In a world that is so divided--where our beautiful Catholic faith is stifled and misunderstood, and likened to things such as hate-crimes, misogyny, anti-freedom, and where we become so isolated because of the fast-paced society that we live in, we especially need the communal faith support. We need to be reminded that we do not fight the battle for our children's souls, and our own, alone. In bonding with other Catholic Young and Marrieds, we can receive encouragement and hope, helping keep each other's spiritual candles lit to light up a dark world and pass the light onto our children. 



After all, Christ spoke of a special grace gained in joining with others in faith: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matt 18:20)

Commissioned

My wife and I had been thinking about the need for a young & marrieds ministry for a while. Then, our local bishop formed a task force to address, among other things, future parish closures. Our parish's task force meeting turned into a brainstorming session. Amazingly, all of us had never really sat down together like this. We we're buzzing for days afterwards. It was like a local Council of Trent. 

 

My main takeaway was the need for two things: (1) a young & marrieds ministry, and (2) more adult catechesis. These two goals would intertwine, of course. I had already been teaching classes on various subjects (Mary, the Eucharist, the Pentateuch) sporadically. I called the program "ACE" for Adult Catechism and Evangelization, but it had yet to really get off the ground with other teachers and programs. 

In the days following the task force meeting, I met with other people from our parish and pieced together a plan for these two things. My wife, for her part, knew that look in my eye when a new project was afoot. She gave me the green light, so I pushed the throttle forward.

Having my wife on board was critical. And, like I said, we'd been feeling the need for such a ministry in our parish for years. We knew we were in a critical period, as well, because all our old friends from youth group were getting married and starting new lives, sometimes elsewhere. Louisiana is very prone to the brain drain. So many young people graduate from high school or college and move away to places where jobs are more plentiful. It's our diaspora. We need to create a reason for people to stay. We can't have a community without people. 

We knew also that we'd especially need the help, grace, and support of Mother Church to do all this. 

I work in downtown Baton Rouge, so I'm not usually in town during the day. But the Friday following the parish task force meeting, I happened to be passing through New Roads after a court hearing in a neighboring parish. I had written our parish priest, Monsignor Berggreen, the day before asking if he would be free for lunch. Unfortunately, I had emailed him on my work email, which I couldn't check until back at work in faraway Baton Rouge. 

So, I stopped by the parish office and rudely begged for Monsignor to see me. I had a plan all written out for the new ministry, but I knew I couldn't go much further without our priest's blessing. 

Monsignor did, of course, see me. The man's a living saint. He probably bi-located from the confessional to visit with me. He read over my proposal, which will be spelled out more fully in subsequent posts, and which also included him -- a 70-something-year-old man -- getting a Twitter handle. Rubbing his substantial brow with his long fingers, he nodded and smiled. "So what do you need from me?" He asked. 

I had told him we weren't asking for any funding, and we would do all our own fundraising. "Besides letting us use the rooms and facilities of the parish," I said, "all we need is your blessing, Monsignor. I was thinking you could commission me and my wife to this ministry?" 
 

Monsignor nodded and spread out his long fingers and wide palms in an open gesture -- "You're commissioned," he said, laughing. I probably blushed, then, expecting something more elaborate. I babbled on a bit more and took Monsignor on a brief tour of Twitter, extolling its virtues and the fact that the Pope also has a Twitter. But that was it, we were off to the races! 

Between Youth Group and Retirement: The Lost Generation/s

We started a new ministry! It's a "Young & Marrieds" Ministry for our local Catholic parish, St. Mary's of False River. I started this new blog to chronicle our successes and, let's just say, "non-successes." AMDG. 

I've been noticing, for some time now, that there's something of an age gap among active parishioners at our church -- locally and nationally. Take my local Knights of Columbus Council, for example: The two youngest people are myself (32) and Mr. Pat (50s?). There's about twenty years of people and at least two generations, my own included, that are MIA. Where are they?

BUT, 11am Mass is filled with the happy hum of babies and young families. Thank God for that! There's a supply. We just need some programming (Childcare included). We need to minister to people between youth group and retirement! 

We're not exactly facing extinction, yet. You can thank the Catholic Church's pro-life and pro-NFP stances for its demographic resiliency. Something does need to be done, though. There's just no pamphlet or program that the Church elders can buy to fix this. We need young people organizing young people. 


New community structures are forming in my generation. Young people are generally good at organizing communities around (1) food, (2) sex, and (3) power -- the threefold lusts (Gen 3:1-6; 1 John 2 13:17) -- See, e.g. (1) foodies, (2) Ashley Madison, and (3) the cult of celebrity.  

So, that's not good, but the antidote remains the same. We just need to bring people to Jesus through the Church. The Church is and always will be THE community structure. It's the only one that's sustainable -- perpetually. 

So, this is what we're gonna do. We're starting a ministry FUBU, for us, by us, and we're pretty sure it's gonna save the world, in some small way. We've got some ideas for unique programming -- date nights, tailgating, Childcare and batteries always included -- tailored to young people and young families, most of which has been stolen from the Baptists (no shame!). We hope all of this might also help other parishes, and other parishes and people might help us, as well. Stay tuned! Pax!