Parish Update – Friday, May 14

Happy Friday, one and all. I hope you enjoyed the (relatively) cooler weather this past week. It certainly made my daily walk a bit more bearable, though it appears the humidity and inevitable summer heat will be here soon enough. Such is life on the Texas Gulf Coast.

This weekend we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord on Sunday. We remember Jesus’ ascension to the right hand of the Father where he sits in glory until he comes again, a belief we profess in our Creed every week. Where he has gone, we long to follow. His ascension is accompanied by a commissioning for us: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” Let us pray for the grace and courage to do as we have been commanded … This feast is celebrated 40 days after the Easter resurrection, which by tradition would have put it on the calendar for last Thursday. Some of you may remember “Ascension Thursday” holy days from your youth. It is still celebrated on that Thursday in a handful of the dioceses in the U.S., but several years ago nearly every other diocese, including the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, transferred the celebration to Sunday to highlight its prominence and give more people an opportunity to celebrate. So to be clear – you did not miss a holy day of obligation. It just moved a few days down the calendar so that we might celebrate it in all its glory this Sunday. … Next week we will close out the great 50 days of Easter with the celebration of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit as Jesus has promised.

Let’s take a look at what is happening this week at CtR:

• First, we invite you to please join us for Mass this weekend, either in person or via our livestream on Sunday at 9 a.m. on both our Facebook and YouTube pages. You can find the link to the livestream at www.ctrcc.com/live-stream, and in addition, you’ll find there both a worship aid and a link to the Scripture readings to follow along with Mass. And you can make your weekly offertory contribution online at www.ctrcc.com/donate. Thanks to everyone for your continued support of the parish in these Easter days. … If you’d like to join us in person for Mass, we welcome you on Saturday at 5 p.m., or Sunday at 7, 9, and 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.

• I know many of you have questions about our operations at CtR in light of yesterday’s announcement from the CDC about those who have been vaccinated and the wearing of masks. I, too, have many of those same questions, and I hope we will have an answer soon on how our policies may change. All I can say at this point, however, is that we are still awaiting word from the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and Cardinal DiNardo. I expect we will hear something within the week (it may even come sooner), but for now we are going to continue our policies as before. Masks will still be required this week and our capacity will still be limited to 50 percent. … I think it’s fair to assume we will soon see some easing of those protocols, but to what extent I do not know. So for the time being, let’s maintain our procedures. It has worked well for us the past several months and so another week or so will not be too much of a burden. As soon as I know something definitive, I promise to let you know. Hang in there, gang. We got this. … And by all means, please get your vaccination.

• Dovetailing nicely from that, don’t forget that tomorrow Saturday, May 15, we are hosting a Covid Vaccination Day with the Office of Harris County Public Health from 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. for anyone who would like to receive the Moderna shot free of charge. We’ll also host a follow-up session four weeks later for the second dose. You can find all the details at www.ctrcc.com/vaccine. There’s a link on the web page where you can sign up for a particular time if you wish, to help minimize waiting, but the site will be open all day and walk-ins are welcome. I highly encourage everyone to do so for the greater good of the community. Please help us spread the word to any friends or neighbors. It’s open to all in the community. If you can’t make it here on Saturday, St. Cecilia Catholic Church off of Bunker Hill and I-10 is hosting a similar event on Sunday, May 16 on its campus.

• I mentioned Pentecost is next week, and we will once again be one of the host parishes for the archdiocesan-wide celebration of Adult Confirmation with a special mass that night. Each year hundreds of adults complete their sacraments of initiation into the Church by being confirmed and our archdiocese elects to do this on Pentecost Sunday. We’re often one of the host sites given the size of our church, and because of capacity limits due to the pandemic, the celebrations are being spread out over eight masses over two weekends. Because of those limits, the Mass is by invitation only for those being confirmed and not open to the rest of the congregation (the adult candidates for confirmation come from several different parishes as opposed to youth confirmation which is just our own parish). However, if you can assist with being a greeter or usher next Sunday, please contact our Liturgy office this week.

• Speaking of ushers and greeters, permit me to offer a special word of thanks to all who serve in that role for us. Especially this past year, the ministry of ushers and greeters has been vital for our parish. They help us maintain an accurate count of how many are in attendance, remind us of the need to continue to sanitize our hands and keep social distance, and direct us to our pews. I’m hopeful that we’ll soon be able to have open seating again, but the role of ushers and greeters will continue to be an important one for us.

Ushers and greeters are, in a real sense, the Ministers of First Impressions to our guests and regulars alike, and we are blessed to have a dedicated (and nice!) bunch of folks who help us out. They’ve all done yeoman duty during the pandemic and served at multiple masses and assisted with disinfecting the pews after those masses. It’s a lot of work that often goes unheralded, but please join me in thanking them for the fine service to the greater parish community. They are good stewards of their time and talents, and maybe the best way you can thank them is by joining their ranks. Consider offering a bit of your time to help us serve. I guarantee it will serve (no pun intended) you and the parish very well!

• Our Genesis Early Childhood Program has openings not only for students (more on that below), but also for part-time lead teachers, part-time co-teachers, and substitute staff for the 2021-22 school year. It is preferred that applicants have a background in early childhood education, child care or related work with young children. If you enjoy working with young children and helping them expand their minds and hearts, we invite you to join our team. For further information or to apply, please contact Director Melanie Gehrt at melanie.gehrt@ctrcc.com. The Genesis webpage at www.ctrcc.com/genesis has more information.

We also are enrolling children for the fall and have openings for 18-month-olds, 2- and 4- years olds. (We are currently on a wait list for 3-year-olds.) We offer both a 2- and 3-day-a week programs, or you may sign up for both and come all five days of the week. If you’d like to schedule a tour to come see our Genesis facilities and talk to some of the staff about all that we offer our youngest learners, please contact the Genesis office. Again, the Genesis webpage has lots of information, too, including an overview of our curriculum, our various enrichment classes, and even a video tour of the entire program. 

• Remember that Religious Education registration for 2021-22 is open now for both grade school children (www.ctrcc.com/re) and junior- and senior-high students (www.ctryouth.com). I know I’ve mentioned that the past few weeks, but it’s important if you have a child in the age range of either of those two programs to sign up now. It’s one less thing you’ll need to remember to do later, so help us out by taking care of it today.

• Lastly, please keep in your prayers three men from St. Mary’s Seminary who will be ordained to the transitional diaconate tomorrow, Saturday, May 15 at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in downtown Houston. Though not open to the public this year, you can watch the ordination streaming on the Archdiocesan website at www.archgh.org/live. They’ll spend a year as deacons completing their final year of formation before priestly ordination next year. … And this year’s Priesthood ordinations will take place in a few weeks on June 5 and that will include Joseph White, who was with us at CtR a few summers ago. Fr. Joseph will then join us on Sunday, June 12 at 5 p.m. to offer a Mass of Thanksgiving. More on that joyful event soon.

St. Matthias the Apostle, whose feast day is today, pray for us! (And best wishes to our friends and neighbors in Magnolia at St. Matthias Church on the construction of their new church. It shares a lot of design elements with us at CtR and will be a most welcome addition to the growing community in Magnolia and the western portion of The Woodlands. It should be open later this summer.)

Peace, Fr. Sean