Parish Update – Friday, June 11

Happy Friday and Happy Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus! As mentioned last week, the month of June is dedicated to the Sacred Heart and the Friday after Corpus Christi Sunday, which is today, is always the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart. While not a holy day, it is a beautiful feast for us to reflect upon the merciful heart of our Savior. (FYI: Tomorrow, the day after we celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we will honor the Immaculate Heart of Mary. These two feast days of the heart of Jesus and Mary always follow one right after the other.)

Today’s feast was first celebrated in the 17^th century, though devotion to the Sacred Heart began much earlier and can even be traced back to the early Church Fathers like St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Ambrose. It was St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a French mystic nun, however, who popularized it when she received several private revelations of the Sacred Heart in 1673. The mother superior of her religious order wasn’t easily convinced of the authenticity of these revelations, but through perseverance and prayer, they were later verified and the Sacred Heart of Jesus has been praised ever since. The iconic image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, enflamed and wrapped in a crown of thorns, is popular the world over. … We owe a lot to the persistence of that little French sister, Margaret Mary Alacoque, and having met a few persistent nuns in my life I can attest that they are still active in the world today!

The Sacred Heart leads us into the 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time this weekend. (You’ll be seeing nothing but green vestments from now until November.) We’ll hear the familiar parable of the mustard seed in Mark’s Gospel this Sunday, but I particularly love the opening line from St. Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians that will also hear: “We are always courageous, although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith and not be sight.” … May the Lord grant us an abundance of faith throughout the summer months so we might always walk in the light of the fire of the Sacred Heart of our Lord.

Here’s what happening this week at CtR:

• 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. … 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.

• We are returning our weekday morning Mass to the chapel beginning next week on Monday, June 14. Throughout the pandemic we have been celebrating the daily Mass in the main church to help with social distancing, but it seems we can safely return to the chapel now, given that we usually number between 70-85 people on most days (the chapel has seating for up to 300). It will be nice to get back to the intimacy of the chapel, which is, of course, the old church. It will also help our monthly energy bill by not running the air conditioning fully in the church each morning during the hot summer months. … Fear not, however. Thanks to the fine work of Tony Croes and Omar Flores in our IT department we have the capability to livestream from the chapel so those watching online can continue to do so uninterrupted.

• Speaking of the livestream, we are seeking volunteers who can help man the cameras at the morning Mass during the week. We’ve got a good system set up and it’s not too difficult to run, but we would like to develop a group of 5-6 people who can cover a day or two each month. That will free Tony and Omar, who oversee the technology, to concentrate on other work that needs to be done by the staff. We’ll give you the training you need (again, it’s fairly straightforward so that anyone who is tech savvy can pick it up easily). It only requires an hour or so each time you help out at the 9 a.m. Mass, and the benefit is you’ll be attending Mass, too. Spread the word if you know of someone who might like to help out and contact omar.flores@ctrcc.com (or call the office) to learn more about becoming part of our Livestream Support Crew.

• A reminder that Fr. Joseph White will be our celebrant at the 5 p.m. Mass this Sunday, having just been ordained eight days ago (on his 26th birthday, no less). We’re honored to have him return to CtR for this Mass of Thanksgiving after serving here in the summer two years ago. He’ll be assigned to Resurrection Catholic Church for the next few months before he returns to Rome to finish some additional academic course work for the next year. … We’re planning a small reception for him after Mass, so please join us if you can and pray for him and his three classmates who were ordained for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. Ad multos annos, Fr. Joseph!

• We welcome back Megan Dillingham to our staff next week as our Director of Development and Stewardship. You may remember she was in the same position a few years ago with us before leaving to take a position with the Kinder Institute at Rice University. By the grace of God she is returning to CtR and we are thrilled to welcome her back. She brings a great love for the Church and our mission in particular at CtR, and will help us continue to cultivate and grow a spirit of missionary discipleship among our parishioners. … I’m grateful to Sylvia Baker who stepped into the breach and did a masterful job in leading our Development efforts the past two years. Sylvia is taking time to spend with her family now, but she is still going to be with us as a key volunteer. Thank you, Sylvia! … I’m also happy to report that Ashley Bass will continue to work with Megan in the area of Stewardship, and she and her Welcoming Committee are planning big things for the fall to help us all reengage in parish life as we make our way as a post-pandemic church. We’ll be working on those projects throughout the summer and can’t wait to share them with you around Labor Day. 

• I know this next bit of news will be music to the ears of many of our families with young children: We will resume nursery operations beginning the week of July 11. We plan to have it open as in the past at the 9 and 11 a.m. Masses each Sunday and at select times during the week when there are ministries that are meeting and in need of its services. We will use both Noah’s Place in the Church and the Ark, next to the parish office. … We have some work to do between now and then. Namely we need rehire staff, and so if you know anyone who might like to assist in that regard, please have them contact Linda Watso at linda.watso@ctrcc.com. (I’m grateful to Linda and Carleen Vernon from our staff for helping us make the nursery available once again.) We also need to get everyone retrained, conduct a background check, and make sure their Safe Environment training is up-to-date, so while we are aiming for July 11, please know that is a tentative date. As long as we have qualified workers who have the proper clearance then it will be open, but we think it’s manageable. … There are a few other odds and ends we need to get tightened up (scheduling, restocking, updating old toys and equipment, etc.), but we are excited to have the nursery back. It's a great service to offer our families and a real form of evangelization, too. It is one more step on our long road to returning to quasi-normal operations after a long year.

• Be sure and see the links below for information on summer programs happening for adults (“Fratelli Tutti” discussion group going on now), high school and junior high youth (a whole host of events beginning next week), and grade school children (Vacation Bible School will be here before you know it in July). There’s something for everyone!

Praise be the Sacred Heart of Jesus! (See the link for personal prayers specific to today.)

Peace, Fr. Sean