Parish Update – Friday, April 29

Happy Festival Friday, my friends! Things are hopping here on campus today as they have been all week in preparation for the 37th annual Spring Festival taking place this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, April 30-May 1.

As you might suspect, this week’s Parish Update is Festival-centric with all you need to know to enjoy the festivities. … Before we get to that, however, let’s turn our hearts to the 3rd Sunday of Easter that we will celebrate this weekend when we will continue to hear about the post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus in the Gospel from St. John. … The impetuous Simon Peter jumps out of the boat and into the sea when he discovers Jesus calling out fishing tips from the shore. It’s easy to close your eyes and picture Peter tripping over his sopping wet garment as he clamors to reach the beach. There, Jesus offers the disciples a simple breakfast of bread and fish. This account from the scriptures is very Eucharistic in its imagery.

In a like manner, the Lord invites us to the table to “take and eat” his body and blood. We are invited to come as we are, like Peter, who only recently had denied knowing Jesus three times. In the resurrected life through the offer of forgiveness of sins, our past is not held against us. It wasn’t for Peter, and it is not for you or me. … It’s not cheap grace, however. Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” The three questions mirror Peter’s three denials. Like Peter, we are called to feed the Lord’s sheep in our brothers and sisters, and then heed Jesus' mandate to “follow me.” In these joyful Easter days let us ask for the grace to indeed follow with a lively and intentional faith!

Now, let’s take one final look at what is happening in and around our CtR campus this weekend at our Spring Festival.

• 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. … Please remember there is no 5 p.m. Sunday Mass this week only.

• Remember that we are operating a shuttle bus service to Mass this weekend to help with the crowds and parking. We'll have one shuttle running round-trip from Millsap Elementary School (about 1/4 mile north of the parish on Huffmeister, just past Cypress-N. Houston) on Saturday from 4:15 p.m. – 12 midnight, and again on Sunday from 8:15 a.m. to 8 p.m. On Sunday, we’ll have an extra shuttle bus running round-trip to the now vacated Hunting Specialties building, just off the corner of Huffmeister and Cypress N. Houston. It will save you time and aggravation, as much of our parking area will be blocked off for the festival. Trust me on this one – it’s the way to come and go as you make your way to campus.

• With those logistics out of the way, we welcome everyone to our 37th annual CtR Spring Festival weekend! I hope you will make plans to stop by the festival and enjoy everything that it has to offer. And I do mean everything. We’ve got plenty of space to spread out and a few new rides and games this year. The food booths and auction tent are back in the usual spots, but take time to wander around the grounds to see all there is to offer. After two years of virtual festivals it is so good – so, so good! – to be back together!

• Saturday evening we get going after the 5 p.m. Mass with some of the food booths open (including crawfish!), beer and wine, flea market, and a few of the rides, if we have the volunteers. We always have a great band with a packed dance floor so come enjoy a great night under the tent. It’s a wonderful evening and sets the stage nicely for all the family fun the next day.

• On Sunday we will get going at 11 a.m. serving barbecue sandwiches and stuffed potatoes (thanks Kenneth Winkler and team for staying up all night to smoke the briskets on our pits) in the Community Center. It’s open to all, but is an excellent opportunity for volunteers to get a bite before they begin their shifts. (Note that we will not have the traditional barbecue dinner, as it became too cost prohibitive with the price of beef and time consuming in terms of the number of workers.) … Then everything – all the rides, games, all the food booths you’ve come to love over the years, flea market, and everything else – is up and running by 12 noon and continues until the Grand Prize drawing at 7 p.m.

• From the delicious food booths (there’s a great variety, so try them all, including Fr. Vincent’s aunt’s egg rolls in the Vietnamese booth, the authentic Cajun food made by real live Cajuns, Mama Mia-worthy Italian, Filipino, Tex-Mex, and more!), to bingo in the Community Center, to the live and silent auctions under the big tent, to the games for the kids, there is truly something for everyone. … The wine garden is back again for the adults, and if you need dessert (and, of course, you know you do!), the Sweet Shop will satisfy any sugar craving. Don’t forget the ever-popular Flea Market where you can find anything and everything under the sun. Make us an offer as everything must go! ... I offer a special shout-out and thanks to our CtR Catholic School 6th-8th grade students who assisted our adult volunteers today in moving all the flea market items out under the big tent. They worked extremely hard. (We paid them in pizza, which they devoured.) Great job, students!

• Let me call your special attention to our auctions, both the silent and live versions. The Silent Auction is open now – yes, right now – online and will remain open until 6:30 p.m. on Sunday. Visit www.festival22.givesmart.com to see the impressive array of items up for bid. It’s quick, easy, and secure to create an account to bid on your phone or computer (you may already have one from a past auction), and you can keep track of your favorite items throughout the weekend. … We’ll have many of the Silent Auction items on display for you to view beginning Saturday night in the tent by the PieceMakers crafts booth. … Among the items are always popular ministry-sponsored baskets, baskets featuring goodies from ice cream, sweet treats, books, wine and happy hour, gardening, gaming, health and fitness, fishing, kids’ art and other activities. Or check out a J.J. Watt-signed jersey, or my personal favorite item  – wine from my very own collection (there are some great bottles up for bid, trust me).

• The Live Auction starts at 3 p.m. on Sunday under the Big Tent. Dan Block returns as our auctioneer so join us for a fun few hours of raising your paddles. Remember, it’s all to raise funds for the parish, so bid early, bid often, and bid high! … Among the items in the Live Auction are a trip (airfare and hotel included) with me to Napa Valley for exploring some of the great wineries, a trip to the French Quarter in New Orleans with Mass at St. Louis Cathedral, a traditional Vietnamese dinner for eight hosted by Fr. Vincent, dinner with our CtR deacons, a Houston Adventure Weekend, a Backyard Makeover, Excursions to Canyon Lake, Galveston, Hawaii and Fredericksburg, a nifty 12-bottle wine cooler stocked to the brim with wines from my special collection, Houston Rally Nuns memorabilia and Astros tickets, and so much more. … There is something for everyone, so join us at the Live Auction on Sunday afternoon.

• The Spring Festival is truly a community event and it only happens through the generosity of time and talent from all of our great volunteers. Look for the Festival Committee members in their specially designated “Staff” t-shirts and tell them thank you for their hard work. They are parishioners, just like you and me, who give selflessly so that we can enjoy a great weekend of family fun. My special thanks to our Festival chairpersons, Mike and Camille Havelka. After more than 20+ years, this is their final year leading our Festival. We are eternally grateful to them and all their dedicated work over the years for CtR. Words can't express our gratitude enough, but thank you, Mike and Camille!
 

• The entire core team, our staff (with extra special thanks to our Director of Advancement, Megan Dillingham, for her non-stop work on the Festival the past several months), and all our dedicated volunteers too numerous to mention deserve our support and gratitude. Thank you one and all! … And it’s not too late for your to join them in helping out, by the way. You can visit www.ctrcc.com/springfestival for the link to sign-up. We are still in need of a number of adult volunteers. We appreciate you signing up your teens to help, but we must also have some adult supervision as well. … You may see some rides or games or booths consolidated or closed if we do not have the manpower to staff them. We’re sorry about that, but we can only offer what you, the parishioners, volunteer for so let’s all do our part, please.

• The weather is going to be great (hot and humid, but we’re used to that in these parts) so make plans and to join us, buy your raffle tickets for a chance at the $12,000 Grand Prize (it’s not too late as the drawing is at 7 p.m. on Sunday at the close of the festival), and support our parish. This is our No. 1 fund-raiser for the parish the entire year so your help is especially needed. I’ll be there and I hope to see all of you, too!

• A quick final non-Festival word to ask for your prayers next week as on Tuesday and Thursday, May 3 and 5, we will celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation for more than 180 high school students. We congratulate them and their families on this important moment in their faith journey. Please keep them in your prayers not only this week but in years to come.

St. Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor of the Church, whose feast day is today, pray for us! See ya’ this weekend! Come one, come all!

Peace, Fr. Sean