June 20, 2022
Photos of the Week:
On Monday, June 6th, Stockton Serra Club President Karen Rosson presented to Bishop Cotta a very generous donation of $15,000 towards our seminarian education fund. We are grateful for the two Serra Club’s within our diocese that promote and support vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
Office of the Bishop:
Catholic Rural Life
June - Blessing of the Land
Land and life go hand in hand. Our daily bread comes from land as well as much else that sustains us. The land is beautiful for its mountains and plains; its beauty resounds in the canyons and draws. Its goodness thrives in the forests and fields; every plant emerges from it.
Do we take for granted how precious and fragile the land is? How grateful we should be! Only in rich soil do roots grow deep; if we deplete the soil, we risk everything. Our lives and the great variety of life on the earth depend upon the land and its vitality.
Let us thank God the Creator: He shares this land with us as a promise of His goodness, now and for eternity.
Office of Hispanic/Latino Youth & Young Adult Ministry:
Quinceañeras Retreat Highlights
On June 10 and 11, over 90 Catholic Quinceañeras attended the retreat at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Stockton. They came from 26 different parishes throughout the Diocese, and their parents attended the catechesis session on Friday evening as well.
Pope Francis states: “Here I would point out that it doesn’t take much to make young people missionaries. Even those who are most frail, limited, and troubled can be missionaries in their own way, for goodness can always be shared, even if it exists alongside many limitations. A young person who makes a pilgrimage to ask Our Lady for help, and invites a friend or companion along, by that single gesture is being a good missionary. Inseparable from a “popular” youth ministry is an irrepressible “popular” missionary activity that breaks through our customary models and ways of thinking. Let us accompany and encourage it, but not presume to overly regulate it.” (#239, CHRISTUS VIVIT, Pope Francis).
The Quinceañeras are carrying out a valuable missionary action. Do we accompany and open the doors to them?
233. Instead of “overwhelming young people with a body of rules that make Christianity seem reductive and moralistic, we are called to invest in their fearlessness and to train them to take up their responsibilities, in the sure knowledge that error, failure and crisis are experiences that can strengthen their humanity”. (127 CHRISTU S VIVIT Pope Francis).
Regional Leadership Workshop for Youth Group Leaders
For more information, please contact Marcela Pacheco at mpacheco@stocktondiocese.org or Jose Lopez at jlopez@stocktondiocese.org
Office of Hispanic Ministry:
U.S. Bishops’ Migration Chairman Expresses Solidarity with Dreamers on DACA’s Tenth Anniversary, Calls for ‘Long-Awaited Inflection Point’
June 15, 2022, marked ten years since the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was created through executive action. DACA allows certain undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children—commonly referred to as “Dreamers”—to remain in the country, subject to several requirements. In honor of this anniversary, Bishop Mario Dorsonville, chair of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration, released a statement calling on legislators to provide a “permanent solution for all Dreamers—one of many steps to address an immigration system in desperate need of reform.”
Complete JFI’s action alert urging Congress to move forward with a permanent solution for Dreamers.
Please also take a moment to watch a recent video with Bishop Dorsonville who spoke about DACA’s tenth anniversary, together with a current DACA recipient from the Archdiocese of Washington.
Office of Liturgy & Worship:
Revival Began Sunday
The National Eucharistic Revival began on Sunday with the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. This multi-year journey is an initiative of the U.S. Bishops to “renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.” To learn more, visit the Eucharistic Revival website at https://eucharisticrevival.org and at our diocesan website at https://stocktondiocese.org/eucharistic-revival. Please pray for the success of this nationwide mission!
Catholic Schools Office:
Teaching and Support Staff Opportunities with our Catholic Schools
Click Here to see the opportunities currently available in the diocese. If you have any questions, please contact Becky Moreno at rmoreno@stocktondiocese.org.
Office of Media & Communication:
Did You Know?
One of our parishes was featured in the 1952 movie, High Noon, with Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. The movie is considered one of the best westerns ever made, ranking 33 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Films. The church is St. Joseph's in Tuolumne. It is now a mission.
Office of Vocations:
Seminarian Pilgrimage Highlights
Last month in May, our seminarians took a pilgrimage to a few countries in Europe. Take a look at the pictures taken in the beautiful country of Poland. In 2019 we had no seminarians. Now, in 2022 we have seven seminarians with 3 more discerning in the fall.
Prayer
