THIS WEEK...
- Reception for Fr. Barth & Pro-Life Ministry Meet & Greet after each Mass this weekend in the cafeteria
- Blood Drive, June 26, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
- Prison Ministry Prayer, June 26, 12:00 PM, chapel
- Current Collection: Apartment supplies for youth aging out of foster care
- Campus Planning Study - keep checking your mailbox
- Gabriel's Guardians needed
FROM THE PASTOR
My dear parishioners,
This weekend we say goodbye to Fr. Barth as he moves on to his next assignment at St. Francis. Even though he has only been with us for a year, he has endeared himself and become part of the St. Gabriel family. Fr. Barth has been blessed with a spirit that expresses itself with music and song. If you’ve seen some of his YouTube videos, you know that he plays several musical instruments and leads prayer and praise in the parishes around his home in Nigeria. Every morning we sing and pray Morning Prayer together at the rectory. It has become a joyful part of my life. I will certainly miss his presence. He has the innocence of a child and the wisdom of a tribal elder. I appreciate his solid pastoral instincts and his faithful and balanced perspective of Holy Mother Church and her teachings.
He has taught me a lot about Igbo traditions like presenting and breaking a kola nut to others as a sign of hospitality, friendship, and deep respect. In this simple but meaningful ceremony, the spiritual connection widens to include ancestors who have gone before. All are bound together and surrounded by a spiritual mantle of love and protection. Africa has so many rituals with such deep meaning that they connect friends and family with their home no matter where in the world they currently reside.
We will certainly miss Fr. Barth. Please keep him in your prayers as he continues his ministry in the diocese of Dallas. The good news is that he will only be down the road in Frisco. We will still be neighbors and still bound together in that mantle of love and protection.
God bless you all,
Fr. Don
RECEPTION AND MEET & GREET
After all Masses in the cafeteria
BLOOD DRIVE
June 26, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
FIRST APARTMENT DRIVE
For kids aging out of foster care
Message from C3: Foster and Adoption Ministry - The Donation Bin in the Narthex started taking items for our Embrace annual Drive on June 15th and will go through June 28th. Previously, twenty-three kits were given out at the Grad party, so now their cupboards are close to bare! These kits go to kids who age out of the foster care system and need basic necessities for living on their own for the first time. *furniture cannot be accepted
PRISON MINISTRY
June 26, 12:00 PM, chapel
On June 26, the Prison Ministry Members will gather in the chapel to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet for Ramiro Gonzales after the 11 am Mass. He is scheduled to be executed in July. We will also remember in prayer the victim and the families of the victims and of the condemned.
CAMPUS PLANNING STUDY
Creating spaces for encounter
Hopefully, by now you have seen Fr. Don’s video which shares his vision for our campus and why we are conducting a campus Planning Study. To summarize, we want to create spaces--indoor and outdoor—that facilitate encounters with one another and with Jesus. The purpose of the Planning Study is to share the project ideas with you and to gain your feedback and level of support for the plan.
Keep watching your mailbox! You should receive an invitation in the mail to participate in the study which includes a Fact Sheet that describes the various projects in our plan and a survey for you to complete. You can return your survey to the office or place it in the collection basket during weekend Mass. This study will help set the direction for our wonderful campus for many years—a campus with spaces that enhance our disciple-making efforts. We hope to hear from everyone!
GABRIEL'S GUARDIANS NEEDED
Have you noticed the volunteers in the bright orange shirts roaming around the narthex and the sanctuary? They are a part of our Mass safety ministry called
Gabriel's Guardians.
They work to provide a safe environment for our parishioners as we worship during Mass and facilitate intervention if a concern arises. The Guardians are trained to help Mass attendees in multiple situations including suspicious
persons, severe weather, fire, and medical emergencies to name a few.
We enter back into Ordinary Time this Sunday, but that doesn't mean God isn't especially present. He often works in the most ordinary ways in our lives and transforms them into extraordinary encounters!
Pray for the thousands of youth and adults attending Steubenville Lonestar this weekend. St Gabriel always has many teens and volunteers at the conference. We look forward to seeing everyone this weekend at Mass!
Pax Christi
Here are a few pictures from the Corpus Christi Procession last Sunday. Thank you, Jesus, for giving us your Body and Blood.
St Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Community
972-542-7170