Dear friends in Christ,
This, That & the Other … Our gospel on this 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time is the beatitudes, but not the ones we are most accustomed to hearing. The “famous” ones come from Matthew’s gospel, but we'll be reading instead
Luke’s version this weekend. You’ll notice some similarities between the two, but St. Luke only has four as opposed to the eight in St. Matthew. Most striking, however, is how Luke balances his four with four “woe” statements. You know whenever you read a “woe” in the scriptures that we should brace ourselves. It’s not going to end well! They are meant as a warning sign to not grow too comfortable or complacent in this life. Remember,
beatitudes are meant to turn our world upside down. Pay attention, humble yourself, and stay hungry for the kingdom of God. Then we will truly know what it is to be blessed.
… We are saying goodbye next week to our longest tenured employee,
Debbie Hawkins, who is retiring after more than 17 years at CtR. We’re grateful for Debbie’s service to our community, especially in the Religious Education department where she has been the registrar and record-keeper. She’s been
a loyal friend and colleague who has always had the best interest of our parish and RE students in mind in all that she does. If you’ve had children in our RE department at any time over the past 17 years then Debbie has been part of your life, whether you know it or not, working mainly behind the scenes. She and her husband, David, are retiring and moving to Florida to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Our community will miss them, but we wish them all of God’s blessings in this new chapter of their lives. Thank you for all you have done for CtR, Debbie! … As we say goodbye to Debbie we say hello to
Marisel Menendez, who joins our staff as the new registrar for RE. Marisel has been active as a catechist, usher, and co-chair of our New Parishioner Welcoming Committee. She’ll be a great fit for us under the direction of
Kathy Kelley, our Director of Religious Education.
… This Monday, Feb. 18, we are hosting an installment of
Café Catholica for the Young Adults of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. It’s a program aimed at
college-aged and young adult Catholics (basically 18-35-year-olds, both single and married) that brings them together for Reconciliation, Mass, dinner and an inspirational presentation from a Catholic speaker, and affords them the opportunity to mingle and to network with other Catholics in their age range. It’s a program that is near and dear to my heart as I helped start it long ago, circa 2000, when I was assigned to St. Michael Church in the Galleria area. It began as a six-week summer program hosted inside the loop, but has since evolved to rotate locations in the Archdiocese. This year it has expanded out of the summer to the winter (such as it is) months and has migrated to the parishes in the north and northwest area of Houston.
… We’ve got an active Young Adult ministry here at CtR and I’m grateful to
Matt Lane for heading it up for us. Matt, by the way, was recently discerned onto our Parish Pastoral Council so I’m very happy to see some of our younger Catholics taking on leadership roles in the parish.
Deacon Bill Bradley (though he is far removed from being a "young" adult himself!) is the liaison to the group and I’m grateful for his wise counsel to them as well. I invite you to
spread the word to any young adult you might know to have them join us this coming Monday. They don’t have to live in the parish, either, so if you have a 20-something son or daughter maybe searching for something more in their life, let them know about it. Mass will be at 6 p.m. in the chapel, with confessions beforehand, and then dinner (my inside sources tell me pizza is on the menu) and the speaker will follow in the Parish Hall. A donation is welcome, but there is no charge. All young adults are welcome.
… Remember there are
no confessions this Saturday as both Fr. Ralph and I will be at the annual
Steps for Students 5K Run/Walk benefitting Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. See the link if you’d like to support our CtR team – 100 percent of donations are returned to us to help support scholarships and other initiatives at our CtR Catholic School. … You can sign up for our
upcoming blood drive this weekend. The drive is the following week, but if you want to reserve a spot in advance, do so in advance. Of course, walk-ins are welcome the following week as well. ... Lastly and mostly importantly,
God loves you! … See ya’ at Mass!