Dear friends in Christ,
This, That & the Other ... On the
Solemnity of Pentecost this weekend we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus and what has come to be known as the “birthday of the Church.” Gathered together in Jerusalem the followers of Jesus, who were comprised of every race and tongue, soon discovered themselves to be “filled with the Holy Spirit.” It was a microcosm of what the Church would become: faithful believers in the saving work of Jesus Christ who are empowered by the Spirit to go and spread the Good News. ... That work continues today. We, too, come from different backgrounds and ways of life but embolden by the Spirit at Pentecost, we resolve to go forth to live as
“intentional disciples” to build up the Body of Christ, the Church!
... As I mentioned last week, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston ordained seven men to the priesthood on June 1. One of the newly ordained priests has been assigned to us at CtR as our new parochial vicar.
Fr. Vincent Tran will join us on July 1. We look forward to getting to know Fr. Vincent and know that he will be a blessing for our parish. He stopped in earlier this week to visit with me and I gave him a tour of our campus and introduced him to many of our staff. He was a bit wide-eyed at the size of CtR, but he was enthusiastic to say the least!
... As we prepare to welcome Fr. Vincent we also prepare to say goodbye to
Fr. Ralph. After five years with us, he will be moving to a new assignment. Just where that assignment will be has not yet been revealed, but I suspect he’ll know something soon. It often takes a few weeks for the changes in priestly assignments to shake out. When one priest is moved, that causes a domino effect in other areas, so with seven new priests receiving their first assignment that means there are a lot of changes that will come in wake of them. … The good news is that his next assignment will be somewhere in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
so he won’t be too far and I trust we will see him from time to time. We will plan to honor him following the morning masses on Sunday, June 30. More details to come soon.
... In other news, our annual
Vacation Bible School starts in just over a week, June 17-21. Our morning session is full, but we do have openings for our evening session that runs from 5:30-8:30 p.m. each night. Don’t delay in signing-up, however, so that we can have an accurate head count of who is attending. Get your registration taken care of this week by visiting our website at this link
www.ctrcc.com/vbs. … And if you can’t make VBS, or just want another opportunity for your children to dive deeper into the faith, we also offer
Catholic Faith Camp for children entering 2nd grade through those entering 6th grade. That will be July 15-19 and registration is open now on our website, too.
… Finally,
This, That, & the Other will take a two-week break and return on Thursday, June 27. I’ll be in the Eternal City of Rome starting on Monday with a group of 50 from CtR for our pilgrimage to the Shrines of Southern Italy. We’ll begin in Rome where we’ll join
Pope Francis for his weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, followed by a side trip to Assisi for Mass at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi. … From there we make our way south to San Giovanni Rotondo and the church of St. Padre Pio, then to Monte Cassino where St. Benedict founded his order. We’ll visit Pompeii and then head to Sorrento, the Isle of Capri, and the Amalfi Coast before ending in Naples. … We’ll have Mass each day in one of the many beautiful churches and basilicas along the way and
we will carry your prayers with us. We’ll even eat some gelato for you! Please pray for a safe trip for us and be nice to the visiting priests who will be filling in for me! … And remember if you’d like to join us in 2020 for our parish pilgrimage to the
Passion Play in Oberammergau, Germany, see the brochure on the website or pick up a copy in the narthex of the church. We’ve got a waiting list as of now, but I’m working to free up more space so that we can take more people. I’ll keep you posted.
Ciao! … Lastly, and most importantly,
God loves you! See ’ya at Mass!