August 17, 2003
Here and There
Going
Off to College?
Hundreds of our parishioners will be soon going off to college -- either
for the first time or as returning students. At St. Brigid’s we
like to stay in touch through
e-mail “letters from home.”
Once a person has an e-mail address at school (or if he/she uses a personal
address), please let us know what it is so we can include them when
we write.
Here's a handy college link so you
can send this info online.
God
Bless Wismick!
Father Wismick finished his visit with us this past week. It was so
wonderful to have him back “home” among us. We ask God to
bless him as he returns to Haiti. He thanks everyone for their donations
to his school -- this year they will be building a cafeteria with the
funds we have been sending through the Penny Power program.
e-mail Father Ralph:
Past Columns:
August 10: Surrender
August 3: Reaping Rewards
July 27: What's your
mission?
July 20: From a Deserted
Place
July 13: Nothing for the
Journey
July 6: God at Home
June 29: Going in Stages
June 22: Sommer in the Summer
June 15: Our Newest Priest
Ordained
June 8: The Feast of Pentecost
June 1: Beyond First Communion
May 24: Felicidades Manuel
May 18: Twenty Years Later
May 11: Bows for Peace
May 4: Upcoming Ordinations
April 27: One Heart One
Mind
April 20: Amazingly Graced
Days
April 13: Ashes to Palms
April 6:
God Embedded
March 30:
Pastoral Visits
March 23:
Turning Tables
March
16: Transfiguring Imagination
March
9: Beasts and Angels
March 2:
Lent and Imagination
Feb 23: Sorrow
Far and Wide
Feb 16: Saints
Feb 9: Columbia Lessons
Feb2: Giving At A Difficult
Time
Jan 26: Penny Power
& Catholic Schools
Jan19: Yet Another
Year
Jan 12: Stealing Jesus
Jan5: The Wise Still Come
From Afar
Columns from 2002
This week there are a variety of developments I’d like to share
with you.
A big thanks came from the Maryknoll Missioners
who were with us a few weeks ago. Fr. Jim McAuley said, “Sincere
thanks from here and Maryknollers around the world for your kindness to
us. The people of St. Brigid Parish were very receptive and you will be
pleased to know 355 families chose to receive Maryknoll Magazine. Needless
to say, this is a great help toward our efforts to bring the “Good
News” to all nations. There will be grateful remembrance in our Masses
and prayers.”
We’re grateful to Nancy Polycarpe and
Meredith Neus who shared this last year of their lives as coordinators
of our parish Youth Ministry. They are facing career changes and are moving
on from this position. On behalf of our parish I want to thank them for
their passion, their care and their hard work. I’m happy to announce
that Vince Buzzeo has agreed to take over as coordinator of Youth Ministry
at St.Brigid. He is working on a multi-faceted approach to working with
our high-school age parishioners looking to different social, service,
spiritual and communal activities. Please pray for the youth of our parish
and for those who will be involved in guiding them through this ministry.
Do you remember that a year ago we lost the
phone service that allowed homebound folks to listen in to mass at St.
Brigid? At the time I mentioned that I was looking into possibilities
of initiating some other way to bring mass to those who could not get
out. I’m happy to announce that due to a grant we received we’re
going to be able to use the internet to send sound and video of masses
to anyone who has a computer and internet access. We’ll be putting
small internet cameras in church and not only can home-bound parishioners
be tuned in to masses but people around the country and around the world
can join their relatives for weddings, baptisms, funerals etc. if they
can’t be there in person. The process will take a few months as we
first must install the hardware, then we’ll need to make the appropriate
internet connections. We’ll publish a simple pamphlet on how to view
mass at St. Brigid’s and you can share that with family members.
(As a bonus, we’re hoping the presence of this system will add to
security at church especially during the week when the church is open
for prayer til 9pm each day.)
You are Person
