February
4, 2007
Lent
Lurking
Convent
Countdown
Still
waiting for a new tenant...tick...tick...tick...)
Bells
The church bells have been fixed and are ringing again.
Priest
Update
Father John has now recovered from his thyroid operation and has a chance
to go on a 100 day sabbatical.
So now what will we do with Father John gone for Lent?
Well God is good to us and has made an old friend available (well, he’s
not THAT old -- but he is a friend to many at St. Brigid.) For the next
three months, Father George Onida is available to live and work at St.
Brigid’s. Father George was with us for two years and has been
serving in a North Carolina parish for the last several years. His religious
order recently moved out of that parish so we get Father George starting
this week!
Online
Masses
We are now going to be able to stream masses and other events live over
the internet to homebound folks and to relatives who live in other lands.
If you’re interested in this, in this, click
here.
Away
at College?
Are you or your child away at college? At St. Brigid’s we like
to stay in touch via occasional e-mails as we send photos and news from
“home”. College students wishing to be connected through
our “Letters from home” can sign up online here
or you can mail or
e-mail thecollege names and e-mail addresses to Father Ralph and he’ll
put them on the list.
e-mail Father Ralph:
Past Columns:
Jan.28:Catholic Schools
Week
Jan.21:Crying in Church
Jan.14: Love ahead
Jan.7:
So How Was Your Christmas?
Columns
from 2005
Columns
from 2004
Columns from
2003
Columns from 2002
I’m
not ready for Lent quite yet. Perhaps I will be in a couple of weeks --
which is good because that’s when Ash Wednesday begins our forty
days of spiritual and personal renewal. Yet, ready or not, these weeks
before Lent mean that our staff and interested parishioners have to prepare
before the rest of the parish can step into this season. Here are some
things that will be going on in the next few weeks...
Palm Scavenger Hunt...Yes,
it’s time to go through our homes to find any leftover palm and
bring it to church next week so we can burn these palms to make Ashes
for ash Wednesday. We’ll have a basket for your old palms in the
sanctuary next weekend.
Family celebrations...
Last Advent, Father John and I took turns celebrating the 10am
Family mass. We enjoyed working with members of the Family Life Committee
and developing the whole season for our families. This Lent, Father Fitz
and I will take turns at the family mass. And we both want to invite parents
and other interested adults to meet with us this Tuesday evening at 7:45
in the Parish Center to brainstorm some ideas for the Family Masses this
Lent. If you regularly come to this mass, I hope you’d be able to
join us. Please e-mail me or call and leave a message if you are going
to attend so we can have enough materials prepared.
Spiritual gatherings...Of
course we’ll be doing all the wonderful spiritual events that make
St. Brigid’s so special throughout Lent. But our staff is preparing
a dynamic spiritual gathering each week throughout the season. We’re
still in the planning stage but let me give you a “heads up”
to keep Tuesdays opening during Lent -- we’re considering an afternoon
and evening session. We’ll send an invitation to everyone shortly
-- which reminds me...we’ve been taking a census for the past year.
We’re still missing some families. If you haven’t done the
census yet, could you make that your pre-Lenten resolution this year?
Don’t be left out of our Lent mailings (including Holy Week Schedule)
-- there’s still time to do the census in the week ahead.
