August
19, 2007
Comings
and Goings
On
Vacations
“I hope everybody, especially those who feel a great need for
it, can have a bit of vacation, to recharge physical and spiritual energies
and regain a healthy contact with nature,"
~Pope Benedict XVI
“We hit the sunny beaches where we occupy ourselves keeping the
sun off our skin, the saltwater off our bodies, and the sand out of
our belongings.” ~Erma Bombeck
“The bigger the summer vacation the harder the fall"
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness,
and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad,
wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by
vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”
~Mark Twain
Online Masses
We are now 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.
e-mail Father Ralph:
Past Columns:
August 12: Mass Schedule
Change
August 5: Better Late Than
Never
July 29: Sunday in the Chapel
July 15: Celebrating Kelly
July
8: I'm so not dead yet
July 1: Worse than Raccoons
June 24:Sommertime
June 17: Celebrating
Fr Cine
June 10: When Nature Turns
June 4:Celebrating Father
Jim
May 27: Praying in Tongues
May 20: Making (up) the
difference
May 13: Loving our Mothers
May 6: About Father George
April 29: Hearing Voices
April 22:Three Stones
April 15: What a week!
April 8: Alleluia! Alleluia!
April 1: Holy Week
March 25: Climate Change
March 18: Take A Step
March 11: Cold Enough for
You?
March 4:Stocking the Shelves
Feb 25: Basket Case
Feb18: Ashes and Desert
Dust
Feb11: Get Ready, Get Set,
REST!
Feb.4: Lent Lurking
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
Mid
August is here and we’re seeing the coming and going of folks as
the summer winds down. Father Augustine left this past week -- he’s
stopping briefly in Rome and then he’s headed to India to visit
his family before returning to his teaching position in Rome.
And no, it wasn’t
a mirage you might have seen this week: Father Cine WAS back for a week’s
visit to do some development work for his education project in Haiti.
It was nice to have him back, even for just a few days. Father Luca is
with us to the end of the month and then he’ll return to Italy.
And I’m off on vacation and will be back after Labor Day.
But the other big movement at this time of the year happens in families
whose children are going off to college. For some this is the first year
that their child will be away from home. For some, this is the first time
a parent will have all their children out of the house and things are
surprisingly quiet at home.
So I have two requests for these
families to consider:
First, please send me your college student’s e-mail address. I write
occasional “letters from home” just to stay in touch. in fact
even if your college-age son or daughter is living at home for college,
I’d like to keep in touch with them. There is an easy online form
to fill in: just click
here or write it out and leave it for me in the office.
Second, if you’re finding that life is simpler
and you have more time because your children are away, why not volunteer
for some activity at St. Brigid’s this year? Whether it’s
teaching religion classes or helping at the food pantry or the thrift
shop (St. Brigid’s Attic) or helping children in our afterschool
program at Casa Mary Johanna, or gardening around the church or volunteering
time to help us on the computer with record-keeping, there is always plenty
to do here. Think about what talent you have and offer it here. If you
don’t know how to start, just drop me a note or an e-mail: shepherd@saintbrigid.net.
See you in September!
