Sunday July 21, 2024
The feast day of Saint Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is Friday, July 26th. We will have a parish party on Sunday, July 28th to celebrate our patron. There will be food & fellowship, games & music and a corn-hole tournament. Summer is a fine time not only to create space for prayer but also play. I imagine Mary grew up with parents who provided such a place for her, she who brought forth the Messiah. Joachim and Anne can inspire all grandparents to make our faith tradition a living promise for our youth, setting a tone for generations to come.
The name Joachim means “preparation for the Lord” or “God prepares the way.” Evangelization is all about preparing ourselves and others for an encounter with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. Our Parish Pastoral Council prayerfully discerned our two pastoral priorities for the next three years: Evangelization and Stewardship. These two “buckets” contain all the themes surfaced by members over the last two months, illustrated on pages 5 and 6 of this week’s bulletin and on the Parish Pastoral Council page on our website. Over the summer, the Parish Pastoral Council members will discern which of the twelve themes within these buckets to focus on first while recognizing that it is the Eucharist that draws us together and sends us out with the vitality to live our mission.
In Christ,
Rev. Robert P. Capone