April 30, 2023 4th Sunday of Easter To My Spiritual Family of Holy Redeemer and St. Anthony, Gratitude to Our Catechetical Team: When I read the obituaries of our deceased parishioners, I often notice that many of them spent years teaching Sunday school classes to our children. That was the case with Joe Henry, who we buried recently. Joe spent 22-years as a catechist! Maybe it has always been hard to pass on the faith to the next generation, but these days, it sure seems increasingly difficult. Many of our youth resent being sent to Faith Formation, and they lash out at the Church and the adults who attempt to present her doctrines. Often, youth more readily accept the “truth” they find on social media sites than the Truth they are offered in the gospel. When I was in the service, I received hazardous duty pay for serving on our ship’s flight deck. Honestly, our catechists deserve hazardous duty pay as well! They take a lot of incoming fire! So as our Faith Formation year ends, I want to offer a very heartfelt thanks to Jenn, Nicole, and Toby (our formation team) and all of our catechists. What you do is important. What you do has positive and eternal consequences. It matters! I know that it was rough this year. Please, do not be discouraged. And may God bless you greatly for your generosity! Building a Culture of Prayer: Have you been actively engaging others in prayer? I’d love to hear of your experiences. The more we become confident in asking: “How can I pray for you today?” the more we’ll see our parish culture grow and bear fruit. Then, once we’ve become adept at asking folks how we can pray for them, the next step is to engage others in deeper faith-sharing conversations. I tell you my faith story and you tell me yours. I share with you what it means to have Jesus in my life and you do the same. These back-and-forth discussions about Christ can be so powerful. Does it require some vulnerability? Yes, it does. But the fruits make the risk worth it. Please commit to intentionally having these conversations. And as I said above, I’d love to hear of your experiences. Tithing Our Blessings: Our May parish tithe will go to our old friends at Catholic Extension. Not only do they do wonderful work in supporting the poorest of our nation’s parishes and people, but they’ve been really good to us here at Holy Redeemer, too. Extension sponsored my mission immersion experience to El Paso and Mexico two years ago, and now, Jennifer Wortman, our Faith Formation Director, is going on an Extension immersion trip to Uvalde, Texas and the Diocese of San Antonio. She will be meeting the Catholics who have been ministering to families in the aftermath of the terrible Uvalde school shooting. Extension has been very much involved in that work! Corpus Christi Procession: Finally, I want to let you know that the diocesan Office of Worship has asked Holy Redeemer to hold a Eucharistic Procession on the feast of Corpus Christi (Sunday, June 11). This is in support of the ongoing Eucharistic Revival. Stay tuned for more details, but I hope that you can join us! Mary, Mother of the Holy Redeemer – Pray for us! Our Lady of Guadalupe – Pray for us! St. Anthony – Pray for us! St. Joseph – Pray for us! Fr. Steve