To My Spiritual Family of Holy Redeemer and St. Anthony,
Ignite the Fire at Holy Redeemer: This is our rally cry. This is our holy desire. We want each and every person who worships at this parish, each and every person who visits this parish, and each and every person who drives by this parish in a tanker truck – to experience the redeeming love of Jesus Christ in a manner so powerful, so beautiful, and so divine . . . that their lives are turned upside down and forever and eternally changed. Woo-hooo! What an amazing commission we have from our Lord! Igniting the fire of God’s love is our privilege and our joy. This is our very purpose as a Catholic community. Christ’s command is clear: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:20).” Christ’s words of friendship are transformative: “Love one another, even as I have loved you (Jn 13:34).” It’s not enough to come to Mass, punch our time card, and then carry on a worldly life until Sunday rolls around again. Christ calls us to more! To live a truly and authentically Catholic life is to enter upon the greatest adventure ever imagined. Does this call make you uncomfortable? Then it is time to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Does this call stir your heart and excite you? Then it’s time to go all in for Christ and to become a saint. Ignite the fire! Let it burn, uncontrolled!
Vision and Clarity Gathering: On the evening of August 10, a sizable group of staff, volunteers, and catechists met to pray, to share a meal together, and to discuss our parish rally cry – “Ignite the Fire at Holy Redeemer.” – The Parish Leadership Team hosted the gathering and described in some detail the work we’ve been doing with the Amazing Parish movement. Our coach at Amazing Parish, Nate Schaff, has helped us to develop an exciting vision that leaves behind a “maintenance” mode of being a parish (let’s just keep doing what we’ve been doing – forever - without honestly assessing it’s fruitfulness), and really leads us into a “mission” mode of parish vitality (consciously putting Christ at the center of everything and actively going out to others with the Good News of salvation). The hope is that we are all rowing in the same direction and that we are all 100% in on creating an amazing Catholic community here in Warren County.
Genuine Community: One of the strategic anchors of our parish vision is to be a “place of refuge” for all who walk through the doors of Holy Redeemer. This includes the lonely. You may be aware, in fact, that in the days since the pandemic, a veritable epidemic of loneliness has exploded across our country. Hence we need to be particularly attentive to those who may be experiencing the pain of isolation and marginalization. I was therefore disheartened to receive comments through Flocknote indicating that sometimes people do not feel welcomed here at Holy Redeemer. May I ask you to be very intentional about welcoming folks? This includes strangers. This includes those who appear to live on the margins. No one should ever feel lonelier after being at church than they were when they walked in. And along those lines, please remember to warmly welcome our crying babies and our fidgety little ones. We cannot be a refuge if only the well-mannered and those we judge to be socially acceptable are welcomed.
God bless you all and have a beautiful week!
Mary, Mother of the Redeemer – Pray for us! Our Lady of Guadalupe – Pray for us! St. Anthony – Pray for us! St. Joseph – Pray for us!