A New Catechetical Year

A Twenty-third Great Vacation
Mass at St. Catherine was the most crowded it had been all summer, and of the 120 or so congregants, at least a quarter of them were children! Unfortunately, my presence and preaching wasn’t the big draw! Rather, a bluegrass festival in the antique farmer's fairgrounds made for hundreds more weekend residents to the area, a few of whom were practicing Catholics.  Vacation has been a wonderful experience again, even for my twenty-third year. Added to the usual beauty of the great outdoors, successful fishing, lots of great suppers, renewed friendships, and rest, it was a joy to make some new friends and to get to a lake I had not visited.  I'll be making my way home on Tuesday, as the bulletin goes to press, hoping the trip home will be as easy as the trip to Itasca.

Parish Life Ramping Up
I’m looking forward to being back in Crescent Parishes! The catechetical year is gearing up, which means important things in parish life.  The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults will be beginning a new season. Therefore, now is the time to be wondering about people in our lives who might be interested in learning more about Jesus and the Catholic Church, his body. Certainly, it is wonderful for parishioners themselves to invite people to consider doing so and invite them to call a parish office. At the same time, I am more than happy to send a letter and make a contact with any names parishioners offer. I received a call three Saturday evenings ago, chatted with the person and passed on his name to Deacon Royce and the RCIA team.  Our Parishes Religious Education Program (PREP, formerly CCD) and Nativity School
are ramping up preparations for another season. Call a parish office to be directed to people who can provide more information. Please pray for parents, who are the primary formers of their children in the faith and in every other way, that practice of the faith will grow and increase as all of us do what we can in that regard to inspire others to know and follow Jesus better!

New Staff Members
Lots has been happening regarding staffing at Crescent Parishes. As I mentioned in a previous bulletin, Sandy Schleibaum, three-decade administrative assistant at Holy Trinity, retired at the end of July. We are thankful that Sandy will continue to work for us two days a
week. Another Crescent Parishes employee, Meg Anderson, will be moving from part-time to a full-time position as the Director of Stewardship and Outreach.  Furthermore, we are excited to welcome two new staff members to our team, Becky Linser and Cari Craver. Becky is joining us part-time as the Coordinator of Youth Evangelization. Cari is joining us full-time as the Administrative Pastoral Minister, her role includes administrative work as well as adult faith formation. Cari and Becky will have bios in the bulletin over the next weeks. Please welcome them well and pray for them as they help us to increase the vibrancy of Faith in Crescent Parishes! Thanks to parishioners who are ready to participate in lifelong faith formation opportunities. Such opportunities include:

•  Reading a good Catholic book, especially in a book study with others
•  Sharing Jesus' presence in my life with others
•  Entering into a video Bible or faith program with others
•  Reading and praying with the Sunday and daily scriptures
•  Praying together spontaneously as spouses or in small groups on a daily, bi-weekly or weekly basis.
•  Frequenting a good Catholic app such as Hallow or a podcast from great Catholic evangelists such as Bishop Barron or Fr. Michael Schmitz.

Faith is Either Growing or Dying
As I say often, if Faith is not growing in us, it is dying. It can’t just stay stationary. And the Devil will work hard to make sure faith dies so gradually we never notice. We have a better assurance that our faith is growing if we can point to an active life of prayer to Jesus and study
of the Bible and the Church.

Sincerely and with Love in Christ,
Fr. Pat