Let's pause and think communally about what I did on Friday and Sunday

Friday:

• 4th and 5th grade retreat on Holy Week

Sunday:

• RCIA dismissal
• Confirmation Interview
• Praise and Worship, guitar and singing, for ~450 middle and high school youth

 So many different types of ministry.  So little time.

Twentysomething

Hey Echo peoples,

So, I was listening to a random Canadian jazz radio station (just about the only music station I can listen to with my firewall at work), and this song came on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFIjSY0amtc

It's called "Twentysomething" by Jamie Cullum, and it's a rather amusing jazz/swing description of what it means to be in that age bracket. Hope you enjoy.

The Beginning of the End

As you may know, this is the final season of the masterpiece that is LOST. This decision was set back a couple years ago when the complaints of "They're just making this up as they go along" became overly vociferous. As the season began and is now progressing, the advertisements were all in the vein of "This is the Beginning of the End". We had Confirmation this weekend for our 8th graders and as they were getting anointed on their foreheads, I could not help but think-with a only a couple months left-this is the beginning of the end of my time at IHM.

In reflecting on this reality, it's daunting and joyous. Daunting in that we have to wonder WTH we are going to do next year-let alone our lives. That thought alone put me in a funk for weeks and paralyzed me into complete self-doubt. Some people can sit well with uncertainty during transitions. Others cannot. I apparently was in the latter category. It was terrible to now know what I was going to do and it was like standing on a precipice with seemingly no direction to go towards. The best analogy I could give was college application time-all these choices but in reality only one. As I was getting ready to wean myself off of a formal connection to the University I love, I found that I was not ready at all.

But it's also joyous for it's a chance to celebrate but also to go out with a bang. After weeks of grappling with it, I am finally there-thrusting my energies into finishing this year strongly and joyfully no matter what the future may hold. I don't think I ever shook as many hands and took as many pictures as I did yesterday. The only thing missing from it being a political campaign was kissing babies. Several people said that I deserved a raise (I told my pastor that I want to enter a new tax bracket) and asked how I don't have a big ego with how much the kids love me (Jonathan Lewis' Asian jokes and Anna Waechter's humility help with that). The chances to be a role model and more importantly, a "celebrity" are abundant. The Lenten series on learning about other faiths that I thought of and organized has been drawing 30-40 people each event when my mentor thought that 5-10 for each one would be a success. I've been laying the groundwork for a couple articles that I hope to finish by May 28. There are more parties and free dinners to attend. It's been a blessing.

So as I reflect on how it may seem like these last few months are the beginning of the end...it may in reality be more of the end of the beginning.

Woah, three posts in one day!

Keep it up guys.

MISSING - LOST IN THE MAIL!!!

A very important envelope containing the only existing deck of distance 500 cards has disappeared.
Last seen at the Newark, DE post office March 1st.
If spotted, contact one of the three Echo 5 card girls.
Thanks.

Dreams and Visions

You are probably familiar with the name Bill Huebsch. He has written many books on pastoral planning and whole community catechesis and some would probably say he's a big deal (people know him, he probably has many leather-bound books and his apartment smells like rich mahagomy). Many of us at my parish are now reading Dreams and Visions by Mr. Heubsch. It started with the Pastoral Council, then expanded to the finance council, other councils, and Department Heads. We are to read it in preparation for our Leadership retreat coming up at the end of this month. Those actively involved in our parish have a true desire to make St. Andrew's a great parish, and they're even thinking more about whole community catechesis.

What caught my attention in my reading of this book (I'm still on the first chapter), were several questions posed: What do you want the outcome of all your efforts to be in your parish? What do you want people to take away from their encounter with the parish? What do you want to happen as a result of your ministry? (pg 9).

I'm sure we've come in contact with similar questions before, but if you're like me, we sometimes forget the importance of asking ourselves these questions and evaluating where our programs are going. Is it really important that the high school students in religious ed learn the nuts and bolts about our faith, or is it ok if they do not retain much of the information, but instead they actually have an encounter with Christ? I know we know this, but sometimes it's nice to be reminded that conversion comes before catechesis.

Happy catechizing!

Quote of the Day

"Umm... Anthony... it's not a big deal or anything... but why in the world do you have a headless clown...?!" -Allie Greene (visiting ND Vision-ista)