The campuses of our Family of parishes are somewhat quiet.  All three schools are out for the summer.  Parish activity and parish life, however, continues.  St. Margaret Mary will soon be having their Casino Night coming up on July 12th, St. Ann will be hosting a four week series on the Seven Deadly Sins presented by Deacon Doug Moor, St. James is gearing up for its annual festival in July, and St. Bernard is hosting the Family’s Summer PSR religious formation program right now, as we are halfway through that program.  While school may be out, ministry, social activities, catechesis, and religious formation, as well as the Sacred Liturgy still goes on.
 
As we look forward, and continue to move forward in the Beacons of Light Initiative of our Archdiocese, more and more things will begin to come together and be shared between the four parishes, and ministries combined.  We have seen some of this already in the last three years since we began this initiative, and moving forward, we will begin to see that accelerate, not only in our Family of Parishes, but throughout the Archdiocese.  Archbishop Casey recently wrote a letter to priests in which he reaffirmed the necessity of, and the values and goals of the Beacons of Light Initiative.  As we move deeper into the process of coming together with the goal of becoming a single parish, we can expect a more intense and intentional focus on the process of discerning how the four parishes of our Family come together in all aspects of ministry and church life.  We also can foresee a greater collaboration between families and parishes on the deanery level as well, as no one parish, or even one family can “do it all”, hence the need for increased prayer for the success of the Initiative, and for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we continue this necessary work of “proclaiming the Joy of the Gospel” (Evangelii Gaudium - Pope Francis), in a spirit of collaboration with one another.  That’s ultimately why we are here, to proclaim the Good News, to proclaim Jesus Christ crucified and risen.
 
That’s all for now.
Take Good Care,
 Fr. Bryan