Confirmation "Season"

One of many newly Confirmed in 2013

I think it is only at Holy Family that we can speak of Confirmation being a Season! With 8 celebrations on 8 Weekday evenings in a row - it feels like a block of time! We actually have 9 celebrations when we include the Pentecost Sunday Morning celebration we had with 2 Adults who were Confirmed at the 8:30 mass.
We have really had a wonderful time over these 2 weeks, and to have the prayerful support and ministry of so many of the regular Lectors, Eucharistic Ministers, and Altar Servers has been terrific!  There have been 286 people Confirmed these past 2 weeks, and we have appreciated the assistance of Peter and his sons at Excel Cleaners who have been cleaning the gowns each morning after the celebration the night before!

Fr. Damian and I split the preaching - so that we take turns alternating each day.  We have both spoken of the importance of the gifts given by God - for the building up of the community - and how we grow into these gifts.  These homilies have brought to mind the story Jerry Galipeau (who gave our Parish Mission in March) told about his friend who wanted a certain pair of designer jeans for Christmas one year.  She took her Mom to the Mall, and tried on a pair of jeans - and showed her exactly which pair, which size, which colour... On Christmas Morning when she unwrapped her presents, she went to her room to put on the jeans - and found that they were 2 sizes too big, and was devastated. When she complained, her Mom said "Don't worry - you'll grow into them!"
Maybe thats the way it will be with these young people we are confirming, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit - they will grow into them!
It was Jerry who also spoke about the Church Doors as being "Service Entrances" and on Pentecost we heard Jesus in the Gospel saying "As the Father sent me, so I send you."  Each of us - having been nourished at the table of the saviour - is sent forth thru the "Service Entrance" to be a witness - to be the presence of Christ, for the life of the world.

Peace.

Ascension

Make us Witnesses!

Good and gracious God,
   you who promised us the
   power of the Holy Spirit
   to make us witnesses
   throughout the world,
   renew that power in us.
Make us eloquent when
   we speak of your Kingdom,
   and convincing in our deeds.
Trusting in you to fulfill your promises
   and looking forward to your reign,
   we ask this through our Lord, Jesus Christ,
   your Son, who lives and reigns with you
   in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
   one God, forever and ever. Amen.

A few things are happening these days:

• This Sunday is Mother's Day - and we pray for all of those who Mother their children, for thos called to be caring and loving.
• We will begin Confirmation celebrations Monday May 13, for the next 8 weekday evenings. In total we have 280+ candidates for confirmation.
• The next 2 weeks are also the Archdiocese of Toronto Priests' Retreat - so please pray for the priests of the Archdiocese in these days.  
• NEXT Sunday is PENTECOST - se we encourage you to wear RED to Mass as we celebrate the "Birth" of the Church...

Peace

Returning from Vacation - Hitting the ground running!

Thursday evening I "hit the ground running" as I got back from Holiday checking in at one of the retreats for Confirmation, and then going to the Funeral Home to do prayers with the family of Domenico Vendetti.
The Funeral was Friday - and then we had our LifeTeen youth on retreat for the weekend!  That meant that there were fewer team members around for Edge and Rooted (Friday and Saturday).
It also meant Fr. Damian and I were there for confessions Saturday Evening, and the closing prayer on Sunday after noon!
We also had a wedding on Saturday afternoon, and I was preaching last Sunday.  Here is the text of the story I used: Cocoon

A Student on the way to School found a cocoon.  Brought is to his  home room - a Biology lab. Teacher put it in an unused Aquarium. Lamp installed to keep warm.
Week went by, when there appeared a small opening - on the underside of the Cocoon. Students watched as it began to began to shake. Suddenly tiny Antennae emerged, followed by head & tiny front feet. Students would go back to lab - to check check on the progress. By lunch - struggled to free listless wings, and the colours revealing it to be a monarch butterfly.
It wriggled, shook, and struggled, but now appeared stuck.
Try as it might - it couldn't - get through the small opening.
Finally one student decided to help the butterfly. He took scissors and cut off the restrictive covering - and \out plopped an insect like thing. Top Half: Butterfly- listless wings, bottom half out of cocoon large& swollen. "Butter -Piller" or "Cater-Fly" never flew.
It just crawled around dragging the listless wings and the swollen body. The next day the Biology Teacher explained that the Butterfly's struggle to get through the tiny opening in the cocoon was necessary in order to force the fluids from the swollen body
into the wings so they would be strong enough to fly.
Without the struggle - the wings never developed and the butterfly could never fly. So too with us - It is in the struggles that we develop and are given the strength to fly - like the early Christian Community.

Monday I met with the Governance Committe for St. Michael's Choir School Advisory Board, of which I am a member - and we began the process of Strategic Planning for the Choir School in light of the Archdiocese of Toronto Pastoral Plan.
Monday I learned the sad news that the North American Forum on the Catechumenate will be closing its doors in less than 2 months! This is a group that I have been a team member since 2002 - and the reason I know my group of friends we call the "Chicago 6".
Here is a good article annalizing the situation.

Monday afternoon we had another Confirmation Retreat, and Tuesday I had School Masses at Pope John Paul II - Easter Season Masses.  Yesterday was a gentle day - my 20th Anniversary of Ordination, and I spent some time with friends, and I saw part of the St. Michael's - R.F. Hall Baseball game before Mass with the CWL and the crowning of Mary !  (St. Mike's won!)

My Dad has no sympathy - I told him I have to work twice as hard the week after being on holidays!!!
Peace

Leaving for Holidays

As I leave this afternoon for 2 weeks of holidays - I travel with many people in my prayers:

• A few of our faithful parishioners are undergoing new treatments for Cancer and so are in my thoughts and prayers;
• Deacon Robert's Sister in law (Gabrielle's sister) has just been diagnosed with a brain tumour;
• Another parishioner is nearing the end of his life, and preparing to go home to God;
• Mae Sutton, who is the Mother of our past Grand Knight - Chris Sutton - died last week and the Funeral is at St. Benedict's Parish tomorrow.

With these families in my prayers I leave, flying Westjet for the first time ever!

I am home on May 3rd.

Peace.

Youth Ministry Updates

We have been moving along in so many facets of our Youth Ministries that I thought we should give an update...

Holydays Summer Camp:
Registration for Holydays Summer Day Camp begins on Saturday April 20th at 11:00 in the morning.  We know it will be a busy time - we already have over 200 hits on our Registration Info Page on www.HFYM.ca 

We have received the permit for Holy Family School - Including the Kindergarden Rooms! This will help us with the introduction of the Kindergarden program this summer.  Our young teens are also in the process of applying for the many Counsellor positions that we will have during Holydays. Applications are due this week.

We will also be having a Seminarian Intern joining our parish this Summer (June-August) and one of the main things he will do is be involved with Holydays as a counsellor! More on this in May!

Rooted Ministry:  
(Students in grades 3, 4, & 5)
We had a Rooted Session this morning - and Rooted continues every third Saturday Morning - with our next rooted Saturday May 4th - 10:00 - 11:30 am.  Our team has done a terrific job of working on teachings that apply to the daily lives of our youth...

Edge and LifeTeen continue weekly - with these weeks being the heart of the special semester that was put together for the Year of Faith.  Coming soon (Saturday - April 27) is the Annual Pasta Dinner Fundraiser - that raises money for Youth Ministry Retreats.  The Teens will be going on a weekend retreat at the beginning of May - and Tickets are on sale now for the Pasta Dinner.

During the Year of Faith - the Office of Catholic Youth are having "Travelling" youth nights in different parishs. This week LifeTeen is joining the night at Merciful Redeemer Parish, and on May 10th the Edge youth are joing St. Isaac Jogues Parish for their Edge Night!

Thank God for the work that Stephanie does in the parish.  My head just starts to hurt as we keep all these ministries spinning in the parish!

Peace

Difficult Endings

One might think that the title of this post - and the nature of this Blog would mean that I am going to write about the funerals that we are facing in this second week of Easter! But no - on Tuesday evening I was with my friends Maureen and Emil Schemitsch for the hockey game Oshawa was playing against the Barrie Colts.  This is the second round of the OHL playoffs - and the Oshawa Generals had beat Niagara Ice Dogs in the first round - 4 games to 1. The Barrie Colts had won thier first round 4 games straight - so we know that they are a strong team, yet Oshawa had beat them in the regular season.  It was not so in the playoffs.  Barrie came from behind in the first game of the series, and it was all Barrie after that.  
It was in getting ready to go to the game Tuesday night that I realized that it could be Geoffrey's last OHL Game.  He is an "Over-Ager" this year - one of 3 players that were born in 1992 and are allowed on each OHL team this year.  
The first period was tight, with Barrie scoring once - while Oshawa out shot the Colts.  The turning point was in the second half of the second period when Barrie went up 3-1.
With a final score of 4-2 Oshawa was elinated in 4 games.  It was an emotional time, realizing that Geoffrey will not play in the OHL next Fall.
The classy part of the night was that Oshawa announced the 3 Stars of the game as being the 3 players who were over age: 

Matt Petgrave  - Scott Sabourin - Geoffrey Schemitsch

Where will Geoffrey be next year?  I do not know - but I do know that he has tremendous talent, great leadership skills and is a genuine gentleman.  On top of that - he has "Hockey smarts" and that might mean he will play in another professional league.

Peace.

Full Easter week

This has been a busy week.  My family came to Bolton on Easter Sunday.  My Sister and Brother in Law & Gabriel - who is also my 6 year old Godson, came to 12 noon Mass, and then went over to the Rectory.  My Dad, Brother, Sister in law and my nephew Michael, arrived around 4:00 in the afternoon.  Dad was at his parish in Kingston for the Easter Vigil since he is a sponsor in the RCIA process there.  And my Brother was at his in-law's in Napanee for Easter Sunday Morning Mass.

We enjoyed a meal together Sunday night and stayed up late talking and catching up.  On Monday morning we had a breakfast of toast, bacon and eggs, but if the truth be told - we really started with an appetizer of Chocolate Eggs!  (I think Laura Secord eggs are the quintessential Easter Chocolate!)  After eveyone left Monday around 12:30 - I went back to bed and had a nap!!!

Tuesday we had Vitamin F - Faith Nourishment - and some thought provoking reflections on Easter and the celebrations we participated in!  Wednesday We had a chance to see the play - The Wizard of Oz that the students from St. Michael's performed at the Rose Theatre in Brampton.  The last performance is tonight - a dinner theatre show!

Thursday was full of appointments - even a walk in appointment, and our Marriage Preparation team gathered for dinner at the Rectory Thursday Evening.  Tonight we have Edge! and I went to the store to get 100 Cadbury Easter cream eggs yesterday!  We also have adoration tonight - led by Decon Robert.

A full week - and we still have Family Gatherings for First Communion Families this coming Sunday and Thursday... I am starting to look forward to my Easter Vacation - April 16-30!

Peace