20th Sunday of the Year

Dear Friends in Christ,

The new school year is at hand, and beginning just after Labor Day, there are many opportunities at St Mary’s to be diligent students of the Lord Jesus:

An Introduction to Catholicism is the course which includes the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, and anyone who wants to learn more about Catholic Christianity is invited to take this course which meets on Wednesday evenings at 6.30 pm. Non-Catholics who feel drawn to the Catholic Church, Catholics who have been away from the Church for some time and are returning to a regular practice of the faith, and adult Catholics who have not yet been confirmed are all invited to participate in An Introduction to Catholicism.

The Program of Catholic Studies is a rotating series of courses for all adults and mature teens, and different topics are covered each semester. This Fall the two courses are The Catholic Field Guide to Protestantism, meeting on Tuesday mornings at 8.30 am, and How to Read the Bible, meeting on Wednesday evenings at 6.30 pm. More information about each course, including instructions on how to register, is in the eBulletin.

For all children from the first grade through the eighth grade, some form of religious education is a requirement, and all parents have a grave moral duty to provide this education. Children at St Mary’s School or another parochial school receive their religious education during the school day, as do children in a Catholic homeschool. Children who attend public schools need to attend our religious education classes on Wednesday evenings at 6.30 pm, and to be eligible for these classes, all children must be registered in advance. For the first time at St Mary’s, all registration for RE is taking place online, so there will not be registration tables available after Mass as has been the custom in the past. Please see the eBulletin for information on how to register your children for Wednesday evening religious education, and all registrations must be complete by 1 September.

George Weigel has written a new book entitled Lessons in Hope: My Unexpected Life with St John Paul II, and it will be published in mid-September. On Saturday 7 October 2017, Mr Weigel will be at St Mary’s to lecture on his new work and sign copies of the book. Registration information will be available soon, so please save the date now.

Finally, on 20 and 21 October 2017, the Center for Evangelical Catholicism is hosting a conference at St Mary’s on the Protestant Reformation called 500 Years Later: Where Do We Go From Here? Six distinguished scholars from around the country will give lectures on various themes related to the effects of the Reformation on Catholics and Protestants alike. The registration fee for this conference is $75, and information is available in the eBulletin.

Father Newman