6th Sunday of Easter (Year C)

Mersey Leven Catholic Parish

            SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER - YEAR C   

        

Parish Priest:  Fr Mike Delaney
Mob: 0417 279 437; mike.delaney@aohtas.org.au

Assistant Priest: Fr Alexander Obiorah

Mob: 0447 478 297; alexchuksobi@yahoo.co.uk

Postal Address: PO Box 362, Devonport 7310

Parish Office:  90 Stewart Street, Devonport 7310

(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)

Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160
Email: mlcathparish-dsl@keypoint.com.au

Secretary: Annie Davies / Anne Fisher
Pastoral Council Chair:  Mary Davies

Mersey Leven Catholic Parish Weekly Newsletter: mlcathparish.blogspot.com.au

Parish Mass Times: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au

Weekly Homily Podcast: mikedelaney.podomatic.com   

Parish Magazine: mlcathparishnewsletter.blogspot.com.au

Year of Mercy Blogspot: mlcpyom.blogspot.com.au

Our Parish Sacramental Life Baptism: Parents are asked to contact the Parish Office to make arrangements for attending a Baptismal Preparation Session and booking a Baptism date. Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist: Are received following a Family–centred, Parish-based, School-supported Preparation Program. Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: prepares adults for reception into the Catholic community. Marriage: arrangements are made by contacting one of our priests - couples attend a Pre-marriage Program Anointing of the Sick: please contact one of our priests Reconciliation:  Ulverstone - Fridays (10am - 10:30am)                         Devonport - Saturday (5:15pm– 5.45pm)                         Penguin    - Saturday (5:15pm - 5:45pm) Care and Concern: If you are aware of anyone who is in need of assistance and has given permission to be contacted by Care and Concern, please phone the Parish Office.

Weekday Masses 2nd - 7th  May, 2016                               

Monday:       7:00pm Devonport (First Reconciliation)

Tuesday:       9:30am Penguin

Wednesday:    9:30am Latrobe

Thursday:      12noon Devonport

                 7:30pm Penguin (Healing Mass)

Friday:        9:30am Ulverstone

                 12noon Devonport

Mass Times Next Weekend 7th & 8th May, 2016

Saturday:             9:00am  Ulverstone                                  

Saturday Vigil:         6:00pm  Penguin & Devonport

Sunday Mass:          8:30am  Port Sorell

                   9:00am  Ulverstone

                 10:30am  Devonport 

                 11:00am  Sheffield

                  5:00pm  Latrobe                                                                              

Devonport:

Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus

Devonport:  Benediction with Adoration - first Friday of each month.

Legion of Mary: Sacred Heart Church Community Room, Ulverstone, Wednesdays, 11am

Christian Meditation:

Devonport, Emmaus House - Wednesdays 7pm.

Prayer Group:

Charismatic Renewal

Devonport, Emmaus House - Thursdays 7.30pm

                   

Ministry Rosters 7th & 8th May, 2016

Devonport:

Readers: Vigil: M Gaffney, M Gerrand, H Lim 

10:30am F Sly, J Tuxworth

Ministers of Communion: Vigil B & B Windebank, T Bird,

J Kelly, R Baker, B Windebank

10.30am: S Riley, M Sherriff, R Beaton, M O’Brien-Evans, 

D & M Barrientos

Cleaners 6th May: M.W.C.

13th May: M & L Tippett, A Berryman

Piety Shop 7^th May:  H Thompson   8^th May: O McGinley Flowers: M O’Brien-Evans

Ulverstone:

Reader:  B O’Rourke Ministers of Communion:  M Murray, J Pisarskis, C Harvey, P Gretch

Cleaners: G & M Seen, C Roberts Flowers: M Webb   Hospitality: M McLaren

Penguin:

Greeters: Fifita Family   Commentator:          Reader:  J Garnsey

Procession: Y & R Downes   Ministers of Communion: T Clayton, M Murray

Liturgy:  Sulphur Creek C Setting Up: M Murray Care of Church: M Bowles, M Owen

Latrobe:

Reader:  P Marlow   Ministers of Communion: Z Smith, H Lim    Procession: M Clarke  Music: Jenny

Port Sorell:

Readers:  M Badcock, L Post   Ministers of Communion: T Jeffries, V Duff    Clean/Flow/Prepare: G Wylie

Readings this Week: Sixth Sunday of Easter

First Reading: Acts: 15:1-2, 22-29

Second Reading: Apocalypse 21:10-14, 16-17, 20

Gospel: John 14: 23-29

PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAYS GOSPEL:

Before beginning my prayer, I take a deep breath, hold it a moment, then breathe normally. 
I ask the Spirit to guide me. 
Where are you going to lead me today Lord? 
I give myself plenty of time to mull over each sentence, repeating it on my breath. 
I stop, I reflect: “What does it mean to me in my everyday life?” 
Maybe I try imagining that Jesus is speaking these words to me personally: “If you love me, you will keep my word….The Father and I shall make our home with you….” 
What happens? 
What do I want to say to the Lord in reply? 
Perhaps I spend some time in wordless wonder, resting in the peace of the Lord, feeling supported, blessed, loved without condition, savouring his gift to me. 
When my heart is troubled or afraid, do I call upon the Lord or do I try to rely only on myself? 
I speak to Jesus about the feelings his words have brought to the surface. 
I listen to him. 
I conclude my prayer in the name of the Father….

   

Readings Next Week: Ascension of the Lord

First Reading: Acts: 1:1-11   

Second Reading: Hebrews 9:24-28; 10:19-23 

Gospel: Luke 24:46-53

Your prayers are asked for the sick: Joan Singline, John Kirkpatrick, 

Archbishop Adrian Doyle, Connie Fulton, Lorna Jones, Geraldine Roden, Joy Carter &...

Let us pray for those who have died recently: Fr Terry Southerwood, 

Lola O’Halloran, Kath Smith, Kathy Clark, Harry Cartwright, 

John Roach and Jack Becker.

Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 27^th April – 3^rd May

Lorna Woods, Mark McCormack, Don & Joff Breen, Joy & Martha Willcox, Norma Ellings, Bill Carter, David O’Rourke, Mary Scholyer, Brian McCormack, Michael Harvey, Michael Pankiv, Matthew Keene, William Cloney, Catherine Johnson, Julie Horniblow, Aileen Harris, Nell Kelleher, Peter Rae, Mary Edmunds, Robert Cooper and Ponciano & Dominga Torbiso. Also Leo Kingsley & George Windridge.

                May they Rest in Peace

WEEKLY RAMBLINGS:

I am writing this on Thursday morning looking out of the unit I am in on the East Coast. It is quiet and I am by myself because my flat mate is in Richmond preparing to travel to Port Arthur for the 20th Anniversary Service commemorating the terrible tragedy that was the Port Arthur Massacre.

I am also trying to prepare a response for the final session of our conference later this afternoon when together with three other priests I will be commenting on what I have heard and what this time has meant to and for me. In one sense this is an easy exercise because the presenters - Dr Ron and Mavis Pirola and Fr Brendan Reed have been really helpful with their thoughts and reflections - I will have more to say in my homilies over the next few weeks.

Will it have any immediate impact on our Parish? Probably not except perhaps for things that Fr Alex and I might be thinking and personally reflecting on and which we will share firstly with the Pastoral Council and then with others as the weeks progress.

Next week (on Monday at OLOL Church) we will be celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation with the children who are preparing for the Sacraments this year. Please continue to keep these young people and their families in your prayers.

Next Friday we have the Open House at Ulverstone commencing at 6.30pm. As well as the usual food and drink this is also a Fundraising effort for World Youth Day so please bring a few coins to support our efforts. I'm not sure about the diet this week but I will be back on duty next week!!

Reminder about the 24 Hour Time for Adoration that is mentioned this weekend for the night of 13th - 14th May (Eve of Pentecost) and then the Whole of Parish Mass on Pentecost Day at OLOL at 10.30am.  More details about both next weekend.

Until next week take care in your homes and on the roads 

PENTECOST SUNDAY - CALLING ALL CHORISTERS:

We are inviting all choristers from all our Mass Centres to be part of a Whole Parish Choir for Pentecost Sunday.  Rehearsals will be held this Monday 2nd May at 7pm, and Saturday 14^th May at 2pm with both rehearsals being held at Our Lady of Lourdes Church.  Please contact John Lee-Archer: phone 0419 523 867 or email:
john.leearcher@gmail.com to register your interest or for further information.

HEALING MASS:

Catholic Charismatic Renewal are sponsoring a Healing Mass with Fr Alexander Obiorah at St Mary’s Catholic Church Penguin Thursday 5^th May commencing at 7:30pm. After Mass teams will be available for individual prayer. Please bring a friend and a plate for supper to share. If you wish more info or require transport please contact Celestine Whiteley 6424:2043, Michael Gaffney 0-447 018 068, Zoe Smith 6426:3073 or Tom Knaap 6425:2442

GRANS VAN:

On behalf of the Mersey Leven Catholic Parish a big thank you to all those parishioners who volunteered to help with Grans Van on Sunday nights. Approximately 20 people were involved during the month of April. These generous people gave their time and energy, cooked a delicious casserole, helped serve at both West and East Devonport or drove the van. Other people donated biscuits and cakes and students from St Brendan Shaw College contributed with casseroles. These efforts were very much appreciated.      Sincerely with thanks Lyn & Shirley.

24 HOUR ADORATION

… ‘COULD YOU NOT STAY AWAKE WITH ME FOR ONE HOUR?’ Matt.26:40

The Holy Eucharist remains at the centre of our liturgical worship and services. The real presence of Jesus has made the Eucharist the fulcrum, around which other sacraments rotate and it has remained an unequalled source of grace. Having time with Jesus is one of the Church’s age-long practice which has remained a delight.

As we pray for a New Pentecost, our parish looks forward to a 24 hour Adoration of the Holy Eucharist at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, beginning from 6pm of Friday, May 13, to 6pm of Saturday, May 14, the Pentecost eve. This will be a good time for individuals, families and groups to have special time with Jesus.

Please, you can be part of this Adoration by filling the sheet at the rear of the church. There can be any number of persons for any hour and there is no limit to the number of hours one can adore; the important thing is to get every hour covered. The less convenient the time, the more sacrificial.

Have a fruitful time with Jesus!

HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO LIVE IN YOUR HOUSE, CONTINUALLY SINGING YOUR PRAISE! (Ps. 84:5)

KINGDOM OF THE DIVINE WILL:

There will be an introductory talk on Living in Gods divine will – Heavens gift to our Century, Emmaus House 88 Stewart Street Devonport on Saturday 14^th May at 7pm. For more information contact Ester 6424:9323, Ophelia 0423 115 419 or Michael 0447 018 068. All welcome!

WHOLE PARISH MASS –– PENTECOST SUNDAY 15^TH MAY:

To assist with the catering for the luncheon after the 10:30am Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church Devonport, could you please indicate on the form in the Church foyer what you could provide, either a salad or a sweet. Sausages, hamburgers, tea and coffee will be provided – thank you!

PAST PUPILS OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES CATHOLIC SCHOOL:

Do you know someone who attended Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, completed their education and began work between 1991 and now? We would love to hear from you, as we are compiling an e book to celebrate 125 years of education at the School. Please contact Marlene Heazlewood on 6424:4039 or email mandgheazlewood@gmail.com before 31st May.

FOOTY POINTS MARGIN TICKETS:  Round 5 – Hawthorn by 3 points - Winners; D Dalton-Smith, K Simpson.

FOR SALE:

Working Fisher & Paykel oven from Devonport Presbytery – If you are interested and would like to take a look please contact the Parish Office 6424:2783

Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall, Devonport.  Eyes down 7.30pm!

Callers for Thursday 5^th May – Jon Halley & Merv Tippett.

NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:

MASS OF CHRISTIAN BURIAL WILL BE OFFERED FOR FR TERRY SOUTHERWOOD:

*      Church of the Apostles, 44 Margaret Street, Launceston

*      Monday, 2nd May 2016 at 1.00pm. 

*      Mass will be followed by burial in the Priests' Section of Carr Villa Memorial Park, Nunamina Avenue,

        Kings Meadows. 

All parishioners and friends are warmly invited to join with Fr Terry's family and his brother priests for the Mass and Burial on Monday.

WALK WITH CHRIST – HOBART CITY, SUNDAY 29TH MAY 1:15 TO 3:00 pm.

Celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ by walking with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament through the city of Hobart. Be at St Joseph's Church (Harrington St) by 1.15 pm, and walk with us to St Mary's Cathedral for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament concluding with Benediction at 3:00pm.  There will be a 'cuppa' afterwards.  If you can't do the walk come to the Cathedral at 2:00pm for prayers and the Adoration.  Can't join us in person? Prayer intentions written in the 'Book of Life' in your parish will be taken on the procession and presented at the Cathedral.    

                                                   

Midrash

Taken from the daily email series by Fr Richard Rohr. You can subscribe to receive these emails here

The Jewish practice of midrash is a way of interpreting Scripture that asks questions more than seeks always certain and unchanging answers. It allows many possibilities, many levels of faith-filled meaning--meaning that is relevant and applicable to you, the reader, and puts you in the subject's shoes to build empathy, understanding, and relationship. It lets the passage first challenge you before it challenges anyone else. To use the text in a spiritual way is to allow it to convert you, to change you, to grow you up. What does this ask of me? How might this apply to my life, to my marriage, to my church, to my neighborhood, to my country?

The German poet, Rainer Maria Rilke, seemed to grasp the value of this practice applied not only to a sacred text, but to life. He wrote to a young friend, begging him to "have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day." [1]

As Jesus modeled so masterfully in his teaching, welcome uncertainty and paradox. Respond to questions with yet more questions, like Jesus did with the lawyer who asked how he might inherit eternal life, but really only to "justify himself" (Luke 10:25-37). Let the wisdom written on your own heart lead you, through experiencing God's love, toward mercy and justice.

                                                

MARKING AN ANNIVERSARY

From the website of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. The original article can be found here

What we cease to celebrate we will soon cease to cherish. This year, 2016, marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the religious congregation to which I belong, The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. We have a proud history, 200 years now, of ministering to the poor around the world.  This merits celebrating.

As a writer, I don’t normally highlight the fact that I am a professed religious, just as I don’t usually highlight the fact that I’m a Roman Catholic priest, because I fear that labels such as “Catholic priest”, “Father”, or “Oblate of Mary Immaculate” attached to an author’s name serve more to limit his readership than to increase it. Jesus, too, was pretty negative on religious labels. Mostly though I avoid writing under a specific religious label because I want to speak more through the wider prism of my humanity and my baptism than through the more specific prism of my priesthood and vowed religious commitment. It’s a choice I’ve made, respecting the choice of others.

With that being said, I want to break my own rules here and speak more specifically through the prism of my identity as vowed religious. So I write this particular column as Father Ronald Rolheiser OMI, proud member of The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

Let me begin with a little history: Our Congregation was founded in Southern France in 1816 by Eugene de Mazenod, declared a saint by the church in 1995.  Eugene was a diocesan priest who immediately upon entering the ministry saw that the Gospel wasn’t reaching many of the poor and so he began to focus his own ministry very much on reaching out to the poor. It takes a village to raise and child and, soon enough, he realized that it takes more than one person to bring about effective change. It takes a community to make compassion effective: What we dream alone remains a dream, what we dream with others can become a reality. So he sought-out other like-minded men, diocesan priests like himself, and called them together around this mission and eventually they began to live together and formed a new religious congregation dedicated to serving the poor.

That was 200 years ago and the Oblates (as we’re commonly called) have had a proud, if not always comfortable, history since. Today we are ministering in 68 countries on every continent on earth and our mission is still the same. We serve the poor. That’s why you’ll find us ministering mainly on the margins of society, where mainstream society prefers not to cast its glance, on the borders with migrants, on Native reservations, in immigrant areas of our cities, in tough inner-city places where the police are reluctant to go, and in developing countries where access to food, health, and education are still scarce commodities. Our mission is not to the privileged, though we try to bring them onside with our mission, and our members themselves are often drawn from among the poor and our message to the young men entering our ranks is: If you join us, consider what’s not in it for you!

And we’re missionaries, meaning that we understand our task to be that of establishing communities and churches, helping them to become self-sufficient, and then moving on to do this over and over again. That may be a noble task, but it’s also a formula for heartache. It isn’t easy on the heart to be forever building something only to give it over to someone else and move on. You don’t ever get to have a permanent home; but there’s a compensation, as a missionary, after a while every place is home.

We aren’t a large congregation, we’re only about 4000 members scattered in some 68 countries, humble in comparison to the likes of the Jesuits, Franciscans, and Dominicans. Indeed in an early version of the famous French Larousse Dictionary, we were described as “a kind of mini-Jesuit found mostly in rural areas.” We are flattered by this description. Our call is not to be in the limelight, but to be at the edges. No accident that it’s there, at the edges, in a rural area, where I met the Oblates.

We also pride ourselves on being robust, practical, earthy, and close to those we serve, and our dress often betrays this. Our families and close friends are forever buying us clothing to try to upgrade our less-than-stellar wardrobes. It’s not that we deliberately cultivate an image of being somewhat unkempt; it’s more that we tend to draw men to our ranks who have other priorities.

And our founder? He wasn’t an easy man, obsessed as he was, as sometimes saints are, by a single-mindedness that doesn’t easily tolerate weaknesses among those around him. He could exhibit blessed rage sometimes. I’m secretly glad that I never met him in person, fearing his judgment on my own weaknesses; but I’m wonderfully glad for his charism and for that motley group of men, often over-casually dressed, who continue his mission.

                                          

Catherine of Sienna 

From the Thinking Faith website this article by Toby Lees OP looks at ways that this 14th C Saint can help us understand issues today, especially the issue of whether Britain should leave the EU. The original article can be found here

A recent hard-hitting and provocative article in The Wall Street Journal paints a dismal prediction for Europe’s future: ‘Europe is dying because it has become morally incompetent.’ However closely one agrees with that assessment, it is difficult to dispute that Europe has an uncertain future. Despite the integration that now exists on a continent that only 61 years ago was ravaged by war, a quick survey of contemporary Europe shows a loss of confidence in the European project. In the face of this uncertainty, and as British voters prepare for a referendum on membership of the European Union, it is worth reflecting on the moral dimension of political engagement. The example set by a co-Patron of Europe is a good lens through which to do this.

Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) lived at a time of great political upheaval. To the extent that we can ever truly speak of Christendom, its heyday was the 12th century and by the time of the 14thcentury, cracks were starting to appear in all the old certainties. There was the threat of Muslim invaders in Eastern Europe; in Western Europe many were shocked by the spectre of the early stages of the Hundred Years’ War being waged by two Christian nations; and the Bishop of Rome was absent from his See, residing in Avignon.

Moreover, Catherine did not have to look far from her home of Siena to see political unrest across much of modern-day Italy: cities and families were each pitted against one another in fierce feuds. She saw the world around her as ‘without peace and without light’. So how might St Catherine, a Doctor of the Church, guide us as we strive to bring peace and light to today’s world?

The first quality we might note is Catherine’s desire to serve. First and foremost, she wished to serve God. Her desire was to do this by a life of constant prayer in seclusion as a member of a branch of the lay Dominicans, the Mantellata. However, God only permitted her three years of such single-minded devotion before calling her out of the cell she had created in her family home and into a life of service of the poor and afflicted of Siena. It was not her ambition to lead the life of an apostolic contemplative, but her desire to serve God, however He wished, meant that her life of service would truly be in the spirit of that beautiful Ignatian prayer for generosity: ‘to give and not to count the cost... to labour and not to ask for any reward.’

We know that Catherine often found the work of caring for the sick difficult. Yet, she prayed for strength from God and also practised self-discipline, so that the revulsion that she sometimes felt at the seeping wounds of her patients and appalling smells would not show in her countenance. She wanted them to know that they were loved and in this way reflect the love of Christ. The lengths she went to increase in self-control – on one occasion drinking the pus of a patient she was struggling to tend – seem extreme to us, but they pose a challenge and a question: ‘how much will change if we only act in the ways in which we feel comfortable?’ Catherine reminds us: ‘Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.’

The current political debate is largely dominated by arguments about the national interest, often by nothing more than asking whether Britain will be richer in or out of Europe. Catherine’s radical example of service can prompt voters to make political choices in general, and a decision about Britain’s membership of the EU in particular, from a perspective of service, rather than of self-interest.

Throughout her life Catherine responded to the needs of the people she saw in front of her, even when she was mistreated for it. The concern for others did not stop at her immediate horizons, but she showed that you cannot love universally without also loving particularly. Catherine tells us that ‘love does not stay idle’ and therefore it can never remain at the level of abstraction. It was her loving actions on a local level that lent moral authority to her correspondence with those who wielded broader power: integrity engenders a certain respect from others that no appointment or birthright can muster. We see this in our own day with the phenomenon that is Pope Francis. People who reject the faith that motivates him are nonetheless inspired by him.

Both Catherine and Francis, in this respect, illustrate by negation a familiar complaint about political leadership. To lead implies taking people with you, but too often we hear that those who wield political power do so in a coercive fashion, they fail to inspire. This is felt at the national level - we see it in the disillusionment with traditional politics across the board - and even more acutely at a transnational level, where leadership is exercised more remotely and therefore the task of inspiring individuals is more difficult.  This distance no doubt contributes to the loss of control that many people feel in relation to the decisions which affect their lives and creates resentment of ‘those in Brussels’ even when they have little idea of what ‘those in Brussels’ are supposed to have done.

In contrast, Catherine knew the important political figures of her time and had a means of communicating with them. She was a prolific letter writer to all sorts of figures and varied her style with great sophistication according to the recipient and his or her particular strengths and weaknesses. As such she could be gentle, or with no qualms tell the pope ‘to be a man!’ But it was not only ease of communication that allowed her to have such influence. She attracted a great number of followers – who followed her in a more profound way than is required by being a follower on Twitter! – and correspondents because of her commitment to service. It was her willingness to get involved at the most basic level which gave her the platform to transcend the expectations of a 14th century woman, particularly one who did not come from a noble family.

Across Europe there appears to an enormous desire for change, but the change that is demanded is normally of other people, or of institutions. With Catherine, however, the impetus for change always started with herself:  ‘I do not see how we can rule anybody unless we start by ruling ourselves.’ I think she would caution against too much focus on institutions and regulations, as if perfect institutions would provide us with perfect people and perfect justice. Her desire to fulfil God’s plan for her was what led her to a position in which she could change the world for others: from her ministry to the poor of Siena, to the profound effect she had on the political situation of the time, not least in using her influence to persuade Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome from Avignon. She was by any standards one of the most important figures of the 14th century and her example shows us what is possible when we allow God to work through us.

What do I think this Doctor of the Church would prescribe for those of us considering the European question – and indeed for anyone reflecting on public life? I think her answer would be one which she exemplified in her own life: ‘Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire!’

                                                             

Groundbreaking - Week 3

Taken from the Blog by Fr Michael White - the original of the blog can be found here

This is the third and final installment of blogs dedicated to our groundbreaking events. Last week, I wrote about our formal dedication liturgy with the Most Rev. William Lori, Archbishop of Baltimore. It was a day of great rejoicing and perfect weather. We’re hoping for a repeat on weather.

This weekend is our groundbreaking celebration. It’s different from last week’s more formal blessing ceremony. This weekend’s festivities will be more easygoing and really focused on having some fun as a community, celebrating what’s been accomplished and what’s ahead.

Here are some things you and your family won’t want to miss.

Food, Fun, and Games

1. Enjoy a tempting array of delicious food at our food court of food trucks, on the site of our future café.
2. Try your hand at our lawn games, providing lots of fun for the whole family.
3. Be impressed by our own Nativity Student Band providing live musical entertainment.
4. Cast your vote to name our new Café. We will actually use the best name we get, and the winner will receive a very special prize.
5. Learn more about supporting this project and how you can help.
6. And, of course…dig! We want everyone to help us literally get the project started.

Celebrating our Journey

Staff members will be leading brief walk-through tours of the soon to be demolished chapel wing, retelling some of the story of Nativity through a creative digital display. Also on display will be a preview of what’s to come, including furniture and finishes. Tours form after all Masses in front of the band in the main sanctuary.

Out on the actual building site you’ll get to see what the new church layout will look like- we’ve mapped it out in orange fencing that approximate the actual dimensions of the new lobby, sanctuary, altar, and café.

Logistics

Same as last week, the side gravel parking lot will be closed, so we highly recommend trying out our shuttle service on Sunday from the Lutherville Light Rail parking lot on Ridgely Rd. From everyone I’ve spoken with, you will be amazed at how efficient, even fun, the shuttle is. It’s one of our ongoing efforts that will become all the more necessary as construction gets going. Our kids programs will run as normal.

By the way, this is great weekend to invite a friend or family member. It will be a positive, inspiring, irresistible atmosphere that can’t help but bring a smile to anyone’s face. It’s a great opportunity for a guest to witness what a loving, growing community of disciples looks like.