Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear family, 

Even though we no longer have a parish school here at St. Peter Parish, this community is still a place where young people can thrive and feel at home if you give them a chance! Did you attend the two community theater summer shows in our town, Shrek and Frozen? All I can say is, wow!!! The talent of these young people (and adults) blows me away! And all of it right here in Reserve, Louisiana, drawing also from our neighboring cities and towns. What other small city in the Gulf South has that much talent? Maybe some rich suburb somewhere in Florida, or Fairhope in Alabama or places like that. So our community is truly rich in talent! I am a musician myself. I play piano, dabble in guitar and organ and a few other instruments, and used to sing in the Notre Dame Seminary schola and choir, where I learned to sing pieces with 4 and even 8 or 10-part harmonies. Often my favorite part of a musical is the biggest choral number. (“No One Mourns the Wicked,” anyone?) So it got me thinking: what if we put together a youth choir that learned a few 4-part polyphonic pieces every month, to perform at Mass maybe once a month and around special holidays? That way the young singers among us wouldn’t have to wait until the next musical to be singing intricate, beautiful pieces that are fun to learn and perform. And a choir like this wouldn’t be limited to Catholic kids. Bring all your singing friends! If there’s interest in participating in a choir like this, please let me know and we’ll put it together. 

Sometimes people say that the youth are the future of the Church. But we should never forget that the youth are actually the Church RIGHT NOW, too, and we need to make our parish a place where they feel welcome and at home! From crying babies or antsy toddlers in church, to teenagers who might not be sure why Sunday Mass is important to their lives, to young adults who cringe when, instead of beautiful hymns, our church music poorly attempts to mimic popular (or once-popular) music styles that have no timelessness or sacred quality, often with lyrics that make us wonder, “Do those words even reflect our true Catholic beliefs? I’m not sure this is the church where I want to raise my family,” we need to start thinking less selfishly about ways to make our parish a place where younger generations have a spiritual home, the same way that our older generations once felt, in their younger years, that this parish was their spiritual home, and still feel that way to this day. After all, as they say about babies in church: if the church ain’t crying, the church is dying! Earlier this year, our previous coordinator of CCD/parish religion classes retired after many years of dedicated service, so even though it is taking a little time to put this school year’s faith formation program together, I am hoping to use this opportunity to bring in someone new to run our religious education, who can bring a new energy to the faith formation we offer, so that we begin investing much more in the spiritual needs of our families. It’s almost time to start signing up for CCD, so stay tuned for more information about our schedule for the coming school year!