Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear friends, 

I am so excited to announce to you a few new things that we are starting here in St. Peter Parish! First of all, today is Welcome Home Sunday. If you’re coming to Catholic church for the first time, or if you’ve been a Catholic but you’re just coming back to church after being away for a while, welcome home!! God our Heavenly Father wants all His children to celebrate with Him and spend time with Him in His house on the Lord’s Day, just like a good human father and mother want their children in their home on Sunday, sharing a meal and sharing themselves, their attention, and their hearts. If you’re baptized, you aren’t just welcome here… you belong here! Today we all recommit ourselves to being physically present, in person, in church, every Sunday, to give thanks to God for all He has done to save us! 

Now, sometimes we forget that we needed to be saved in the first place. And sometimes we don’t feel like we get much out of going to Mass. We know that just going to church for an hour on Sunday isn’t enough for our relationship with God to grow. So I am happy to announce to you a new event: I will be leading a Wednesday evening Bible/faith study at 7:00 p.m. in the Lacour Center (168 West 7th Street, Reserve) down the street from St. Peter Church, starting this Wednesday, August 19. No cost. Just show up! For the first 8 meetings, we will be using a free program called The Rescue Project, which doesn’t focus on one specific book of the Bible but instead looks at the big picture of the story of the Gospel and how Jesus comes to rescue us. It will be eight weeks long, and if it goes well, I will look at continuing to have Wednesday night Bible studies going forward. I do want to mention that for The Rescue Project, it’s pretty important that you attend most of the dates, especially the kickoff this Wednesday August 19, because each week’s topic builds upon the prior weeks.

If you’re interested in joining the Catholic Church, or if you’re a Catholic adult who has never received the Sacrament of Confirmation, I would love to speak with you after Mass, and please send me an email at [email protected]! Likewise, if you’ve been away from church for a while, or maybe you’re legally married but never got married in the Catholic Church, or maybe you’ve been divorced and have been letting that keep you from coming to church, especially if you’re not really sure what your place is in the Catholic Church, please speak to me after Mass or send me an email. I’d love to meet you, hear your story, answer your questions, and walk with you on your path forward towards greater communion with Jesus and His body the Church. 

Finally, it’s time to register your kids 1st grade through 12th grade for this year’s faith formation sessions, also known as CCD. Since our coordinator retired earlier this year, things will be a little different this year, so be sure to read the registration forms for more details. You can register using a paper form or by going to our parish website. Be assured that I’m praying in a special way for families as children head back to school!