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October 9, 2021
Last weekend’s Falling for Faith Festival was nothing less than a great success. In terms of content, in termsof attendance, in terms of volunteers and smooth operations, and in terms of feedback—comments have been mostly positive and people have been inquiring about more information so we that can move forward in our faith.
On Saturday and Sunday Sarah Swafford and Dr. Kevin Dowd enlightened us with both common sense and practical application for our faith in the modern world—some real tools to be practitioners of faith—as well as theological thoughts to consider about how faith impacts our lives. Ryan Tremblay provided inspirational music complete with stories that moved the heart and mind; and the Friday night kick-off of Made4More by Christopher West and Mike Mangione brought to light that our Catholic faith can be difficult to live out, but that all things in Christ emanate from Love, Truth, and for the search for the excellence of all. Faith can be challenging to live out, especially in a culture that calls us to accept everything including untruth, and to simply “go along to get along,” no matter what that means in the long run. This reminds me of St. Paul, and to paraphrase him: Why run the wrong race? In the end, if we let untruth lead us in a direction of life that will not lead us to Christ, what good are these years on earth if we lose the Kingdom of Heaven? Sure, it’s not an easy conversation, but it is one worth having.
So where does that leave us in the afterglow? What’s the next step?
Our team is already looking into the feedback so that we can see in what direction we need to move forward to equip all our parishioners with faithful and truthful information on what Christ and His Church actual teach on various subjects—and not just the “dos and don’ts” of faith, but the reasoning and the logic behind it—which is always comprised of God’s Love and His desire for the excellence of all.
In our Faith Formation program, we need to especially equip parents with information and talking points to have healthy and open conversations about Christ’s teachings and how they are applicable in our modern world. We must do a better job to equip our families with compassionate yet truthful conversations about the important issues of human dignity, the sacredness of life at every stage; that love, marriage and family have a purpose and meaning for humanity—not just a convenient relationship—and that God’s Image and Likeness is in each one of us and calls every person to His Truths. As a parish, will need to plot a course on our
next steps to further these conversations from Sarah, Kevin, Chris and Ryan. How can we provide the antidotes to the culture’s provisions of “information: found on television, in music, at school and on the streets—how we counter the misinformation, myths and even falsehoods that are being pushed in the world today, while helping you to reinforce your values at the dinner table, in the car returning from church, school or the movies. The more we know, the more we can communicate in honest, open and truth-based conversations. More to come.
THANK YOU!
Just a brief opportunity to thank all our volunteers and staff who made the Falling for Faith Festival such a success. I want to take this opportunity to publically thank Kathi Bonner, Manuela Hanshaw, Mike Grappone, Diane Whittemore, Lisa Cerchia, Susan Zybert and Anna de la Fe for all their hard work to develop the programs, organize all the details, and engage the many volunteers needed to bring this weekend-long festival to fruition. The volunteers really illustrated how much they love this parish, working so hard and so joyfully. Thank you so
much and congratulations on an amazing job! -Fr. Michael
