Bulletin for June 9 - Pentecost

Dear friends in Christ,

On the Feast of Pentecost this weekend, we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus and what has come to be known as the “birthday of the Church.” Gathered together in Jerusalem, the followers of Jesus, who were comprised of every race and tongue, soon discovered themselves to be “filled with the Holy Spirit.” It was a microcosm of what the Church would become: faithful believers in the saving work of Jesus Christ who are empowered by the Spirit to go and spread the Good News. That work continues today. We, too, come from different backgrounds and ways of life but yet we are united by the Spirit of God to build up the Body of Christ in all we say and do.

Pentecost is also the close of the 50 days of Easter. For the past 90 days – 40 days of Lent and now 50 days of Easter – we have walked with the Lord. We were marked with ashes, shouted “crucify him” on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane, waited at the empty tomb, rejoiced in the resurrection, and witnessed His ascension. What a journey these days have been for us spiritually. I love how the rhythm of the Church’s liturgical seasons helps frame our lives. Now, emboldened by the Spirit at Pentecost, we go forth to live as “intentional disciples!”

As I mentioned last week, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston ordained seven men to the priesthood on June 1. Fr. Ralph and I were among the 85 priests in attendance at the beautiful Mass of Ordination presided by Cardinal DiNardo, who looked to be in very good form following his recent stroke. He’s undergone extensive rehabilitation the past 10 weeks, and while he still has more therapy to do, you would have never guessed by looking at him that he had ever fallen ill. Please continue to pray for him in his recovery. I suspect by mid-summer he’ll be close to full health.

One of the newly ordained priests has been assigned to us at CtR as our new parochial vicar. Fr. Vincent Tran will join us on July 1. We look forward to getting to know Fr. Vincent and know that he will be a blessing for our parish. Many of you will recall that we have experience in welcoming a “baby priest.” Fr. Orrin Halepeska came to us in 2012 fresh out of the seminary and we were blessed by his ministry for three years. I know that our community will welcome Fr. Vincent in the same way. By the way, Fr. Orrin is now the pastor of Holy Rosary Church in Rosenberg and doing great things!

As we prepare to welcome Fr. Vincent, we also prepare to say goodbye to Fr. Ralph. After five years with us, he will be moving to a new assignment. Just where that assignment will be has not yet been determined, but I suspect he’ll know something later in the month. It often takes a few weeks for the changes in priestly assignments to shake out. When one priest is moved, that causes a domino effect in other parts of the diocese, so with seven new priests receiving their first assignment, there are a lot of changes that will come in the wake of them. There may be some overlap with both Fr. Ralph and Fr. Vincent until everything is settled so we’ll just wait and see how it plays out.

We are grateful to Fr. Ralph for sharing his priestly ministry with us these past years. He’s been a real gift to our community, and he’s like a brother to me. In fact, as I’ve said before, I’ve lived with Fr. Ralph longer than I ever lived with any of my three brothers. We’ve been together for 10 years (five in the seminary and five as priests), while my older brothers were all pretty much moved out of our parents’ home before I was even born! The good news is that his next assignment will be somewhere in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston so he won’t be too far and I trust we will see him from time to time. We will plan to honor him following the morning Masses on Sunday, June 30. More details to come soon.

In other news, our annual Vacation Bible School starts in just more than a week, June 17-21. Our morning session is full, but we do have openings for our evening session that runs from 5:30-8:30 p.m. each night. Don’t delay in signing-up, however, so that we can have an accurate head count of who is attending. Get your registration taken care of this week by visiting our website at www.ctrcc.com/vbs. It’s open for children from age 3 (who are potty trained) through those who are entering 5th grade. The cost is just $30, which includes a T-shirt, snacks and crafts. That’s a heck of a deal for just $6 a day! We look forward to a spirit-filled week for all our children. My thanks in advance to our great team of adult and teen leaders, as well. And if you can’t make VBS, or just want another opportunity for your children to dive deeper into the faith, we also offer Catholic Faith Camp for children entering 2nd grade through those entering 6th grade. That will be July 15-19. Registration is open for CFC now on our website, too. There is always something going on for all ages at CtR. Come join us!

Finally, a group of 50 of us from CtR will be departing later today for our pilgrimage to the Shrines of Southern Italy. We humbly ask for your prayers and promise to carry your intentions with us as we make our pilgrimage. We’ll begin with a few days in Rome where we’ll join Pope Francis for his weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday and celebrate Mass at other basilicas in the Eternal City during the next few days, followed by a side trip to Assisi for Mass at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi. Of all the holy sites in Italy, Assisi is the one that is nearest and dearest to my heart. There’s just something about the tranquility of praying where St. Francis prayed that moves me and I promise to pray for all of you while there.

After Assisi we make our way south to San Giovanni Rotondo and the church of St. Padre Pio, then to Monte Cassino where St. Benedict founded his order. We’ll visit Pompeii and then head to Sorrento for a day before taking a sail to the Isle of Capri. Our final days of the trip will be in Naples and along the Amalfi Coast with another sail to Positano to close out the trip before returning home in time for the weekend Masses here on June 22-23. We will carry your prayers with us and promise to remember everyone at CtR in our intentions at Mass each day. Please pray for us as well. And remember, if you’d like to join us in 2020 for our parish pilgrimage to the Passion Play in Oberammergau, Germany, see the brochure on the website or pick up a copy in the narthex of the church. We’ve got a waiting list as of now, but I’m working to free up more space so that we can take more people. I’ll keep you posted!

Peace,
Fr. Sean