|
Summer Reading:
"Divine Renovation"
by Fr. James Mallon
As you know, the Archdiocese of Chicago is in the early stages of the Renew My Church process, which is looking at how to best organize the diocese based upon the number of priests we will have and how to most effectively use our resources. Thankfully, restructuring the Archdiocese is only one small part of the Renew My Church process. What it is really all about is Mission and Evangelization!
We need to be a Church that recaptures its sense of being on mission! As disciples, it's our mission to bring the Gospel into our daily lives and to help all people have an authentic encounter with Jesus Christ. Over the years, many parishes have lost that outward lens and have instead only focused on the people already sitting in the pews. As a result, our numbers have dwindled as we've lost our fervor for spreading the Good News.
To help our parishes "move out of maintenance to mission," the Archdiocese has enlisted the help of Fr. James Mallon, a priest from Nova Scotia, Canada, who wrote a wonderful book called
Divine Renovation: From a Maintenance to a Missional Parish
. The book is
"an engaging guide for parishes seeking to cultivate vibrant and dynamic faith communities centered on missionary discipleship." Cardinal Cupich has asked all priests of the Archdiocese to read
Divine Renovation
and to attend a workshop that Fr. James Mallon will lead in early October.
I invite all of you to read Fr. Mallon's book as well.
(You can order it on his website FrJamesMallon.com) I think it's important that we all have a clear understanding of how Cardinal Cupich expects parishes to perform as we move into the next phase of Renew My Church. Hopefully, this will give all of us a sense of excitement as we move past reorganization and get down to the really fun and important work of sharing our faith with others and inviting more people to discover why St. Josaphat is
"a church to come home to."
We are planning several small group discussions this fall to discuss Fr. Mallon's book and to brainstorm how to incorporate his ideas into our parish. If you are interested in facilitating one of these casual sessions, please reach out to me in the next few weeks.
Please take the time to read Fr. James Mallon's book,
Divine Renovation,
this summer. I look forward to hearing what all of you have to think.
For more information on the Divine Renovation project, click here.
God Bless,
Fr. Francis
|
Important Upcoming Dates!
l
July 12, 7pm - Theology on Tap
July 28 - 5pm College Sendoff Mass & Reception
August 16, 4-6pm SJS Ice Cream Social & Info Day
September 8-9 - Septemberfest
|
|
|
|
|
|
Upcoming community dinners at St. Agatha, our sharing parish, will be Tuesday, July 10 and Tuesday, August 14. Start time is 6:30 pm. Our next discussions will focus on the economics of racism. Please see the bulletin and website for more information.
|
|
|
|
|
Join us for this week's Theology on Tap on Thursday, July 12th at 7 PM at McGees Tavern. Rachelle Kramer will be speaking on Promoting a Culture of Encounter: Pope Francis and the Social Gospel.
|
|
|
Women's Club
Book Discussion
|
Women's Book Discussion on Brene Brown's Gifts of Imperfection on Saturday, July 21st, 9:00 - 11:30 am in the rectory.
|
|
|
Ice Cream Social and Information Day
|
On August 6th from 4 - 6 PMalong with visiting the classrooms, parents and students will be dropping off school supplies and then heading outside to get some ice cream and visit the tables outside in the parking lot of the church to where we will display info, sign-up, gear, etc. to welcome the SJS families back to school.
|
|
|
|
|
Please save the date for Septemberfest - our annual party in the parking lot. It will take place on Saturday, September 8th and Sunday, September 9th. Lots more details to come!!
|
|
|
|
|
Bring Your Floral Vases to Ashland Addison Florist Co. for a donation to St. Josaphat!
|
|
|
|
|
Don't Forget!
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday morning Mass is now at 8AM and there are no weekday evening masses.
|
|
|
|
|
ATTENTION 8TH GRADERS: Are you looking for a way to receive community service hours during the summer? You and a chaperone, can sign up to volunteer for the Helping Hands Ministry, Mon - Fri 9:15 am - 11:00 am. To get involved with the program you can sign-up on our website under Ministries > Outreach. *Please note you must be 18 years old or accompanied by a chaperone in order to volunteer.
|
|
|
|
|
Thank you to all Parishioners who donated to the Women's Group School Supplies Drive! This effort filled 6 large boxes which were distributed through Books First and given to Chalmers School, which was heavily needed and greatly appreciated. Thank You!
|
|
|
|
 |
|
