Shepherd Us Oh God!

As Lent Continues, 
We Build Our Community Together
Dear Friends in Christ Our Hope,
What a week in our world. It seems that every day brings new challenges to adjust to. But Christ is always walking with us even in the chaos. God is the still, quiet voice speaking in our hearts. 

As a way of keeping our community in communion with one another, our parish team has put together some wonderful opportunities to stay connected during this time of recommended social isolation. Hopefully this will help us remember we are never alone. Below are some ways for you to engage.

Peace,   

Deacon Dennis Kelly 
Pastoral Coordinator  
Christ Our Hope / St. Patrick Parish Communities
Three Ways to Engage with our Parish

During this difficult time of isolation and communal separation from Church, it is more important than ever to remember that we are all united together as the Body of Christ. As Bishop Mueggenborg has said, "We want our people to know that Christ is here for them through us as his mystical body, the church, even though public celebration of the Eucharist is temporarily suspended. We're encouraging everyone to remember the common good as part of our love of God and neighbor as we do our part to slow down this pandemic."  
 
At Christ Our Hope, we are trying to find creative and new ways to connect with each you and each other.  Some may sound different from what we have tried in the past, but these new times demand new action.  To that end, we are offering a number of creative and different ways to get involved: 
1) Online Small Groups 
To start, we will be hosting the following virtual gatherings and groups in an attempt to pray, connecting grow in faith with each other. Small groups, even virtually, can help us develop a greater sense of Christian community in this disconnected time as they facilitate the formation of spiritual growth and deeper friendships.  We hope that you will consider doing one or more of these groups. They will be facilitated via Zoom over the internet and offered free via the attached conference links for each different group. If you have questions about any of these groups, email Deanna Tighe. If you have questions about Zoom, contact Pam Thompson
Sunday Coffee Hour after the 8:30 AM Mass 
Join us for our usual coffee and fellowship after Mass from 9:30-10:30 am hosted by Deanna Tighe. It is a great time to catch up
and remain connected with each other! Click here to join.
Bible Study of the Weekly Sunday Readings
This gathering Wednesdays at 4:00 pm will study the readings for the upcoming Sunday. Led by Dr. David and Ruth Ard the group meets weekly. Please click here to join. 
Coffee Hour with Deacon Dennis and Fr. Bryan 
Join our pastoral leaders for a weekly chat and cup of coffee at 9:30 am every Wednesday. This is a great chance to learn more about each other and grow in relationship with our leadership! Join us by clicking here



Women's Virtual  Luncheon 
The women of our parish are invited to continue our monthly Women's Luncheon. Bring your own lunch and gather together virtually to chat and catch up with each other. The first luncheon gathering will be on Monday, March 30th at noon. Join us here
Thomas Merton, Lenten Small Groups 
Our Lenten Small Groups will resume their study of the spirituality of Thomas Merton using Zoom. The groups will meet weekly and continue to reflect during this journey of Lent. Even if you were not part of the initial gorpus, now is a great time to start. All are welcome! Each group will have their own link. Email Deanna to join.  
Centering Prayer 
 
Kathy Keefe hosts this weekly gathering that shares the wonderful Catholic practice of Centering prayer. They welcome new participants and will walk you through the prayer and reflection. The group will meet via Zoom on Tuesday nights at 6:00 pm. Email us here if you are interested. 
2) Care Team 
We know that some of our Christ Our Hope family may be experiencing more difficulty, vulnerability and isolation than others. It is our greatest hope that we can all come together and support each other during this unprecedented time of disconnection. 
 
One way we are trying to reach out to our Christ our Hope family is through a newly formed Care Team. The CareTeam is a telephone ministry that is lay-led and lay-driven that expresses our church's care and concern for *every* member and "permanent visitor" in our parish. Volunteers will reach out phone to see how people are doing and offer to talk and pray with them about what they are experiencing during this difficult time. This will also allow us to identify the most vulnerable parishioners and provide for them as needed. The more volunteers we have on the Care Team the better as there are many people to call and reach out to and you can determine the number of people you want to contact.

The only requirement for being a Care Team volunteer is that you are a loving volunteer who is able to spend a small amount time on the phone checking up on our parishioners by making this phone call of care and love, reminding people that they belong in the Body of Christ!
3) Support the Josephinum
At this time, it is important to remember that each of us are called to be a beacon of hope. Right now, the Josephinum is closed to visitors and there are no events. That means for many of our brothers and sisters upstairs, they are experiencing more isolation than normal. Here are some ways our community can provide continuing care for the Josephinum. If you are interested in participating in any of these ways or have other ideas, email Lauren Pusich.
 
One way we can continue to support our brothers and sisters at the Josephinum is to write cards to residents. and other downtown communities.
We are looking for cards to show that they are not alone and that our community continues to care for them. You can drop these cards off during the open prayer hours from Monday to Thursday between 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM or you can mail them to 1902 Second Ave, Seattle WA 98101 addressed to Christ Our Hope attention Lauren Pusich. We will then deliver these cards to residents.
 
We also need parishioners to join a soup brigade who can help cook meals that will be delivered by Catholic Community Services staff to isolated and vulnerable residents. 
This would be an on-call volunteer ministry where you would bring the meals to Christ Our Hope for CCS to deliver when needed.

Join Us On Facebook Live
As we look for ways to be in communion with one another as the body of Christ all are invited to join our parish community online for  FacebookLive Masses at our regularly scheduled Sunday Mass times (see directions below). On our website we have posted worship aids for Sunday here. If you do not have a Facebook account you can watch the Mass after it occurs on our Youtube channel ( http://bit.ly/COHYoutube). 
Click Here To Give Online

  Stay up to date, check out our  Calendar of COH events