St. Anthony Catholic Church
Davenport, Iowa
Weekly Email Newsletter
HELP ME!!!
I am being forced to leave against my will.
Last weekend, I had the privilege of spending the weekend at Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat in Wheatland, Iowa with nine persons who were open to going deeper. As part of the retreat we heard that 90% of people live 90% of their lives unconsciously. Lent is a time to ask Jesus to "Help Me" dig deeper by becoming more conscious of my relationship with Him.

Several weeks ago I wrote about Todd. For some reason, only God knows, Todd walked into the Fishers of Men breakfast at St. Anthony's on December 7. He couldn't stay that morning, but he said, he'd be back. With an attitude of "I want to stop being in control and let God take charge, Todd has joined our parish community. He's even thinking about becoming Catholic. On Wednesday, he received his first cross of ashes. He sat next to me during Mass and I felt so blessed to help him follow along in the Missalette.

Todd was one of the nine persons on the retreat. You could tell he appreciated his time there. From discussions about life and faith to the cake that he had three pieces of, Todd made a conscious decision to be with God. He was up before all of us on Sunday morning. He used the time to pen the note you see here. Todd gave the note to Sister Margaret who runs the retreat center. She and all of us loved his humorous, but sincere words of gratitude.

In his note, Todd said, "Help Me," in reference to not wanting to leave the retreat which brought him closer to God, nature, and his brothers and sisters in faith. The season of Lent is a time for us to ask Jesus to "Help Me." We ask the God to lead us away from unconscious temptations to a conscious, resurrected relationship with Him at Easter.
The Activated Disciple
40-Day Challenge

Join Us this Tuesday at 6 p.m.


50 Persons Have So Far Accepted the Challenge
Downtown with St. Anthony @ Analog Arcade & Bar
The February Downtown with St. Anthony will be at the Analog Arcade & Bar following the 4:30 p.m. Mass on Saturday, February 29.

Must be at least 21 years old. No food served, but you are welcome to bring food in or order delivery to the bar! Yes - most arcades are one token and pins are 2 tokens. A couple select games are set at 2 or 4 tokens. One token = 25 cents. Tokens can be purchased at the bar with credit card or cash . CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP .
Lenten Reflections
From the Pews

Lenten Reflections from the Pews are being written each weekday during Lent by parishioners just like you. Sign up to read how God's Word is speaking to them.


McAnthony Window Retreat
March 14
A Special Time for Our Patrons to Reflect on Their Lives with God

Overall Goal: To seek to inspire greater knowledge of one’s self and one’s relationship with God as an agent of change within one’s life. 

  • Reflection – finding my story as a place of God’s grace
  • Reconciliation – healing of past wounds and connection to community
  • Transformation – moving from self hate to love; isolation to engagement

Provide hope, encourage the spiritual life, and thereby ultimately end the injustice of homelessness.

7 a.m. to 6 p.m. St. Anthony's Parish Center on March 14. We have opportunities for parishioners to help throughout the day for an hour, two, or more. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP.
A LITTLE LENTEN HUMOR

A Catholic priest spied a parishioner enjoying some tasty smoked sausage on Friday during Lent -- a strict no-no in the church. The priest, being a pragmatic soul, told the man for his penance he was to bring a load of lumber to the church to help repair the roof.
The man grumbled, but went off to do his penance.

He arrived at the church on the next Friday and proceeded to dump a huge load of sawdust into the parking lot.

"What's this?" the priest wanted to know. "I told you your penance was a load of lumber, not sawdust."

The man replied cooly, "Well, if that sausage I ate was meat, then this sawdust is lumber."