Mission Matters: August 22, 2017

This week’s “Parish Table Talk”: Pastoral Staff Day; GIVEN retreats; Heroic priesthood highlighted in WSJ; Encuentro Gathering; Convocation highlight.

Parish Table Talk

•  Pastoral Staff Day: Members of parish staffs are invited to join with Archbishop Lori and the Department of Evangelization for our Pastoral Staff Day on Sept. 27th at St. Joseph in Sykesville.  You can download the registration form here.  Please encourage your whole staff, pastor, deacons, lay ecclesial ministers, and staff to attend; all of us need to know what we can do to be the missionary disciples and servants we are called to be!

•  GIVEN retreats 2017: The schedule for the 2017 GIVEN retreats is now out — check out the information and see what date and location work best for you and for your parishioners.  Please share the dates and use the video below to encourage couples to enrich their relationship through a weekend of prayer.

•  Heroism of the priesthood highlight in the Wall Street Journal: last week for the feast of St. Maximilian Kolbe the Wall Street Journal featured and article on the priesthood as a heroic vocation. Where else are we seeing the faith highlighted by secular media? How can we use these types of stories to begin threshold conversations?

•  Encuentro Gathering: Over 1,300 people gathered this past Saturday at Loyola University to participate in the Archdiocesan Encuentro, which is part of the V Encuentro initiative proposed by the US Bishops Conference. The first half of the morning was used to reflect on the archdiocesan priorities concerning Hispanic Ministry. The second part of the day was to celebrate in the Eucharist with our archbishop, bishops, and clergy. The 10 delegates that were selected from different parishes to represent the archdiocese at the regional and national encuentros (encounters), were blessed and presented to the community. To learn more about the V Encuentro process please visit www.vencuentro.org

•  Sharing the Convocation 2017: At the July Convocation in Orlando, the closing capstone address was by Bishop Robert Barron. He outlines three obstacles and three opportunities, and exhorts us to be spirit-filled evangelizers.  We invite you to take time to reap from the wisdom shared throughout the Convocation by watching the videos shared by the USCCB.

Questions? Feedback? Please leave a comment below.