Congratulations to our Newly Confirmed – On Saturday, Nov 5, 2011 @ 10am, Bishop Daly celebrated Confirmation with our 8th grade parish teens. Prior to this, they attended a retreat led by John Angotti, a
gifted musician and inspirational speaker. The teens shared that they were really touched by his music and words. He shared a video with them that asked about the 7 wonders of the world. Many people would name landmarks like the Great Wall or the Pyramids, however, when a little girl in the video responded with love, taste, touch, hearing, smell, sight and God’s love, it awoke in many of them the wonderful gift they’ve been given. After this retreat, they shared that they felt ready to embrace the faith themselves. I want to thank their parents, godparents, Mrs. Carol Grewal, Mr. Dave Lopez, and all their teachers and staff at St. Brendan’s school for being good role models for our young men and women. And to our Confirmandis’, thank you for continuing to say “Yes” to God with your lives.
Photo Directory – I want to thank Elizabeth Moore and a couple of other members of the Welcome Committee, Naz Roudiani and Peggy Nevin and a host of volunteers for helping us coordinate, staff and schedule the portraits for the Parish Photo Directory. Although the parish hall was not available for the portraits because of the renovation, however, we used the rectory and it has been absolutely delightful. Between our work, Fr. Mike, Bro. Dat and I were able to visit with those who came in for their sessions. The sessions went so well, that we added 2 more make-up days, Sun., 11/6 & Mon., 11/7. If you’re interested, please visit www.stbrendanparish.org to register for a session on-line.
It Takes a Village – Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a faith community to form a priest. This week Bro. Dat Nguyen’s seminary field supervisor, Fr. Jerry Brown (not related to our governor) will come and visit our parish to see how Bro. Dat is adapting to parish ministry. Fr. Mike, Sr. Catherine, our
Principal Carol and a couple of other parishioners and I make up a committee to support him, guide him and evaluate him. But you also can be of help to him by giving him feedback, whether it is constructive comments or a pat on the back. Even simply sharing stories about your children’s latest escapade, or your faith journey, your struggles, your joys and hopes will also help him contextualize the theology and spirituality he has learned. Franciscan Fr. Keenan Osborne led a retreat for my class before ordination and he used an interesting term, “depot theology.” What he meant was, after all the study we did in our classes, we should go to a bus depot, observe and reflect how all the academics we had learned would apply in the little cross section of the world called a bus depot. Bro. Dat’s presence has been an instrument of growth for me too, as I figure out how to be the best mentor I can be for him. And I pray he has been a source of inspiration and growth for you as well.
Building Committee Members – Last week I thanked those who’ve helped us in the second phase of the hall renovation. I worried that as soon as I started naming names in my column, I would accidentally leave someone out. And I sure did. As soon as my article was sent to press, I remembered I had left out Pete Murphy & Paul Eggert. At the risk of leaving someone out again, I’d like to include now the members of the Building Committee. Chair, Jim Ferry, Bryan Birmingham, Bryn Brugioni, Tom Christian, Paul Eggert, Sean Ferry, Stephen Flannery, Maureen Hurley, Pete Murphy, Lisa Ikeda, Bill Kelly, Peter Zepponi & Fr. Mike. For their time, their talents as well as their treasure, thanks again for making our hall look so beautiful.
