Life Long Faith Formation

LIFELONG FAITH FORMATION

Signs of the Catechetical year starting seem to be everywhere. For example, this past Monday, about forty members of the Alter Cross Country Team gathered at Mass to kick off a week of practice/conditioning and team building exercises. How awesome it was that they began with daily Mass! That same day the school parking lot was quite full with parents bringing new students in for screenings and placement testing. This past Friday, Incarnation Day School faculty gathered for Mass and the beginning-of-the-year teachers’ meeting. Parish staff members are working with the same introductory anticipation. While this includes our PREP and leadership bodies in parish life such as Education Commission and Pastoral Council, hopefully it also includes all parishioners! Let me say more. Over the next weeks Jose Martinez, our pastoral associate who is in charge of lifelong faith formation, will be offering opportunities for us to become involved in some lifelong formation endeavors, things like Bible or book studies, MOMS and That Man is You. Clearly, we still need PREP catechists. Of course, a new year for RCIA formation is preparing to begin, where we need faithful people who will walk the road of discipleship with those considering becoming fully Catholic. Indeed, keep your eyes peeled to the app and bulletin to find what Jesus might be inviting you to do as parish life ramps up.

Catholic Ministries Appeal

Archbishop Schnurr thanks the faithful here at the Church of the Incarnation for our generous participation in the 2021 Catholic Ministries Appeal (CMA). Our parish pledged $185,641.36 to the appeal, which represents 175% of our parish goal. How is that for reaching out with both hands! This response is a testament to the generosity of our parish community. A special thank you to the families that participated in this years CMA! In total, the CMA exceeded its $5 million goal with over 5.8 million pledged from more than $25,000 households throughout the nineteen counties of the archdiocese did. The success of this year’s appeal will affect the lives of thousands right here in our local communities. To learn more about the CMA, visit aocstewardship.org.

Vocations/Andrew Dinner

Over the years, I have worked to promote vocation in parish life. One of the primary ways I work to promote vocations to the priesthood is by asking school and parish staff and parishioners to give me a list of names of young people who are servants and leaders. For example, in doing that last year, I sent those names to Fr. Dan Schmitmeyer, the Vocation Director for the Archdiocese, asking him to contact those young men and their parents regarding a visit with them. This allows for greater knowledge about possible futures, which can only enhance actual decisions made. An Andrew Dinner is another opportunity. Andrew dinners are for High School age young men and older who are seeking more information about the possibility of priesthood. Those who participate gather for a short social at 5:30 pm and then supper. After supper, there is a short talk about some dimension of the long priestly formation process and then time for questions. The supper ends at 7:30 pm. The next, local Andrew Dinner will be 7:30 pm. on Thursday, September 16 at Wright State Campus Ministry; Registration closes at 5:00 pm. the Friday before the dinner. To register, go to https://catholicaoc.org/offices/vocations-office/andrewdinners. Parishioners are also welcome to send me names of young leaders by calling the parish office. I will invite those candidates personally. Thanks for considering and special thanks to those who offer names.

Virtus Changes to Safe Parish

After the clergy abuse crisis, over twenty years ago, the Catholic Church worked perhaps more diligently than any other organization to protect children and vulnerable adults. This is as it should be. At this time, the program the Archdiocese uses to train employees and volunteers is changing. For the past years, the program was called VIRTUS. The new program is called Safe Parish. Those currently enrolled in VIRTUS have received an email asking them to register for Safe Parish. With diligence, I am asking that all VIRTUS certified parishioners please register for Safe Parish. If you have questions or need help, please call the office, mention “Safe Parish” and ask for Joan.

Welcome Fr. Mike Representing Unbound

As a reminder, Fr. Mike Rieder will be with us next weekend to witness to us in all homilies the presence of the Lord Jesus through the Unbound organization. As he tells us about Unbound, he will invite us to consider sponsoring a child or elderly person in a developing country. Indeed, he will have dozens of folders with pictures and brief bios of those children or seniors. Thanks to Incarnation Parishioners for your warm welcome and consideration.

Sincerely and with Love in Christ,
Fr. Pat