I am very excited to share some of the opportunities to deepen our faith as we start to move into autumn. In no way do I want to reinforce the unfortunate practice of many Catholics to take the summer off from Mass, but we cannot but recognize that in the fall people begin to make a transition from focusing on vacation and travel to their normal daily routine. It is our hope that this daily routine will involve seeking to deepen our relationship with Jesus by participating in parish activities more and more.
Our big kickoff for this academic year's programming will be Fr. James De Oreo's parish mission, "The Gospel according to Saint Paul." Fr. De Oreo is a Notre Dame graduate who has been ordained just over a year. He loves Jesus very much and has a special gift in making the Bible come alive when he preaches. We are blessed to be able to have him celebrate the Masses on September 7th and 8th in order to give us a preview of his message. On Monday, September 9, he will paint a vivid picture of Saint Paul's conversion and bring out forcefully what it meant for Saint Paul to give his life over to Christ, and what it might mean for us to do so as well. On Tuesday, September 10, he will go on to give us Saint Paul's vision for what to do after we have encountered Christ by sharing what Paul has to teach us about growing into life in the Spirit. On Wednesday, September 11, we will conclude with a penance service in which priests from outside the parish will be coming to help with confessions.
Fr. De Oreo's mission is a wonderful opportunity to invite fallen away Catholics, the unchurched, and even friends who are curious about Catholicism. We will have child care on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as well as food and fellowship afterwards in the narthex. On the following Wednesday, September 18, we will kick off our fall Bible study in McCarthy Hall. There will be more information about this Bible study in coming weeks.