Pastor's Update - September 2016

HAPPY, BLESSED AND REFRESHING AND RENEWING LABOR DAY WEEKEND:
Labor Day creates a marked separation between Summer and Fall. •During this month we have our annual Seven Day Novena to our patroness…Our Mother of Sorrows.
•Our parish staff and school faculty will have its annual Retreat Day at the Benedictine Monastery on Country Club on Friday, September 16th. Your prayers for us will be a welcome gift.
•Ministry Awareness Weekend will be observed on the weekend of September 17-18.
•New school families will be hosted by the parish to the 12:30pm Mass on September 25thand to a welcome gathering in the Parish Hall afterwards.
•All levels of our Religious Education Formation program/processes (children, teens, adults) are becoming fully active again.
•Our annual Fiesta event is scheduled for the last day of this month and the first two days of October.
•Welcome Fr. Richard to OMOS

A LETTER FROM BISHOP KICANAS TO THE CATHOLIC FAITHFUL OF OUR MOTHER OF SORROWS:
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Rev. Richard Awange, CCSp as a Parochial Vicar of your parish effective August 8, 2016.

Fr. Awange belongs to the Religious Order of the Holy Ghost Fathers and Brothers of Nigeria, who has been sent to do pastoral work in the Diocese of Tucson. I know that Fr. Richard Awange will be a blessing to your parish and provide greatly needed assistance to your pastor Msgr. Thomas Cahalane.

He has been a priest for 17 years and will bring his many talents and experiences in his ministry at Our Mother of Sorrows. I know the community of Our Mother of Sorrows will welcome him with open arms. Please be assured of my prayers for all of you as well as for Fr. Richard as he starts his new assignment.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Rev. Gerald F. Kicanas, D.D.

NEW PRIEST SELF-INTRODUCTION - FR. RICHARD AWANGE, C.S.Sp.:
“I am from Benue State in Nigeria and am of the Tiv Tribe. I was born on September 29, 1969 and was ordained on 10th July, 1999 for the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans or Holy Ghost Fathers) with a Master degree in theology from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh USA. Immediately after my ordination I served as Assistant Director of Novices for my Congregation in Ghana. During the same time, I served as Associate Pastor of Our Lady’s Chaplaincy, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. Later, I was appointed Assistant Director of Pope John Paul II Formation and Training Center for the Catholic Diocese of Obuasi in Ghana, between 2002 and 2005. In 2003, while still serving as Assistant Director of the Formation Center I was appointed to serve concurrently as the Parish Priest of Sacred Heart Parish Trede, also in Ghana.

In 2005 I proceeded to Dublin, Ireland to complete a formation course at Loreto House, Willow Park in Blackrock after which I returned and served as Director of Novices for my Congregation in Nigeria until 2012. The next year, 2013, I served as Director of Formation for Via Christy Society, also in Nigeria.

In September 2014, while pursing a Postgraduate Diploma in Education and later a Master in Educational Counseling at the University of Agriculture Makurdi, Nigeria, for which I am writing my dissertation now, I served as a teacher of Religion in Mount Saint Gabriel’s Secondary School Makurdi, until my arrival at Our Mother of Sorrows.

My passion in the priesthood is studying the Holy Scripture and sharing the Word of God with people. I also have some experience in Spiritual Direction and love celebrating the liturgy. Coming to Our Mother of Sorrows and Tucson gives me the rare opportunity to gain more experience in pastoral ministry in a parish setting among the faith filled people of Our Mother of Sorrows after many years of dominantly formation ministry. May Mary Our Mother of Sorrows support me with her intercessions during this period of ministry.”

MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA CANONIZATION:
Pope Francis will officially proclaim Mother Teresa of Calcutta to be among the canonized saints next Sunday, September 4th. St. Teresa of Calcutta was an extraordinarily graced woman in her lifetime for the way in which she recognized Christ in the poorest of the poor, “…the least among us”. At the end of all Masses next weekend, we will process to her outdoor statue adjacent to the parish offices. We will pray a prayer featured in next week’s bulletin invoking her intercession upon us and pray God’s blessing on her outdoor shrine. This will become the location for informal prayer and devotion through her intercession. Some of the parking spaces adjacent to her shrine will be reserved next weekend to accommodate parishioners gathering for the brief devotion at the end of each of our Masses.

The following is the content of a personal letter I received from Mother Teresa when I was Vicar of Education for the diocese. I invited her to be the featured speaker at our Diocesan Congress in February, 1978. She wrote…
 
Dear Fr. Cahalane,
Many thanks for your kind letter and invitation. It will not be possible for me to come to you February 1978, but I will pray much that the Good God may bless you and all those who will participate in the Congress – that all those who come – leave the Congress with a deep conviction in their vocations – ‘I belong to Jesus – nothing will separate me from the love of Christ’. Christ has chosen us for Himself – to belong to Him – and the work we do is but a means to put our love for Christ into a living action – that is why we must do the work entrusted to us by the Church with great love. For this reason, we need to be holy – because Jesus to whom we belong is Holy.
Pray for me and I will pray for you.
God bless you,
Mother Teresa
 
LETTER ON DISPLAY:
The personal handwritten letter of St. Teresa of Calcutta will be displayed in front of the altar during all Masses next weekend. Her message is still very relevant to all of us. She tells us the following in a very simple way, “…I belong to Jesus – nothing will separate me from the love of Christ. Christ has chosen us for Himself – to belong to Him – and the work we do it but a means to put our love for Christ into a living action – that is why we must do the work entrusted to us by the Church with great love.”

353 STUDENTS ENROLLED IN OUR PARISH SCHOOL:
Our parish school has registered a significant bump up in enrollment. It was good for me to visit all the classrooms from preschool to eighth grade recently with our new principal, Mrs. Erin Vu. I conducted a brief blessing ritual for the students in each of the classroom spaces with blessed water from Lourdes. I prayed, “God to protect the students, their families and the classroom space in His loving presence and protection, and keep away from them any and all intrusions of the Evil One.” It was indeed uplifting and a joy to experience the quality teaching environment in each of the 20 classroom spaces. Our parish is very blessed in having a quality Catholic school.
 
NEW SCHOOL PARENTS/FAMILY GATHERING:
Families new to our school are invited to 12:30pm Mass September 25th and to a welcome and hospitality gathering in the Parish Hall immediately afterwards. Happily because of the increased enrollment in our school, we have quite a significant number of new families this year. Enrollment in our school draws students from 27 distinct ZIP codes around the city. This reality offers a pastoral challenge to the parish not only to link these new families to our school but also to the parish in its mission of Message, Community and Service (MCS).

12:30PM MASS BEGINS SEPTEMBER 11TH:
As has been announced to the parish over these past months, the 12:15pm will move to12:30pm on September 11th. The fifteen minute time change to 12:30 should resolve the traffic jam situation in our parking lot and even within the church that so often takes place after the 10:45am Sunday morning Mass. Thanks to all the regular participants of the12:15pm Mass for your understanding of this fifteen minute time change from 12:15 to 12:30.

SOME OTHER LITURGICAL CHANGES:
Besides the Sunday 12:15 pm Mass changing to 12:30pm on a regular basis, the following changes have also been approved by the Liturgy & Worship Commission. Some functions of our church sacristy will be extended into a new designated space. Our church sacristy space is often very crowded in the multiple liturgical functions taking place there.

The new altar server albs, when they arrive, will be housed in a re-designated space named Liturgical Ministers Sacristy. This is a rather large room between the two Reconciliation / Confessional spaces. It has been used as kind of a storage space and work space for church maintenance. The new Liturgical Ministers Sacristy will be used by our altar servers, Eucharistic Ministers, Hospitality Ministers and Lectors as a sign-in and preparation station. The regular sacristy will be designated the Clergy Sacristy for our priests and deacons. This re-ordering of space should greatly alleviate the overcrowding and congestion that has been happening in our very limited church sacristy space.

MISSALS TO BE DISCONTINUED: 
The volume of missals in all the pews will be discontinued at the beginning of the new season of Advent. A small number of missals will be available in the vestibule of the church for those who may have difficulty hearing the Word proclaimed. Another limited number of missals will be available through the parish for purchase by parishioners who may have a preference to have their own. The Power Point projection of so much of our weekend Masses over the past few years has made the utilization of missals obsolete for the most part. Full active participation in the Mass calls for participants to listen and hear God’s Word, rather than reading along with the proclaimer while the Word is being proclaimed. Discontinuing the missals in the pews because of their minimal use also makes a big contribution to our Care for Creation in saving trees otherwise needed for creating paper to produce the missal copy.

THE SEVEN SORROWS OF MARY STATIONS …SEPTEMBER 9TH TO SEPTEMBER 15TH:
At 7:15pm each evening from September 9th and concluding on the Feast Day of Our Mother of Sorrows on September 15th, a devotional prayer ritual around each of Mary’s stations of sorrow will be celebrated in the Church. Each evening will focus on a particular sorrow of Mary. It will be followed by silent prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament exposed on the main altar and conclude with Benediction at 8:15pm each evening. A station prayer particular to each day will be included in the each of the daily and weekend Masses during the seven days.

Parishioner Petitions: Parishioners who wish to have particular personal intentions included in the prayers during the seven stations devotions are asked to note their petitions on the special form in front of the image of Our Mother of Sorrows in the Church during these weeks.

SPECIAL MEETING OF PARISH BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
The Parish Board of Directors met with the following members on August 20th: Msgr. Thomas Cahalane, President/Pastor, Msgr. Jeremiah McCarthy, Vice President, George Gewehr, Secretary, Aida Samuel, Treasurer, Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas, Bishop of the Diocese, and approved the following Resolutions:
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Capital Fundraising Campaign –
Resolved, that Our Mother of Sorrows Roman Catholic Parish, Tucson, an Arizona non-profit corporation, authorizes Msgr. Thomas P. Cahalane, President/Pastor, to enter into an agreement with Community Counseling Service Company, LLC (CCS), to conduct a three-year pledge capital fundraising campaign for the purpose of capital improvements.

• It is understood by the Board that the proposed capital campaign has been reviewed and recommended for approval by the Parish Ministries Council, the Stewardship & Development Council, and Parish Finance Committee.
• It is further understood that the Most Reverend Gerald F. Kicanas DD, Bishop of the Diocese, has also reviewed this matter and has given canonical approval.
• It is further understood that once the funds have been raised for the capital improvements the Board will convene another Special Meeting for the review and special approval of all building projects. (Dated August 20th, 2016)

CAMPAIGN IN EARLY 2017:
The special fundraising campaign will be conducted during January, February and March of 2017. The parish will be engaging Community Counseling Services (CCS) to provide professional campaign service to assist Our Mother of Sorrows Parish in conducting the campaign. The funds from the campaign will address some critical needs that have been identified within the parish plant as we approach the 60th anniversary of the parish in May 2018. More specific information will be shared in the upcoming months. Personal prayers are requested for enlightenment and guidance in this major effort.

PRAYING FOR OUR ENEMIES:
It is difficult and challenging to forgive our enemies…isn’t it? Jesus asks us as his followers to pray for them. During this special Year of Mercy, pushing ourselves to pray for our enemies, not just once but many times over, can be a very important blessing exercise. The following article from this month’s booklet, Give Us This Day, written by Jesuit priest Fr. James Martin is very insightful and enlightening.

Teach Us to Pray: Praying for Our Enemies

Is there anything more difficult than forgiving our enemies? Yes: praying for them. Forgiveness may be slightly easier because, at least in some cases, you find yourself able to “move on.” That is, once you find the grace to forgive people who have hurt you – and this can take weeks, months, and even years – you often feel free to put a painful chapter of your life behind you. You can say, “I’m glad that’s over.”

Praying for your enemies, by contrast, takes more spiritual work because it forces you to make those who are hurting you present. Then you go even further, and do something positive: pray for them. Yet this is what Jesus asks of us (Matt 5:44).

Not long ago, I met a 93-year-old Jesuit with a great sense of good cheer. I asked if he had any secrets to living peacefully in a religious community. “Well”, he said, “I do get bothered sometimes by the people I live with!” But when he struggles with someone’s behavior, he first thinks of the good that the person has done. (Admittedly, it is hard to see anything good in people who have harmed, persecuted, or abused you.) The Jesuit then asks to see the person as God sees them. This second insight has always been helpful for me. Most likely, these people have themselves been mistreated; insecurity may underlie their cruelty, and their insensitive behaviors are often indicative of their own emotional suffering. Understanding and even pitying people makes it easier to pray for them.
 

As I said, it’s hard. But once done, you may feel more free of anger or resentment. So in the end it can be a gift both to you and to those for whom you have prayed. Fr. James Martin, SJ

CENACLE CHAPEL…REST STOP PLACE:
For so many of our parishioners and so many people beyond our parish, our Cenacle Chapel is a rest stop place in the Lord. It is a unique place within our church and our parish plant for encountering the Lord in the prayer of quiet and solitude.

The Word/Scriptures are always in exposition there. The Eucharist/Blessed Sacrament is in exposition there after the 6:30am on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, until8:45pm each evening. It is in exposition there all day Friday after the 6:30am Mass, all through Friday evening and through the night until 8:00am on Saturday morning. All adorers do an hour of prayerful adoration time during each of the hours on Friday evening and Saturday morning. The Blessed Sacrament is in exposition also in the Cenacle Chapel every Sunday after the 12:30pm Mass until 8:45pm each Sunday evening. This prayer chapel is indeed a blessed graced rest stop place in the Lord. Parishioners are encouraged to befriend the Lord there for a brief or long stop over anytime during the week. This rest stop place of the Cenacle Chapel is a wonderful way to respond to the Lord’s personal invitation “….Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome and I will refresh you”.

ANNUAL PARISH FIESTA SEPT. 30, OCT. 1 & 2:
Our annual parish Fiesta has been changed from the second weekend in October to the first weekend of October. This change makes it possible to accommodate our school families into the Fiesta since the semester break for the students from the school occurs now on the second weekend in October. The annual Fiesta is the single biggest gathering of our parish and school and neighboring community each year. It takes appropriately 300 volunteers to present the Fiesta event each year. Parishioners and school parents are encouraged and invited to sign up for some volunteer hours during these weeks. You’re encouraged to do so through the parish office. The final day of the Fiesta this year will commence after the 12:30pm Mass on Sunday afternoon. This change will give an opportunity for families to enjoy lunch and the many other Fiesta activities from early afternoon into the evening. Our deepest thanks to R.J. Saavedra and her family for the huge leadership investment in the Fiesta with the core team and parishioners who plan the Fiesta over a period of many months. The Fiesta event each year creates a unique environment for celebrating community and promoting a network of deepened relationships and friendships. Pray for God’s blessings on all who are involved in presenting the Fiesta and all who will participate in this annual gathering.

September update

Personalizing the Parish Mission Statement:
Filled with the joy of the Gospel, as a Catholic, I joyfully proclaim an ongoing encounter with Jesus Christ through Word, community, Sacrament, and loving service.

Seven Sorrows Novena
September 9th - 15th 7:15pm each evening