June 2017

ABOUT MANY THINGS & HUMBLE PIE:
Four special First Communion Mass celebrations and the two special Mass Confirmation celebrations were very humbling in the movement of God’s Spirit among His people crowding the church space for each of the six celebrations. Families and extended families gather on these occasions for these milestone moments in a family’s journey. Grandparents and great-grandparents, aunts and uncles, showed up in great numbers for these joyful celebrations of faith alive in the abiding presence of the Lord among us. One hundred sixty-five children made their First Communion at these celebrations and 114 received the Sacrament of Confirmation.

The grand success of the 3R’s Campaign was another experience of humble pie. The Lord’s blessing in abundance has become evident upon our collective efforts in our enhancing the legacy of prior generations of parishioners. A year ago at this time, our Parish Building & Maintenance Commission and our Parish Ministries Council and board of directors were identifying needs within our parish campus which became the core of the 3R’s case statement. In August the leadership of our Parish Ministries Council, Parish Stewardship & Development Council and Board of Directors voted for the parish to engage the professional services of CCS for the capital funds campaign which was launched in January around the goal of $850,000.

THREE R’s CAMPAIGN EXCEEDS $850,000 GOAL IN $1,047,347 PLEDGED SUPPORT:
Thanks to all who participated with monetary gifts and three-year pledges. Thanks to all our parishioners for your patient understanding, toleration, endurance and prayer in response to the call of our parish leadership (Parish Ministries Council, Parish Stewardship and Development Council, Parish Finance Committee, Parish Building & Maintenance Committee and Parish Board of Directors) in mounting this necessary capital campaign. As funds become available from the maturing three-year pledges, projects that have been identified in the case statement of the campaign will be completed. Overage beyond the campaign goal will be most helpful in addressing the legitimate expenditures incurred in conducting the campaign.

A very special thanks to the following members of the Executive Campaign Committee: George & Julie Gewehr and RJ & Eddie Saavedra, co-chairs; Ed Ackerley, Hector & Elizabeth Acosta, Gerardo & Geraldine Aguilar, Nancy Arce, Paul & Brenda Carrillo, Steve Contreras, Pam Coonan & Keiron Bailey, Anthony & Madeleine Crespo, Pegi & Kenneth Dodd, Jean Fedigan, Gordon & Lynn Fuell, Ralph & Herminia Gantt, Mary Gioco, Conrad & Luisa Greer, Mari & Michael John, Felicia Klein, Rick & Cecelia Lind, Eric & Diana Maugans, Maggie & Francisco Medina, José & Jeannete Merino, Rachel Michaud, Leyda Ketcham, Jenine & Daniel Moss, Jack & Cindy Nisbet, Nichole & Adam Pelan, Frank & Lucy Perotti, Janice Price Davis, Rafael & Mari Ramirez, Alicia Reyes, Aida & Randy Samuel, Erin Vu. Their participation and involvement as committee members in weekly meetings during the campaign was indeed exemplary in a loving spirit of dedication and service to the parish. Their update sharings from the pulpit on many of the weekends during the campaign was a great blessing and most appreciated. Their commitment reflected a great spirit of collaboration and shared leadership and responsibility. I consider this shared leadership and responsibility to have been the cornerstone for the success of the 3R’s campaign.

As your pastor, I found the exercise of the 3R’s campaign to be very challenging and I am most grateful to God and the good people of Our Mother of Sorrows parish that we are now enhancing and adding to the legacy that prior generations of parishioners have handed down to us. I am thankful, indeed very thankful, that the pledged portion of the campaign is successfully concluded.

THREE R’s CAMPAIGN COUNSEL PERSPECTIVES:
It has truly been my privilege to serve as campaign counsel for the Remember, Renew and Rediscover Jesus Christ campaign here at Our Mother of Sorrows. As I look back over the past few months, I am amazed at the level of activity and participation of the OMOS family. It is wonderful to see the vibrancy with which this community lives out the Gospel message to love and serve one another. The success of the campaign reflects that commitment to serve others. As of this writing the campaign has raised $1,047,347 or 123.2% of goal! 525 families contributed to the campaign, many are first time donors of record to the parish. We have already collected nearly $220,000 in cash. In a campaign such as this it is common to lose a few pledges here and there, so we must not become complacent and think we exceeded our goal until all the money is collected. I am confident that will happen. If you are still thinking about making a donation, it is never too late. Just contact Steve Contreras in the parish office. I look forward to being with you when you celebrate your parish’s 60th anniversary next year.

God bless, Martin Camacho
 
SR. JOSE WOMEN’S CENTER:
The new 9,000 sq. ft. Women’s Center ministering to homeless women in this city recently became functional. The initial shelter was launched from Our Mother of Sorrows parish some nine years ago and has now become an interfaith endeavor crossing boundaries of all faiths. I shared the following poem entitled Miracle on Park Avenue at the public opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 20 that its new site at 1050 South Park Avenue:

MIRACLE ON PARK AVENUE

Sister Jose’s Women’s Center
Is a miracle on Park Avenue.
A miracle place of God’s abiding love,
Sisters serving sisters.

Many loving hearts and hands
Fashioned this sheltering space.
God’s unconditional love flows freely
Through these heart-prints and hand-prints.

It’s truly a miracle place
God transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Where there is love,
There is God.

This Park Avenue miracle place
Continues Sister Jose’s passion.
Finding and recognizing the Lord in “the least”
Through sisters serving sisters.

God’s love transcends all boundaries here,
Transcends all interfaith labels.
This miracle place
Is a sheltering ark and tabernacle.

PARISH STRUCTURES OF SHARED RESPONSIBILITY AND CONSULTATION:
Our parish is blessed with a broad participation of lay leadership in the following major oversight groups. Parish Ministries Council has twelve members and meets six times a year. Our Parish Stewardship & Development Council has eleven lay members and a number of ex-officio parish staff members and meets on a monthly basis except for the summer months. Our Parish Board of Directors is made up of five members whose names appear on the front cover of the weekly bulletin. Our Parish Endowment Board of Directors is made up of seven members and meets five times each year. The following parishioner members are currently serving on the Parish Ministries Council: José Merino (President), Alicia Reyes (Vice President), AnaLiza Sala, Andrew Malinowski, David Caballero, Jack Nisbet, Jenine Moss, Kevin Curry, Maria Arvayo-Campbell, Michael Cruz, Nichole Pelan, and Oscar Esquerra. On Stewardship & Development Council: Sharon Brewer, Melinda Caballero, Pam Coonan, Kathy Dehn, Jean Fedigan, Susan Hillman de Alban, Mari John, José Osuna, Glenda Roark, and Sand Zaspel. Members of the Parish Endowment Board are: Ann Marie King, Bette Glover, Bob Gagnon, Dan Moss, Robert Blanchette, Tim Heinan.

The following seven commissions are under the oversight of the Parish Ministries Council…Christian Education Formation, Parish School Board, Christian Life, Liturgy & Worship, Hispanic Affairs, Parish Finance, and Building & Maintenance.

PRAYING TO BECOME WHAT WE RECEIVE BY FR. JAMES MARTIN, SJ:
“Behold what you are; become what you receive,” wrote St. Augustine in the fourth century. When I first encountered this quote during graduate school, it set my head spinning — and changed the way I understood the Eucharist.

Augustine’s famous comment reminds us that we can look at the “Body of Christ” in a number of ways, all of which overlap. There is, first, the body of Jesus Christ, who lived on earth, suffered, died, and was raised from the dead. There is the Church as one body with many parts, an image used by St. Paul (I Cor 12:12). There is the “Mystical Body of Christ”, the Church on heaven and on earth (the subject of an encyclical by Pope Pius XII). There is the Body of Christ that is the present-day Church, the people of God throughout the world. Each reality is present in the Eucharist, which is also the Body of Christ.

Trying to unpack Augustine’s profound counsel would be like trying to explain a poem. But for me, his words remind us to live in both the present and future. The knowledge that we are already part of Christ’s Body is immensely comforting. But there is a future promise too: the more we partake of the Eucharist, the more Christlike we will become.

Perhaps you might use Augustine’s words as an invitation to prayer —to meditate more deeply on the reality you are receiving in the Eucharist. On the reality you already are, and are called to be. That’s a prayer for a lifetime.
 
James Martin is a Jesuit priest, editor at large of America and author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage, Seven Last Words, and a new collection of his columns from Give Us This Day entitled In All Season, For All Reasons (August 2017).
 
THE CENACLE CHAPEL… A COOL PLACE:
Yes, the Cenacle Chapel is a cool place physically during the summer (it’s air-conditioned) and it’s a cool place spiritually for quiet prayer in the presence of the Lord in the exposition of the Eucharist and in the exposition of the Word. So many people have found it to be a place most favorable for prayer. Recently, a person from Vail who frequents the Cenacle Chapel shared her regret with me at not being able to come more frequently because of the distance factor to fulfill her desire for prayer there. It is truly a blessed space of encounter with the Holy. Parishioners are encouraged to experience the “cool” there physically and spiritually during these hot days of summer. It is a wonderful place to make vacation trips during the summertime.

The word “vacation” comes from Latin word “vacare” which means to empty out. The Cenacle Chapel is a wonderful place to empty out our burdens to the Lord… the Lord who says, “Come, to me all you who are weary and are burdened and I will refresh you.”

PRAYER FOR THE RENEWAL OF SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:
To be recited daily before Pentecost this weekend:

O Lord Jesus Christ Who, before ascending into Heaven promised to send the Holy Spirit to complete Your mission on the earth. Grant a renewal of the same Holy Spirit to us that He may perfect in us, the work of Your grace and Your love. Grant us, the Spirit of Wisdom that we may appreciate Your created gifts in this world and aspire more fully after the gifts that are eternal. Renew the Spirit of Understanding to enlighten our mind with the light of Your divine truth. Renew the Spirit of Counsel that we may always choose the ways of pleasing You in lovingly serving neighbor and gaining heaven. Renew the Spirit of Fortitude that we may bear the cross with You and that we may overcome with courage any and all the obstacles that oppose loving service of You and neighbor and our salvation. Renew the Spirit of Knowledge that we may know You and know ourselves and grow in the way of the Saints. Renew the Spirit of Piety that we may find the service of You and neighbor sweet and fulfilling. Renew the Spirit of Awe and Wonder that we may be filled with a loving reverence towards You – God of mercy, compassion and forgiveness. Renew all these sevenfold gifts within us - within the Church, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

PETITIONS FOR LOURDES:
​Petitions for the shrine in Lourdes are to be completed by Sunday, June 25th. Blank petition forms are available in the church by the icon of Mary and completed forms are to be dropped into the special basket there. It is always a joy for me to bring many, many parishioner personal petitions with me for my annual ministry time at Lourdes each year.

BECOMING CATHOLIC — A NEW PERSPECTIVE:
Becoming Catholic has changed my entire perspective on life, my fellow man and my role in all of it. Before, I had lost all faith in everything and was for the whole world to burn. I was full of anger and disgust with my fellow man and the events taking place around the globe. The love for my family was the only thing that kept me going, but I was starting to lose them due to my feelings towards the rest of the world. Now, thanks to the Parish being so welcoming and the life changing education through the RCIA program, I am a new and better man. Not only have I been able to forgive those I have harbored anger and ill will towards for over 35 years, I have been able to pray for their well-being and have asked the Lord to help them find the way to true peace and happiness. As my faith has grown throughout the RCIA program, all aspects of my life have greatly improved. I know it’s the Lord blessing me as my faith grows stronger.

Marty Cowart
 
PARISH PASTORAL CARE OUTREACH:
Our Pastoral Care ministries are busy growing. Four new Stephen Ministers were commissioned on May 31st. They are Susan Hillman de Alban, Glenda Roark, Rich Tritchel and Rocio Zamora. They prepared by completing 52 hours of study on various life situations that we all face at one time or another.

Our hospital ministry team at Banner South located at 2800 E. Ajo Way continues going strong. We welcomed three new Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist in April and May. Teams of two take communion to the Catholic patients in the hospital every Tuesday and Thursday.

Six new Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist were welcomed in April to the ministry who take communion to our home-bound. Should life changes occur that do not permit you to attend Mass, call the parish office to arrange for an EME to bring the blessing of communion to your home, hospital room or nursing home.

If you are experiencing illness, divorce or the death of a loved one, you do not need to walk the path alone. Our Pastoral Care Director, Patsy Klein is available to help. You can reach her at the parish office or pklein@omosparish.org.

FROM OMOS HAITI MINISTER JOAN MARTIN:
To Msgr. Tom, the OMOS Parish & School Communities, the OMOS Haiti Committee, the Change Haiti Team and other friends and benefactors --

Thank you for your kind words, your generous financial support and your prayers for the past fifteen years. Mesi anpil!

United in the Spirit, Joan Martin

DEACON AL SILVA AND MSGR. A.S. CARRILLO GO HOME TO THE LORD:
Deacon Al was a faithful member of Our Mother of Sorrows Parish and was an active deacon for the first decade of the new century. He served in our parish and through the diocese with great dedication.

Msgr. Carrillo served as a priest in the diocese for 61 years and in his early retirement years related to our weekend Mass schedule. He was a good pastor, a great priest and trusted friend. May their souls rest in peace.

TWO PARISHIONERS TO BE ORDAINED TO THE DIACONATE ON JUNE 17TH:
Eric Maugans and Frank Perotti will be ordained to the Permanent Diaconate on Saturday, June 17th at 10 a.m. at St. Augustine’s Cathedral. They have completed the four year special formation process for the Permanent Diaconate through the Diocesan Common Formation Program. Our congratulations and welcome to them into the active ministry here at Our Mother of Sorrows Parish.

NOW ENROLLING FOR VBS:
Maker Fun Factory! Created by God, Built for a Purpose! The dates of VBS are June 19-23 and it takes place from 8:45 – 12:00pm each day. VBS is for children going into grades 1-6 and will help them discover they are lovingly created by God. Registration forms are available in the Parish Office and on the parish website. For additional information about VBS, contact Laura Stehle at lstehle@omosparish.org or at the parish office, 747-1321.

PARISH BUDGET NEWS:
As we approach the end of May 2017, our stewardship is almost 12% ahead of our budget for this time of the year. We are so grateful to God and the faithfulness of our parishioners! Even with the Three R’s Capital Campaign, our stewardship has been maintained. But as we come to the end of the school year and the beginning of summer, our stewardship typically enters into a 'lean & mean' time in our annual income cycle, so this current surplus will help carry us through the “lean summer”.

Our new FY17/18 Budget has been approved by the Finance Committee and OMOS Board of Directors. Because of our stewardship plateau, the new budget will continue with the weekly stewardship goal of $19,000 per week. Again, we are so grateful to you, our parishioners, who make all the 70 to 80 ministries possible with your support.

ANNUAL CATHOLIC APPEAL SECOND COLLECTION AT ALL MASSES:
The parish is 22% or $34,851 away from its goal of $158,000. Contributions in any amount should help us conclude the appeal. Thanks to all for your generosity.
 
Spread a little love around!

Dates to Remember
Pentecost ~ June 4th
Trinity ~ June 11th
Corpus Christi ~ June 18th
Sacred Heart of Jesus ~ June 23rd
Immaculate Heart of Mary ~ June 24th