Thursday of this week, 15 August, is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother. It is a Holy Day of Obligation. Mass will be celebrated at Our Lady of Peace Church at 8:30 on Thursday morning then at Notre Dame de Lourdes at 6:30 on Thursday evening. We are blessed to have two Churches and a school dedicated to Our Lady as we anticipate this Solemnity which celebrates the Blessed Mother being assumed body and soul into the heavenly kingdom.
The middle of August is usually the signal for back-to-school activities to kick into gear. We look forward to welcoming our students back at Notre Dame de Lourdes in a few weeks, and for our PREP program to start soon afterward. PREP is still in need of catechists for this upcoming school year. PREP classes are conducted on Tuesday afternoons from 4:30 – 5:45. Classes begin on Tuesday, 17 September. Please prayerfully consider assisting with our PREP program by sharing your knowledge and your love of our faith with our parish children. You may contact the rectory for more information. Thank you!
On Wednesday, 14 August, Father Bosco will celebrate the first anniversary of his priestly ministry at Our Lady of Peace Parish. We are so very fortunate to have Father Bosco with us as he shares his goodness, his faith, and his love for the Risen Lord. Father is very generous with his time assisting with our Mass schedule, liturgical preparations, Church decorations, as well as with school and PREP programs. Congratulations, Father and God bless you abundantly. We are richly blessed with your presence at Our Lady of Peace.
Periodically we will provide updates on the priorities and goals of the Next Generation Parish initiatives. Today’s focus is on Spiritual Well-being and Wholeness.
An asterisk is used grammatically to indicate an omission or a doubtful matter. While recently watching the summer Olympics there was an interesting meteorological piece about the effects of wind at Track and Field events. If the force of wind is greater than an acceptable standard during a heat, the times at the heat would still qualify for medals, but not for record keeping. An asterisk would indicate that the heat was influenced by the force of wind and therefore the times at the event would not be eligible for world records.
Sacramental records do not contain asterisks, but they include notations. A notation indicates Sacramental information about a person. My baptismal record will indicate that I received my Sacraments of Initiation, that I was ordained a transitional deacon, and that I was ordained a priest. If that information were to change (writing hypothetically here) then my baptismal parish would be notified about the change and make a notation in their baptismal registry. So, if I were to enter marriage (again hypothetically – stick with me people) my baptismal registry would indicate that I was free to do so. However, if I was not released from my ordination promises then the proposed marriage would be illicit. There go those asterisks again!
This Spiritual Wholeness goal seeks to amend any asterisks that may be lurking in our Sacramental records. These include marriages outside of the auspices of the Church, or divorces and remarriages without annulment. Both situations carry an asterisk. If a Catholic is married outside of the Church, then that person would be ineligible to serve as a godparent or a sponsor for Confirmation. Similarly, if a person previously married in the Church but later divorces and remarries outside of the Church, they too would be ineligible to serve as a godparent or a sponsor for Confirmation since they too would be in a relationship that is not consistent with Catholic values and Church teaching.
Someone who is divorced and not civilly remarried is eligible to serve as a godparent, and as a Confirmation sponsor since the Catholic Church, while acknowledging the civil end of the union does not recognize divorce as a sacramental end to a union. A divorced person who is not civilly remarried is therefore still eligible to receive the Sacraments.
Therefore, this goal seeks to remove any asterisks that may be lurking in Sacramental record books. Convalidation (having your marriage “blessed”), or annulment are canonical methods of clearing any hesitancies from the record book and making sure that no stray asterisk is watching over you.