The Parousia is Coming!

What an incredible month! I was privileged in early July to spend some time (5 days) up at the American Martyrs Retreat House in Cedar Falls with a wonderful group of 20 catechists-in-formation. They're a dedicated bunch of people. The retreat atmosphere was especially wonderful.

I arrived home and had enough time to wash my clothes, kiss my babies, and board a plane to Seattle where I spent 12 days encountering the "second plane child" (6-12 years old) with about 80 other men and women from around the USA and the world. For this National Course in CGS, we did have two women from South Africa join us! What a surprise when we discovered that the chapel at the retreat house was Good Shepherd Chapel!

Sylvia and Tracy from South Africa were both such a treat!

The catechists for our parish are very excited about the upcoming year in the atrium. Our carpet fundraiser in April has led to a new look downstairs, and I keep hearing from catechists who are chomping at the bit to set up their atrium environments and get a handle on what materials need to be made/mended before September.

This coming year already offers much to be joyful about. After announcing another 90-hour Level I adult formation course beginning this fall, we already have 10 participants signed up. Better news than that? SEVEN of them are men. Three years ago when a few of us headed down to Phoenix to the International Celebration of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, we heard one of the United States' premier CGS catechists, Rebekah Rojcewicz, talk of how we will know that the Parousia (the time when Christ will come back and God will be all in all) is coming: there will be more men in this work. This fall we will have at least three trained men working in the atrium, and it looks like more to follow. Praise God!

Father Nick Schneider of the Bismark, ND Diocese also attended the National Course

I am off this weekend for another 5 days of training catechists in the Archdiocese of Dubuque, but time marches on and September draws near! If you have children/grandchildren whom you wish to enroll in our program, please register soon so we can be sure to get them placed in an atrium this fall. There is still time to volunteer to help with our program this year or even enroll in this fall's formation course as well. Check out our website at www.dmallsaints.org/cgs for more information!

And as a bonus for making it through this update, enjoy this video from Sister Josephine. It is a great song for Easter!

God Bless!