Fr. Jeremy and I are frequently approached to announce something at all the weekend Masses. Just a brief review of the top five ways established to distribute and give information at St. Monica: 

1)      Announcements after Mass: These are to be submitted to the Parish Office by 9:00 AM on the Wednesday prior to the Sunday you wish the announcement to be made. We then review all the announcements at our Pastoral Staff meeting and decide what will be announced. These should be very brief. They are not appeals; they are simply to alert the congregation that something is coming up. More detailed information should be put on the website and in the bulletin, or be available in the narthex. 

2)      Bulletin: This is a weekly resource available for promoting St. Monica Church functions. Submissions for a given Sunday need to be in to the bulletin editor by 12:00 noon of the Sunday prior to the bulletin in which you want it to appear.

 3)      Narthex Space/Bulletin Inserts:  Both of these resources must be scheduled through the Parish Office.  There is a limit of four bulletin inserts per weekend.  There is a limit of four Narthex displays each weekend, and these are limited to the tables permanently set up in the Narthex for that purpose.

 4)      Website: Anything that can go in the bulletin can also go on the website.  Contact Martha Horvath in the parish office for information on how you may go about doing that. 

5)      Talk to each other! This is the most effective way to reach your brother and sister in Christ. Introduce yourself to someone in the Narthex, carry information about the ministry you wish to share, pray, invite. Give out your email or a phone number, be available. You would be surprised how effective a friendly personal invitation to serve God and share faith can be. 

God Bless!

Fr Todd

Este año celebramos  el Dia de nuestra Parroquia con dos sucesos: el primero es nuestra celebración religiosa con una Misa multicultural en honor de nuestra patrona Santa Mónica.  Le Misa es el Sábado, 28 de Agosto, a las 5:30 PM.  Hay una pequeña recepción después de la Misa.  No hay Misa de 7:15 el Sábado 28 de Agosto. 

Las actividades de celebración por la festividad continuarán el Martes, 31 de Agosto, con una cena de pizza a las 5:30.  Por favor traiga un plato para compartir: ensalada, vegetal, o postre.    A 6:15 PM, habrá un Taller de Trabajo, nuestro conferencista, el Sr. Frank Donalson, nos retará a pensar realmente “sin barreras”, en forma nueva, creativa y llena de energía para promover el continuo desarrollo de nuestra Parroquia y Escuela.  Se invita a todos los adultos.  Cuidado de niños  es disponible. 

The second part of the celebration will be the One Parish, One Journey Dinner and Workshop.  It will take place on Tuesday, August 31st, in the St. Ambrose Center (gym) beginning at 5:30 pm.  Pizza and drinks will be provided and those attending are asked to bring a salad, vegetable or desert to share.  At 6:15 the program will begin.  Our dynamic presenter, Mr. Frank Donaldson, will give us insight on ways to work toward making St. Monica a more welcoming and dynamic parish.  All adults are welcome at this workshop.  Please sign up after Mass next weekend.

God Bless,

Fr. Todd

Virtus Training is required by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis for all volunteers and employees who work with children in the parish or school.  Our Youth Minister, Joe Connelly, will be facilitating a VIRTUS: Protecting God’s Children session in English at St. Monica on Monday, October 25^th, from 6:30-9:30pm in the St. Augustine Room.  There will be a limit of 100 people.  To register for this program, go online to www.virtus.org website for sign beginning August 13.  Other opportunities to attend Virtus Training can be found at the website, also.

Programa VIRTUS EN LA PARROQUIA DE Santa Mónica 

 El Sabado 11 de Septiembre de 10:00 a.m. a 1:00 p.m.  Todos los Padres de Familia y Adultos interesados estas             invitados.  LA ASISTENCIA ES OBLIGATORIA  para todos los feligreses que trabajan con ninos en la parroquia.

Celebre el Día de nuestra Parroquia y Únase a la Conversación para hacer Sta. Mónica mejor aún!

Martes, Agosto 31, 2010

Centro de San Ambrosio (gimnasio)

 5:30-6:15     Comida de Celebración

Se proveerá Pizza y bebidas.  Por favor traiga un plato para compartir:  

A-L: ensalada o vegetal           

M-Z: postre

***Apúntese en el vestibulo después de Misa, cualquier  fin de semana durante Agosto***

6:15-9:00      Taller de Trabajo (sólo adultos)

Convirtiéndonos en una Parroquia Católica más Acogedora, Entusiasta y Afirmadora” 

Nuestro conferencista, el Sr. Frank Donaldson, es un dinámico orador que está guiando el proceso del plan estratégico “Una Parroquia, Una Jornada”  en Sta. Mónica. El nos retará a todos  a pensar realmente “sin barreras”, en forma nueva, creativa y llena de energía  para promover el continuo desarrollo de nuestra Parroquia y Escuela. 

Agosto ve el comienzo de muchas nuevos proyectos, y muchos de nosotros  estamos en el medio de mucho planeamiento y reorganización. Este taller será el comienzo de nuevas tácticas, con posibilidades nuevas y llenas de energía para Sta. Mónica.

 Presentado por el Instituto de Desarrollo para Escuelas y Parroquias. 

Uniendo Gente, Procesos y Ministerios para construir el Reino de Dios. 

Para mayor información:     

Jean Galanti 257-6826 o jeankgal@att.net             Inglés

 Gloria Olson 291-8233 o gloriaiolson@iquest.net           Español

Summer is beginning to wind down and we are busy preparing for some new activities here in the parish in addition to our usual projects of prayer, school, youth ministry and religious education. Look for a busy fall, with lots of opportunities for participation.

We have numerous occasions for spiritual growth and formation. I just recently finished a weeklong workshop on the subject of prayer. Look for more presentations and workshops on Catholic Social Teaching, Ignatian Spirituality and the Theology of the Body. There will also be several bible studies and Small Church Communities, available in English and Spanish. If you or someone you know has some interest in joining the Catholic Church or just learning more, the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults is also available in English and Spanish. A new program that is increasing in popularity is called “Just Faith”. It has been received positively and has helped deepen our understanding of proclaiming the Gospel. If you have any questions or wish to sign up for any of these opportunities please contact Ann Corcoran @ 253-2193 ext 5 or email her at acorcoran@stmonicaindy.org. Like many of our ministries, Adult Faith Formation is developing their website which has some (not all) of their information located here: http://www.stmonicaindy.org/ministries/adultfaithformation

We continue to move forward with our Strategic Planning process. We have developed some focus areas (8) and will be soon holding input sessions in September. If you are randomly contacted to share your thoughts about St. Monica, please do so. Your ideas are important and help us focus on good directions as we plan for the future. More information about our process can be found here: http://www.stmonicaindy.org/parish/strategic-planning

I would ask that you are particularly attentive to the workshop on August 31^st entitled “Become a More Welcoming, Engaging and Affirming Catholic Parish”. I think this will be a great time for many of us to gather and discuss an important topic for our parish in the future.

As I write this I am preparing to leave for a vacation before school starts, which begins in a just a couple of weeks! I will be gone from August 2^nd until August 19^th. When I get back I’ll be ready to join with all of you in a busy fall season of sharing and spreading the Gospel message in St. Monica Parish!

God Bless,

Fr Todd

Fr Todd

“Go and Do Likewise”

At the time of this Gospel there had been a long history of tension between Samaritans and Jews. The tension was religious, ethnic, and political for all sorts of reasons, some clear some not. A formal break occurred between Jews and Samaritans in the 4^th century B.C. with the Samaritans taking their own Scriptures and moving to another sacred mountain, Gerezim instead of Zion. This 400 year tension is very much alive in the four Gospels. The Sons of Thunder, James and John, were ready to call down fire on the Samaritan people and kill them all. A man was considered ritually impure if he had contact with a Samaritan woman. When traveling, Jews often took an alternate route around Samaria rather than passing through. In John chapter 8, Jesus is insulted by the Jews when they suggest that he is possessed by the devil and possibly a Samaritan. Even our scholar of the law in today’s Gospel cannot bring himself to use the word “Samaritan” to describe the central character, he is simply referred to as the “one who treated him with mercy”. It is important to understand this tension to fully appreciate how radical Jesus application of “Love of God and neighbor” was in his story of a Samaritan helping a Jew who was overlooked by his own kinsmen.

If you were to list the three main books that attempt to define who we are as Catholic Christian people I think it would be the Bible, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the Code of Canon Law. These three alone number in total probably close to 2000 pages in English. For most of us these texts are very academic, difficult to understand, and not very easy to digest and use on a regular basis. A priest may devote his entire life to the study of Canon Law.  A scholar or professor may study the Scriptures for years and still not understand the multiple nuances that the Scripture can have, or they may disagree on the meaning of the exact same text.

The brilliance of the two great commandments is that it sums up all of these texts into, well, two commandments. The foundation, everything you need to know to make the kingdom of God present here in the world and to get to heaven yourself is summed up in the two great commandments to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself”. If you think about it, if you were to pray these two commandments everyday and dedicate your entire life to living them as best as possible, you have everything you need to live the Christian life. These two commandments alone could change the world and bring about the Kingdom of God.

In my parish ministry experience I continue to gaze in wonder at the different backgrounds that people come from. Everyone has a unique upbringing and understanding of who they are. An African-American is not an African, A Mexican is not a Guatemalan, and not all those people who claim to be Latino have a devotion or even know about Our Lady of Guadalupe. An Anglo is not a Hispanic and a Black English speaker is not Anglo. Even if we don’t take race and culture into account, we are still very different. A person from Kentucky is different than Indiana, A person from the East side grew up different from the West, and a “South-sider’ is definitely not a “North-sider” in Indianapolis. If you think about it there are well over 2000 things that make us unique both as individuals and as cultures of people. These can be celebrated if there is something that we can unite around or, as we see all too often, these differences seem to mostly divide us, to the point of conflict, violence and death.

When we speak of parish ministry it is crucially important that we look for points of unity, for things we have in common. Differences are fine but these always need unifying principles which hold it all together. One of these points of unity that we have is our lived faith, the two great commandments. When we love God with our whole heart mind and soul and love our neighbor as we love ourselves, we begin the process of seeing ourselves as God sees us: his precious creations, saved by Jesus Christ, equal in status, dignity, and recognition. God created Samaritans and Jews, Africans and Europeans, North and South Americans, Asians and Middle Easterners. The human beggar on the street is equal in dignity to the President of the United States, and God sees Pope Benedict XVI as he sees you and me, as his precious creation equally in need receiving his love and sharing it with others.

These two commandments lived daily help us to see ourselves as we are, a Catholic, a universal, Church. Being a Church of many peoples is inseparable from how we see ourselves. Our whole identity is wrapped up in seeing ourselves as part of a Church that is intended for a lot of other people. We talk a lot about multicultural ministry; I think it should just be called what it is: Catholic ministry. We certainly wouldn’t be the Church of Jesus Christ if we had simply one race, culture, or language. Living the two great commandments helps us understand what being a parish really means for us. When we Love God with our whole heart, mind and soul, and love our neighbor as ourself it means, quite simply to be the Catholic Church to be a Catholic community.

Today we are commanded to see ourselves as Jews and Samaritans, who have been asked to apply the two great commandments to our lives. St. Monica has received the call to treat each other with mercy, love, and care and to receive it from unexpected people.

We do this hoping that, by our example, the world will go and do likewise.