A guide to “prayer without ceasing”

1) A place for prayer:  Prepare a little altar or sacred space in your home. Use a cross, candle, Christian image, and an open bible. You can be as creative as you like but have it be some expression of Catholic Christian faith. This will serve as a place you can go in your home when you have a free moment to pray. The idea here is to create a space for scheduled and unscheduled prayer. We have places for computers and televisions in our homes, God should have a space as well. Be mindful of this altar throughout your day, and seek it out when you have a free moment.

2) Morning Prayer: Wake up 15 minutes before you normally do, and go to that altar that you created in your home and pray. Again, be as creative as you like. The key is time dedicated specifically for Jesus and not other things. You can read your Scriptures, pray a rosary, repeat the Our Father, or sit in silence looking at Cross. But begin the day with prayer…this is important.

2) Your transportation: Most of us have a car or spend quite a bit of time in one. If you are going to spend an entire day in prayer, I think
it is important to “spiritually prepare” your car. Purchase a few CDs, or download something onto your digital storage device…but make sure they are spiritual in nature. Sacred Music, the Rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, the Scriptures on CD, etc. Don’t purchase a talk on a spiritual topic or just listen to Catholic radio. Remember this is a day of prayer, not catechesis or education. You want something that is going to help you encounter the presence of Christ.

Of course, not everyone has a car and must use other forms of transportation like airplanes, buses, and bicycles. Carrying the rosary with you, a sacred image, or a Bible is great for planes and other types of public transportation. For cyclers or walkers, perhaps just a repeated memorized prayer might be helpful.

3) The Workplace: This is probably the most challenging place to “pray without ceasing.” Many of our jobs whether we are raising children, in a factory, looking for work, or have our own office, demand much of our focus, time, and attention. A couple of things might be helpful here:

a) Memorize a short word or phrase like “Come Holy Spirit” or “Lord Jesus have mercy on me a sinner.” Repeat that phrase over and over…every time you think of it, say it.

b) Pray before you do anything: before you answer email, before you talk to somebody, before lunch, before you begin work on any major project. Take all thoughts, distractions, errands, and people to prayer as often as possible.

c) Who is the person you find most difficult to get along with at work? Pray for that person all day.

d) Keep a little religious object on your desk, in your pocket, around your wrist or neck as a reminder that this is your day of prayer.

e) Other ideas that may come along. Again the key is focusing your mind and heart all day on Jesus in whatever way you can.

 4) Be intentional!!!  This is the key to the whole day. The main goal is to go about your life as you normally do but to be looking for every
possible opportunity to place yourself in the presence of God. Pray before you do anything, and take every opportunity you can think of and turn it into a time, however brief, of prayer.

5) Night Prayer: Before bed, spend 15 minutes in prayer. Thank God for five things, petition God for five things. Make an examination of conscience, say an act of contrition, and go to bed. If you have trouble sleeping, think of the prayer that makes you most tired, and pray it as you drift off to sleep.

To “pray without ceasing” acknowledges that we have all sorts of people, places, and things in our lives. Praying in the midst of all of this is a reminder that our hope does not rest with these temporal relationships. Rather they are all part of a much more fundamental relationship that should inform them all: The saving power and great love of Jesus Christ for each one of us.

God Bless,

Fr. Todd

I am glad that so many of you were able to make it to the state of the parish meeting tonight in St. Augustine Hall.  For those of you who were not able to make it, you can click here to download a full copy of the report now.

The attached report is that I hope will be an annual report regarding the state of the parish of St. Monica. In these pages you will find reports from our administrative staff, information and statistics of the 2010-11 fiscal year (July 1 – June 30). It is certainly not comprehensive but intended to offer highlights and information of the past fiscal year.

As I move into my third year, I continue to be blessed by being part of one of the most active, diverse and exciting parishes in the diocese.  It is interesting that despite all the differences that can be observed among us, we share the same Scriptures, Sacraments, and Savior. As St. Paul states in his plea for unity to the Ephesians’ community we have “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Ephesians 4:5). Take out your bibles and have a look at Acts 2:43-47. I think this serves as a great vision for St. Monica Parish, in the beginning, now, and forever.

God Bless,

Fr. Todd Goodson

All classes will be held on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 – 8:30pm in the Emmaus Center. If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to call Fr. Dustin Boehm at 253-2193 ext. 2 or email at dboehm@stmonicaindy.org. You can also contact Patrick Sullivan at 253-2193 ext.2  or email at psullivan@stmonicaindy.org.

View the 2011-2012 Confirmation Syllabus and MASS ATTENDANCE FORM.

Click the links below to view videotaped confirmation sessions:

Week 1      Introduction/Program Overview

Week 2    “Who is God…and why should I care when HE doesn’t always seem to?”

Week  3   ”Who am I in relationship to God?”

Week 4     The church and why we need it; you can’t be spiritual without being religious.

Week 5     Scripture and Tradition

Week 6     Baptism: Our Gift, Our Call and Our Life’s Challenge

Week 7    Catholic Mass: Our Model of Love

Week 8    Confirmation: Throw Yourself into the Burning Bush

Week 9    The Sacrament of Reconciliation

Week 10   Heroes and Saints

Week 11  The Birds and the Bees and Your Faith

Week 12  Morality

Appreciate everyone’s prayers over the past few weeks!

God Bless,

Fr Todd

Today’s Gospel has a good deal to do with detachment and our ability to remain detached.

I would like to lead you in a small reflection. Close your eyes if you wish but I am going invite you to reflect on some persons and possessions that are in your life:

Think for a minute of your family and who is in that family. Recall faces and names. Think about all the friends and acquaintances you have, again try to recall faces and names.

Think now about all your material possessions and what you own, what you keep in your home or apartment. What do you have in your home? How many televisions? How many cell phones? Do you have beds? Clean sheets? How many beauty products are there or items for personal grooming? Appliances? Do you have a washer a dryer? Sinks? Showers? light fixtures? Do you have a stove? A refrigerator?  What about a gardens? Nice landscaping? Do you have cable tv? Satellite? Computers? Internet? Do you have carpet or linoleum flooring? Air conditioning in both the car and house? Heat? Do you have sports equipment? Golf clubs? Footballs, basketballs, Soccer balls? a goal in the driveway? Cleats? Uniforms? Do you have fishing poles? A boat or boats? How many cars do you have? How often do you use them? Do you travel? Go on Vacation? What schools have you attended? What type and how much education have you been able to receive in your life? How is your health? Are you currently alive because you are able to obtain good solid medical care? Do you have another precious day with your loved ones? 

Finally, how busy are you with all of these things? How much of your time to they consume?

As many of you know, I had a rather unexpected 3 days in the hospital last weekend. I am very grateful for all your prayers and concern; I am doing fine, and pretty eager to get back to work (I think Fr. Jeremy is also eager for me to begin working). I would like to share with you a couple of things I learned being in the hospital that I think relate to the message of today’s gospel.

One of the things you can do in the hospital is watch and order movies for free using a little button connected to your bed. For those of you who have never been in the hospital, it is not always the most exciting place in the world yet often there is not enough energy to use the time productively. TV can be a welcome diversion.

On either Friday or Saturday afternoon I decided to watch the new Star Trek movie that had a new cast and was supposed to be much more action packed and exciting. I felt that it certainly delivered and really enjoyed the movie. However an interesting thing happened in the middle of it that caused me to reflect a little on my attachment to material goods. In the middle of the movie, during one of the more exciting sequences, I received a knock on the door and one of the hospital chaplain’s came to visit. He sat down we had a nice little chat. I told him I was a priest and we talked a little longer about parish life, family, careers, and the usual chit chat. He eventually went one his way and I went back to watching the movie. Here was potentially the problem: The way the movies are set up in the hospital you can’t pause, stop or rewind them, so I missed a huge chunk of the movie, almost ten minutes. However here was the actual problem:  I was almost tempted to ask a person created by God, sent to me to minister God’s presence, to come back later because a mechanical device of entertainment almost seemed more important. How many times have we all done this? How many times have you or I let this happen in our relationship with God? How many times have our many possessions and activities distracted us from a perfectly good opportunity to pray or be in communion with God?

A second thing I learned was this. As pastor of St. Monica I am pastor of one of the largest communities in the Archdiocese with a huge demographic of people that we serve. We have multiple activities going on at any given time and they all begin right about now, the fall.  I am an incredibly important person. Next weekend, begins Christ Renews his parish retreats, we are starting all of our Adult formation classes, great programs like Just Faith, Catholicism 101. We are inviting people to consider becoming a part of the Catholic Church, We have Youth ministry, children’s religious education, our school, that have begun or are about to begin. We are continuing our strategic planning, looking at our future and how we can at deepen our spirituality, our understanding of stewardship, continue school improvement, and our understanding of ourselves as a diverse community with a common mission. Additionally, I have a budget to be concerned about, a large staff, and any number of decisions large or small that need to be made on an almost daily basis. Along with Fr Jeremy I am responsible for seeing that the Gospel is proclaimed, that Sacraments are administered, and that we our serving our local community effectively. Did I mention that I am in incredibly important person?

Here’s what I learned in the hospital: that I was gone for three days, on a very busy weekend, and everything went just fine without me. In fact, an argument could be made that things went much more smoothly. While I have responsibility to serve St. Monica to the best of my ability, I am not indispensible. I can check out if the Lord needs me too and for the most part everybody’s lives will go on just fine. How many times have we done this? How many times have we not taken advantage of opportunities to grow closer to God because we are too busy, we are too important, because we think the world will fall apart without our presence?

I think we have something very important to learn from today’s challenging Gospel:

1)  We need to recognize that everything we have is a gift from God, everything. This includes your material possessions, your life, and the lives of the people around you. You do not own these things you care for them. Everything we thought of in our reflection is gift received. God can add God can take away.

2) The Gospel reminds that our possessions are not who we worship, God is. We should be able to detach from them at anytime in order to be in relationship with God. If our material possessions distract us from spending time with God, they are a problem. I invite you to practice “detaching”…Turn off the TV for a day, sleep on the floor, don’t text for a week, take the bus one day instead of driving, offer these up as forms of prayer and as way of being aware of the many gifts you have.

3) The Gospel reminds us also that we are not God. We should always be able to trust our activities to God. I recognize that we have to work at home and away in order to provide and care for our families, but most of us still make time for many other things. I invite you to consider a retreat this year, a time away from all the many distractions. Give a God a chance to be a part of your life in a special way, away from the hustle and bustle. I would recommend any of the CRHP weekends coming, but there are multiple other places as well. Our local Fatima retreat house offers a wide variety of retreats, Get involved in some of our local formation programs here at the parish, Go pray at one of the local monasteries in the area, or just take a day and spend it by yourself with you and God.

Today’s Gospel reminds us in a very challenging way that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the most important person in the world and we should, at a moment’s notice, be ready to follow him wherever he leads us.

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.

Hola Padre,

Solamente quiero saludarle y la communidad de Santiago Apostol en el dia de su fiesta en Domingo. Dios les Bendiga!

 Paz y bendiciones de la communidad Santa Monica!

Fr. Todd Goodson

A few weeks ago I met with our confirmation students. They were divided up into 7 groups and I asked them as a group to respond to some questions that were part of the interviews in our strategic planning process. In addition to the very creative names they had for their “groups”, I thought their responses were interesting and good for us to read. Enjoy!

Fr. Todd

 These are the questions:

1.        What most impresses you about St. Monica’s Parish and School?

2.        What in your opinion is the reputation of the parish in the wider community?

3.        What are the areas of the parish that you feel need the most improvement?

4.        If you could snap your fingers and change any 2 to 3 things today, what would they be?

5.        As you look to the future what would you like to see happen over the next 1 to 3 to 5 years and beyond?

 Table Name:  Brown Table

1. Diversity; how loving everyone is, how St Monica brings us together, the Youth Group, Caring—community service, how energetic we all are, how respectful we all are towards each other. 

2. Little known 

 3. More Youth events, Youth Group structure (number of events “required”) 

 4.  Have the Spanish Youth Group more coordinated like the English one

 5. More opportunity to know other people at St Monica        

Table Name:  Magical Ponies 

1. Friendly people, Colorful church (pretty), Stained glass window (Jesus), Good music, Fantastic priests 

2. Very nice, friendly church

3. Comfyness of pews

4. iTunes price of songs, Gas prices 

5. Different church times, larger church community 

Table Name:  Alpha Wolf Dawg Squandrant 

1. a. We are impressed by the sense of community which is created by the people

b. We are impressed by the diversity and vivacious community

c. We are impressed by the opportunities offered to us

 2. a. We have reputation for being bad at sports

b. everyone goes here

 3. a. We think the process of confirmation has been too long

b. We think there should be more activities for high school kids outside of school

c. We think there needs to be more upbeat/modern music in church

4. a. Same as above!

 5. See number 4!

Table Name:  Uber Awesome

 1.  Diversity, Unity, Relationship between parish & priests, more lively, Homilies are relevant

 2.  Not very well known, Big, Respected, Snobby

 3.  Confirmation process, Communication, Music 

4.  World peace, more money, more pets/animals 

5.  Cushioned pews, Televised Mass, Redecorate, Shorter Mass & on time, less standing, Bibles in pews 

Table Name:  Table 1

 1.  Community & people in it, Attendance, Clean—well taken care of, Number of different programs,  Diversity 

2.  Unauthentic, school lacks diversity, big church 

3.  Dealing with disrespect during Spanish Mass, The academic part of school, Athletic program, Confirmation takes too much time, more social activities 

4.  World peace, End to all diseases 

5.  Email information for Confirmation. Instead of having large group sessions, Football field 

Table Name:  Table Table 

1.  Diversity, Youth Groups (education), Peaceful 

2.  Church doesn’t come up in conversations & if it does they usually haven’t heard of it 

3.  Mass—boring, Youth Groups—funner activities, Music—hype it up 

4.  Music 

5.  Music, Paint, that we can play Rock Band 2G 

Table Name:  Waka Flakas (did not make divisions according to questions) 

-diversity

-awesome priests

-little distractions

-a lot of activities, programs, etc

-we’re all different but all come together

-it’s Catholic

-strict

-the parish that lost Fr Paul

*better lunch

*bigger cry room

*more stuff for teens

*more fun

*teen Mass

~no wars

~no poor people

~ice cream

~better choir for Spanish Mass

~better choir

~donut breakfast after every Mass

*Teen Mass

*donuts

*more teen activities

*church dinners (delicious food)

La esquina del Párroco: Respuestas de la juventud a las preguntas de Evaluación ISPD

Hace unas pocas semanas me reuní con nuestros estudiantes de la Confirmación.  Estuvieron en grupos de 7 y les pedí que como grupo respondieran a algunas preguntas que eran parte de las entrevistas de nuestro proceso de planeamiento estratégico.  Además de su creatividad para nombrar a sus “grupos” (mesas),  pensé que sus respuestas fueron interesantes y muy buenas para que las leamos. ¡Disfrútenlas!   Fr. Todd 

Estas son las preguntas:

1.        ¿Qué es lo que más le impresiona de la Parroquia y Escuela de Santa Mónica?

2.        ¿En su opinión, cuál es la reputación de la parroquia en la comunidad en general?

3.        ¿Cuáles son las áreas de la parroquia que ud. siente que necesitan mejorarse  más?

4.        Si ud. pudiera chasquear los dedos y cambiar2 ó 3 cosas hoy día, ¿Cuáles serían?

5.        Mirando hacia el futuro, ¿Qué le gustaría que sucediera dentro del próximo año, en 3 ó 5 años en adelante?

Mesa: Brown Table 

1. La diversidad; lo amable que son todos, como nos une Sta. Mónica, el Grupo Juvenil, el servicio de ayuda a la comunidad, la energía que tenemos y lo respetuosos que somos entre nosotros.  

2. Se le conoce poco

3. Más actividades juveniles, la estructura de los grupos juveniles (número de actividades “requeridas”)

4. Tener al Grupo Juvenil Latino más coordinado tal como el Grupo  Inglés

5. Más oportunidades para conocer personas en Santa Mónica 

Mesa: Magical Ponies

 1. Gente amistosa, Iglesia colorida (bonita),  un vitral (Jesús), Buena música, sacerdotes fantásticos

 2. Iglesia amable y amistosa

 3. Lo cómodo de las butacas

4. El precio de las canciones en iTunes y de la gasolina

 5. Horas diferentes de la iglesia y una comunidad más grande 

Mesa: Alpha Wolf Dawg Squandrant 

1. a. Estamos impresionados por el sentido de comunidad creado por la gente

b. Estamos impresionados por la comunidad tan diversa y vivaz

c. Estamos impresionados por las oportunidades que se nos ofrecen

2. a. Tenemos la reputación de ser malos en los deportes

b. Todos vienen aquí

3. a. Pensamos que el proceso de confirmación ha sido muy largo

b. Pensamos que deberían haber más actividades para los estudiantes de secundaria fuera de la escuela

c. Pensamos que debería haber más música optimista y moderna en la iglesia

4. a. ¡Lo mismo que arriba!

5. ¡Ver número 4!

 Mesa: Uber Awesome 

1.  La diversidad, la unidad, la relación entre la parroquia y los sacerdotes, más vivida, homilías relevantes

2.  No es muy conocida, grande, respetada, algo arrogante

3.  El proceso de Confirmación Comunicación, música

4.  Paz en el mundo, más dinero, más mascotas/animales

5.  Butacas acolchadas, misas televisadas, Redecoración, misas más cortas y a tiempo, menos tiempo parado, biblias en las butacas 

Mesa: Table 1 

1.  La comunidad y las personas en ella, la asistencia, Limpieza –muy bien cuidada, el número de diferentes programas, la diversidad 

2.  No auténtica, la escuela carece de diversidad, iglesia grande

3.  Lidiar con la falta de respeto durante la misa en español, la parte académica de la escuela, el programa atlético, el proceso de Confirmación lleva demasiado tiempo más actividades sociales

4.  La paz en el mundo, el fin de todas las enfermedades

5.  Correo electrónico informativo para la Confirmación en vez de tener sesiones con grupos grandes, un campo de futbol americano 

Mesa: Table Table

1.  La diversidad, los Grupos Juveniles (educación), pacífica

2.  La iglesia no aparece en las conversaciones y cuando aparece nadie ha oído de ella 

3.  La misa—aburrida, Grupos Juveniles—actividades más divertidas,  Música—con más vida 

4.  Música 

5.  Música, Pintura, que podamos tocar Rock Band 2G 

Mesa: Waka Flakas  (No hizo distinción de acuerdo a las preguntas)

-diversidad

-sacerdotes maravillosos

-pocas distracciones

-muchas actividades, programas, etc.

-todos somos diferentes per nos unimos

-es Católica

-estricta

-la parroquia que perdió el Padre Paul

*mejor almuerzo

*cuarto de llanto más grande

*más cosas para adolescentes

*mas diversión

*Misa para adolescentes

~no guerras

~no gente pobre

~helados

~mejor coro para la misa en español

~mejor coro

~desayuno con donas después de todas las misas

*donas

*más actividades para adolescentes

*comidas en la iglesia (comida deliciosa)

For the past ten months, I have had the pleasure of working closely with Tim Weaver the current principal of St. Monica School. Tim has a great deal of energy, a passion for education, and has done great work developing our school programs, improving access to better technology, and helping our teachers and school staff be the best they can be.

 After some prayerful consideration on his part, Tim has accepted a position as a Superintendent for the schools in the Lexington diocese in Kentucky for this next academic year. This is an exciting opportunity for Tim, and we wish him all the best in his new venture. We are grateful for the time he has given to St. Monica.

 Michelle Boyd, whose has served us for three years as Assistant Principal will be our Interim Principal this year. She holds a B.S. in Elementary Education and an M.S. in School Administration and Supervision. Additionally, she has served as a teacher herself for 13 years teaching in a wide variety of grades. I believe that she has the qualifications and experience necessary to lead us this year. A search committee will be put together at the beginning of next year.

 Tim, we remain grateful for all your work, and welcome to Michelle!

 God Bless, 

Fr Todd

¡Saludos Santa Mónica!

Durante los últimos 10 meses he tenido el placer de trabajar muy cerca con Tim Weaver el actual Director de la Escuela de Santa Mónica. Tim tiene mucha energía, pasión por la educación y ha hecho un gran trabajo desarrollando nuestros programas escolares, mejorando el acceso a nueva tecnología y ayudando a los profesores y personal de la escuela a ser lo mejor de ellos.

Después de una consideración en oración por su parte, Tim ha aceptado una posición como Superintendente de las escuelas en la diócesis de Lexington en Kentucky para el próximo año académico. Es una oportunidad muy emocionante para Tim y le deseamos lo mejor en su nueva empresa. Estamos agradecidos por el tiempo que le ha brindado a Santa Mónica.

Michelle Boyd, quien nos ha servido como Asistente de Director por tres años será nuestra Directora Interina este año. Ella tiene un título de Bachiller en Educación Elemental y un M.S. en Administración y Supervisión Escolar. Adicionalmente, ha servido como profesora por 13 años en una gran variedad de grados. Creo que ella tiene las calificaciones y experiencia necesarias para guiarnos este año. Formaremos un comité de búsqueda al principio del próximo año.

Tim, quedamos muy agradecidos por todo su trabajo y damos la bienvenida a Michelle!

Dios los bendiga,

Padre Todd

Here at St. Monica, the Substance Addiction Ministry (SAM) has the resources to help you get your life on the right path. If you feel your life or the life of a loved one is out of control because of an addiction to alcohol or drugs, give them a call. They are waiting to help bring your life back into focus and to experience the healing from addiction that God can provide. Please call them at 317-690-4624 — All calls are confidential.

God Bless,

Fr. Todd

La Esquina del Párroco: El Ministerio del Momento, MAS

Uno de los programas más exitosos para luchar contra las adicciones ha sido el programa “12 pasos” basado en lo que fue utilizado por primera vez en Alcohólicos Anónimos. El primer paso de este programa es admitir que uno es impotente ante la adicción (a las drogas, al sexo o al alcohol, etc.) y como resultado, su vida es difícil de manejar. En otras palabras, admitiendo que la sustancia o actividad a la que sea adicto tiene la última palabra y no usted. A partir de aquí, empieza su trabajo camino al éxito y una vida basada en seguir una serie de principios. Estos incluyen por ejemplo el perdón, la confianza en Dios, un inventario personal y un deseo constante de mejorar su vida y las vidas de los demás.

Aquí en Santa Mónica, The Substance Addiction Ministry (SAM) [El Ministerio del Abuso de Substancias (MAS)] tiene los recursos para ayudarle a poner su vida en el camino correcto. Si usted siente que su vida o la vida de un ser querido está fuera de control debido a una adicción al alcohol o a las drogas, deles una llamada. Ellos están esperando para ayudarle a volver a darle sentido a su vida y a que experimente la curación a las adicciones que Dios provee. Por favor llamar al 317-690-4624 – Todas las llamadas son confidenciales.

Dios los bendiga,
Padre Todd