Dear Parishioners,

It’s hard to believe but the day is almost here when some parishioners & I head to Italy for a few days. We’ll be leaving on Monday, March 20th & will be home the evening of March 30th. So I’ll be away & missing you (kind of) next weekend, but of course we will be praying for you every day. Please keep us in prayers too that we may have a safe & enjoyable trip. Deacon Pat & Joan will be running the parish while I’m away (actually Michaela is in charge first), so please feel free to reach out to them for anything you may need while I am away. They will also be taking care of Michaela and I trust they will keep her distracted so that she does not give in to weeping and mourning and the gnashing of teeth in my absence.

I am really excited to tell you about an opportunity you will have to grow in your friendship with Christ and to learn more about the family of the Church to which you belong. The Berigan’s & I have been talking about this for a couple years now, and trying to figure out a way (besides in our preaching), that we can make it clear that faith is not about following rules but about having a personal relationship with God through Christ. We as Catholics have not always been good about stressing this truth, and many are on a mission to get this across now with the strong encouragement of recent popes like Pope St. Paul VI, Pope St. John Paul II & Pope Francis, who call this the “New Evangelization.” It is new because we are not just proclaiming the good news of the Gospel to those who are unbaptized but even to those who have been baptized and have received other sacraments but have never really been “evangelized” in the sense that they have not understood the importance of this personal friendship with God.

As the Lord so often does, he sent people to us in order to answer our prayer for how we can bring this “New Evangelization” to our parish of St. Leo’s. A few weeks ago, the Office Manager came into my office to tell me that there were a couple of young men here to talk to me about some religious program. Honestly, I thought it was a couple of Jehovah Witnesses (whom I’m always happy to talk to!). But I was surprised to learn they were a couple of seminarians from Washington DC & New York City who wanted to talk to me about something called the “Neocatechumenal Way.” You may recognize part of that word as we have the “catechumenate” which is the process through which an adult is baptized and received into the Catholic Church. This word is preceded by “Neo” which means “new” and ends with the word “Way” which is what the Christian movement was called in the early days of the Church. This Neocatechumenal Way is a process through which Catholics share how they came to have a friendship with Christ and so invite others to do the same. It is truly “Catholic” in that it is for everyone (Catholic means universal). It has the official approval of the Popes and the Church. It is something like “Arise” or “Renew” (for those who remember these which we had here at St. Leo’s) in that it seeks to develop a small community within our larger parish community. It has 3 areas of focus: the Word of God, the Liturgy, and Community. A married couple who are leaders in this ministry along with the seminarians will speak at all the Masses the weekend after Easter so you’ll learn more about it in person from them. But there are cards on the tables in the church (& this is also printed in the bulletin) to invite you to “Come and Listen” if you are suffering in some way or wish to deepen your faith. You may even get a personal visit at your home as they go from house to house to invite people to this gathering. Please welcome them & listen to what they offer. They will have one-hour sessions on Tuesdays & Fridays, starting April 18th. More on this later.

Fr. James P. Schmitz