Joy can be so inspiring! It can lift our hearts and souls up and so it is part of the reason for our Advent theme. The theme comes from the scriptures of the Advent journey, particularly those from the prophet Isaiah.
This week we hear that a movement comes from the desert, actually long before John the Baptist. From the dryness of the desert comes an inspiring liberation enabling the blind, deaf and lame to overcome their limitations. This is solid grounding for the desert prophet John the Baptist, imprisoned for his radical preaching. He challenges those of his time, and us, to change, and it results in his imprisonment by those who have no intention of changing, reforming or evolving.
When Jesus’ authenticity is questioned by the Baptist from prison via his disciples, Jesus responds with the ultimate fulfillment of what the world is beginning to see and hear – blind people now see, deaf people now hear, lepers are now cleansed, the lame now walk. However, Jesus adds a significant group to experience the ultimate freedom from their limitations. He speaks in a prophetic way about his ultimate mission and impact on the limited human condition. He says the dead are raised! If this isn’t proof of his authenticity to John the Baptist, nothing will be.
We know that John accepts the true nature of Jesus’ identity, undoubtedly relayed back to him in prison through the disciples who directly encounter Jesus. It moves Jesus to claim that there has never been a human man greater than John the Baptist, yet even those least in heaven, those raised up by Jesus into eternity, now have a greatness that is above humanity.
Providing For Our Family’s Future
As is detailed on page 6 of this bulletin, 475 very generous donors have offered pledges and gifts totaling $3,658,000. That leaves $117,000 remaining to reach our financial goal for Providing For Our Family’s Future. I want to thank the 26 very dedicated campaign volunteers, our operations staff, our consultant Community Counseling Services, Campaign Chairs Michael and Melissa Canning, and our Major Gift Chairs Chris and Kathy Abbinante for collaborating on this very important initiative. Please pray that we meet and even exceed our goals.
Strategic Planning
Much of the financial resources that our capital campaign has generated will fund eight Pillars of our current Five Year Strategic Planning effort. You will be hearing more about these Pillars in the coming months. One of the initiatives has also generated a new parish mission statement that is soundly rooted in our current one. Our new Mission Statement is: To empower all to experience and share the loving presence of God through sacramental living, transformative worship, lifelong spiritual growth, and community in service to others.
Two of Our Women Honored
Chris Evon was nominated by our staff and recently received the Christifideles Award from the Archdiocese of Chicago. The Award celebrates the inspiring stories of faith that arise from our continued devotion to Christ, especially with regards to how our faith is expressed in our everyday action actions towards our neighbors. Chris is a ministry lead and has been very influential in creating our One in Love LGBT advocacy ministry. She is very deserving of this Award, and we are so happy to have her as part of our community.
Congratulations to Fremd senior Caroline Cochran who received the Golden Rose award from the Arch Council of Catholic Women this past Saturday at a breakfast at Chevy Chase Country Club in Wheeling. The Golden Rose is awarded to one outstanding young woman from each parish for the practice of her faith through service and ministry. Congratulations also to Caroline’s parents, Lloyd and Maureen.