School Annual Appeal & New Room Names- Sept 23, 2011

This weekend the School will conduct its Annual Appeal. Running a parish school these days is a huge challenge. Between the economy, our secular culture, rising health care costs and myriad other factors, Catholic schools are in peril. However, we here are holding our own with our excellent principal, Maureen Jannetta, her dedicated faculty and staff, and involved parents, all doing a superb job. St. Luke’s has been in existence for 53 years which is quite a feat. With your contributions and prayerful support we will not only survive, but thrive.

At our recent staff meeting we talked about the necessity of organization in the parish. More ministries and groups need space for their meetings. To facilitate our activities, we are trying to get maximum use out of our meeting rooms. One way we are trying to do this is by naming our rooms in the parish hall. The following is what we have come up with:

  Small Conference Room - Jenkinson Room
  Classroom - Conference Room
  Former Youth Ministry Room - Gathering Room

We are having signs made so they can be posted. In addition, in the main room a stand will be created that will list all the meetings taking place during a typical week here in the parish. If you have any questions concerning the use of the parish hall meeting rooms please contact Ann Marie Beccue

Parish Census (Nayatt) continues Oct 15, & New Mass Translation Mission

There are many programs and ministries presently underway here in the parish. I want to draw your attention to two of them. The first is to complete the work of evangelization which was begun in May. There are still two more areas (Nayatt and Sowams) that need to be completed. The date of October 15th has been set for the Nayatt Day of Evangelization/Census. Presently, the Parish Council is organizing these outreaches. Also from October 24 to 26 Father Jeremy Rodrigues from St. Philip’s in Greenville will conduct our parish mission on the new Mass translation. Slowly we will be introducing the various Mass parts to you. The important part of this renewal will be to instill a more active and conscious participation in the Mass. Liturgy is a word that means work. To have good liturgy we all need to be engaged in our responses and singing. Please mark these important dates on your calendar. Fr. Bob Hawkins

September 11th, 2011

This weekend marks the tenth anniversary of the awful events of September 11th. At the time I was ministering at St. Kevin’s in Warwick. What I remember so well were the prayer vigils we had for the victims. So much emotion and faith were on display. In the face of unbelievable evil I made a commitment to do what I could to bring light and hope to others. Over and over the words of Paul kept coming back to me, “Where sin abides, grace abides the more.” We certainly saw so many signs of grace and goodness at Ground Zero. We saw the love of God in the firefighters rushing into burning buildings to save people. So much compassion was displayed by first responders, rescue workers, volunteers, nurses, clergy. This place of death was also a place of grace and even resurrection. For me it demonstrated the depth of the Christian mystery. The place of death became a location for new life. Some called Ground Zero an American Golgotha. So much has changed in our world since 9/11. We are reminded of this every time we fly and have to remove belts and shoes. Security has become a top priority for all Americans. Yet we are only truly safe when we trust in God. In God’s will is our peace as St. Theresa reminds us. As we have started a new parish year may we dedicate ourselves to making our faith community here a better place. We have so much in the way of treasure and talent. Let us not waste it as we take the lessons of 9/11 and bring God’s light to the world. Fr. Bob Hawkins