With the addition of Deacons Dan Ott and Mark Faulkner at the beginning of this year, I transitioned into being semi-retired or part-time. It has been a good transition for me; however, that doesn’t mean that I’m not active at St. Henry. Deacon Dan graciously agreed to take on the Marriage Ministry, and I’m deeply indebted to him. With that said, at six-dozen years old (72), I plan to continue to teach adult faith formation, which I consider to be the ministry where I believe God has planted me here at St. Henry for the next several years. So, I thought I’d share with folks what is coming up for the next “school year” for adults.
First, I will continue to teach many of the OCIA classes with help from Fathers Eric and Thomas. OCIA begins on Wednesday, September 9th, at 6:30 pm in the Fellowship Hall. If you aren’t Catholic and are interested in becoming Catholic, this is the place to be. Also, if you are Catholic and interested in sponsoring a candidate and, at the same time, learn more about your faith, this again is the place to be. Second, I have decided to extend the 3-Year Bible Study for another year. In the Fall, we will study those books of the Catholic Bible that are not in the Protestant Bible, which are called the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books of the Bible. We will have our first session on Sunday, September 27th, at 3:30 pm in the Parish Center Meeting Room. We will be using the book “Invitation to the Apocrypha” by Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. This class will be 9 sessions. At the beginning of 2027, we will study the Acts of the Apostles. Third, I am going to lead a group of folks on a retreat on prayer at St. Meinrad Archabbey and Monastery on November 18-20 in preparation for Advent. Bishop Beckman and I led this retreat a few years ago. Fourth, Father Eric and I will be leading a pilgrimage to Greece on May 21-31 of next year. In preparation for that pilgrimage, I will give a series of talks in the Spring of next year on the places we will visit and connect St. Paul’s Letters and his life to those places to help folks better understand the significance of Paul’s journeys as they relate to our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, with that said, I want to thank everyone who has been willing to attend sessions where I have taught. I can tell you that these classes have deepened my own faith and prayer life. If you are interested in any one or more of these adult faith formation opportunities, feel free to email me at mcatalano@sthenry.org. As we get closer to each of these events, I will be sending out more detailed information.