Our celebration of Easter continues today with the observance of Divine Mercy Sunday. Have you ever prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet? It’s a wonderful prayer, like the rosary but simpler. If you’d like to experience this prayer, there are lots of videos online to guide you.
I like this one for how it shows the simplicity and beauty of this prayer.

Now that we are done with Lent, I’m going to go back to talking about opportunities, business, and news connected to our parish in my weekly columns. Still, I’d love to have your feedback on the experiment I tried for Lent, where we used my weekly column for bonus content connected to our message series on sacrifice. What did you think of the experiment? Did the columns help you understand sacrifice more deeply? Should we try that experiment again sometime?

I want to share with you something wonderful that happened in our parish. On Feb. 27 our three quilting groups came together for lunch. It was a wonderful gathering, with fellowship and fun, making some new acquaintances and seeing old friends. I am so grateful to our quilters for showing everyone how we can bring together different parts of our parish community around a common interest for the good of everyone. Best of all, our wonderful quilters took this step on their own initiative! They are an example for all of us.

But wait — there’s more! When one of our quilting group’s rooms flooded after a pipe break, the other two groups invited the flooded-out ladies to join them until all was put in order. They’ve also been coming to visit and quilt together on other occasions, and they’ve decided that they’ll share materials and order supplies together. Two of the groups combined their quilt raffles, and the third has come to help them work on the quilts for the raffles.

Beyond the quilters, we have other groups in our parish also making progress on getting to know each other and working together. That’s a gift for which I’m grateful — to them, and to God.

How can the many organizations in our parish better work together? I’d love to see other organizations explore the path that our quilters took. Back in August, we told all our organizations, “Keep doing the good work you have been doing!” And that general pattern has served us well. At the same time, we want to continue growing in unity as a parish and — most of all — unity rooted in our parish mission and vision. How can our organizations work together for the sake of our mission? Everything we do at SSP parish in our school and on our three campuses should connect back to our mission: “Love God. Love Others. Make Disciples.” What’s the place of our organizations in pursuing our parish vision: “Become a thriving parish community of growing disciples of Jesus Christ in South Saint Louis.” That will take all of us working together.

Over the next few months, we’ll have a few initiatives to start conversations on this topic, to think about what the future of our parish organizations could look like, and to take some practical steps to set us up for success in our second year as a united parish.

First, next Saturday, April 13, 2024, at 9 a.m. in the St. John the Baptist Parish Center, we’ll have a listening session focused on parish organizations and events. It’s open to everyone, whether you lead or belong to one of our groups or not. Bring your ideas on how our parish organizations support our parish mission and vision. What’s been going well, and what could we change to do better?

Second, during April I’ll talk with parish staff about what organizations should be expect from our parish, and what our parish should expect from organizations. I’m grateful for our hardworking parish staff; they help us in many ways. I hope clearer expectations will let our staff succeed in the projects that most impact our parish’s future.

Third, during May and June, we’ll put together our parish calendar for the coming fiscal year, July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. This week, Stephanie Wobbe will send a form to all organization leaders to gather desired dates and spaces for regular meetings, events, and activities during that time frame. Please take time during the month of April to work with your team or membership to determine these dates and locations for the coming year. You will have until May 6 to send the form back to Stephanie. We'll then put together a draft calendar of all parish, school, and organization events. If needed, we'll make contact with the affected organizations to sort out any conflicts that arise. Just to be clear: we are starting from a blank slate for this new parish calendar. If you have events or meetings you want on the calendar, you’ll need to tell us. Please don’t assume that because your group has always done a certain event or used a certain time and place for meetings, we’ll be saving that space for you.

God bless you, and please pray for our parish.