Saint Michael Parish Newsletter — June 2021

An Inside Look at

What’s Inside: 3

Redefining Love Through the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Welcoming Members “Home” to the Catholic Church

4 Children of Our Parish

and School Receive the

Graces of First

Holy Communion 6

Time: The Foundation of Stewardship

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Faith Carries Parish School Community From Virtual to In-Person Learning

JUNE 2021

Christian Initiation

“B

e sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit” — these are the words the celebrant, most often a bishop, says at Confirmation while signing the confirmand’s head with chrism, an oil also used at Baptism. This is one of three Sacraments of Initiation — as the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist “lay the foundations of every Christian life” (1212).

This past Easter, we welcomed six people into the church through the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist.

Steward for Christian Initiation and Matrimony Andrew Casad enjoys being able to accompany people through the journey of becoming Catholic. Some people attend Christian Initiation classes having never been baptized

and others are preparing for Confirmation and receiving the Eucharist for the first time. The latter group makes a Profession of Faith as part of receiving the sacraments — these are conducted continued on page 2

Christian Initiation continued from front cover throughout the year, usually during a weekend Mass. The Saint Michael process is unique in that people can join at any time throughout the year.

They currently meet virtually every Wednesday night, and each person is matched with an SMP parishioner who serves as a sponsor.

“The sponsors are just people from our parish living out their regular faithful life who are willing to share that with someone,” Andrew says.

During the Wednesday sessions, participants pray, reflect on the Scriptures and learn about various aspects of being Catholic.

Morgan Benson entered into full communion with the Catholic Church at Easter. Morgan visited SMP and Steward for Life Teen Brandon Jones noticed he was new. Brandon invited Morgan to sit with his family and connected him with Andrew to learn more about becoming Catholic.

“Saint Michael is a very welcoming place,” Morgan says. “He had me sit with his beautiful, lovely family, and he showed me what to do.”

That invite by Brandon changed the course of Morgan’s life. Morgan will be the first to admit he has had a tough road, spending time without a home and abusing substances.

“At times, I felt like I was being called by God,” Morgan says. “I didn’t know what to do with any of that.”

Shortly after visiting SMP, Morgan started attending the Wednesday classes. He ultimately entered into the Catholic faith, left his job, and started working at a homeless shelter. He now attends daily Mass as often as possible and finds the Eucharist to be a true source of healing.

“To all those experiencing homelessness and criminality — this doesn’t have to be your life,” Morgan says. “There is a better life — you are loved. Knowing that you are blessed and that the Lord Jesus Christ actually wants to heal you and

love you, it’s a powerful thing. It has really changed me.”

Morgan credits the Wednesday night classes and Andrew’s guidance as part of his conversion.

“Andrew has truly been the greatest blessing to me,” Morgan says. “It helped me, when coming into the faith, to have such clear guidance on how to engage with the Catholic life.”

Everyone has a conversion story, and it has been a blessing to welcome new Catholics into our parish in the past few months. Andrew asks all of us to consider inviting those in your life to attend Mass at SMP — you could change a life. As he recalls, a parishioner once said that we would know we were welcoming enough when every parishioner had sponsored at least one person in their journey to becoming Catholic.

“We’ve had a number of people who invited a friend to come to church, and through that experience, they got to accompany them in the journey of becoming Catholic,” Andrew says.

“To all those experiencing homelessness and criminality — this doesn’t have to be your life. There is a better life — you are loved. Knowing that you are blessed and that the Lord Jesus Christ actually wants to heal you and love you, it’s a powerful thing. It has really changed me.”

— MORGAN BENSON

To learn more about becoming Catholic or serving as a sponsor, please call or email Andrew Casad at 360-292-7127 or acasad@saintmichaelparish.org.

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A Letter From Our Pastor

Redefining Love

THROUGH THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS Dear Parishioners, hat a great joy it is to have this opportunity to share with you in the second edition of our monthly Stewardship Newsletter.

Stewardship, as a way of life and a disciple’s response in following Jesus, has been at the core of our parish’s identity for over a quarter of a century. It is truly at the heart of everything we seek to do in grateful thanksgiving to God’s abundant care and love for us.

There is a beautiful feast in the month of June that is often overlooked. It is the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus which we celebrate on June 11. I have always loved the image of Jesus’ Sacred Heart. I think it goes back to growing up on the south side of Chicago and belonging to Sacred Heart Parish where I went to grade school. The nuns often spoke of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary with such love and devotion.

In our culture today, we think of the heart as the seat of our emotions and feelings, and as more important than our God-given reason. Hence, morality and ethics is often equated to, “I feel this is the right thing to do.” Yet, feelings come and go. We simply can’t depend on our emotions to be reliable and steady guides on their own.

In classical Catholic theology, the heart is considered as an aspect of human life that goes beyond our feelings. It includes our will, where we make our decisions. The heart can be considered the center of our personhood.

In explaining Christian teaching about human nature, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “The spiritual tradition of the church also emphasizes the heart, in the biblical sense of the depths of one’s being, where the person decides for or against God” (368).

We so often equate love as simply an emotion. Love often includes feelings, but true love is more than that. As I have often quoted St. Thomas Aquinas, love is willing the good of the other. Real love is a settled attitude that wants the best for the person being loved. That’s why the Church’s teaching usually uses the term “charity” to distinguish the Christian virtue from the more superficial, popular concept of love.

The Catechism tells us, “Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for God’s own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God. Jesus makes charity the new commandment. By loving his own to the end, he makes manifest the Father’s love which he

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receives. By loving one another, the disciples imitate the love of Jesus which they themselves receive” (CCC, 1822-1823).

This sort of love, this charity is no passing emotion. Feelings alone do not bring one to offer oneself to an agonizing death for the sake of another. No, that sort of sacrificial love comes from a consecrated heart set on more than oneself.

We believe that Jesus is fully human and fully divine. Therefore, His Sacred Heart was involved in His sacrifice on the cross. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus reminds us that God loves us unconditionally. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is the ultimate act of charity, to give His life on our behalf. May we never forget this ultimate act of love of Jesus’ for us.

What kind of loving response to the sacrificial love are you and I going to make in regard to the stewardship of our time (pray), talents (serve) and treasure (give)? Will we allow the Sacred Heart of Jesus to fashion our hearts to be faithful and generous stewards of all that God has given to us?

It is with Jesus’ love in our hearts that we say “goodbye” to Fr. Lou in grateful thanksgiving for his three years of loving us, and “hello” to Fr. Thomas, who will be joining us July 1. How very blessed we are.

I offer this simple prayer that I learned from the sisters at Sacred Heart grade school as a gift to you. Let us pray it together in the days and weeks ahead. “Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, make my heart like unto thine.”

In the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I love you.

Fr. Jim

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Children OF OUR

PARISH AND SCHOOL

Receive the Graces of First Holy Communion O

ver the past year, 43 children from both the parish and school have been eagerly preparing to receive their First Holy Communion. Although sacramental preparation has been different this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the parish has nonetheless worked hard along with parents to prepare their children for the next step in their faith journey.

The parish school has continued to provide sacramental preparation for school students, as usual. For the parish Faith Formation program, some changes have needed to be implemented. In nonpandemic times, the parish uses the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd method — or CGS — for faith formation, a catechetical program for children aged 3-12 based on the principles of Montessori education.

“With CGS, the focal point is that the children encounter and have a relationship with a loving Jesus, who is the Good Shepherd,” says Elizabeth Lyons, Steward for Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

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and Sacramental Preparation. “The foundation of CGS is Scripture and the Liturgy, and everything they do is oriented to those two things, so everything they learn automatically prepares them for the sacraments. It’s hands-on, and the children are really able to ponder, reflect and develop their own understanding of the faith. This way, they can internalize it and make it their own.

“One of the things that makes CGS unique is the designated space for this ministry called the atrium,” she adds. “The spaces are quite extraordinary, and everything is at the child’s level. We have three levels of CGS and an atrium for each one. Level I is for the 3 to 5-year-old child, Level II is for the 6 to 9-year-old child, and Level III is for the 9 to 12-year-old child.”

While the parish was still able to have CGS for a very small number of students, faith formation this year primarily took place virtually.

“We used an online program called Signs of Grace, and parents would do that at home with their children,” Elizabeth says. “The focus is on things

like the Mass, the history of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist, how the sacraments work, and what they mean. It’s been an unusual year, but it’s good that we’ve come to value the Eucharist a bit more. Our hope for the children is that they discover that the Eucharist is the greatest gift they can receive and that they have a desire to come back and receive Jesus in the Eucharist each week.”

An unexpected blessing from the online program was that it allowed parents to step into a larger role in their child’s faith formation.

“With this year, the grace has been that parents had to take initiative and do the work,” Elizabeth says. “We could monitor their progress online, but it was really their work and a huge thing for them to take on. So that was a big change, but many of the parents said they liked the online program and learned along with their child. Now more than ever, our parents have really taken on their role as the domestic Church, and it’s been really neat to see them doing that.”

Another highlight from the year is that the students were still able to attend retreats for sacramental preparation. The retreats were smaller and shorter than usual, but this allowed the children to be able to participate in this special tradition.

“At the retreats, we do a meditation and a presentation,” Elizabeth says. “This year, the focus was on Jesus the Good Shepherd and the Eucharistic presence. The children spent time doing work around these themes. They might copy a Scripture passage, work with various materials, or make some art. This helps them to reflect on what they experienced and what it all means. We then made First Communion banners for their pews and ended with a prayer.”

The school children received their First Communion on Sunday, April 25, at the 9:30 a.m.

Mass; the faith formation children received the sacrament on Saturday, May 15, and Sunday, May 16, with small groups of children receiving at each weekend Mass. Children were seated with their immediate families and up to two guests and followed the parish’s social distancing protocol.

Going forward, Elizabeth hopes that Catechesis of the Good Shepherd can take place in person for all students next year.

“We will still be doing masks and social distancing, but ideally we’ll be able to have the children in there every week,” she says. “We really hope that we can start again, and if our catechists are willing to return, we would love to be able to have regular sessions next year.”

If you would like more information about Catechesis of the Good Shepherd or sacramental preparation at the parish, please contact Elizabeth Lyons at elyons@saintmichaelparish.org or 360-292-7119.

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Time: The Foundation of Stewardship T

he U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has told us that stewardship is part of discipleship and is a way of responding to God’s call in every aspect of our lives. We refer to the three facets of stewardship as “Time, Talent and Treasure,” and when we consider the importance of these three Ts of stewardship, the “time” component comes first by design.

When we talk about stewardship of time, we are referring to prayer time. Prayer is of the utmost importance in a disciple’s life, and it serves as the fertile ground from which the gifts of talent and treasure blossom. Only by spending time in prayer each day and receiving the sacraments are we able to consistently and generously donate our talent and treasure to the Church.

When looking for examples of how to live our lives as disciples of Christ and as stewards of God’s gifts, we can always turn to the great saints of our Church to guide us.

And when it comes to the Stewardship of Time, the life of St. Damien is just one example of how prayer, or “Time,” is the foundation for our lives of stewardship.

Shortly after being ordained a priest, St. Damien volunteered to serve a colony of lepers isolated on the island of Molokai, Hawaii. From May 1873 until his death in 1889 (at the age of 49) St. Damien worked to restore within the lepers a sense of personal worth and dignity.

Although for some time St. Damien took the necessary precautions to ensure that he did not contract leprosy, he knew that physical touch was necessary to communicate his love and concern to those afflicted with the disease. He embraced the lepers, dined with them, cared for them, and anointed them in the sacraments.

With great humility and sacrifice, St. Damien offered his own life in order to save the lives of others.

From where did St. Damien draw his strength? What was the source of his inspiration? “Were it not for the constant presence of our divine Master in our humble chapel, I would not have found it possible to persevere in sharing the lot of the lepers in Molokai,” St. Damien wrote. “The Eucharist is the bread that gives strength...

It is at once the most eloquent proof of His love and the most powerful means of fostering His love in us. He gives Himself every day so that our hearts as burning coals may set afire the hearts of the faithful.”

St. Damien found his strength in the Mass, the greatest prayer of the Church. Prayer was the impetus behind the generosity of this faithful servant of God, and is the fuel that ignites every heart to flame in love.

Without prayer, without the grace that flows from the sacraments, we are incapable of leading lives of service and responding to God’s call!

How much time do you dedicate to prayer each day? One hour? Fifteen minutes? None at all? Before you consider joining a parish ministry or volunteering your talents in service, and before you discern your gifts of treasure to the Church, be sure that prayer is your foundation. Identify a prayer schedule that is manageable. This may entail arising 20 minutes early each day to offer your work to the Lord, or attending daily Mass once a week. Every prayer commitment is unique and personal. Yet, no matter what, this time offering, this dedication to prayer, is the key to serving the Lord with faithfulness, generosity and joy.

When we talk about stewardship of time, we are referring to prayer time.

Prayer is of the utmost importance in a disciple’s life, and it serves as the fertile ground from which the gifts of talent and treasure blossom.

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Faith E

CARRIES PARISH SCHOOL COMMUNITY FROM VIRTUAL TO IN-PERSON LEARNING

very school year is filled with memories, but when our Saint Michael Parish School students leave for summer break on June 11, they will have the joyous — and unique — memory of returning to in-person schooling last January after “going virtual” in April 2020.

“It was complete joy and excitement,” says Principal Connor Geraghty of the students’ return to school after the Christmas break. “Virtual learning was extremely challenging for student engagement and their mental health. They were disconnected socially, and emotionally challenged when they can’t see their friends. Each student who returned wanted to be back and they had a new appreciation of school and their teachers.”

Not only were the students excited to return to school, but their teachers were, as well.

“Each teacher here begged me to do all we could to return,” Mr. Geraghty says.

And the answer was creating teams of teachers and staff to address different areas of the school to safely reopen in person. A logistics team addressed the need for space to allow social distancing, while the health and safety team worked with regulations that would allow students to safely return. The parish facility team took charge of thorough cleaning.

To provide the required space in the classrooms, some of the rooms were transformed.

One room had a door cut in a wall to connect two rooms so a larger class could spread out with a teacher and aide in charge. The library was turned into a second-grade classroom after the secondgrade classroom became the third-grade room.

The multipurpose room became the seventh-grade classroom.

“We looked at how could we make the classrooms safe and best serve the educational and developmental needs of our kids,” Mr. Geraghty says.

There were stations set up for temperature checks, sanitizers were set up throughout the school, and personal protection equipment (PPE) was kept well stocked.

“But we couldn’t do this without the parents,” Mr. Geraghty says. “The parents notified us, and we had zero outbreaks because the parents know the protocol. Everyone diligently following all the quarantine directives is another aspect of making it safe.”

Throughout all the changes and protocols, from virtual learning to in-person school, the mission of Saint Michael Parish School was unchanged — making God first in all we do.

“We had prayers through the day, in the morning, at lunch, and at the end of the day,” Mr. Geraghty says. “To have the students pray inperson is beautiful. Our third grade was praying continued on back cover

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PO Box766 | Olympia, WA 98507-0766 (360) 754-4667 | saintmichaelparish.org facebook.com/saintmichaelparish @smp.olympia saintmichaelparish youtube.com/c/saintmichaelparish

Faith Carries Parish School Community From Virtual to In-Person Learning continued from page 7 the Rosary and they were praying it during Lent. They switched to a different prayer after Lent and stopped the Rosary. One of the new students asked, ‘Can we please keep praying the Rosary?’”

The students understand what it means to be Catholic and cherish the connection they have with one another in their faith.

As an example, our middle school students have been able to draw upon their faith during junior high saints houses, where they shared their ups and

downs experienced throughout the past year.

“They had the lessons of our faith to guide and support them,” Mr. Geraghty says. “That type of expression of faith wasn’t possible in a virtual event.

Now we’re able to support our students through the lessons of our faith when they’re back on campus.”

With this firm foundation of our faith supporting our school, Saint Michael students can also benefit from its outstanding academic program with small classes and caring teachers.

For more information about Saint Michael Parish School, please call 360-754-5131.

WEEKEND MASS SCHEDULE Saturday: Vigil 5pm | Sunday: 7:30am, 9:30am, 11:30am & 5pm.