Saint CATHOLIC CHURCH
Contents: 2 The Challenge of Discipleship
3 There Is Much to
Do and Celebrate in Summer 2022
4 Catholic Charities
Education Center Performing an Essential Community Mission
6 Getting to Know the
“Summertime” Saints
7 Camp Xavier 2022:
Bread of Life An Opportunity for Parish Youth to Grow in Christ
JULY 2022
Welcome Fr. Robert Healey, Our New Associate Pastor
F
r. Robert Healey was in college when he felt the Lord calling him to the priesthood. While he had previously considered it in his early life, it wasn’t until he was in between his junior and senior years that he thought about what this might mean for his life. “In a sense, I have wanted to be a priest since I was a kid, when I was 7, being an altar boy at church,” Fr. Healey says. “I would say that it was during my time in college that the practical implication of the vocation to the priesthood began to gnaw at me.” Born and raised in Tulsa, Fr. Healey proceeded into seminary studies after graduating from Benedictine College. Since his ordination in 2020, Fr. Healey has spent the last two years as the associate pastor at St. Anne Catholic Church of Broken Arrow. Now, he joins us here at St. Francis Xavier as our new associate pastor. continued on page 5
Saint CATHOLIC CHURCH
THE CHALLENGE OF
G
DISCIPLESHIP
od calls us to give Him everything – our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole mind. This is the challenge of discipleship – a lifelong process of more fully placing our lives under the lordship of Jesus Christ. The reason that God can ask such complete service from us is that He made us. Everything we have belongs to Him! This includes our intelligence, our physical ability, our artistic talent, our family, our finances, our government – anything we may typically think of as “ours.” It takes courage to recognize that we are not the masters of our possessions and ourselves. Furthermore, as Christians, we believe that because everything we have is a gift from God, we are called to give Him thanks. We express our thanks by using our gifts to further His kingdom on earth. This is the basis for our understanding of stewardship. We refer to “time,” “talent,” and “treasure” in order to differentiate between the various parts of our life that belong to God. “Time” is the duration of life that God has given us. “Talent” includes the special gifts or strengths God has nurtured in us. “Treasure” is what we have earned through our time and talent. Even though we identify these three aspects of stewardship, they are still part of the same Gospel-based concept. And even when we focus
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separately on these parts, it should not signal that one is more important than the other. Instead, focusing on each aspect one at a time helps us to better concentrate on that area in our lives. Stewardship is, after all, an attitude. If our goal is to become better stewards, we must have a reason in our minds to do so. Here are the basics of a stewardship attitude: “God made everything!” A wholehearted trust that God made all things is essential to understanding stewardship. Recognizing God as the Creator is one of the most basic, profound beliefs of Christianity. “I am truly blessed!” It takes humility in order to truly acknowledge God’s goodness. Every great triumph and every little pleasure is a blessing from above, and every strong character trait we possess is a gift from God. “I believe I am to use God’s gifts for His glory!” What better way to thank God for His goodness than by using our personal gifts to glorify Him? We are not the owners of our time, talent or treasure. But we are caretakers given the responsibility of spreading God’s kingdom on earth.
A LETTER FROM OUR PASTOR
THERE IS MUCH TO DO AND CELEBRATE IN SUMMER 2022 Dear Parishioners,
W
elcome to Summer 2022! As I often say, the summer is no time to rest from our faith, it’s a time to engage more! Between all our summer offerings, there’s a little something (or a lot of something!) for everybody. We are focusing more and more on the Eucharist as the United States Bishops have asked for a “Eucharistic Revival” over the next three years. With that, our Camp Xavier initiative will be focusing on Jesus as the Bread of Life (John 6). From July 23-27, all sixth through 12thgraders are encouraged to join us for a week of food, adoration, and great talks to help us all grow in our faith and to especially draw closer to Christ in the Eucharist. Coming out of a strong belief in the Eucharist, we must reach out to those in need. Stillwater Catholic Charities is accompanying individuals in Payne County to help them both learn English to improve their job prospects and get their GED for the same reason. Headed up by Robin FitzGerald, Stillwater Catholic Charities is housed on the bottom f loor of the Old St. Francis Xavier. Classes are offered at convenient times for the students, and childcare and dinner are provided to help more people take advantage of it. Funded by the generosity of our parishioners, Stillwater Catholic Charities is making a difference! Finally, a warm welcome to our new Associate Pastor, Fr. Robert Healey. Fr. Healey comes to us after two years at St. Anne’s in
Broken Arrow. With a deep love of prayer, the Eucharist, and the saints, Fr. Healey will be a great addition to the parish. Look for him at Mass, in the confessional, and around Payne County as he gets to know us and we get to know him. With the addition of Fr. Healey, we’re changing up our daily Mass and Confession times starting July 1. Fr. Healey can be reached through the parish office and is officially available for weddings, baptisms, house blessings, appointments, home visits, hospital visits, and anything else that priests can do! Welcome to Payne County, Fr. Healey! Let’s have a great July! In Christ,
Very Rev. Brian O’Brien Pastor, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church
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Saint CATHOLIC CHURCH
Catholic Charities Performing an Essenti
Y
oung people all over Catholic Charities also has Stillwater have found a van to pick up students BUILD themselves in situations who don’t have reliable STILLWATER'S that have made it hard to transportation. complete high school. For The Education Center Volunteer with some, their families needed staff would love to offer more CCEOK-Stillwater! them to work, while others class opportunities. Both Our Stillwater Adult Education program may have had trouble with the English and Spanish-speaking needs VOLUNTEERS in a law. Whatever the case, the volunteers are needed to variety of positions and we have... Catholic Charities Education teach classes and perform Morning, Afternoon, and Evening Opportunities Center is there to help folks administrative tasks. Donations We are looking for: Fill out our • GED/HiSET facilitators complete their high school are also needed to continue the Volunteer • ESL facilitators Interest Form degree via the HiSET Exam, work. • Hospitality coordinators • Office assistants -or- CONTACT: Robin FitzGerald which is similar to a GED. The “The parishioners at St. 918-508-7101 • Student recruiters rfitzgerald@cceok.org Education Center offers HiSET Francis Xavier are amazing Exam preparation and English with supporting Catholic as a Second Language (ESL) Charities here in Stillwater,” classes. Staff also provides Robin says. “We also have a variety of career services. The Education amazing, wonderful volunteers who make all of Center is located at the former St. Francis this possible.” Xavier Church at 601 S. West, Stillwater. Robin came to Catholic Charities after a Robin FitzGerald started working at Catholic spring 2021 religious retreat called Cursillo. Charities in November 2021. She and her Deacon Kevin Sartorius, CEO of Catholic husband, Mike, who also works for Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma, was helping Charities, are parishioners at St. Francis lead the retreat. Robin had met Deacon Kevin Xavier. Robin feels so blessed to be doing this when Mike started at Catholic Charities, but work to help people advance their education. she did not know him well. At the time of the “When people pass the HiSET Exam, they retreat, Robin was working at a job she loved. are so thrilled,” Robin says. “They can’t wait to But at Cursillo, she felt a tug to do something go and do something positive.” different. That tug, along with getting to Recently, as Catholic Charities has been know Deacon Kevin, led Robin to her current doing important work for Afghan refugee position. It was a perfect fit because, at her resettlement, the Education Center’s mission former employer, Robin often hired employees has continued as well. Classes have been who had gone through the HiSET preparation offered there since late 2019. There are various classes at the Education Center. HiSET preparation class times for both English “I felt the Lord calling me to serve Him fulland Spanish speakers. In addition, free time,” Robin says. “I thought, ‘Wow, I wasn’t childcare is offered for some of the classes. expecting that.’” 4
future
s Education Center al Community Mission St. Francis Xavier is the main financial support for Catholic Charities in Stillwater. But lately, more area churches have been donating. Mike and Robin agree that working with Catholic Charities has blessed their lives, and they encourage others to volunteer. “It’s offering Christ’s merciful love to those who suffer,” Robin says. “When you start doing this work, the Holy Spirit catches you. We also
say that the Holy Spirit is our best director of volunteers.” Down the road, Mike and Robin hope to offer more services to help those in need throughout Stillwater and the surrounding areas. “There is a need to expand our work to serve the poor,” Mike says. “I say ‘stay tuned’ — we look forward to being able to offer more services.”
If you would like to get involved with Catholic Charities, please contact Robin FitzGerald at rfitzgerald@cceok.org.
Parish Welcomes Fr. Robert Healey continued from front cover
When he arrived at St. Anne, Fr. Healey says he didn’t know what to expect, but his time was very blessed. “It is overwhelming the way the Lord has showered graces and blessings on me,” Fr. Healey says. There are two aspects to his early priesthood that Fr. Healey has most cherished — saying Mass and hearing Confessions. Being in the confessional as both a confessor and confessee has been an incredible experience for him, having even gone to Confession with a fellow brother seminarian once he had been ordained. “To have the experience of going to Confession, telling my own sins to another priest, then being on the other side, and hearing from the confessional — it was so powerful,” he says.
Fr. Healey is excited to continue his priesthood at his new assignment here at St. Francis Xavier. He continues to look forward to whatever the Lord has in mind, as the assignment itself comes from God. “Holy orders are not just a human order, it’s God doing this Himself,” he says. “I’m very excited to get to know people and be able to draw them towards the Lord as much as I can, with my strengths and knowledge and experiences I’ve had.” On a more personal level, some “fun facts” about Fr. Healey are that he enjoys music, sports, camping, hiking, and kayaking. He also achieved the rank of Eagle Scout as a Boy Scout. When he was in college, he also wrote a stage musical that he performed with some of his friends. He has devotions to many saints, but St. Therese of Lisieux holds a particularly special place in his spiritual life. 5
Saint CATHOLIC CHURCH
GETTING TO KNOW THE
“SUMMERTIME” SAINTS
S St. Christopher
St. Joseph of Cupertino
St. Brendan the Navigator
St. Adjutor of Vernon
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chool is out, and summer is now in full swing. The days are longer, warmer and filled with plenty of fun summertime activities. This summer, as we take family vacations, gather with friends and loved ones for barbecues, spend time by the pool, and enjoy all of the usual summertime activities, we can also take the time to reflect on some of the saints who are associated with the summer. Family vacations are perhaps the most iconic of all summertime activities. Although there is no patron saint of vacations, there are a number of saints associated with traveling. One of the most popular is St. Christopher. According to his story, St. Christopher was an extremely tall and strong man who served Christ by helping people cross an especially dangerous river. That is why many people wear St. Christopher medals while traveling — to ask for his blessing and protection. For those of us who are taking road trips this summer, there is St. Frances of Rome, the patron saint of cars and drivers. While St. Frances died well before cars were invented, her story says that her guardian angel went ahead of her when she traveled at night and lit the road with a lantern to keep St. Frances safe. There are also saints we can look to when traveling by plane. St. Joseph of Cupertino was a Franciscan friar who is said to have frequently and miraculously levitated off the ground during intense prayer sessions. Because of this levitation, he is recognized as the patron saint of air travelers. St. Therese of Lisieux is also associated with aviators and flying. If you are going on a cruise this summer, you can ask for the intercession of St. Brendan the Navigator, an Irish monk who founded the Clonfert monastery and monastic school, and is the patron saint of mariners and sailors. He and his brothers sailed the Atlantic Ocean and evangelized on a number of islands, and may have even reached the Americas. Another favorite summer activity is swimming. Whether you choose a pool, a lake or the ocean, seek the intercession of St. Adjutor of Vernon, a knight who was captured in the First Crusade. His captors tried to force him to give up his faith, but St. Adjutor escaped by swimming to his freedom. For this reason, he is the patron saint against drowning, and for drowning victims, sailors and swimmers. The summer is also a time of amusement and enjoyment. One of the biggest national celebrations of the summer is the Fourth of July. For this type of summertime activity, we look to St. Barbara, the patron saint of fireworks. There are also a number of saints with feast days during the summer. The feast day of St. Anne, the mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus, is celebrated on July 26. July 31 is the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who is also associated with stewardship. These are just two of the many saints whose feasts we celebrate this summer. No matter what kinds of activities we choose to enjoy during the summertime, let us remember to honor the saints who have gone before us, and give their intercession for us as we walk through our own journeys of faith.
Camp Xavier 2022: Bread of Life An Opportunity for Parish Youth to Grow in Christ
S
t. Francis Xavier is excited to host Camp Xavier for the youth of our parish later this month! Along with Steubenville and our annual summer mission trip, Camp Xavier offers a valuable opportunity for our youth to continue formation during the summer while growing in faith and community. “We are looking forward to this year’s theme of Camp Xavier, ‘Bread of Life,” says Ashleigh Martin, Director of Youth Ministry at St. Francis Xavier. “We spend the school year growing in faith, but Camp Xavier is an opportunity for us to deep dive into a particular topic of the faith with our youth and really engage them on a deeper level about that topic.” This year our youth — incoming sixthgraders through graduated 12th-graders — will have the opportunity to deeply encounter the Eucharist. Each evening, July 23-27 from 6 to 9 p.m., our youth will gather for dinner, games, talks, discussion, and adoration. “We hope diving into the Eucharist this year will give the kids the tools to go out and evangelize because they grow in the continued on back cover
“We spend the school year growing in faith, but Camp Xavier is an opportunity for us to deep dive into a particular topic of the faith with our youth and really engage them on a deeper level about that topic.” — ASHLEIGH MA RTIN, DIR ECTOR OF YOUTH MINISTRY
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Saint CATHOLIC CHURCH St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church 711 N. Country Club Rd • Stillwater, OK 74075 Web: www.SFXStillwater.org Phone: (405) 372-6886
Camp Xavier 2022
continued from page 7
knowledge and love of the faith,” Ashleigh says. “Each year we choose a different topic and our youth really love learning more about a particular aspect of our faith.” Each night will end with time in adoration and confession, a unique opportunity for the youth to bring all that they have heard and discussed over the evening to the feet of our Lord in prayer. As they encounter the beauty of the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, they will grow and deepen their faith. “I love how we end each night with adoration and confession,” Ashleigh says. “It ensures we end each evening with meaningful prayer and caps off the insights of the night by spending time in front of the Eucharist.” Although Camp Xavier does have a $10 registration fee, dinner each night and a t-shirt are included for each child. Ashleigh also encourages any parishioners that might find that cost to be a burden to contact her to discuss other options.
With only a few weeks until the start of Camp Xavier, we invite all families with children in sixth through 12th grades to consider signing up for this week of fun, community and faith. Registration can be found on our website under the “events” tab. If you would like to volunteer to help feed the youth at Camp Xavier, please email Ashleigh Martin at ashleigh@sfxstillwater.org.
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