Parish Mission 2023:
Encounter!

Encounter!
Come to a powerful parish mission at St. Teresa of Avila Church March 13-15 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.  Bishops David A Zubik and William Waltersheid, Father Joe Freedy, and Brian Kissinger together with musician Noah Pepmeyer will lead us in Encounter: Faith over Fear, a back to the basics experience of our Catholic Faith.  Come and meet Christ on these evenings of prayer and grace. Mark your calendars! Bring your family! Invite your friends!  Get ready to Encounter!

A Dynamic Witness of Mission
to Transform a Parish

The parish as a family of families is the gathering of the members of Christ’s Body the Church in a local area. It makes present the Church as One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic for the people who come to offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice to the Father and proclaim the faith that comes to us from the apostles.

Founded on the Incarnate Word of God and nourished by His Body and Blood, the parish exists to offer adoration and praise to the Holy Trinity through the Eucharistic Sacrifice of Christ and to send the faithful forth to proclaim the Good News of Jesus’ Passion, Death and Resurrection. Members of the parish as missionary disciples go forth to call all people to know and love Jesus Christ, to grow in holiness and to become bearers of Christ to the world.

Today people are immersed in a culture that often ignores God or is even hostile to the Gospel. The world today often is absorbed in materialism, egoism, secularism, relativism and divisive ideologies. Still, people are searching for something that will give meaning and purpose to their lives. They seek someone who will fill what is lacking in their lives and in their souls. Christ, through His Church, gives us the answer to the deepest longings of the human heart. He provides the perfect antidote to what ails us today. Christ gives us Himself and His abundant love and mercy.  Christ is the answer!

We propose a movement to transfigure the parish as a family of families, to allow the holiness and the Good News of Christ into the world today. Just as Jesus was transfigured on the mountain in the sight of Peter, James and John, so, too, every parish as His Body the Church in our families and neighborhoods must be transfigured to be His Body shining forth in His truth, His love and His mercy for the world to see. Each parish must become brilliant, because He dwells with us in His Eucharistic Presence.
 
Let us pray together to begin the transfiguration of this parish into the bright glory of Christ’s love shining forth for all to see.

1. Invitation at the Weekend Masses. At the Masses on Saturday evening and on Sunday, Bishop Waltersheid and Fr. Freedy will preach and invite people to come to the Mission on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening. They will share what the hope is for these evenings and how all is founded on the Presence of Christ in the Church, notably in the Sacraments, and preeminently in the Most Holy Eucharist. It is an invitation you cannot decline, an offer too good to refuse.

2. Monday Night. The Greatest Story Ever Told, Culminating in the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus. This is an exciting proclamation of the basis of the Church’s faith, our faith. It tells us that the deepest needs of our hearts are fulfilled in Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. It’s the revelation of the amazing Father’s love for us in and through His Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit. We will kneel in adoration of Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament, experience His merciful love poured out upon us during a Eucharistic Procession, and receive the infinite riches of His blessing in Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament. This encounter will change your life!!

3. Tuesday Night. Healing and Mercy: The Amazing Gift of Confession. Living in the world, our hearts become wounded by sin. As a result, we can grow distant from the Father’s love and mercy given to us in Christ. Today we so much need the healing and merciful touch of the Savior given to us in the Sacrament of Penance. After the teaching, the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for Adoration, and all will be invited to come back to the Heart of Christ, opened to us in forgiveness and reconciliation, by coming to Confession.

4. Wednesday Night. The Source and Summit of the Church’s Life: The Holy Mass. Tonight our faith in the Real and Substantial Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist will be marvelously renewed. With eyes wide open in faith, we will experience the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus coming upon the altar as He makes His Sacrifice present again at Mass. We find our identity in this Mystery of His Passion, Death and Resurrection. We cannot live without it! The Mass is from 7:00 until 8:30 PM with a Rosary beforehand at 6:30 PM for all who can make it.