Weekly bulletin column from our Pastoral Associate, Margo Morin

This past Thursday we celebrated the Feast of the Ascension. The Gospel scenes from Matthew and Luke are similar, and along with the account in the book of Acts, all are a good reminder that we are not meant to sit at home waiting for Jesus to bring others to us. In the past, it did work that way for the Church; people came to the Church without our having to do anything to invite or attract them. But in our modern times, we are called to hear the missionary call and go out as the apostles did. Salem is diverse in its population and spiritualities. We seek to offer a message of hope and healing in the person of, and personal relationship with, Jesus. In the last few weeks, we have hosted outdoor Masses, and this is certainly one way to get the attention of passers-by. We have also hosted a neighborhood meeting with the mayor, the interim chief of police, and many citizens to discuss the issues that concern them. We have our online courses, Masses, and presentations. In each of these experiences, we have an opportunity to pique the interest of those participating and those observing from the outside who may be looking for something. We want it to be known that we are part of the neighborhood and want to help bring healing and welcome beyond our church walls. We want to show our concerns are for the whole city, and not just our parish. This past year, we’ve worked hard to meet people where they are, as Jesus did, and this has been helped through our web-based programming. We want to invite people to know Christ, first through us and then to enter into a personal relationship with Him. Another way we can witness to the power of Jesus in our lives is to take the Pentecost Challenge: At Mass next Sunday (around the homily time), I’ll invite you to come to the front of the stage if you’ve experienced the Holy Spirit active in your life this past year. We want to praise God for this. We will also want to be able to see, in a concrete way, the spiritual growth in our parish. If Mary, Queen of the Apostles can continue to raise up those whose lives have been touched by God and celebrate that, I am sure that God will continue to send us more and more disciples. The week after Pentecost, we will begin Ordinary Time. This is the time for us to go out to the whole world and announce the Good News. In our parish, we invite people to know God through the Alpha program, and thru online and (eventually) in-person programs that outline a path to Jesus, a life of growing and deepening discipleship in faith, and a call to serve in the various ministries in the parish. As we continue to move toward more relaxed protocols, I invite each of you to take the opportunity to embrace a ministry. I also ask everybody to experience Alpha in the next year’s time, so that as a community we can begin to promote this program for everybody and to help those who are searching to find God in an adult, conversational-style setting. The more people who experience Alpha, and in turn, use this as an introduction to a dialogue of faith to help others, the better we will be at bringing souls to Christ. Are there other methods? Sure —and we are going to ask the Holy Spirit to help us in all things —but right now, we need everybody on board to help with the mission. This is the mission that the whole parish is called to, and I hope everyone will join us. Peace, Fr. Murray

Someone at Mass this morning asked me “Is this the 27th Sunday of Easter?” and I had to admit, it does seem like we’ve been in this season a while now… one more week of John