FM's Message | Sunday, February 4th

One of the aspects of our mission in this parish is healing. We say that our mission is to preach and to heal in Salem. That has a specific implication for us, as it challenges us to think about what we say and do across all our programs. In our efforts to evangelize and heal, we must think about to whom we are going with our message. Considering this we are trying to attract more young people to come to know Jesus. When I was a boy, we had a specific way that we catechized and brought people into the church. When I was ordained in 1988, we were already realizing that the methods we were using were not working as well as they use to. In the 90’s and early 2000’s we have come to recognize an important message that has been proclaimed by the last five Popes. Each has said, in their own way, that everyone must first have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ to fully understand what it means to be a disciple and to be someone who attract more people to the church. The process of doing this (attracting others)  is called evangelization.
One great challenge we face is how to evangelize young people and the youth of this city and how to let them know that they are welcome with their questions, wonderings, and challenges. There is a lot of noise in our society and some of it is misunderstanding of the Church, what we stand for and believe. We need to start a dialogue with people about faith and belief in Jesus. One way to attract young people is with beauty. Bishop Robert Barron, Sherry Weddell and lots of others in the church who think about evangelizing start with beauty and then move on to goodness and truth. One beautiful and available practice we have in the church is Eucharistic Adoration. On Mondays, we have been offering this to the parish and now we are planning to open our doors on Saturday evenings starting next week to young people to simply come and sit with Jesus in the beauty of our church before the simple beauty and presence of Jesus n the Eucharist. (we will start with the chapel). We hope to grow this practice and continuously invite more young people into conversations about God, the reality of life today and  introduce them to Jesus and form a more personal relationship. We are sending flyers to Salem State, to local high schools and to youth groups in the hope that from 6:30 to 8:00 PM we can attract people to begin with an experience of Jesus. Join us in praying for and inviting young people to our church with the hope of presenting them to Jesus and have them join is in our faith.
Adoration is an opportunity to sit quietly and to reflect, to wait on a message from Jesus and to pray in a way that allows each person to be heard. It is a popular devotion across the Church from Vatican City in Rome to the most remote places where the church and Eucharist is present. I had a wonderful experience of this in the Altiplano in Peru when I visited there and in a small chapel affixed to a missionary home in Lilongwe, Malawi. Jesus is present to us in all places, and I hope that by making inviting young people to start their Saturday with Him, they might begin to include him in the rest of their lives.
Parents we invite you to come and sit near the back or sit with your children if they are comfortable with you.
Thanks to Christine Williams and the healing team who hosted a watch party on the topic of mental health and faith this past Wednesday. We also were pleased to see parents, grandparents and guardians who were there and received more information and awareness of how faith and therapy might work together. The divine healer works in many ways. We hope this effort helps everyone to think about how to help those who struggle with mental illness and other forms of psychological challenges.
Peace.
Father Murray

Building News. The roof in the chapel foyer has a new stain. I called the roofer who went up and cleaned the roof and discovered a few pieces of broken glass of all things. Apparently, it caused a tear in the lining of the roof. It has been repaired.