Amazing faith…

While you are reading this, I am with the UMSL Newman Center students on our Awakening Retreat. It is a retreat by college students for college students. Thank you, as always for your prayers during these days. It is a gift to be able to tell the students at the beginning of the weekend that they are being supported in prayer by many people who have never even met them.

I am writing, perhaps, because I want to brag a bit about these ‘kids’ leading the retreat. Every year we have a “Speakers Overnight” about two weeks prior to the actual retreat, in which the 6 speakers ‘give’ their talk to the rest of the group for comment and feedback. The honesty of their talks, the level of reflection and prayer, their willingness to take risks and share appropriately are just amazing. They have given me a lot to think and pray about.

So, if you have ever thought or wondered or questioned whether ‘this younger generation’ ever ‘gets it’ in terms of faith and church and God and life, let me answer that with a resounding YES. Though they take different routes than perhaps you and I did in appropriating their faith, they are still seeking the answers to ‘life, the universe and everything’. And they have found a valid path to those answers in our Catholic faith heritage. If these young adults are any indication, the church is in very good hands as we move forward.

Year end report…

I have had the year end fiscal report on my desk for a little while, and met about two weeks ago with the Finance Council to review the data. The good news is that we were in the black once again. Thanks to your stewardship of the gifts of treasure that God has bestowed on you, we are continuing the mission founded by Anne Lucas Hunt and the Jesuits so many years ago. Depending upon when our webmaster returns from his latest business trip, I hope to have the year end report posted on the St. Ann webpage by Oct. 22 at the latest. You may view it online at the parish website: www.stannchurch-stl.org. (Doing this electronically is another way to be good stewards of the earth as well as your donations.) If you want a paper copy, call Eileen Engelmeyer at the office and she’ll arrange for you to obtain one…