I’m grateful to everyone who helped prepare our beautiful liturgies for All Saints Day and All Souls Day. The whole month of November is a wonderful time to remember in prayer those who have died, and to give thanks to God for all the blessings in our lives. The people who loved us and helped us find faith in Jesus are some of our greatest blessings. May God reward them with eternal life, and help us become a community that brings the Good News of Jesus Christ to others. Thanks also to everyone who came by the rectory for Halloween; it was a fun night!

Let’s talk about Christmas trees. SJB church and IHM church have a tradition of using artificial trees to decorate, while SSP church has a tradition of using real trees to decorate. One reason that real trees have worked well at SSP in the past is that Fr. Ron had exceptional gifts with plants. Regrettably, I do not share those gifts. (I once turned a plant cutting from a coworker into a mutant monstrosity that began to smell strange.) After consultation with the Transition Team, I’ve decided that either all our churches should use real trees, or all our churches should use artificial trees. But, if we are going to use real trees, we need to use them safely.

So, to have real trees we will need a Tree Team, a group of dedicated volunteers who will buy the trees, monitor them, care for them, take them down, and clean up after Christmas. I think we will need 20 people on the Tree Team, because we need enough volunteers to care for seven trees in three different locations at a time of year when many people go out of town for a few days. So, here’s the plan: If we have a 20-person tree team by Nov. 10, 2023, we’ll order live trees and use them. Otherwise, we’ll buy a set of artificial trees to use this year at SSP church. If you want to be on the Tree Team, email me at [email protected]!

Below is the last question I have left from the survey we did back in August. Your questions are always welcome; one easy way to send me a question is to sign up for our Friday Weekly Update (sent via Flocknote — see below for more information), and to use the “Ask Father Aaron” button. Faith and Bible questions are welcome, too!

What about an ACTS retreat? ACTS retreats (and similar retreats, like CHRP or Cursillo) have been a wonderful help to many parishes. We have some parishioners involved in the Archdiocesan Cursillo program. If you would like to go on a retreat, tell Karen Garcia, our executive assistant, and she will connect you. Running a yearly retreat program like ACTS or CHRP requires a major volunteer commitment from a parish, however. That’s why at the moment, I’m inclined to wait until I have a better sense of what is the best way to go deeper in discipleship rather than start a major program without having a clear vision for the big picture.

Please say a prayer for our Board of Education. They are working hard on the strategic plan for SSP school, which we plan to release on Nov. 17, 2023.

God bless you!