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St. Anthony’s has not had a Parish Mission in many years and has never had a parish mission like the one that we had this year! A Parish Mission is a special event that fosters spiritual growth by:
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emphasizing our individual relationship with the Lord,
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creating a deeper sense of our parish community,
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calling forth a greater awareness of service to others.
A Parish Mission is a series of presentations connecting ordinary life with a real, living, active faith in God. Each session was different, and each consisted of prayer and an inspirational message from our guest presenter, Mke Patin. It was a grace-filled happening, an opportunity to experience in a special way God’s presence among us. It was a unique opportunity to reach out to serve people in need as we work together on a parish outreach project.
Our parish mission was led by MIKE PATIN, a husband, dad, and popular Catholic speaker from Lafayette, LA. Mike used energy, humor and stories to affirm the goodness of God’s presence among us while inviting people to take the next step in their faith journey. He has spoken in over 115 dioceses in the United States and Canada, with groups ranging from 10 to over 20,000. He explored the theme of our parish mission, Gathered as One, touching on our upward, inward and outward relationships, both personally and in community. Mike invited us to look upward toward our relationship with God and to know more deeply God’s love for us, inward into the heart of our relationships with family and those we love and outward toward our care for others and how we make a difference in the world sharing God’s love.
Wherever you are on your journey with the Lord, whether you feel like a valued part of this parish or you feel like a Catholic who may have drifted away, this was an invitation to develop a deeper individual relationship with Jesus Christ as well as grow in appreciation for what is unique about the Catholic faith. A parish mission can foster healing in our lives and relationships and a better understanding of our families and our brothers and sisters in Christ.
If you have abandoned the faith of your youth, the mission was for you. If you have been on-again, off-again in the practice of your Catholic religion, the mission was for you. If you have wondered what is going on the Church today, the mission was for you. If you have been faithful to your Catholic duties, the mission was for you. If you feel you need to know more about how to pray, the mission was for you. If you judge yourself to be in need of spiritual growth, the mission was for you. If you are a sinner or a saint or somewhere in between, the mission was for you. The mission was for everyone, but especially for you.
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