I am very excited to write about and encourage you to participate in our first real Parish Wide Study. Our mission as a parish is to become missionary disciples who strive for holiness. To do so we all need to build healthy and holy habits and choose to become proactive in our own faith formation as individuals and as families. I encourage you to join us in The Search – a 7-week video-based series by the Augustine Institute found on FORMED.org.
If you did not know already, our parish has purchased a subscription to FORMED.org for every registered member of Corpus Christi. FORMED.org is a Catholic streaming service that offers on-demand access to Catholic content for individuals, families, and parishes. The site includes thousands of studies, films, audios, and eBooks from over 40 Catholic content producers. It also offers family-friendly kid’s programming and award-winning studies and parish programs like The Search. Instead of watching YouTube videos to kill time, check out what FORMED.org has to offer you by visiting www.ccc.parish.org to sign up for your subscription.
Our Parish Pastoral Council chose The Search for various reasons, one being its ease for everyone to participate whether it is in a large group setting or at home. The Search is easily digestible as it leads people to the deepest questions that every human wrestles with: the meaning and the purpose of life, by using a visually stunning and thought-provoking approach. Hosted by the dynamic Catholic evangelist Chris Stefanick, we will be guided through seven episodes examining life and death, sorrow and happiness, and science and faith. Astrophysicists, psychologists, astronauts, neuroscientists, professors, athletes, artists, and the awesome beauty of our universe all point to one big conclusion: Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. Each episode averages 30 minutes in length.
For those of you who would like to join with others in the parish, we will gather Thursday evenings beginning September 5 at 6:30 p.m. in Fr. Jim Hall for the large group study. Each night will begin with fellowship, snacks, and drinks, and then we will all gather at tables – each table will hopefully have a facilitator to lead the discussion for that evening’s topic. If you are willing to be a facilitator, please let me know soon so we can provide some helpful hints. We will then watch the video together and then have time for discussion at each table. Discussion questions will be provided. This is a good way to form community and get to know more people at Corpus Christi.
For those not able to join us weekly, or those who need to miss a session or two, everyone will still be able to participate with the entire parish in this study, as they may watch the video at home. Every week we will include an outline and discussion questions in the bulletin and on our parish website to assist those at home.
The Search is for everyone! This is for people in our parish, but I would encourage you to invite your neighbors or friends who might not be Catholic. Our OCIA team and those interested in becoming Catholic who will be in the OCIA will be participating, too. We invite those who are grieving, anyone who is struggling with relationships, their job or school, as well as people who are disconnected from the Church. I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to think of five people who benefit from participating in The Search. Pray for them and extend an invitation to them to join you in attending in person or online; pray for the courage to invite others to join us.
Let’s do this together as we all ask the same questions. All of us search for meaning – for answers – for some peace. Pray for our parish that we may strengthen each other as we join in The Search.
God Bless,
