It is a great honor for our school to participate and support our local charity through donations to Cross Roads. We are reminded with Proverbs 11:25 that “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed” and that is a message that we would like to share with our youth. This is an opportunity that we share in building a practice of giving hearts and working to provide for those who are in need, both with material and spiritual gifts. May the blessings of this season of generosity surround you all! OLR SCHOOL NEEDS A PART TIME LUNCH/RECESS SUPERVISOR! (See Parish Bulletin for details)

We are so thankful for the love and support that Our Lady of Refuge community has given to the programs and initiatives we have had throughout the years. It is important for us to continue to grow together in faith and love. Here are two great opportunities for us to support Our Lady of Refuge!

Pope Francis has asked for this Sunday, the Feast of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, to also be a celebration of youth and young adults. We want to recognize, appreciate, and encourage all the young people in the parish – everyone from age 12 to 39 – so I can say at least the pope thinks I’m still young! For all the contributions you make to the community and your families, we offer our heartfelt thanks and support as you continue to walk the path with Jesus.

I wanted use this week’s article to remind and invite you to some events happening next summer, so you can pray about attending, plan, and prepare. The National Eucharistic Congress will be held from July 17-21 in Indianapolis, Indiana at the Lucas Oil Stadium. This event is the first Eucharistic Congress to be held in 83 years.

Annual Parish Report. In this week’s bulletin you will find a summary report of the finances and general statistical information for the parish. The report covers the fiscal year from July 1, 2022-June 30,2023. While I am not familiar with some of the detail of the report, it stands as an expression of the generosity of the people of the Parish and an expression of the faith life of the parish.

Thanksgiving Day Mass. On Thursday of this week we celebrate Thanksgiving Day and I invite your participation at the celebration of the 9:00 am Mass when as a parish we give thanks. Amidst the many rituals we have in our society for thanksgiving day we need to take time to thank God for the many blessings we have received.

Great things are happening here at OLR and I wanted to fill you in on a few of them! We have started our evening food pantry hours, our Christian Service team is hosting our annual Turkey Harvest Wagon, our OCIA team has welcomed 5 new people to our weekly meetings, the Community Engagement Team begins meeting this week (if interested email me at dkennedy@olorcc.org), Tim is hard at work organizing our Youth Choir for our Christmas Celebrations (see bulletin for details), our Advent Wreath Candle Lighting is approaching (sign up sheet in the Narthex), and in January we will reopen the Upper Room and welcome our young people back to youth group!