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September 2020 View this email in your browser Here at OLG our  High School Youth Ministry (anyone who has been confirmed in 8th-12th grade) is meant to engage young people where they are at in their journey to respond to the ultimate call of all of our lives: the call to be an intentional disciple of God.  In all of our ministires we bring the Gospel to young people by the art of living well - and it begins and ends with Christ. There are so many places here at OLG for everyone to get involved in order to share their gifts.  Contact us today to see where God is calling you! Our mission to Make Jesus Known and Loved hasn’t changed during these unprecedented and critical times.  Certainly it looks different, but our mission remains the same.  Please continue to live our mission with your prayers, service to others, and financial support.  Donate now.  THANK YOU!  LifeNight's are a mixture of faith and fun, and are open to everyone who is in high school! Each LifeNight has a fun game, a testimony or teaching about a different topic of our faith, discussion, and closing prayer. At LifeNights you will be able to talk about a variety of issues and experiences with friends and young adult leaders so that together you can grow in faith and discover how a relationship with God will help you have the best life possible! This is an incredible time to connect with friends and God in the midst of our busy lives. Check out our calendar for the 2019/2020 School Year!  Register HERE!  Can’t make our LifeNights on Wednesday night? Don’t worry! We have another option! On our Wednesday night LifeNights we will record our teaching and prayer of the night. Then on the following Thursday evening we will watch the video together over zoom, and have our SG online! Our Online LifeNights has resources, activities, and links to help our youth take that next step in faith right now, at home, or on the go! See more here... Making Jesus Christ Known & Loved: A Parish Update Greetings! I have some updates regarding the life and mission of our parish community. As we begin a new year of ministry in our church and school, I have chosen the theme Just Offer Yourself (JOY). This is the joy that comes when we’re where God wants us to be. It is knowing that I am present to God, and that God is present to me and at my side. It is knowing that God died for me, and desires that I might dwell with him for all eternity. It is knowing God. Joy—a fruit of the Holy Spirit. So ask God for this gift. Not the joy that comes from drinking too much coffee; rather, seek the joy that comes from being with God. Experiencing this joy comes from living like Christ, who offered himself on the cross. When Jesus shared with his disciples his desire for their “complete joy,” he did so hours before his own Passion and Crucifixion. Who wants to have that joy that no one can take away from us, not even COVID-19? “I've told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete.” (John 15:11) Our mission remains the same: making Jesus Christ known and loved. It is why we are here. OLG exists to help others to know the love and kindness of God. This is the reason OLG has all the ministries that we have. This is the reason we celebrate Sunday Mass. It is also the reason we continue to improve our ministries, grounds and facilities. It drives our continued existence as a parish. Our mission can sometimes seem hindered. And, certainly, during these last months as our world lives under the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic and social unrest, we as a parish community have had to pause, pivot, adjust and rethink our ministries many times. Our methods have adapted, but our mission remains steadfast. Amidst all the obstacles of life, there's a temptation to simply stop, to put our head in the sand and pretend the world doesn't exist. Yet that isn’t how Christ lived, nor how he would want us to live. Rather, like Christ, let us continue to engage our mission at this time with generosity, prudence, humility, creativity, kindness, trust in God’s providence, deep faith, hope, love and, above all, joy. In Christ, Father Kevin Finnegan Pastor P.S. A few weeks ago the full staff of Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church & School gathered for a Mass and Prayer Service commissioning us to the mission of making Jesus Christ known and loved in the year ahead. What follows is taken from the “State of the Parish” presentation that I shared with them. See more here!  Do you have a bounty of produce? Are your neighbors tired of the extra zucchini? Then bring your bountiful produce to Our Lady of Grace in a bag or box by Tuesday morning and put it on the “Produce Cart” in the Commons. We will take your fresh produce to a local food shelf to add homegrown nutrition to the items VEAP or STEP can purchase. Your produce need not be picture perfect, it only needs to be fresh and good to eat. We will continue collecting produce through at least the end of August. For an added bonus, bring your favorite recipe with your produce. Your hungry brothers and sisters will bless you and your green thumb! Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* Our mailing address is: *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list *|IF:REWARDS|* *|HTML:REWARDS|* *|END:IF|*

Service Opportunity!

Many of our neighbors are experiencing food insecurity (hunger) as a result of the pandemic and civil unrest that has plagued the Twin Cities in recent months. To help keep them from going hungry, Our Lady of Grace has begun asking for sandwiches.  Please bring individually wrapped simple sandwiches to the OLG kitchen by 10:30 on any Tuesday or Thursday.  The sandwiches can be meat and cheese, meat, or peanut butter and jelly.   If you don’t want to make sandwiches, but still want to help, you can    bottled water to the kitchen by 10:30 on any Tuesday or Thursday. Thank you for participating in this important ministry of feeding your neighbors!

We need YOU for our Highschool Core Team!

Greetings all!

This is Veronica Whelan, I am the High School Youth Minister here at OLG. It’s that time of year that we are looking for people who are looking to make a difference, and we would love for you to join us. We need you to help us to make a difference in our community, in high schoolers lives, and their families.

We aren’t looking for volunteers. We are looking for people who want to help us make Jesus Christ known and loved. 

Our youth would love for you to share your gifts with this ministry the next year or several years. One of this biggest things that I can ask of you is to pray about this invitation.          

On September 2nd from 6:30 - 8PM you are invited to spend an evening discerning with us where God might be calling you! This is an informational meeting and dinner will also be served. This upcoming year we have both in person and online ministry opportunities that we will be going over as well.

If you would like more information or to RSVP for our Informational night just fill out the form below.

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Adult Core Team with the Our Lady of Grace Adult Core Team is a community of adults who commit each year to serve as youth ministry leaders here at OLG.

Together they:

• Serve in OLG small group ministry (either monthly or weekly) 

• Assist in the planning and leading of high school and middle school retreats

• Discern and Implement the vision for youth ministry at OLG

• Call and Invite young people to the love of Christ with the Catholic Church

• Welcome, mentor, and inspire the teens of this community

• Grow in knowledge and love of the Catholic Church 

Adult Core Team Requirements:

• Have a deep love for Jesus Christ and His Church

• Be 21 years of age

• Have a current background check on file 

• Attend and be up to date on their Virtus training 

• Sign the volunteer code of conduct 

Baccalaureate Mass

Please join us for a Baccalaureate Mass celebrating our graduating Seniors! All area high school graduates and their families are welcome on Wednesday, August 12th at the 5:30PM Mass.

This will be a Catholic mass but anyone from any faith background in area schools is welcome to participate. After Mass there will be a small reception with a special gift for seniors and door prizes of dorm room must have!  

This will be a memorable evening for all and send our youth off to their next adventure covered in the prayers of our parish family.  

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SPO invite

Attention incoming college students!
Meet new friends before you even arrive on campus

As you prepare to move on to your next phase of life, don’t leave your faith behind. Your college campus experience may look a bit different this fall. SPO would like to help you prepare for your first year by offering a networking opportunity with other Catholic students on your campus. By filling out this form we'll be able to place you into a group of other young men or women who also are looking for college to be everything it’s meant to be. If you are someone who doesn't want to put life on pause this summer but make the most of preparing for the fall semester, then we'd love to have you. Small groups are forming now! Complete the online form to be connected with other faith-filled young adults or email info@spo.org. For more information on SPO, visit spo.org.

Weekly LifeNight!

Since we can’t meet each Wednesday for LifeNights… join us on Zoom!

Contact Veronica Whelan at veronicawhelan@olgparish.org
for the Zoom Code.

Last Wednesday we had our first Online LifeNight and it was amazing!

“I had so much fun; I was so inspired by the Lectio that you lead and I still feel touched today! I had such a great time, and I feel so blessed to be apart of such a holy, awesome, community! Thank you again for a wonderful meeting; all the time and care you put into each meeting means the world to everyone! Thank you again and God Bless!” - Alanna H.

Weekly LifeNight!

Since we can’t meet each Wednesday for LifeNights… join us on Zoom!

Contact Veronica Whelan at veronicawhelan@olgparish.org
for the Zoom Code.

Last Wednesday we had our first Online LifeNight and it was amazing!

“I had so much fun; I was so inspired by the Lectio that you lead and I still feel touched today! I had such a great time, and I feel so blessed to be apart of such a holy, awesome, community! Thank you again for a wonderful meeting; all the time and care you put into each meeting means the world to everyone! Thank you again and God Bless!” - Alanna H.

Laudato Si’ Week: May 16-24
Laudato si’, the Pope’s encyclical letter on care for our common home will soon be marking its 5th anniversary of publication. This is the perfect time to coordinate a small group or individual study of that letter and learn how we can all become better stewards of all of God’s creation.

“Minnesota, Our Common Home” is a easy to understand resource from the Minnesota Catholic Conference, which translates the teachings of Laudato si’, into a local context. It proposes that our identity in Christ is one that is woven into a fabric of relationships—with God, with our bodies, with our families, with our communities, and, indeed, all of creation. Fostering right relationships is the essence of what our popes call “integral ecology,” and the document invites all people of good will to consider how these principles apply in their daily lives as sons and daughters of God.

“Minnesota, Our Common Home” is a great educational resource that can be studied from the comfort of your own home. It can be used individually, by families, or even by teachers who are looking for content to provide to their students who are learning at a distance.
 
View online, download, or order copies by visiting: MNCatholic.org/OurCommonHome.