OLG YP Grace Retreat

What: YP Grace Retreat

Where: Alverna Conference Center and Chapel of St. Mary of the Angels - 1175 W. Wabasha, Winona, MN

Who: OLG Young Professionals (ages 21-35)

20 women and 20 men

When: Friday, October 28 7:00 PM – Sunday, October 30 12:00 PM.

Cost: $180

(Full and partial scholarships are available.)

Description:

Join us and bring a friend to our second year of coming to know the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit on our Young Professional Grace Retreat. Take time on retreat to pray, relax, adventure, spend time outdoors, and grow closer to God and others. The weekend is spiritually filling, a step away from the pace of life, and there is enough time to settle in at home Sunday night and get ready for the week ahead. It’s a blessed retreat – but don’t just take our word for it. Here is what two of last year’s participants had to say:

·         “The retreat blessed me with the chance to defer to the direction of our Lord with my time and attention, and I’ve never felt closer to Him. I came back from retreat rejuvenated and with a new commitment to prayer. Not every retreat will be fundamentally life changing, but it certainly was for me, and I cannot recommend the Grace Retreat enough. Opportunities to be with other young adults freely pursuing the Lord together with no distractions are exceedingly rare, but always worth participating in.” – Anonymous

·         “The time that the retreat afforded for prayer and reflection in adoration while tuning out the rest of the world was a blessing. The comfort of being in His presence with no worries and anxiety allowed me to go into those dark areas of my heart and let God give them light. The beautifier from this was taking these reflections into confession and receiving God's grace to begin healing. I am sincerely grateful for the experiences of the retreat and would say that it is a must to go on if you're able, especially in today's world.” - Anonymous

·         80% of last year’s participants strongly recommend the Grace Retreat to others.

·         100% walked away believing that Jesus is someone they can be in a relationship with and know personally and intimately.

If you’ve been looking to take a step in faith, we invite you to take that step on retreat with Our Lady of Grace Young Professionals from October 28-30.

OLG YP Spring Retreat

What: Spring Retreat – OLG YPs

Where: Alverna Conference Center and Chapel of St. Mary of the Angels - 1175 W. Wabasha, Winona, MN

Who: OLG Young Professionals (ages 21-35)

When: Friday, May 13, 7:00 PM – Sunday, May 15, 12:00 PM

Cost: $175

Description:

Sometimes you feel the need to get away. Why? It’s written on your heart. You don’t have to read far into the Gospels to see that even Jesus went away to a lonely place to pray (Mark 1:35). Is a retreat necessary to imitate Jesus? By no means. But it may be the way back to a life centered on Christ and directed toward Love.

Jesus says, “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:31)

Join us in recentering our focus on the Kingdom of Heaven.

Virtual Papal Audiences

Join Pope Francis for his Papal audiences and liturgies through April and May 2020 on the official Vatican News website!

At the conclusion of the Papal audiences, the Holy Father will lead the faithful in the prayer of the Our Father and then impart his Apostolic Blessing, which extends to all persons watching through means of the media as well as to the religious objects they desire to have blessed.

LIVE at The Harbor!

A Message to Young Professionals from Fr. Kevin Finnegan: OLG Needs Your Help

Good afternoon!

We are so excited to welcome our parish family back to Mass. As we prepare to reopen our church for Mass, we are working diligently to adhere to and implement the guidelines set forth by the Governor’s Office, the Archdiocese and the MDH. Gathering together to celebrate as a wider community presents more unique challenges than just social distancing. Following all the protocols that we have received will require continued flexibility. To welcome people back safely and with great joy, we need your help.

While the invitation to minister is always open to all age groups, the information which we currently have advises that our more senior parishioners stay home and continue to participate in Mass through our live stream Mass. We know that many of our ministry groups are currently staffed with more “long-term” parishioners. We also know that a fair percentage of people, senior or not, are not going to return to public Mass at this time, which severely depletes our ministry ranks. Perhaps you have not realized what safe standards for our church mean in terms of personnel.

We are looking to our younger demographic (18-35) to fill up the ranks as ushers, Eucharistic Ministers, audio-visual helpers, sacristans, and cleaning crews. Perhaps you have not entertained the idea of being in a ministry position previous to this. But perhaps you have been looking for a way to help throughout the pandemic and don’t know what to do. This could be your time to serve! God is calling!

Currently we need at least five to six mass team members at every liturgy to help welcome parishioners, guide people in the commons, seat people, and guide people during communion. If you care about the wellbeing of others and the OLG community, are practicing basic social distancing, wear a mask when out and about, are not afraid to engage others during this pandemic, please accept this invitation to help the community of Our Lady of Grace.  Here are a few quick notes:

• ·We need 5 or 6 people to serve per liturgy.

• A quick training and welcome will take place for all mass team members 45 minutes prior to the schedule Mass time.

• If you are feeling ill, have a fever, or have recently been around someone who is ill please stay home.

• Because of the high number of people with whom you will have contact, we are asking mass team members to wear a mask when they serve.

• You can sign up for more than one Mass on a single weekend but once you serve please take a weekend off.

• We will continue to update the sign up link below from week to week.

We know that WE are the body of Christ. WE are the disciples, called to make Jesus Christ known and loved. We look forward to hearing from you as you consider answering this call for help.

You can sign up today at the link below. If you have any questions you can reach out to Kory LaCroix at korylacroix@olgparish.org or Shelly Aebi at shellyaebi@olgparish.org.

God Bless!

Fr. Kevin Finnegan, Pastor

Save lives! Help keep Abria's doors open by finishing the race to raise $100,000!

IMPORTANT UPDATE

Due to the spread of COVID-19 we will not have a physical event on May 9th. We still need your help in keeping Abria's doors open to save lives by finishing the race to raise $100,000!

GOOD NEWS!

You can still participate in our Life is Wonderful Run in two important ways!

1. Help us save lives and finish the race to raise $100,000. Abria is OPEN today and needs your help to stay open. We can still stand together and support women and families who are facing unexpected pregnancies.

Step 1: Make a donation through Abria's GoFundMeCharity page.

Step 2: Re-post Abria's GoFundMeCharity page on Facebook.

Step 3: Every dollar you donate counts! THANK YOU for your support of women and families!

2. Run or walk for life: social distancing style of course!

Step 1: Put on your favorite Abria purple!

Step 2: Whether it’s on your treadmill at home or out around your neighborhood, run or walk for LIFE!

Step 3: Take your best selfie. Post your run or walk picture on social media and don’t forget to #AbriaBringsHope!

ABRIA IS OPEN AND YOUR SUPPORT IS MORE CRITICAL THAN EVER

At this critical time in history where all of us are facing uncertainty with the impacts of COVID-19 on our families, businesses, country and world, we are in particular need of your donations to keep our doors open to help women facing unexpected pregnancies. As you can imagine pressures to abort are even greater when basic necessities like jobs, money for rent and food, as well as other societal pressures are even more heightened. Your donation today is for the purpose of keeping our doors open to serve our beautiful clients and their families and continues to put a choice for life within reach.

The Secret Place of Community: A Conversation with Rachel Herbeck

Join us on Thursday, April 23rd - 7:00pm

How is this time of isolation providing opportunities to build a stronger foundation for community? Are we planting seeds now that will bear good fruit in the future? Join OLG Young Professionals and Rachel Herbeck to discuss these questions and more at a virtual installment of Live at the Harbor.

To join, visit this link: https://zoom.us/j/767378413

Meeting ID: 767 378 413

Password: 213506

Virtual Holy Week Retreat

This week-long virtual retreat begins Palm Sunday (April 5) with Mass from the Saint Paul Seminary and culminates with the Easter Vigil Mass from the Cathedral of Saint Paul April 11. Each day has two parts:

1. Mass or prayer at 9 a.m. followed by directed Lectio Divina.

2. Evening session at 7 p.m, consisting of conferences from Archbishop Bernard Hebda, Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Father Charles Lachowitzer and Father John Ubel.

Videos will be live streamed on Facebook and posted at archspm.org/holyweek for all who would like to participate. Please share the video invite from Bishop Cozzens.