St. Michael Adult Faith Formation

Welcome to the St. Michael’s Adult Faith Formation Web page. Please click on any of the following links to take you to your area of interest:

MISSION

ADULT FAITH FORMATION

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

INFANT BAPTISM

RITE OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION OF ADULTS- (RCIA)

MISSION

Mission: Our twin parish -- St. Gabriel, New Orleans

Click here for background on our twinning relationship with St. Gabriel Church in New Orleans as well as information on our Mission trips taken in June of 2006 and February 2007.

OUR LAST MISSION TRIP TO ST. GARIELS...

FEBRUARY 2008 MISSION TRIP BEING PLANNED: We are ready to go!  The vans have been reserved and the following people are ready to leave the weekend of February 23/24: John Asborck, George & Ed Beimesche, Bob and Anna Geoppinger, Mike Gerbus, Chuck Gibson, Jack Hall, Jim Hunter, Rhonda Marshall, Chuck Schell, Barb & Phil Schmidt, Tom Schmidt and Tim Shafer.   At this time they have a house ready for us to install insulation and drywall, a house that needs painting, and with several other homes that have a 'punch list' - a variety of small jobs that need to be done.

We thank the parish for raising over $5,000 again to help with our expenses.  We plan to give at least $2,000 of that to St. Gabriel Church while we are there.  St. Gabriels has their plans for the church renovation and have just recently been given approval from the Archdiocese to proceed.  The hope is that the renovations will be completed by Christmas of 2008.   Recently Fr. Doug and Sr. Kathleen posted the following message on their website:

RESPONDING TO KATRINA - I want to begin by reminding you that immediately after Katrina, Sr. Kathleen and I decided on two top priorities: first, finding and connecting with the parishioners who we discovered were spread out over 22 different states and secondly restoring the church facility to the point where we would be able to gather for worship. After these two were accomplished, our next priority was to help the parishioners who wanted to return by organizing volunteers to help clean out and rebuild their homes and by offering financial assistance in the purchasing of building materials. At this time last year, January, 2007, approximately 30 families were back in their homes. Today approximately 160 are back in their homes. Thirty other families have relocated in the New Orleans area and continue to make St. Gabriel their parish. This was accomplished in part through the help of over 1500 volunteers, mostly from out of state, from 50 or more parishes, colleges and high schools. It was also accomplished because of generous donations to our St. Vincent de Paul account totaling about $200,000 for the specific purpose of purchasing building materials for our parish families. With the help of these volunteers and financial contributions, we have cleaned out the homes of over 100 parish families, helped 30 families rebuild, and purchased building materials for over 100 families.

THE RESTORATION OF OUR CHURCH BUILDING - After these projects were well on their way, we then began to focus on restoring our church building. It has taken us a long time to work with the architect, the archdiocese, our parish Design Development Committee and our liturgical consultants from Baton Rouge to finalize the plans for the restoration of our church building. Finally, it appears that the plans should be ready to receive bids from contractors by the beginning of February. The re-construction of the church interior should begin in April and be completed by the fall of this year, at least before Christmas. Included in the plans are the following: complete new flooring, probably either ceramic or terrazzo, a new hard wood raised sanctuary floor with a handicap accessible ramp, a new baptismal pool and Reconciliation Room, increased lighting, newly painted walls and new ceiling tiles, new overhead rewiring of the building rather than the underground wiring that was destroyed by the flood waters. We will have all new sanctuary furnishings, altar, ambo, tabernacle, new beautiful and comfortable church pew chairs, an elevated riser for the choir and a completely new sound system. The architect estimates the cost around $1 million which we have on deposit with the archdiocese. As you know the rectory has been completely rebuilt and I was able to move in Thanksgiving week. We are beginning to make plans for the restoration of the administration building and parish offices as well as the parish hall. We have to first make sure we have adequate funds for the church before beginning any work on these. We are making some initial repairs to Conference Room Two so that we can move the dining facilities for our volunteers out of church and into the conference room by the end of this month. 

FINANCING THE RESTORATION OF OUR FACILITIES - The finances for the restoration of these facilities have come first of all from the national collection taken up in all Catholic parishes around the country immediately after Katrina. From this we received the $1 million allocated to the restoration of our church. In addition to this we have raised over ½ million dollars from 50 or more parishes, individual donors and grants. This money was used to restore the rectory and will be used for our other two buildings. Obviously we will need more than this but we are counting on continued donations from parishes, individual donors and other groups that are assisting us. We still feel that we will not have to ask you to fund the restoration of our buildings. Isn't that good news?

ALL OUR FACILITIES ARE FOR THE PURPOSE OF CARRYING OUT OUR MISSION - I remind you that all of these facilities are for the purpose of carrying out our mission and ministry as St. Gabriel parish. We need a liturgically well designed church building for worship, a well equipped administration building for parish offices, meeting rooms, a daily chapel and classrooms for parish administration, ministry planning and religious education, and a beautiful parish hall for larger meetings and our wonderful life-giving socials. We believe the Lord will provide.

As we commemorate the Baptism of Jesus, we hear the Good News proclaimed to us by God: "You are my beloved sons; you are my beloved daughters." We are blessed children of God. Today we thank God who has brought us through the greatest natural disaster in the history of our country. We are grateful for all our blessings and we know that God has not brought us this far to leave us.

Thank you for being faithful and generous members of St. Gabriel Parish family.

 

 

July 2007 Mission Trip Update:

Comments from Sr. Kathleen and Fr. Doug in their parish newsletter:
THE EARTH OPENED AND BROUGHT FORTH BEAUTY!
Those of you who are able to come to St. Gabriel for Mass this Sunday will be delighted with the transformation of
our parish grounds! Our wonderful youth and adult volunteers from Cincinnati have been working so hard all week
to plant, all around the parish grounds literally, thousands of trees and plants donated to us from 4 different
nurseries. It has been a project of overwhelming proportions and these volunteers have been outstanding in the
way they have measured up to the challenge! Their only regret is that they won’t be here this Sunday to see your
reaction when you behold the beauty! We are deeply grateful, not only to our volunteers from Cincinnati, but also
to Hillary Schackai from Longue Vue Gardens who supervised the entire project for us, to Roger Mays and his
son, Mitch, of Louisiana Nurseries in Baton Rouge, who not only planned and organized the landscaping, but also
donated personally or, through their vendors, the soil and almost 2,000 plants and trees! Many thanks also to our
parishioner, Marigold Hardesty, who has been part of this project from the beginning and to the 12 members of our
Garden Ministry who will be taking responsibility for the maintenance of our gardens. What an abundance of
goodness and beauty has rained down on us from all of these generous and caring people. They have saved the
parish thousands of dollars and created, in the midst of devastation, a place of beauty and new life!

Yes, you read it correctly – they had close to 2,000 trees, plants, bushes donated and the 30 teens
and 10 adult leaders planted close to 1,800 of them in just one week! Not only did they plant them but they
also prepared the soil by tilling and weeding, and, with the help of wheelbarrows and a front loader, they moved
what seemed like tons of topsoil and mulch. While the teens were working on preparing the soil, a large tractortrailer
delivered the last load of almost 2,000 trees and plants. Fr. Doug skipped down the street to meet the truck
with a huge grin on his face! We were extremely proud of our teens and adults and the great job they did on this
mission trip. Fr. Doug figured out that we probably saved them close to $40,000 in landscaping fees! Please take
a moment to look at the pictures located in the Gathering Space.
For the adults who were part of the February Mission Trip, you might recognize the name Marigold Hardesty.
Hers was one of the homes that you worked in. You’ll be happy to know that one of our groups was able to help her
finish some small projects this time. She sends her best wishes to all.
Fr. Doug’s house: Father figures that he will be back into the parish rectory within 3 months. The house has
been painted, and while we were there, the entire house was tiled. The house still needs carpentry work done
(door trim, baseboards, etc.) along with having the bathroom and kitchen installed.
If you’d like to read more about our week (along with pictures), then check out the daily blog Lori Anne put
out on http://stmichaelsprojecthopeblogspot.com.

GULF RESTORATION NETWORK - wetlands - An important issue surrounding the restoration of the New Orleans area is their wetlands.  In response to the levee failures of Hurricane Katrina, more and more evidence is pointing to institutional and engineering problems within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  It is clear that the engineering and prioritization of Corps projects must bear closer scrutiny.  For further information on this as well as information on how you can help, you can go online to www.healthygulf.org

ADULT FAITH FORMATION

 (Part of the Education Commission) – Our call to continuing conversion.

Through the leadership of the Adult Faith Formation Team, the vision for St. Michael Church would be to proclaim the real Presence of God in every day life, facilitate faith formation for adults, and increase faith & knowledge through education via workshops, speakers and courses.

Commission Minutes 

Scheduled courses in our area:

REAP Rewards, our local cluster group of local parishes are setting their 2007/08 schedule for courses - These courses are intended as Adult Enrichment Opportunities for anyone who wishes tocontinue the lifelong journey of Faith Formation.

* April 16, 18, 22, 24, 2008 - JUSTICE AND PEACE - presented by Gloria Leigh at St. Margaret of York in Loveland.  Sessions will be from 6:15 to 8:45 p.m. Call Susan Gravely at 513-683-7100, ext. 206 to register and for directions

* April 17, 2008 - TECHNOLOGY IN CATECHESIS - presented by Ann Andriacco at St. Susanna, Mason, room 37 in the Education Center, Call Jodi Tucker at 513-398-3821 ext. 3111 to register and for directions

* April 24, 2008 - CATHOLIC IDENTITY - presented by Claire Tenhundfeld at St. Susanna, Mason, room 37 in the Education Center, call Jodi Tucker at 513-398-3821 ext. 3111 to register and for directions

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Mission Statement:

To foster our oneness in Christ by welcoming all who seek Him, assisting those in need, and raising awareness of Catholic Social teaching in our parish, community and beyond.

The Community outreach Commission is responsible for leadership and decision making related to needs and service projects both within and outside the parish, and to the implementation of selected service projects.  These projects relate to charity, social justice, and evangelization.  Commission members service and assist parishioners who volunteer to serve for these projects.