After sharing with you our parish mission statement last week and the core values that we want to promote, this Sunday you will be hearing from one of the members of the Parish Leadership Team who will speak about his experiences in the parish while seeing the presence of the different ministries that help the parish in carrying out her mission.

Talking about St. Mary’s as a caring and welcoming family for example, we have the ushers and greeters ministry who welcome people in our parish, may it be in our place of worship or in our social fellowship. They make sure that all are welcomed and given equal attention. With regard to caring, we have the homebound ministry that cares for our homebound, elderly and sick who cannot come to Church for any of our special events and liturgical celebrations. They visit them regularly and take them communion. Each year, this ministry organizes a healing mass and dinner for the homebound in our parish and their families are also invited.

Then, talking about commitment to building and strengthening a community of God, our parish supports and values the importance of relationship with the family and community. We engage in ecumenical gatherings with the various churches in the area, especially during the Lenten Season. We participate in community events. We hold an annual picnic every September to commemorate our parish foundation day and strengthen our parish family. We have the Christian Mothers Association that devotes time drawing families closer to the Lord by their regular meetings and fervent prayer. The catechists/volunteers/aides who help the children form their Christian faith through religious education. Last Sunday, we commissioned them within the mass. We have twelve catechists/volunteers who will be teaching 150 children this year from Pre-K to 8th grade.

As to reaching out as disciples of Jesus Christ, we have the St. Vincent de Paul Society, who cares for the poor and those who are in need, may it be within our community or outside the community providing shelter, food, clothing or financial assistance. Our parish provides blessing bags to Freeport’s food bank around the holidays. We sponsor the baby bottle campaign that promotes life, especially the baby. We have the Teen Ministry who sends out care packages to those in college and participates in the homeless project. The children enrolled in our Religious Education program reach out to the homebound by sending them cards and gifts during the Christmas season. The Evangelization Ministry provides opportunities to deepen our spirituality and relationship with the Lord through FORMED, an online program, and adult bible studies in the parish.

All of the above calls us to service Freeport and beyond, whether we are young or old. By virtue of baptism, we are called to service and engage in a mission.