Dear Fellow Parishioners, For months now our Pastoral Planning Team (PPT)has been looking at our parish Vision and the ways we deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ. We have been working with Divine Renovation since June to get focused on both issues. Here is where we are right now. Leanne and Bernie Audette, Benny Colella, Sue and Mike Conciatori, and Karen Daige represented our parish at an Alpha Retreat training session last Saturday. After Sunday Mass I sat with the six of them and felt like I was experiencing the return of the disciples to Jesus sharing all that they had accomplished in His name Luke 10:17-20. Alpha is a program designed to help us all deepen our personal relationship with Jesus Christ and our relationships with one another. So often we know about our faith and about Jesus Christ, but seldom do we encounter Jesus in the depths of our hearts. Alpha gives us a safe place to talk about our faith with people on the life journey. Beginning this Lent, we are going to pilot the 11-week Alpha experience. The gatherings will be on a weekday evening (day to be determined) around 6:30 P.M. to 8:30 P.M. and will include our evening meal. If you are interested in joining the pilot, please contact the office. As I have said, this is a pilot program so we will be making mistakes and working out the bugs out before we begin offering Alpha to our larger community beginning next Fall. We spend a great deal of our parish energy on “Catechesis” - that is teaching about our faith. We spend very little time developing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We want to change that. Nothing disturbs me more than to hear someone tell me, “You speak a great deal about deepening our relationship with Jesus Christ. How do we do that?” This will help us all on the journey. I would ask your continued prayers for our PPT as we continue the work assignments from Divine Renovation and sharpen our Vision Team and move forward as a community of faith. Fr. Bill