Sacred Heart

Gabe Twining

Gabe has grown up in Sacred Heart and his parents are well known in the parish; his father leads the music at the 11 o'clock Sunday liturgy. Here is a link to his website.

My Mother's Death

My mother, Joey Davidson, died unexpectedly in her sleep on the morning of the first Sunday in Advent. The previous day, Saturday, had been spent with visiting relatives (photos of that last day are here). Joey and Pete went to Mass at Assumption at 5 p.m. and came home to share dinner with us. As I tucked her into bed, my mother explained to me that she'd been cold in church and Kathy Ernst had gotten her a blanket. "I want you to remember to thank her." "But, Mom," I replied, "I go to Sacred Heart, you go to Assumption; you're going to see her before I do." She didn't argue with me, and when we were finished, I asked her if she wanted the TV on until Dad came to bed. "No, I'm too tired," she said. And then she added, as I turned off the light, "Don't forget to thank Kathy Ernst."

As Fr.Frank Schuster said at her vigil, "On Saturday night Joey received Jesus and on Sunday morning, Jesus received Joey."

Pictures of her life can be seen here.

Pentecost Sunday

What does it mean to be a church? or, even better, HOW are we a church together? I thought about this, on this Pentecost, the celebration of becoming church. There is, of course, the mammoth institution of CHURCH, and there is the institutional structure of our local parish, but I am thinking of how small groups of us try to be church together. There's Mass, but not too much connection goes on there. Someone mentioned casually to me that she'd been Catholic once for a couple of years. "Oh?," I responded, "What did you like about being Catholic?" "That one was so anonymous."

Nick and I went to coffee hour today, and talked to people about joining the study group for Catholic Social Teaching, which is called "JustFaith." I sat with various people and chatted. This is a place to make connections. I recruited a few for JustFaith and a few for the Prayer Line and talked to Father a bit about his trip to Rome and Assisi. Mostly I just ate some wonderful pastry that I would never allow myself at home!  Marcia Strauss is so faithful in her hospitality. The tables are always set. I am filled with gratitude. What a gift she is. This is where we begin to be church: with hospitality.

Community Gossip

A summer snooze concludes. I’ve been reading blogs and thinking about them. I had hoped this might be a place for group reflection, but it seems it’s in the nature of blogs to be personal, so I’ll leave room in the comments for those who’d like to share.

I also thought I’d talk more about people. I was behind  Grace Jackson at the store the other day and we chatted. I learned that her husband died 2 years ago. We were here then; how did I miss that? What kind of community is this? Not nearly connected enough.

John Toof and Katherine Hogan celebrated their marriage at Assumption on Sunday. That was utterly wonderful. As she came down the aisle, Katherine looked from side to side, welcoming us with her smile. I felt blessed. I sat with Robin Presinger, from Sacred Heart (8:30 Mass.)

Today I took some food over to Precious and Nicholas Bryndlson to celebrate the birth of their son, Luke. Precious was baptized a couple of years ago at Sacred Heart; she teaches elementary school in town. Just sitting with this lad was soothing and energizing. We need to spend more time holding babies.

John French, our organist, is ill. We’ve prayed for him from the pulpit; now what else can we do for him?

Got a couple of calls recently on the Prayer Line. The prayer line has a telephone tree AND an alternate email list. I spent Saturday praying through the day for someone in parish who’d requested prayer for a medical procedure down in Seattle. I knew there were others praying with me as they went about their daily work – but not nearly enough of us. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if one phone call activated 100 of us to pray in the day? Email me at [email protected], if you feel called to this – called to prayer, and able to keep the request to yourself. Confidentiality is required.