by Father Pat Murphy
September 13 was a special day in the life of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.
It was a great experience to see the leadership of our Catholic Church gathered to kick off the historic initiative of faith that encouraged us all to “Love It, Learn It, Live It.”
Let me assure you that this enthusiasm is shared equally by the Spanishspeaking members of the Catholic faith community. And so it is with great joy that I share with our readers our seven-point plan for the Year of Faith:
Love it:
1) Spiritual missions — A series of one-day retreats (Dec. 8 and 15; Feb. 15 and 16) will be based on the themes of faith, prayer and sacraments.
2) Migrant Family Retreat — A one-day retreat to be held in four different regions that will offer Hispanic couples a way to reflect on the role of faith in the migrant journey.
3) Impactos — A two-day retreat experience in four regions of the archdiocese that bring together Mom, Dad and children to reflect on their experience of faith as a Catholic family.
Learn it:
4) The Catholicism Project — We are happy to offer this 10-week course in five different parishes during the Year of Faith.
5) Catechism of the Catholic Church — In the fall of 2013, the School of Faith will be ready to offer a six-week course in Spanish on the catechism. We hope to offer this course at the cathedral.
Live it:
6) Marriage For Keeps — This very exciting program to strengthen marriages is being offered in four different parishes in Spanish in 2012-2013.
7) Immigration Round Tables — This will be a series of 90-minute workshops held in four different parishes that bring together immigrants and non-immigrants to share some food and conversation about their common journey of faith. We may come from different places, but we are all moving toward the same final destination. So let’s get together and talk about it during the Year of Faith. Our first workshop will be Dec. 11 (5:30 – 7 p.m.) at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Kansas City, Kan., so please call us at (913) 281-6644 to reserve your place at the table.
In addition to this seven -point plan of action we also hope to offer some workshops on the documents of Vatican II, a Lenten mission and some special events for Hispanic youth.
Yes, the Year of Faith will be an exciting time in the life of the local Catholic Church, and our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters look forward to loving, learning and living their Catholic faith.