St. Leonard Catholic Parish
Manotick, Ont
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Monthly E-Newsletter for June 2017

Thank you for subscribing to the St. Leonard's monthly E-Newsletter. Please take note of the information on our Church Potluck Brunch coming up on June 11th and come on out and join in the fun.

If you know someone who might benefit from this E-Newsletter, please forward it to them. The E-Newsletter will not be published in July and August and will resume on Sept 1st. Best wishes for a great summer!  

Pastor's Message
The Spirit of St. Leonard; Driven by the Breath of God!

This coming weekend we will celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit with the great feast of Pentecost Sunday. The apostles were transformed by the arrival of the third person of God or, as referred to by the Hebrews, Ruah Adonai (the Breath of God). It gave them new life, empowered them, and bestowed upon them new strength. In the same way, we need to be open to receive His breath to give us new life and empower us to new things.

Over the last 10 months we have begun a journey of "divine renovation" for the Parish. It is a journey that we hoped would be driven by the power of the Holy Spirit and move us from being a "maintenance parish" to a "missionary parish". The overarching goal of our "divine renovation" here at St. Leonard's is to foster a community where individuals become disciples and every member is committed to worship, to grow, to serve, to connect, to love and to give.

Thus far I have been deeply gratified with the progress that we have made both at an individual level and as a community. We have given our highest priority to worship by "making every Sunday matter". We have provided a road map for growth in discipleship through our "7 Steps to Discipleship". The Alpha and Formed programs have provided an opportunity for all to grow in the understanding of our faith and to better understand how to bring the Gospel message to those who need to hear it. Our Coffee Sundays have proven to be an excellent way for our parishioners to connect with each other and reach out with love to our visitors. Throughout the year many new volunteers have come forward to serve in our Mass ministries and our charitable service organizations and our Stewardship campaign has thus far seen a significant increase in the giving of financial support to the Parish. We have much to be thankful for! 

But this renovation won't be finished in one season and eventually should impact us all. My fervent hope is that  St. Leonard's will be a place where you encounter Jesus, are formed in your faith and become ea ger to head out to spread the "good news" to your family, your friends and your community. Like a ship upon the seas, may the community of St. Leonard's be filled with the Holy Spirit and powerfully driven forward by the Breath of God!   God Bless! Father Titus
PS: I was away on pilgrimage in Italy on Mother's Day and I always have special thoughts about my own mother in Nigeria on this day. I want to pass on a belated Happy Mother's Day to all mothers at St. Leonard. Furthermore I would like to be the first to wish all of our fathers, Happy Father's Day which is happening on June 18th.
A Message from the First Communion Preparation Team

We would like to congratulate all the children (and parents) who completed their 1st Reconciliation/1st Communion preparations this past year for a job well done!! We are truly blessed to have so many beautiful children in our parish. We hope all the children and their families will continue to come to St. Leonard to share the Love of Christ with us all. 
 
Susan Doucet and I would also like to thank Father Titus and Susan Streng who, as always, work tirelessly to ensure everything runs smoothly. We also send out our thanks to the Eucharistic Ministers who helped to hand out all those work sheets and to the ladies of the CWL for getting those lovely cakes to serve at the Sunday Communion masses. What a great team we make!
 
God Bless, 
Elisabeth Murphy and Susan Doucet
PS: Pictures of some our beautiful First Communion recipients from just two of the Masses.



Growing your Faith: FORMED renewed for 1 year!
FORMED Featured in June: Masculinity 
Courage is the willingness to suffer for what is true, good, and beautiful. The desire to be courageous is written into the fiber of a man's being and the Church's understanding of masculinity is sacrifice. Tragically, the call to authentic masculinity is barely perceptible in the culture today leading to a vacuum of destruction. True masculinity is embodied by Jesus Christ in his sacrifice on the Cross, which all Christians must imitate daily.
Study
 Watch
 Listen

If you are new to FORMED, to get ongoing FREE ACCESS to all programs and downloadable PDF guides, movies and e-books please
visit the St. Leonard website for detailed sign-up instructions.   
Update on Giving

Since week 9 of this year when Father Titus requested a 20% increase in our giving, we have seen an increase between 2016 and 2017 in all but tow weeks. See graph below. However the cumulative increase so far is only at 10%. So we still have a little ways to go to get to our 20% goal which will allow the Parish to undertake new activities and opportunities such as youth ministry, facility upgrades, and church expansion. We thank you for responding to Father's request for an increase in giving and greater consistency in how we give. If you have not yet responded, please consider doing so to support the attainment of our stewardship goal for this year. For more information click here .


Church Potluck Brunch: June 11th after the 11:00 am Mass
 
Come one and come all to the St. Leonard Church Potluck Brunch! It will be held in the Church hall on June 11th after the 11:00 am Mass. This is a great event for the children and a wonderful opportunity to have some fun and meet some of your fellow parishioners.
Following last year's great success, this year's "picnic" will be a potluck brunch and parishioners are requested to contribute their favorite dishes to share. There will be music, games for the kids, and we look forward to sharing a good time together. For further information check out the food sign-up sheet at the entrance to the Church or at this link.
 
We're also looking for few volunteers to help this event unfold smoothly. Contact Jonas if you can give a helping hand.
What's on in June
Wed. June 7  Cursillo Grand Ultreya  7:00 p.m.
Thurs. June 8 Baptismal Preparation Meeting  7:00 p.m.
Sun. June 11   Parish Potluck Picnic Lunch  after the 11:00 Mass
Wed. June 14  Knights of Columbus Meeting  7:00 p.m.
Sun. June 25   Confirmation Celebration at Notre Dame Cathedral  2:30 p.m.
Wed. June 28  CWL Meeting

 

After the 9 am and 11 am Sunday masses in June coffee will be served in the Parish Hall. Click on the Parish Calendar for a full listing of upcoming meetings and events.
 
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