Upcoming Events

About

Join us for worship, fellowship, service, Mass with Bishop Caggiano, and more! There is no cost to attend, but all participants are asked to bring new school supplies to be used as part of the service project.

Keynote Speaker

Sister Susan Francis Graham, ASCJ
“Do not be afraid to let Christ into your life- for He takes nothing from you, but instead gives you everything “ Benedict XVI’s words at his inaugural Mass as Pope in 2005 were meant for me as I began to hear God’s invitation to “leave all and follow Him” as a consecrated religious. I was in college, happy, on the road to success, my life carefully planned out. Friends, my career in pharmacy, and hope for marriage, and a family of my own shaped my future. Faith was central too-my Catholic parents had given me the huge gift of an authentic relationship with God, and a desire to serve Him with the talents He had given me. My family even talked about “discerning your vocation.” But, I had already checked that box-what I knew about “being a nun” came from stories of the saints living the contemplative cloistered life, and I was not interested. As I did not personally know any nuns or sisters, I had stereotyped the religious vocation as a kind of “running away from the world.”

As for myself, I wanted to be engaged with the world, living life to the fullest, so clearly I did not have a vocation. But then I met the Jesuit priests at Creighton University where I was studying pharmacy. The Jesuits witnessed for me how a religious vocation is a gift to the world-their availability to service, their spirituality that grounded the scattered pressures of daily life, their fraternity of supporting each other in prayer and mission-this was a life for others. Now I had ears to hear God’s persistent call, but there were still the things I feared so much to give up-my careful plans for my future, my dreams for marriage, my ideas about how my life would go. Still, God kept calling-in spring flowers and songs on the radio and moments of Eucharistic Adoration. “Do you trust Me? Then give Me your life, and see what plans I have for you." I heard Him say.

Finally, I gave in and searched online for religious communities, started visiting, and realized what joy was waiting for me in belonging totally to Jesus. I came across the website of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and immediately felt my heart stir at the motto from St. Paul: “the Love of Christ Urges Us On!” Yes, this was the love that I had experienced and that was propelling me to a life dedicated to love. By a huge outpouring of grace, my heart refused to settle for less. So, I left my plans, quit the pharmacy program, and entered the Apostles in 2006. God is faithful, and as Pope Benedict said, Christ actually asked me for nothing in comparison with what He continues to give me. With a joy and peace I could only have imagined, I professed perpetual vows as an Apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 2014. God’s ways are not our ways-but they are even better!

Schedule

1 PM: Catechesis & small group discussion
2:30 PM: Service project
3:30 PM: Catechesis & small group discussion
5 PM: Vigil Mass with Bishop Caggiano
6 PM: Dinner with Bishop Caggiano
7:30 PM: Adoration and Confession

Register

The Institute for Catholic Formation is offering a workshop on Saturday, August 24, 2024 from 9:00 am – 2:00 pm at Queen of All Saints Hall at the Catholic Center on: “Understanding the New OCIA: the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults.” Pastors, parish priests, parish catechetical leaders, and volunteers in current parish RCIA programs are all warmly invited to attend.

On May 7, 2024 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced the promulgation of new National Statutes for the Christian Initiation of Adults. As per canon 788 §3 of the Code of Canon Law, these statues are binding as national policy within the United States for certain protocols pertaining to the catechumenate and the process of initiating baptized non-Catholics into full communion with the Catholic Church.

The new National Statutes for Christian Initiation of Adults will take effect on the first Sunday of Advent, December 1, 2024; at which point they will replace the previous National Statutes for the Catechumenate which have been in force since 1986.

The 2024 National Statutes have been promulgated in anticipation of the USCCB’s new translation of the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA)—now called the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA)—which is awaiting final approval from Rome and is expected to be in use within the next year.

The “Understanding OCIA” workshop will present and explain these new norms in a user-friendly way, while refreshing our understanding of the essential elements of Catholic initiation which were present in the previous ritual and still remain in effect. There will also be time provided for questions and answers.

Register for this workshop: