Mission Trip Applications Now Available!

Merry Christmas!

Applications are now available for the 2012 New Orleans Mission Trip!  If you (or your child) are interested in participating in our New Orleans rebuilding trip this July 7 - 14, please complete the application (link below) and return it to Beth or Matt McMurphy or the St. Raphael Parish Office at 1104 Fifth St. in San Rafael by Friday, January 6.  

What happens after Jan. 6, you ask?  Once we have read your application, you will be invited in for a brief (20-minute) informal panel interview during the week of Jan. 8 - 14. You and two other applicants will talk with and have an opportunity to ask questions of Matt, Beth, and representatives from our youth leadership team. Once we have concluded all the interviews, the leadership team will meet and select participants. If you are selected, your team leader will call you personally. If we cannot include you this year, we will also call and let you know, and we hope that you will be able to apply next year.

We will jump right into trip preparations once our team is set. Each team member will be given a packet of paperwork (permission forms, etc.) to complete and return, along with a $100 deposit by Feb. 1. We will have our first team fundraising activity -- a letter-writing workshop -- on Jan. 28th in the computer lab at St. Raphael School. A parent meeting will be planned for late January or early February, as well.  More information on all of these will be forthcoming, but I wanted to share this much so that it is on your radar.

We hope you will be able to join us to ReNew Orleans!

Mission Trip Application Form

New Orleans blessing

Cleaning out the ol' email inbox this afternoon, I came across the text for the Final Blessing used at our New Orleans Mass at St. Raphael in July. Five months later, we are now solidly in the middle of Advent, the liturgical season in which we wait for the birth of The Light (a.k.a. Jesus). I found it quite poetic to bring back this idea of the light within us being shared with the people of New Orleans, and I know that for me (and many of us), that light burns in my heart throughout the year much like a pilot light on a heater -- the heater is not always turned up to full power, but that little pilot light is always on, allowing the heater to be ready to go at a moment's notice.  Now, as planning begins for NOLA 2012, I look forward to turning that heater on full blast to share with everyone the excitement and joy of the ReNew Orleans experience with everyone around me.

Bow your heads and pray for God's blessings:

Christ our Light

you called those in our company

to journey away to New Orleans

to spread the good news,

to be a symbol of hope and comfort to those in need,

and to love and care for others as you did.

You return them to us,

filled with stories of the light they have shared

and the light that was shared with them.

Nurture the flame within us all

that we may continue to share these stories

and feed those who long for your love

and compassion.  

We ask this through Christ our Lord.  AMEN