Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Spirit=Spring of 2018

(Our Parish Council this past April 9 asked the members and I to describe the spirit that people say they experience when they encounter people from our parish or our faith community.   Below is my answer to that challenge. )

The heart of the spirit of BTC is described in the Parish Mission Statement:

                        We are a Catholic People

 Joined together in the Eucharist;

                        We are carriers’ of God’s love

To one another and the greater community.

• Each Sunday in the Liturgical Celebration of Mass, we express this spirit;
• Each Sunday we are nourished at this celebration;
• Each Sunday we are sent out to share this gift of the Risen Lord among ourselves in ministry and in the greater community.

   

As Disciples of the Risen Lord, filled with this vibrant spirit described above, we are focusing on these three priorities in the coming year:

1. Carrying the Spirit of the Risen Lord within us, we are to take the message and mission beyond our Physical Campus through Marketing and Communications to people individually or corporately in all 10 Incorporated Cities and the unincorporated area east of Dellwood.
2. In that same spirit and sacrifice we are committed to continue our mission of supporting and enabling the Full Time Grade School. 
3. In that same spirit we continue to invest our energy & our resources carrying for the poor and those without a voice.

Our spirit has been fashioned and tried by fire in the fiery furnace we have found ourselves through these events:

• In 2005 six parishes & cultures merged into a new parish in the midst of struggles, hurts, tears and independence, surrendering to the Heart of Christ and becoming “one in mind and heart”.  The vibrant parish of Blessed Teresa was born!
• In 2009 our full time school almost closed.  But, the parish and the community dug deep in the spirit of the Risen Lord; they made sacrifices and formed the We Make a Difference Program.  A great successful story began as the school has thrived (203 children K-8 & 36 children in Pre-School). We are very well known in the archdiocese.
• In 2012 we made the decision to move to one site for financial reasons; this decision crushed our spirit and some families left because of the changing of the Church site.  It even snowed 12” on the Palm Sunday of 2013 when we made the actual move.  We were tested by fire once again, but the Risen Lord embraced us and filled our hearts with His Spirit, we emerged even stronger.
• In 2014 with the death of Michael Brown, we faced the ugly sin of racism in our church, in our community and in the larger society.  Demonstrations occurred, prayer processions took place and we asked the Risen Lord through the intercession of Mother Teresa to fashion our hearts to be like His Heart.  Four years later we as a parish and we as individuals have been changed & become more conscious of the important role we play in God’s plan.  We have introduced art of various races and cultures in our worship space and in our school.  As an Easter People we still continue that quest and desire to make a difference in the world around us, that all people are treated with dignity and equality. 
• The Spirit of our Parish is known by the archdiocesan and the seminary leaders, who are always eager to request that we host seminarians for the summer or during the fall/winter year.   They want the future priests to experience a vibrant parish with disciples on fire with the Spirit of Risen Lord within them.
• Seminarians who have served here:  Samuel Inameti, Mark Madden will be ordained Deacons for St. Louis on May 5^th at the St. Louis Cathedral.  Colin Haganey of Kansas City, Kansas will be ordained in his diocese this spring also.  Our Seminarian Bobby Tull, who served here as a life teen for two years, has completed his Pre Theology program of formation and philosophy and he will graduate on May the 12 at the seminary. He will enter the 1^st year of Theology in the Fall of 2018.