One of the blessings that I’ve experienced in this faith community is that I can come up with an idea and folks with the organizational skills that I lack will take the idea and make it a reality.  Carolyn Williams is doing amazing work in making SMNO (St. Michael Night Out) a monthly event that folks enjoy.  Our next gathering will at the Shriners on Tuesday, July 16 ^th.  And our last gathering in Memorial Park for BBQ was fantastic.  I am grateful to Mike Lynch and his cook team for some awesome “groceries”.  I am grateful for everyone’s patience in the heat and for all who pitched in to help out.  I was thrilled with the turn out.
 
Mike Beytagh and Theresa Pottratz are also people who can take an idea and make it a reality.  I am excited that Theresa already has the Pier reserved for our next Mass at Tybee Pier on October 20 ^th.  She has also set-up a breakfast at the American Legion immediately after that Mass.  And Mike is so busy with maintaining and improving our parish buildings that it makes my head spin at times.  I am so very grateful for their constant willingness to help.
 
I am also very grateful for the involvement and the initiative that so many of you take in building up of our faith community.  Even before the most recent Church scandals, the Catholic Church in America was in decline.  Some 10 percent of Americans are former Catholics; one-third of Americans born Catholic have left the church -- and almost half of these former Catholics joined Protestant, mostly evangelical, churches.  I believe if this trend is ever going to be reversed, the laity need to give their great energies and talents to renewing the Church.
 
So, in addition to giving a vision and deepening the spiritual life of a faith community, I believe it is important for parish priests to listen to their parishioners and trust that they too through their baptism and confirmation are connected God’s Holy Spirit leading us forward in faith.  This is why I like to hold Town Hall meetings from time to time.  It is important not only for me to share my vision of who it is that God is calling us to be but also for all of us to have a sense that together we are sharing a journey to build up God’s kingdom here and now on Tybee Island.  I found the conversations that we engaged in at our last Town Hall meeting and afterwards during the BBQ to be very helpful.  I am grateful for some very sage advice on how to proceed with the many projects (concerning flooring, lighting, painting, and security) that Mike Beytagh is shepherding, especially the good ideas of how to create a place of honor for our St. Michael statue. 
 
I thank you for your love of St. Michael Parish and your commitment to the future of our parish and of our Catholic faith tradition.  I should have some updates for you not too long after I return from vacation.  But don’t expect any updates from me next weekend because today I am checking out Portrush where the (British) Open is being held next week, then on to Derry and the wild beauty of Donegal before heading back east towards Dublin by way of the Shrine of our Lady of Knock where I will say an AVE for y’all and a special prayer of gratitude for my friend and hero, Fr. Dave.  I am so grateful that he likes covering for me.  Isn’t he the best!!!!
 
Meanwhile, I ask for your prayers for our faith community.   Pray that we seek first the kingdom of God above all else and that together we will hear and know the voice of God and His purposes for parish.  Pray for an atmosphere of trust and a genuine desire to hear from one another; we want our conversations to be open, transparent, rich with hope and a willingness to be involved in the future of our parish and to help with the renewal of the Church.  Pray for clarity and wisdom—that questions and conversations will lead us to fruitfulness. Pray for the Lord’s guidance in every step of our journey.
What we do have is the same purpose that Jesus stated: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10).  All that we dream, plan, discuss and do is for this very purpose and call.  Sadly, we have found out in recent years that some of those we’ve trusted to lead us, have themselves been lost.  So, the focus of the Summer Session of Sunday School for Disciples which will begin next Sunday, July 14th at 10am, will be on Healing our Church.  The recent wave of news about clergy sexual abuse and the coverup by some Church leaders has left many of us angry and shaken in their relationship with the Church.  Healing Our Church is a six-session small group discussion process that will hopefully give us an opportunity to prayerfully reflect on scripture, on the clergy sexual abuse crisis, and on our path forward as a faith community and as members of the Roman Catholic Church who want to be agents of healing and reform.
 
If you want to be part of this group, please stop by the office and pick up book.  Prepare for next Sunday by reading through the first session.  In this session we’ll have a chance to express our feelings about the sexual-abuse scandal and its impact—first and foremost on the victim-survivors, but also on us and on all the faithful. We’ll listen to the experiences of others, respecting their feelings and emotions. We’ll face the truth, so we can begin to move forward.  All are welcome!

Fr. Jerry Ragan