Hello!
Posted on Mon, Jul 11, 2011
Some of the faces out there are very familiar, and others I am very anxious to meet. My name is Mary Palmer, the new Director of Faith Formation for the St. Brendan on the Lake Faith community. I have been apart of this parish family for a long time. I grew up and went through the religious ed program at the Newfane site and attended Liturgy many times at Wilson. This is home. I suppose one of the most comforting things about coming back to my home church from college or a long trip or in my case a year of teaching in Las Vegas is that I may have changed, the seasons may have changed, we have a new president or even Pastor, and everyone still sits in the same pew.
Our Faith Formation program has been strong and influential in the lives of our youth. In these coming school years, we are going to build off of the solid foundation put into place by my predecessors. I am very grateful to have been a student under the care of Carol and Bill, their love and dedication to the children of their faith was and still is remarkable.
Our goal- to bring the youth back to Christ. Our program provides excitement, joy, and dedication to the journey with Christ and the importance and significance of our faith. It is time to get back to the nuts and bolts of our Catholic heritage. From the simple questions like 'Why do we kneel' to the complex "What does my Father have in store for me?" Life poses many challenges to our youth, especially in this time of excess, exploitation, and exclusion. We will give your children the tools to approach the joys and sorrows of life with a strong confidence in God and their gift of Faith. However, we cannot do this alone. We need you the parents and families to support and guide your Catholic youth in the day to day. Reinforce their faith with your own. We can give your child the saw and the hammer and nails, but we need your help to build a dwelling place for Christ in their hearts. A child's success in our program is not necessarily measured by assessment, though the Diocese will give their share and I guarantee your child will be more than prepared, but by their action in life as children of God.
The readings this week talk of nourished seed. I can't help but see that seed as our children-full of potential, whole and unblemished, and we are the good soil in which they will be planted. Our seeds are not nourished by simple sunshine and water or the minerals in the earth-but by the word of God, the tears of his son and the breath of the Spirit. Together, as brothers and sisters, we will care for our seeds, our children, to bring them into the light of Christ, and the love of the Father. As a family, we will guide our children in word and action as followers of Christ.
Dei gratia
Mary C. Palmer
Director of Faith Formation