As you’ve noticed, I’ve devoted a lot of my summer bulletin columns to “year-end” information, not only because the diocese’s fiscal year starts on July 1st, but also because so much of the rhythm of our parish follows the cycle of the school year. With that, I’ll use today’s column to update you on what we accomplished with our sister parish over the past year.
As most of you know, we’ve been very fortunate to have a longstanding relationship with Corpus Christi Parish in Jalchatra, Bangladesh, a relationship that began in 2008 and is still going strong. Our Sister Parish Committee has worked hard to keep this relationship front and center over the past year, and here are some things we’ve done:
· In November, we “re-launched” our sister parish efforts. While the relationship has never stopped, we wanted to re-emphasize it so that it was a more visible part of our parish life. This re-launch included a Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration, which is particularly fitting since they pray an awful lot for us!
· In November, we had an all-school assembly where a Holy Cross seminarian and a Bengal Bouts boxer from Notre Dame shared their summer experience at Jalchatra with our students.
· In December, we added our sister parish to the Giving Tree
· The school did a tremendous job of raising money for our sister parish for their Advent and Lent service projects.
· Our Fish Fry once again raised money for Jalchatra, and this year we brought back our Lenten Soup Supper, which not only raised money for them but also featured a speaker (Fr. Shohag Gabil, CSC) who had previously served there and shared his stories with our parishioners.
· This year, we also earmarked our Trivia Night net profits to benefit Jalchatra.
· We have also expanded our Sister Parish Committee for the coming year, which should help increase parishioner involvement and ensure that this relationship remains strong well into the future.
All of these efforts raised $8372.89 for Corpus Christi Jalchatra — and keep in mind that this amount goes much further in Bangladesh than it would in the United States, so that makes our donation even more impactful. Even more important, though, is the relationship we are building with one another, which is the most important part of having a sister parish. They pray for us often, and so we try to remember them in our prayers frequently as well, through Mass intentions, prayers of the faithful and in the bulletin. After all, as different as our lives may be, we are all part of one universal Church. Building those Christ-centered bonds with them deepens our relationship with the Church, and with Christ Himself. Many thanks to all of you who have supported our sister parish with your prayers over the past year. We look forward to a strong relationship with Corpus Christi Jalchatra for years to come.
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