Spring of the Year of Faith!

Mrs Therese Chamblee (and hubby Michael) with Chris and Jim Bullock, brought us back to our 80's roots in Brown County In, St Agnes Parish! Cricket taught some spirituality and healthy cooking the night before! (sorry, I have no pictures---they were having too much fun and I was visiting my mama in Indy)

Cricket then led a highly interactive day of reflection called "Our Call To Holiness"---this was an interdenominational group of women and a wonderful spirit filled day.

 

 

After playing with good friends at the weekend masses, Jerry gave a Prayer Concert Sunday evening with a wonderful group of folks not only there, but many joining in the singing! Cricket led 3 short reflections from her book, Talitha Kumi.

 

Long time friends and musicians from our days at the Catholic Youth Camp in brown county --(we're talking the 1960's now thank you very much; we were all counselors and Cricket was a cook!)-- John Hannan on wonderful guitar and Joe Miller giving beautiful help on the piano---and vocals!

 

 
"when the rain falls, I will see it as your mercy, from your hands..."

the banjo helps with a tune I wrote while driving across the Midwest---"I get lost, found, and a few small repairs....on a road of prayer."

 

The whole church sang with us on a song John and I sang at each others' weddings 4 decades ago...."No storm can shake my inmost calm, while to that Rock I'm clinging....

Below, our evening ended with a rousing "Lights of the City" (this is a St. Agnes Easter tradition! sometimes even accompanied by women dancing in the back!) led by John Aumage (to my right), Jonathan Bolte, Jn Hannan, Angie Aumage, Cricket, and Joe Miller. I played the banjo to this Michael Murphy (remember Wildfire?) Spiritual + and went to the back just to hear this heavenly body giving Easter praise to the Light of the World!

We were so blessed to be there again and especially thank our sound engineer Rich Drew, and the Chamblees and Bullocks for hosting us!

 

 

 

He Is Risen! Easter 2013

I must begin this post thanking all of you for your prayers of support! Michelle and her team would probably not want me to print their names, but a group of prayer warriors are now meeting weekly to pray that our minsitry continues to serve in grace and good health! We cannot express what this means to us!    May God bless you!                               We spent Holy Week mostly in our home Parish of Holy Trinity, where we had led a 3 day mission during Lent. It was so great to have had such good attendance by people who had seen us there for many years, but turned out to pray and interact and support! For those of you who ask, our themes were:

Monday night: the Gift of our Union With Christ

Tuesday night: a Deeper look at prayer, fasting  and almsgiving

Wednesday night: Thy Will be done---the truth that sets us free.

The music and sharing and teaching was well received, and we were blessed to be 'back home'.

 

 During Lent we also travelled to SC to serve a Secular Franciscan Fraternity and Parish of St Mary, Help of Christians. We arrived for a Friday night session following the youth presenting a Living Stations of the Cross. They did a marvelous job and the room was so reverent!I did dare to take one picture seen below, but it was clear this youth group were giving their best to this Lenten tradition! We followed with some prayer and music, and Cricket had done extensive research on the prayers of St. Bridget of Sweden.

This is where he teaching began on friday night, and then continued thru Saturday.

Again, several of our long time friends and supporters came, even from far away, to celebrate Mass both days and attend the Retreat. But we met many new people as well.

 Bernie and Ann did such a wonderful job with their franciscan fraterntiy to host us and promote the retreat as "an experience in prayer, reflection and song contemplating Christ's own revelations to Saint Bridget of Sweden for a deeper awareness of the passion of the Christ and the immensity of his love for us."  Val and Gina and Carole were such wonderful servants to the group and to us.

Just after Ash Wednesday, Jerry gave a short concert and teaching at St. Thomas More parish in Mooresville Indiana. Father Mark Gottemoeller, the Pastor, Maureen, Kathy and their team persisted in wanting to serve the parish with "Seeking God's Wisdom". They hoped to follow the initial session with a series of Catholic Teaching DVD's for their adults and young people, and then return together for more of a "mission event" but to keep it sustained over a longer time.

 Jerry is continuing to teach and Cricket continues to be an approved Spiritual Director for the Atlanta Archdiocesan Deacon Formation Program. As in the past, Jerry is teaching on the New Evangelization.  He also continues to travel to visit his Mother in Marquette Manor where she continues to believe there will be bridge playing in heaven!

 We have also begun to map out a new initiative for our ministry and will be writing to all of our 'address book' about this journey onward! May God Bless you and yours, and thank you again for all of your support!

The Year of Faith and the Mountains!

A view of Hiawassee and the Appalachian Trail

We celebrated our Christmas with most of the family in a new place for the first time in over 2 decades. As we transition out of our home in Atlanta, we have been blessed to house and pet-sit for a wonderful secular Franciscan friend, Marie. We even sang as a family at the Christmas weekend masses at St Francis of Assisi in Blairsville GA.

Our Year of Faith teaching and music presentations have now been requested 8 times at different parishes and events. Jerry is teaching for the Archdiocesan Diaconate Program again, and spent a great deal of time with them on the Porta Fideii Document establishing this Year of Faith. Cricket had also done of lot of praying and writing on this season, and her reflections and steps to deepening this experience have been extremely well received.

 

 




 

Our first parish mission this year was full of blessings. We travelled to St Catherine of Sienna in Fr. Thomas KY. At least 2 years ago, our now best friend Mary Buten heard us introduce a parish mission in Atlanta (at Mass). She heard a little music and a few minutes of what we were doing there, and felt led to recommend us to her beautiful parish! She even housed us in her non-wifi house so we didn’t have to stay in the motorhome in January!

 

 

 

 

  

 

We arrived to Saturday vigil mass and a parish dinner welcoming us and initiating the Mission. This welcome was unlike any we had ever received. I wish I had taken a hundred pictures, but when you are in the midst of all this kindness, it never seemed right to interrupt it with posing! After the Sunday masses, the faith formation team had arranged a tour of the Stained Glass Art and theology of the Cathedral by Monsignor William Cleves, (who had just published a wonderful book about it). The depth of the beauty and detail amazed us as Father, without notes, pointed out inspirations available every time we meditated on these touching works of art.

 

 

 

 

 

The mission ran for three nights on different aspects of deepening our experience of the Year of Faith, and was very well attended though the temperatures were in the single digits. Fr. Steph is the Pastor, a gifted shepherd and homilist who also holds a doctorate in vocal performance. He joined us also as families hosted us for dinner each night just before the mission. We simply felt we were longstanding members of the parish family, though we had just arrived! We were also asked to speak to both the CCD program and the Catholic School middle and high school classes about the Year of Faith. They also responded with enthusiasm and hospitality!

 

 

Cricket + I + the Metzner family listen to daughter and gifted musician Bethany play a Rachmaninov piece before dinner!

Fr. John Koziol, OFM Conv opens the session with Prayer after the Celebration of Mass.

Later in the month, we were blessed to return to St. Philip Benizi for a parish retreat. This also was on the Year of Faith, and the tables teemed with folks from other parishes as well seeking to grow in the gift of this season. Prayer was led after Mass by Pastor Fr. John, OFM, who then stayed. He told me that he had much to do, but he also needed to be fed; and if he weren’t, his work would not be what wanted it to be. There was also a moving testimonial from a new member of the parish who is seeking political asylum for his family after converting to Christianity in a strictly Moslem country. There was singing and teaching and sharing in this beautiful Franciscan parish we have been blessed by for so many years! We look forward to returning!

Cricket and Jerry lead an interactive part of the Year of Faith and Growing In Holiness presentation.

 
 
 

Advent 2012

Greetings and Holy Advent to all! Our home parish of Holy Trinity began a grand tradition a few years ago with an Advent by Candlelight celebration of a small meal and large fellowship! We were blessed to be the presenters for the first one. Later years included Matthew Kelly from Australia and this year brought Dr. Edward Sri of Colorado. Our Advent CD filled the two rooms and our daughter's voices brought this wonderful season to our hearts.

We left shortly thereafter to visit St. Mark's Church in Wilmington NC and were the guests of Brenda and Joe Wells, OFS, and Linda Perunko, OFS. We were asked to Link 2 themes we had presented recently, The Year of Faith and the Call to Holiness. We began with the Mass of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and then were joined by 50 people for a wonderful day!

 

 The fraternities, some of whom came from SC, had invited parishioners, and there were more than we expected. The most common comment we heard was the one that blesses anyone putting a gathering like this together: "this was exactly what I needed to hear and do at this point in my life". Linda and her team served beautifully and we were honored to be a part of this.
 

 The room was sunlit all day and set so there could be discussions and sharing. Several of the participants even took to the microphone in front to recall points made at their tables. Jerry's music and humor was also interspersed, and Cricket's gift of presentation and illustration was warmly received.

Our return to Atlanta was just in time to hear our daughter Geneva Adrienne solo in church with a large choir of GA Singers. Their selections of holy Advent and Christmas songs, sung with simply a gorgeous piano background, filled the church and audience with tidings of comfort and joy!

 

Thanksgiving 2012

The colors are still present in mid November in the North GA mountains where we returned for the third or fourth time to lead a retreat for the Secular Franciscan fraternities of Blairsville GA

and Franklin NC

 

 

The lively and beautiful day began with Mass with Father Liem and Deacon John Paul and the Feast of St. Leo. Deacon John Paul spoke on the Franciscan view of real vs. "dishonest wealth" from the gospel. Fr. Liem took several moments at the end of mass to lead us in a silent reflection on the process of emptying the self. (the picture to the right is of another celebration). Cricket began the retreat asking the group to reflect on each word of the theme, and the result was an engaged and lively 'round table' discussion and fellowship. More on this theme will be developed and published later.

The room was as full as the hearts of fellowship and Circket's theme and activities on fraternity made it so no one wanted to leave when we had finished in late afternoon! The group sang the Franciscan canticle as a great choir, and the joy of fraternity was clearly present throughout. We look forward to our next trip there, very soon!

The Year of Faith, 2012-2013

The summer included some travel, but a lot of family time and writing time for Cricket. jerry spent some time in the studio recording some new songs as well as our daughters, all of whom were here in Atlanta for August! Jerry continued teaching for the Diaconate program and spending time with his mother in nursing care up in Indy. The above photo was taken at the ARG in early August---always a wonderful time of renewal, learning, and communion in NC. A high point for Jerry was singing, with much chorus from the 300 or so fellow travellers, another song he wrote about getting lost at that retreat center between the buildings, cafe, and rooms, to the tune of amazing grace (I once was found, but now am lost....)---but also singing "I will gaze" to the San Damiano Cross at the close.

 This picture was taken at a wonderful retreat center called Avila in NC. It is run by 2 wonderful nuns, Sr. Cam and Sr. Damian, and we hosted about 20 secular franciscans and inquirers in a 3 day retreat entitled, " A Journey through the Four Allegories and Rebuilding Ourselves Before We Rebuild the Church." This had been requested from a shorter presentation Cricket had made at ARG in 2010.

 This was the first place where Cricket began selling her most recent book, "Releasing our trials to God", and we are working on an audio version of her teaching with music included. This picture to the right is taken just outside the conference room in the courtyard, but the grounds extend wonderfully.  There are stations and benches and gazebos, even a labyrinth for spiritual reflection. Many of the visitors had been here previously and found this a wonderful place for an annual retreat.

You +1'd this publicly. Undo

 Sister Damian Marie, OFS, who revitalized this center in the 80's and still administrates it today, cleaned up a tiny cemetery where a Carmelite nun had been buried. This cemetary now also holds several children whose lack of funds had meant a non descript marker or place. Jerry sat praying for hours over this beautiful testament to the eternal life promise of our faith.

 

In early October, we were blessed to lead a morning and evening of reflection on the impact of the Year of Faith at our parish, Holy Trinity. It was well attended, though I regret I got so caught up in Cricket's teaching that I forgot to take pictures of the attendees! This teaching was so well received, primarily based on the Pope's Porta Fidei letter, that she was immediately asked to re-present it to 3 different prayer groups and bible studies. We intend to work on an audio program of this with music as well, and Jerry did provide music for these occasions.

 

Later in October,  we again got to visit with the newly established Conyers secular Franciscans in a retreat Cricket wrote on Discerning your spiritual gifts and ministering with them. This is held at the beautiful Hoste catholic prayer community near the Trappist Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers GA.

Snow, Summer and Service!

 Greetings from the Highways of MN! We began this trip with a prayer concert at Blessed Kateri Church in Plymouth MA. We were able to visit with our friends from St. Louis University, Ellen and Jack McDermott and family! It was a beautiful evening of prayer and song: I even hauled out the mandolin and 5 string banjo and they joined in enthusiastically. Cricket's closing prayer led to a poignant moment: as we were challenged to be the prayers we were saying, one of the deacons got up and announced that there was more than enough food that evening for the group we had. He then said that a homeless couple with their dog were living in woods nearby; he wasn't sure how to work the sound system, and realized that our concert had been brodcast outside! He said that our songs and message may have been a help to them, and the group then put food together for them.

We then headed up to Mount Alvernia retreat center in Wappingers' Falls, NY, to lead an annual Retreat with Secular Franciscans from NY and NJ. This was a large and wonderful group with whom we enjoyed a whole weekend on the requested theme of  "Understanding Penance: Pursuing the Call to Holiness." 

 

from Anthony

Greetings in Christ. I just want to say a special 'thank you' for the added blessings your music and spirit brought to me during the retreat at the Mt. Alvernia retreat this past weekend April 20-22 2012. You, your wife Cricket and your entire family are a specially blessed group of people. The collection included in the CD "The Franciscan Crown Rosary" is a most welcome piece of memento from that blessed time which will augment my spiritual well being for years to come!

We left Mt. Alvernia and visited with our great family friends in Lake Skaneatles NY, Tom and Leah Valenti. We were infant families together in married student housing Notre Dame while I was in grad school and Tom was in Law School. AFter a wonderful evening, we woke up to the pictures you see---this was the end of April and we needed a snow plow! But it was wonderful.

We then returned to my childhood parish of Holy Spirit in Indianapolis, where we had done a parish mission last Lent. This was a prayer concert on the theme of  'living the hope of Easter'. This concert included Dr Jim Larner, Music chair at Marian University, on the flute and sax; as well as my youngest brother on guitar. This allowed us to involve the audience in special ways, and Fr. Paul had built the evening around some interactive discussion questions. It was a grand evening of prayer and fellowship! It closed with my presenting the song I had written for this parish the previous year, on seeing Rainfall as God's mercy.

We then brought the same music ensemble to St. Louis de Montfort parish in Fishers Indiana, where we had also done a parish mission last Lent. Some members of the parish staff had studied with Dr. Larner at Marian, so it was a wonderful time of prayer and music! The evening closed with honoring the missionary commitment of the Zatkulak family that has impacted people in Brazil and SLDM for decades. I had written a song to honor them based on their explanation of how they followed the call: "All I Said Was Yes!" It was so wonderful to see their college aged children and friends who themselves have dedicated years of service and learning to the sister parish of SLDM in Brazil! We simply never know the 'ripples' of influence our following in faith will generate!

We then returned to St. Peter's Parish of Forest Lake, MN to present a parish mission with Pastor Father DeGrood on the theme of "God's call on our lives and our Yes!" We had served there previously for a staff retreat and parish mission, and this invitation was another blessed opportunity to serve with Fr. DeGrood and the leadership of St. Peter's. Cricket did both evening and morning sessions and the parish makes us feel so at home that I'm convinced we live there. Deacon Ralph and Louise L'allier again let us stay with them for much prayer and fellowship; and the week closed with the parish singing the song I had written for them called "A grandparent's blessing".

We closed out this wonderful journey with my mother, celebrating her 90th birthday and memorial for my oldest sister Helen, who headed to heaven shortly before.