St. Martin de Porres
#1 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – St. Martin de Porres Parish – Milwaukee, Wisconsin -First Communion Annual Celebration – May 2019. We had 5 children who received their First Communion. The children were very well prepared with classes once a week for 8 weeks as well as a ½ day retreat. We encouraged their parents to be part of the weekly classes as well as helping their children with First Communion Banners. As Mass began, the children shared gifts of flowers to the Blessed Virgin Mary. On this Sunday we were blessed to have two Priests celebrating with them. It was a beautiful homily by one of the priests who shared/showed his First Communion certificate. He explained how he has saved this certificate all these years and encouraged them to do the same with their certificates. Also, the priest shared a small children’s Bible that he received on his special day as well. Coincidentally, each child was given the gifts of a rosary and a prayer book as well. The children were very busy on this day. They did the Prayers of the Faithful, brought the gifts up to the priest, and we had an extended “peace” time so everyone could congratulate them. They were so dressed up with their white suits and dresses. We as a community encourage our young families because we know they are the future of our Church. Now we will have these children training soon to be acolytes as well as gift basket holders.
#2 CONFIRMATION - On Mother’s Day, May 12th, we had the celebration of Confirmation with one of our Bishops. The service was held in the afternoon with all the teens from churches in our district. The Bishop, shown here, shared a wonderful homily for the teens. He encouraged them to become active in their church communities. With the seven-month preparation for this sacrament, they are well equipped to become actively involved at our church. They will be asked to have service hours during our Vacation Bible School (VBS). We invite children in our neighborhood to come to VBS. There are many hands needed. They will be encouraged to become lectors, hospitality ministers during Mass and ministers of Communion. They can pray on the ministry that interests them and will have extensive training, so they feel comfortable. We will also have time where the adults will listen to the teens so they will have time to discuss some of their interests that they would like to see happen for the younger members of our church. One of the things that we will be asking them to do will be coming to a meeting for the teens receiving this Sacrament next year to share what their journey to Confirmation was like for them and help send the next group on their journey.
#3 MOTHER’S DAY CELEBRATION– This was a wonderful celebration at our church on Mother’s Day. All the mothers and mother figures of the church were asked by our Pastor to come up on the altar at the time of preparation of the gifts to share prayer and receive blessings as well as lead the rest of the congregation. This was a wonderful celebration of mothers. As I looked out into the pews as we were standing on the altar, I realized that there are far more women in our parish that men. Also, on Mother’s Days it is a special day of celebration for the Ladies of St. Peter Claver Ladies Auxiliary. This group of women has a very positive influence at our church. They have fund raisers and help with funerals and other ministries during the year. We held hands and led our church in the Lord’s prayer. As we left the altar, each woman was presented with a flower and a prayer card. We were given these gifts by the children in our parish. It was a very special day, and the appreciation from the men, single women, and children was very moving. Their appreciation made a statement with the mothers that we are loved and appreciated.
#4 VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL– (VBS) – is a summer event to bring our church family children and our neighborhood children to have time to pray and play in the name of the Lord. The program was a great success. The theme this year was "Whoosh: Take Flight to Where God Leads You!". First of all, we hung banners outside of our church inviting children from our neighborhood to join us. The first day of VBS we had several teens who came two hours before the class started, and with adults from our parish these teens walked around our neighborhood handing out banners and inviting children. This was a great service our teens did. The teens also worked with the teachers with the different age groups. VBS was for 1 week. It was held from 4:30-7:00 p.m. A usual day started with prayer, and then we moved into study time. We had age appropriate workbooks that had daily lessons with a word of the day. There was a music CD that we played every day. After the daily workbook lesson, we had an arts and crafts activity. The activities were making sun catchers and making tie die shirts just to name a couple. After we had activities, we had dinner for the children. The dinners were very healthy choices! For one example, we had cheeseburgers, chips, carrots, juice boxes and cookies. Great fun all week!
Two of our new First Communion children served as Altar Servers. We had an afternoon training class with the children. We had a workbook that they went through. We then had a mock Mass and went through every step of the Mass. There was a lot of time for questions, and the order of the Mass was explained. All of the “jobs” of a server were thoroughly explained and practiced several times until the children felt comfortable. This ministry brings such happiness to our parish. Our parish loves to see children doing ministry. We believe and know that children are our future. The pride the children have is felt, and they are given great praise by everyone. These children assist the priest with many tasks. Holding the book for readings for the priest, setting the table for Communion, and ringing the bell at readings, just to name a few. We have an adult Sacristan in the background during Mass to help them until they become more seasoned. These 7-years-old children are now on the start of their own works for God.
