Church of St. John, Trenton, North Dakota
We are most grateful for the funds we receive at St. John the Baptist Parish in Trenton. Because of this most generous grant, we are able to carry out some evangelization efforts that we normally couldn’t not do. As the pastor of three parishes, I am convinced of the importance of getting valuable resources to our parishioners (and non-parishioners), many of which I believe change hearts and minds. Here are some things we have done lately which benefits all three of our parishes and the community as well.
We held our staff in-service as we began a new school year. At our spring clergy conference this year, Fr. Robert Spitzer gave an excellent presentation of the four levels of happiness. In regard to this, I had Fr. Luger give a talk to my staff and catechists on this topic. I followed it up by giving all my staff a copy of his book from which his talk on happiness flows from. It was received very well which is not surprising, for who doesn’t want happiness in this life!!
We also had an October 15th night of adoration from a group which travels the country promoting Eucharistic Adoration along with beautiful and meaningful praise and worship music. The group is called The 177 Project. Chris Kraft from the diocese recommended them to us. We invited our parish members but also the Protestant community. The vision of The 177 Project is simple: to get as many people as possible to spend an evening in Eucharistic Adoration. St. Teresa of Calcutta once said that the key to converting America and to saving the world is to get people participating in holy hours. We were very excited for that night and now have a once a month Adoration event in our parish.
Finally, I placed another Augustine Institute order recently. In addition to cd’s, I also ordered some excellent short booklets on various topics. In light of all the confusion people have regarding divorce and remarriage, end of life issues, and person of Jesus Christ, these books will be great resources for many who desire to know the truth of what the Church teaches.
Peace,
Fr. Russell Kovash
