People in parishes all across the Diocese have been working hard to be ready and to make sure everyone feels welcome. Many parishes have appointed a specific Parish Preparation Rep. If you don’t know who your parish’s rep is, contact your parish office. If your parish doesn’t have one, consider volunteering! Ask your pastor and then contact the Office of Discipleship and Mission.
We can’t possibly mention every parish and their work to prepare, but here are a few highlights:
St Francis University Parish in Tuscaloosa contacted their bulletin provider, Diocesan Publications, and had them design and print a banner to display in their vestibule. Diocesan has made the banner available for any parish in the diocese to order. You can find it using this web address: bhmcatholic.com/orderbanner/ which will take you straight to their site.
Our Lady of Fatima in Birmingham brought many parishioners on a parish retreat at the retreat center at St Bernard’s in Cullman. During the overnight retreat, they studied Bishop Baker’s Called, Formed, Sent letter and received an update on the congress from a member of the EC2019 Planning Committee.
Holy Spirit in Tuscaloosa had an event to launch bible studies and small groups and invited Dr. Steven Ray to come give a talk at it. Several other parishes have had the Office of Discipleship and Mission come and present a small group leader workshop in an effort to start or support such groups as well.
St Stephen the Martyr Campus Ministry Chapel in Birmingham has launched a couple of new events centered around Eucharistic Adoration. One of them, called BHM Catholic Underground, has brought in people of all ages from many different parishes.
Our Lady of the Valley Ft Payne has been coordinating a donation to provide a bus to bring those who cannot or prefer not to drive down.
Students, Scouts, Legion of Mary members, and many others have been volunteering to make rosaries for all Congress attendees. Our Lady of the Lake in Pell City has sent well over 500 with more to come!
Students form John Carroll Catholic High School’s Students Modeling Christ Club donated money they had raised to help support the Congress’s Youth Track!
We’d love to hear about how your parish is preparing for the Eucharistic Congress! Most especially, we’d like to hear about how you are spreading the word and inviting people to be present with us. The EC2019 Planning Committee has been sending out posters, prayer cards, invitation postcards, and lots of other materials… How have you been using those? Contact the Diocesan Office of Discipleship and Mission if you’d like to share, or send your info to the One Voice or Diocesan Social Media pages.