Gracious God and Father,
we enter into your presence
realizing you know us
better than we know ourselves.
You know the cares and sufferings
we carry in our hearts.
You call us to holiness
and we trust you to lead us together
on our journey
to be a renewed Church,
for with you all things are possible.

Create us anew
in Jesus Christ your Son.
Liberate us
from all that keeps us from you.
Heal us
from every form of sin and violence.

Transform us
to live your word more profoundly.
Awaken us to the sacred;
rebuild trust among us.
Enliven our parishes;
reunite our families.

May your Holy Spirit empower us
to live as a community of love,
freed to share in your work
of recreating our world
and restoring justice.

We believe you are
doing something new,
calling us to arise together
in Jesus Christ
to celebrate the fullness of life.
Amen.

ARISE is a program of both parish and personal renewal. Like many other parishes in the Archdiocese, our parish is committed to doing what Cardinal Sean has asked us to do as part of the bicentennial of our diocese: to journey together toward a more fruitful spiritual life. Concretely, in the next few months members of our community, a small Core group, will begin training to implement ARISE here at Saint John’s. The goal of ARISE is to draw fellow Catholics together in homes and parish halls to share their faith, their questions, their struggles and their hopes. ARISE provides various means for evangelization by inviting parishioners to form small groups for prayer and faith sharing, beginning in the fall. Our Sunday liturgies will help us bring the work of ARISE to the whole community. Special attention will focus on young adults, the group that is most disconnected to the church today.

I am grateful to our Parish Pastoral Council for their advice and support, and to the members of our Parish Arise Team (PAT). The PAT will learn strategies for strengthening the faith of our active parishioners and for reaching out and drawing in disaffected Catholics. To make this work, I ask for your prayers and your involvement. Later this year we will be asking you to consider hosting a small group in your home. Parishioners who remember the RENEW program many years ago have told me how helpful it was then to enliven their faith and to promote a feeling of community among Catholics.  I will keep you informed through our parish bulletin and this website.  Meanwhile, follow the link on the ARISE icon above or click here for more information on this program.