The chairs are great! They are so comfortable, and I like the Hymnal holders. Also, the acoustics are better.

The new chairs are FABULOUS!!! Keeping a wiggly 4 yr old boy from disturbing others during mass is so much easier with solid, unmovable chairs!!

It's great having a Pastor who's not afraid to roll up his sleeves and help.

Thanks for the new chairs.

Good morning! I just discovered your forum and hope more people join in to keep this going. We are an "outdoorsy" family that gets away from the Dallas hustle/bustle by camping with family close to your church, and go to your church services whenever we are camping. Fr. Tim - while I am a 'cradle Catholic', my husband is not - but after listening to your sermons and seeing the wonderful fellowship at St. Mark's, my husband has started his RCIA classes at our 'home church'. I just wanted to let you know that you and your congregation just never know when someone is at your services by just a 'happenstance' and you never know when your words and deeds are going to take someone's heart and turn them to Catholicism. You and your parish are wonderful, and after 20+ years of marriage, I am so thankful to you for your words and messages that reinforced what I've been explaining to my husband for all these years and moved him to start his journey in faith to Catholicism. Bless you all and please remember - a new Catholic could be right next to you, just waiting for the right words and/or conversation/actions that will bring them into our fold....

Thanks for your nice message, Taree. It is true that none of us knows how we are affecting others. I suppose that our actions are always preaching something. I'm sure that your own witness and faith have been the most important.

Where do you camp near the church?! I think it is illegal to camp in that park near the church.

Let's try again posting the readings of the Sunday Mass. If you have the time and feel like making a comment, please do so. They are available at this link:

http://www.usccb.org/nab/101908.shtml

The Gospel reading this Sunday from Matthew is Jesus' famous response to the Pharisees that one should 'give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.' Our faith sharing group this morning (Monday mornings from 8am to 9am, open to all) had a spirited discussion about this. A theologian recently said that there is a distinction between the political order and the moral order and that not everything in the moral order belongs in the political order. He means by this that not everything that we hold to be immoral should also be illegal. I believe this is true, though what those things are is the difficult thing to define. Clearly, we as Catholics have held that abortion is one of those moral issues that should also be covered in the political issues. This is surely one of the most divisive issues that our country faces. Perhaps it is providential that this reading comes just weeks before our Presidential election.

This is a link about a Catholic pro-life pharmacy; encouraging.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/468381.aspx

Here is a link to the readings for Sunday, Nov. 2nd:

http://www.usccb.org/nab/110208.shtml

This Sunday, we celebrate the Feast of All Souls. This is an opportunity for us to pray for our faithful departed (not faithfully departed, since pretty much all of the dead are faithfully departed, but not all were faithful) and to reflect on the reality of our own death. While it can be seen as morbid to think of death, I think it would be worse to live without death. This life is good, but it is not something I would want to do for eternity unless I could eat whatever I wanted without gaining weight. And no exercise or waking up early or... You get the point. While death can be seen as a punishment by God for our sins, it can also be seen as a remedy for the limitations of this world, a freedom to live a better life.

Having said all of that, I'm not particularly interested in the remedy at just this moment.

Here is a link to this Sunday's readings:

http://www.usccb.org/nab/110908.shtml

I will offer a commentary on my next entry.

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of St. John Lateran. It seems like a strange thing to celebrate. The Church is actually the Cathedral church of the city of Rome, not St. Peter's Basilica which is more or less the Pope's personal church (that may not be such a hot description.) I think that the point of the celebration is about union with the Bishop/Pope of Rome and not about the church. Afterall, the Cathedral is the Bishop's church, so this is a way to speak about our union with the Pope.

We had a nice discussion about the value of a church building and the importance of style in a church. Some expressed appreciation for our present church, especially liking the way the sunlight enters the building, a sign of God's presence. Others spoke of the beauty of simplicity. But the major consensus was the value of the community. It is the people of God that makes a church beautiful. Many had had experiences in less than beautiful places that were made beautiful by the people. A good reminder.

The link below is an interesting (short) article regarding “why we need churches” whether they are simple or fancy. Also, the article is written in regard to the Feast of St. John Lateran and the dedication of the Basilica in his name. Community is, for sure, more important than a building, but this article brought to light some interesting ways to think about the actual building.
 
http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/librar...._John_Lateran.html

A 2nd collection will be taken this weekend for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). Email messages have been circulating regarding funding provided by CCHD to ACORN. That funding was cut off earlier this year and no money from last year's collection or this year's collection will go to that cause. For additional information check the following post on the National Conference of Catholic Bishops(NCCB)website:

http://www.nccbuscc.org/comm/archives/2008/08-175.shtml