This podcast is also meant for anyone in church-land who desires to see growth in their church or personal life. 

For example: I really encourage you to ask the Lord in prayer: “Lord, how can I grow in the 4 Core Values of my parish: how can I be an engaged disciple; how can I show evangelical hospitality; how can I exercise some leadership or help others to be leaders (multiplying leaders); how can I be more Rooted in Tradition (listen to Fr Mike’s podcase CCC?)

So – what have I seen this week?  

1)   The Senior’s Ministry has returned! I talk a lot about our Youth (and I will again) but I now want to highlight a “reboot” of our Senior’s Ministry. This went into a kind of “hibernation” with the ugly reality of COVID. It has taken a while because there is so much happening here @ the parish but now the Senior’s Ministry is rebooted and rising! I want to give a shout-out to Theresa and the people she is working with. 

2)   Saturday night the Junior Youth Ministry Core Team gathered for its monthly ‘get-together’, dinner and team building. This is so important for these young people (and their leaders too!). It helps the leaders grow together as a team of brothers and sisters in the Lord (by their sharing), it helps them grow as disciples and leaders. 

Keep praying for the supernatural growth of our CCYM

3)   Parishioners are responding to the AMS very well. People gather after the 9 and 11 Masses to chat with family and friends. The kids are playing – running around and just having fun. 

The organizers are living out being engaged disciples and showing for evangelical hospitality. 

If you have not popped into an AMS then I encourage you to give it a try – you’ll benefit and so will others. 

Notes

1) This past Sunday we celebrated the anniversary of the dedication of our parish church. Set apart for Sacred Worship. 

Today - Oct 10th is the actual date of the dedication. It is allowed - and encouraged to celebrate a church’s dedication on the closest Sunday and have that elevated to a Solemnity. This is Rooted in Tradition. It goes back to the dedication of the 1st Temple by King Solomon (2nd Chronicles 7) and then the rededication of the desecrated Temple by the Maccabees (2nd Macc. 10) - after it had been desecrated by the Gentiles. 

Catholics have dedicated – set apart – their “Temples” (Churches) for sacred worship – the worship of God primarily by way of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 

A parish Church is our spiritual home, the place where we gathering to worship God through the Mass, receive the divine life though the other sacraments and hear the written Word of God. 

This anniversary and celebration is Rooted in Tradition! 

2) The second thing I want to highlight is something most of you will not see but you will now hear about is something I have been observing before the 5pm Saturday anticipated Mass begins. In the sacristy – where the servers are preparing for Mass, Joseph one of the most senior altar servers was guiding Andre passing on to him leadership points. Joseph is one of the most valuable servers here @ CC but he also wants to “pass the torch” and so is preparing the younger generation for the important role of leading and guiding the younger servers. This is Multiplying Leaders and Rooted in Tradition 

3) The 3rd thing that I noticed was the praying of the Rosary after the Saturday morning Mass – October 7th, the Feast of the Holy Rosary. The Rosary was prayed in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Tagalog and Cantonese. 

This is Rooted in Tradition and Engaged Disciples! 

I want to give a shout-out to Lina and the Legion of Mary who organized this and Lina who made a beautiful poster. We owe our Lady’s intercession at the battle of Lepanto to our being here. If the Christian fleet had lost that battle (to the Muslim’s) we would not be here! Think about that. 

Pray you Rosary daily – it involves all three kinds of prayer: Physical (moving the beads through your fingers); 2) Vocal – saying the prayers, 3) Contemplative (reflecting on the mysteries). Try always to pause briefly after you consider the mystery you are going to meditate on --- to make a resolution e.g., before meditating on the Nativity – resolve to live a more materially simpler life and give of your financial blessings where they are going to make a difference.  

Thank you for listening

I want to highlight a number of things that happened this past week: 

1) I want to recognized Connie and David who are the Parish Coordinators of our Witness to Love program (Marriage Mentorship) and a shout out to Kevin, Valerie, Megan and Nathan and I know there are other couples. This is a really important part of our Vision - to strengthen couples preparing for  the all-important vocation of Marriage.

2nd thing is that the After Mass Socials have relaunched – after the 9 and 11am Masses … in the parish centre. As mentioned in a previous podcast Annie has handed off the leadership roles to Mary and Mellysa (Multiplying Leaders). So, thank you to M and M for taking the reigns and being Effort Disciples and extending the all important Evangelical Hospitality to fellow parishioners and anyone who will come along. 

3rd Remember that we have 10 people in our RCIA – our RCIA Team is journeying with them as the discern if God is calling them to the Catholic Faith. One comment from a Team member is that these candidates are much better prepared and ready to hear and understand the material given in RCIA (this was not the case in previous years. All candidates have to have taken Alpha and 1st level Discovery from the CCO series. 

The Vision is working to better prepare candidates to be catechized because they have been evangelized (they have heard the Good News in Alpha and begun to hear about the Catholic Faith in Discovery. 

Point for personal improvement: 

One of the podcasts that I listen to is Andy Stanley. In one of his podcasts he gives 6 questions every leader should ask his/her team. Here is one question: If I left a team and the new person – to fill my position - came in with no emotional attachment and they were purely driven by the mission and vision of this organization – what would they do? THAT is what you and I should do. You can apply this to your circumstances – business, family, personal lives. 

This can be such clarity to fog in our lives (if we want it to). Ask the question and benefit from the answer. What would the next person in my position do?  

I want to highlight a number of things that happened this past week: 

1)    I want to acknowledge all the work that was put in to hosting Fr Chris Alar – members of the leadership team worked very hard to organize this one night and very big event! The church was packed and Fr Altar gave an excellent presentation on Eucharistic Miracles and the Mass. Father’s presentation is on our CC YT page so I recommend you viewing it for good solid spiritual formation. 

2) This past week we relaunched the After Mass Socials which began outside of the Church and this coming week will resume in the Parish Centre. I want to encourage every to come out after the 9 & 11am Sunday Masses. As mentioned in a previous podcast Annie has passed the reigns to Mary and Melisa. This is a great example of Multiplying Leaders and Engaged Disciples + Evangelical Hospitality. 

3) The Food Fest – the weather was beautiful (thank you Bl Don Alavro) and many people came out. The kids were running around (which was great to see), lots of children got a pony ride and the food was also very good. Big shout out to Annie, Adelia and the many people who helped them organize and make this Fest possible. 

 I prayed (a lot of others too!) asking for the rain to be held off till 5 or 6. Now – to be sure – God cannot be strong-armed and God has the absolute right to say “no” or “not now” but today God granted a gift. You could attribute it to luck but everyone knows I don’t believe in luck! God granted an nice day for the children and so the adults enjoyed it! 

4) RCIA was launched last week – the candidates have taken Alpha and 1st level of Faith Studies – this is in accord with our Vision … too many going through RICA and are not prepared. We are now requiring the discipleship pathway 

Corpus Christi 10 Year Vision Podcast 

Welcome to the Corpus Christi Podcast. This is the Podcast where I highlight how the 10 Year Vision of this Parish is being lived out and then hopefully you will begin to notice it yourself. 

This 10 Year Vision was brought about because of a holy discontent I had - knowing things could be better in the Church. 

I know and I hope and pray that you will come to know that WE MUST do something to bring about a different outcome from what is happening in so many sectors of the Church. 

It is possible but only with a lot of prayer, sacrifice and a Vision that give people a picture of a desired future. 

This podcast is also meant for anyone in church-land who desires to see growth in their church or personal life. 

I want to highlight a number of things that happened this past week: 

1)    We made our second hire for the Office of the parish. This is needed as the Office is so

busy with visits from parishioners and constant requests of assistance on a whole array of matters that Winnie cannot attend to the primary matters for which she was hired. 

Our new hire is Irene Goh in the role of Administrative Assistant. With the office team she will help to be the face of our 10 Year Vision. She will help us to push this Vision forward. Please support this hire with your daily prayers. 

2)    Parishioners know that we have a mortgage on the beautiful School/Parish Centre/Day

Care facility that God – through the intercession of Blessed Don Alvaro – has blessed us with. If we had waited just six more months to start this project it would not have been built. This is not my opinion but the Project Manager that we hired. 

God wanted this facility built. Now we have the mortgage – approximately 6.5 million – to pay off. Amortization is 14 years. 

This is the prayer I offer to Blessed Don Alvaro every morning (and I ask you to make it your own): 

Blessed Álvaro del Portillo

Prayer

O God, merciful Father, you granted your bishop Blessed Álvaro, the grace of being, with our Lady's help, an exemplary pastor in the service of the Church and a most faithful son and successor of Saint Josemaría, the Founder of Opus Dei. Grant that I also may respond faithfully to the demands of the Christian vocation, turning all the circumstances and events of my life into opportunities to love you and to serve the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Deign to grant the canonization of Blessed Álvaro, and through his intercession grant me the favour I request… (here make your petition). Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

1)    That all the efforts of our Capital Campaign to raise funds to service our debt will be blessed by God and bear the fruit of financially generous disciples in this parish

2)    That people in the parish will respond to leaving Corpus Christi in their Wills 

3)    That parishioners will be more generous in their giving and that I am able to raise all of the money to pay down our debt (7 million) and proceed with the Campus Mater Plan of renewing the Church, Offices and Adoration Chapel

3rd) Finally – I was present at the Youth Junior Core Team dinner/evening this past Saturday. These Senior Youth have offered themselves to lead the Grade 7-10 youth of the parish. 

I need to say this: 

Do you know this is happening? 

Do you give thanks and praise to God that this Youth Ministry is happening in our parish? 

If you did not then now you do and it is so important that we give thanks to God and support our Youth with prayer and even with our sacrificial giving. 

Well – that is it for this week. A lot is happening. We have a Vision and God is blessing it. This Vision is for you! 

If you see the Vision working then email me and let me know so I can include what you’ve seen in the Podcast 

United in Prayer 

Fr Hamilton 

I want to highlight a number of things that happened this past week: 

1) Alpha Testimonies of real lives changed: Michelle, Charles and Marisol and Mary. Alpha launches Sept 20th @ CC 

2) Youth Ministry Bottle Drive. The bottle drive which netted about $2500 was a great team builder. A lot of Youth showed up and some parents joined in. A shout out Bob who did all of the driving to the bottle depot. Lois provided the pizza - feed the kids and they’ll do almost anything - LOL! This is ED, ML. Great working together

 3) This coming week we have Project Advance being launched in our parish. This calls all of us to exercise stewardship over our financial blessings. PA allows us to assist the Archdiocese in it’s need to fund land purchases (which we know are very expensive - for schools, future parish sites, YM, to name a few); Once we meet our Arch obligations all monies come back to us so we can steward our financial resources to upgrade the Adoration Chapel and then help with kicking our School debt to the curb.

We have a brand new beautiful God-blessed facility. The quicker we kick this debt to the curb (pay it off) - 6 million by now - the quicker we can go into full Mission mode. At CC we have accomplished SO much and yet there is So much to do. 

1) We are getting ever closer to the launch of our 3rd Alpha. Last Wednesday the Alpha Team - headed by Michelle, Debra and Margie - gathered with the volunteers and helpers to have a great meal, watch a training video and then have scenarios and discussions afterwards. What does this say about Alpha? First of all - these fellow parishioners are very dedicated Engaged Disciples who want to have an atmosphere of Evangelical Hospitality for everyone who will come to Alpha. 

2)  Youth Ministry: The Core Team - what is referred to as “the 12” went on their annual retreat this past weekend. These are senior youth and young adults (keep that in mind - ok!) Do you know that the Church is bleeding young people — do you know that; do you acknowledge that! 

3) It is the time of the year - school begins today! - when many programs and initiatives will are in the “to-be-launched” stage. 

Our After Mass Socials will return soon; the Parish Leadership Team will be having an Offsite this Saturday (so please pray that it is very fruitful as we push our 10 Year Vision forward)

I want to highlight a number of things that happened this past week: 

1) A Group of Chinese parishioners are going on a pilgrimage to the Camino and they are going to raise money for the Capital Campaign - for the 10 Year Vision.

Engaged Disciples!

All proceeds raised will go towards our Capital Campaign which is aimed at kicking our debt to the curb. There is just so much to do! 

2) Annie will be handing off the greeters And also the after Mass socials to Mary and Melissa - this is living out the 10 Year Vision and Core Value of :

Multiplying Leaders. 

3) the alpha social was a wonderful gathering of people who are going to be involved in the upcoming of Alpha. Registration began this past Saturday/Sunday and I’m sure it will fill up very quickly.  As I mentioned at Mass - all the baptized are called to be servant-leaders (like St Peter) who are called to serve and not to be served. 

So I call on all of you to “serve that person” who you could ask … ask your angel to intercede with their angel and invite them to attend the Alpha here @ CC. Remember it is not the “yes or no” but the “prayer-backed-up-ask” that is vital. Alpha team is excited about this new year and if all goes well - and the Holy Spirit keeps sending His people our way I think it would be just GREAT to have a 3rd Alpha in the Spring. 

Time will tell - God already knows this but you and I do not. So serve through your prayer and asking and perhaps even getting involved in the Alpha! 

This week I want to highlight the Leadership Team we have here at CC. Various Committee Meetings usually take a break during the summer but the Leadership Team is meeting during August in order to prepare for the “new season” that is upon us with the beginning of September.  

I am grateful that I can lead from this Team of parish volunteers - Margie, Schola, Annie, Seamus, Peter, Deborah, the paid staff member Winnie and of course Fr Raffaele. We are continuing to work to attain the 10 Year Vision that is motivating everything here at CC. 

2)Did you hear those  testimonies from the World Youth Day Pilgrims? Tyler, Renella and Gabriel. It is very clear that the World Youth Day had a profound impact on them and all who went to Portugal. This really is a fruit of the 10 Year Vision

3) A new initiative is getting off the ground: There will be an After Mass Social after the 5pm Mass. This will be 1x per month on the 2nd Saturday - after the 5pm Mass. This effort is being championed by Christopher and Yuriko Ryan.

It is living out the Core Value of Evangelical Hospitality and being an Engaged Disciple. thank you to Chris and Yuriko.   

As you have heard - the 10 Year Vision is driving a lot of initiatives in this parish of ours. Whether it is the younger or older members of the parish there are people striving to implement the 10 Year Vision by way of the 4 Core Values of EH, ED, ML and RT.

I am asking you to look around and notice where the Vision is being lived out. Let me know so I can incorporate your observations into this podcast. Have a great and blessed filled week. 

10 Year Vision

1)  The parish celebrated and gave thanks to God for the gift of the priesthood and Fr Richard’s priestly ministry here at CC. The Farewell as extremely well attended. They School Gym was full! 

There was an huge amount of food (it was a potluck event!) and it was extremely well organized and run. 

Fr Richard helped me to bring the 10 Years Vision to reality and then the first fruits of it was our hiring Lois McCoy. 

Youth Minsitry has implemented and is living out the 10 Year Vision and as a result has shown amazing fruit. 

 2) The Altar Server Camp is taking place this week - from Monday though to Thursday. 50 boys are present. The Camp is being run by Senior Altar Servers who are also members of the CCYM. Parents of the Servers were on a Committee that helped implement the logistics; the Senior Servers and members of CCYM are now running the Camp.