St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church Newsletter — May 2023

ST. ELIZABETH ANN SETON

Vacation Bible School Brings Faith and Fun to Children of Our Parish

JOIN US FOR UPCOMING PROGRAM ON JUNE 19-23

What if we could show the youngest learners that church isn’t boring and that it’s fun? What if we could plant that seed that will bear fruit for years? With our annual Vacation Bible School (VBS) program, we can show children that church events and being active in your faith are fun! Don’t miss the chance for your child to enjoy Stellar: Shine Jesus’s Light from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., on June 19-23 in Seton Hall.

The mission of the Stellar program is to “launch kids on a cosmic quest where they’ll have a blast shining Jesus’s light

to the world. ‘Stellar’ rockets kids on an out-of-this-world adventure that’s light years of faith-building fun.”

Children will finish the week knowing that whenever they encounter challenging circumstances, they just need to shine Jesus’s light.

Jeremy Vest, Director of Youth Ministry, enjoys planning VBS just as much as the children enjoy participating. Students going into kindergarten through sixth grade are welcome to attend VBS. Youth and adult helpers are also needed. Most of the stations are run by teens in seventh continued on page 2

Vacation Bible School

to 12th grade. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton uses a VBS program that’s specifically Catholic, from a company called Our Sunday Visitor.

“We’ve used programs from this company for years, and the children love it,” Jeremy says.

Children jump through a variety of activities at each session. They start and end with music. In the beginning, they learn about a Bible story and meet the daily “Bible buddy.” During each session, they make a take-home item, play games, have a snack, and watch a short video. The rooms in Seton Hall are decorated to match the theme.

“It is a journey through our universe to see how God is present in our lives every day,” Jeremy says.

For Jeremy, one word immediately comes to mind when he thinks of VBS, and that is “joy.”

“It is so refreshing to see children excited to

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learn more about Jesus and to see teens engaged with helping the children through each station and modeling the faith,” he says.

There is so much value in building community at VBS. The children get to see other children who they know from church and school, and they all get to grow in faith and have a week of fun together.

Jeremy is always surprised by what he learns going through VBS. He is so appreciative of all those who volunteer for VBS, and he loves seeing how the children look up to the teens. They become role models.

Seeing the children at Mass throughout the year and hearing them talk about VBS is also a blessing for Jeremy. He’s always amazed at how much they grow in faith through just one week of VBS.

To learn more about Vacation Bible School, or to assist with the program, contact Jeremy Vest at 386-986-6831 or jvest@seapcfl.org.

A Letter From The Pastor Honoring Our Lady in May

Dear Parishioners,

May is Mary’s month. For centuries, Catholics throughout the world have included special devotions to the Blessed Mother in their activities during May. Best known, I’m sure, is the widespread and everpopular practice of crowning an image of Our Lady with flowers during the month. May is a beautiful month, full of renewal and hope. The March winds and the April showers have done their work, and the spring flowers are in bloom. Even though the earliest signs of spring have passed, May doesn’t quite have the look or feel of summer. It is spring at its finest! And it’s not only the flowers or trees that show new life in May. For many students, May is the month to prepare for graduations, and these students will soon move on to new phases in their lives.

and the descent of the Holy Spirit are the themes that fill our Christian calendar. But as we rejoice with Mary at her Son’s triumph over sin, Satan, and death, we remember her faithfulness to God’s will throughout her life. Indeed, she can be viewed as the model Christian steward. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops pointed to her in its pastoral letter on stewardship: “After Jesus, it is the Blessed Virgin Mary who by her example most perfectly teaches the meaning of discipleship and stewardship in their fullest sense” ( Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response , 41). Let us follow her example of total dedication to God as we rejoice in the blessings He gives us this month!

“After Jesus, it is the Blessed Virgin Mary who by her example most perfectly teaches the meaning of discipleship and stewardship in their fullest sense”

(Stewardship: A Disciple’s Response, 41).

KAIROS PRISON

Offering Essential Support and

dictionary defines the Greek word kairos as “a time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action: the opportune and decisive moment.”

Merriam-Webster’s

Kairos is also the name of a prison ministry in which St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioners have been involved for over a decade. Through this ministry, three-day weekends are put on in prisons, hopefully creating the conditions for inmates to make decisive movements toward healing and new life in the Lord.

A non-sectarian ministry, Kairos has borrowed much from the format of the Catholic Cursillo movement, which provides the opportunity for people looking to go further in their Catholic faith to make a Cursillo weekend — spending time in community over three days, hearing talks, praying and participating in the Sacraments.

The Cursillo movement is intentional about not referring to these weekends as “retreats” — they are not simply a space to take time away to be more fully present to the Lord. Rather, the purpose is for individuals to come away with a renewed and life-changing commitment to the Lord through the Catholic faith.

As with Cursillo, many lives are changed during Kairos weekends.

“There’s a statistic we like to brag about — they say that if there are four inmates sitting around a table, three will end up back in jail after being released,” says Deacon Bob Devereux, who has participated in this ministry for 10 years, starting one year after he became a deacon. “But if they have all been in Kairos, only one in four will come back to jail once released.”

Weekends are held at least once a year. There are men’s and women’s weekends, corresponding to the prison, and volunteers are paired accordingly.

Deacon Bob is currently volunteering with Kairos at the Tomoka Correctional Institution in Daytona Beach. There, inmates sign up for the weekend, and around 36 are usually chosen by the prison chaplain to attend, though the number may vary.

“One weekend, we had a limit of 1:1,” Deacon Bob says. “We had 20 inmates and 20 volunteers.”

The schedule of the Kairos weekend is similar to

that of a Cursillo, but the content of the talks is nonsectarian Christian, rather than Catholic.

“The Catholic Cursillo has talks based on our belief system,” Deacon Bob says. “Kairos is Christ-centered but non-sectarian. One talk is about knowing oneself. The ability for inmates to forgive themselves for what they’ve done is a real key part.”

On Thursday night, the group gathers together for introductions. The weekend continues on Friday morning. Volunteers arrive at the prison at 7 a.m. and are joined by inmates at 7:30 a.m. or 8 a.m. Typically, participants are divided into small groups at tables, with six inmates, a clergy member, and two other team members forming each small group. The weekend ends before Sunday evening.

“There are a series of talks given by members of the team, some talks by clergy members, discussions and posters,” Deacon Bob says.

“There’s a forgiveness ceremony, where they write down people they need to forgive,” he adds. “They put it on rice paper and put that in a bowl of water and it dissolves. You don’t have to do this, but they are encouraged to put themselves on that list as well — to forgive yourself.”

The impact is profound, as Deacon Bob has witnessed firsthand many times over.

“I’ve probably seen more change in the inmates than in the people outside the walls,” Deacon Bob says. “I see a tremendous amount of change in them.”

As with the Catholic Cursillo Movement, the weekend is just the beginning. After the weekend ends

“I’ve probably seen more change in the inmates than in the people outside the walls. I see a tremendous amount of change in them.” — Deacon Bob Devereux

PRISON MINISTRY and Crucial Spiritual Action

on Sunday, the importance of continued support and accountability is not overlooked.

“We have a follow-up and accountability,” Deacon Bob says. “We meet with the small group every week, and then once a month the groups meet together. We go through this and it’s not like it’s a great experience and then within a couple months, the effect is forgotten. This way, we keep up with our individual groups and they keep up with other groups. They explain what their faith has been like in the past week — what was the plan, did they execute it or fail?”

The weekly meetings also allow inmates to discuss how they have done in one of the three pillars of prayer (or piety), study, and Christian action.

“The real goal of Kairos is to form small Christian communities,” Deacon Bob says.

Larger group monthly gatherings include a Scripture reading done by an inmate, witness talks from both an inmate and a volunteer, and prayer and singing.

Deacon Bob recalls the witness talk he heard an inmate give when he volunteered for a Kairos weekend for the first time. The speaker was an inmate who had gone through Kairos and spoke about his faith and what Kairos did for him. He was still carrying out a life sentence in prison, with no chance of getting out. The topic of his talk was choices, and he shared that he had made a lot of bad choices while outside of prison. Now, inside prison, he doesn’t have many choices — he’s told what time to get up, what time to have breakfast, and so on. But, as he told those gathered, “I make one choice every day — to bring Christ to whoever I meet that day.”

This talk had an impact on the inmate Deacon Bob was accompanying that weekend. An imposing figure who identified as non-Christian, Deacon Bob had felt, as he observed this inmate over the course of the weekend, that the man was not getting anything out of it. But, when this witness talk was given at the end

If

of the events on Sunday, this man leaned forward and started to pay attention.

“He had been in and out of jail almost his whole life,” Deacon Bob says. “As a youth, he and a buddy stole a Jeep. They were joy-riding and the cops chased them and he flipped the Jeep. He woke up handcuffed to a hospital bed and found out that his buddy had died. He was put in jail for vehicular homicide and had been in and out of jail from that point forward.”

But, Deacon Bob says, when this inmate heard the witness talk, “I could see the transformation in him.”

“And, when we went back to the reunions every month, someone said something about this man evangelizing all over the compound,” Deacon Bob says.

Hearing the witness talk was clearly a decisive moment in this man’s life, and it led to a lot of crucial actions to improve the lives of others.  Bob notes that the three essential ways to be involved are, first, prayer — praying for the inmates and the volunteers; also monetary support if you are uncomfortable serving in a prison; and being a team member for a weekend and the continued accompaniment of participating in small and large-group gatherings.

you would like to be involved in creating these opportunities to encounter the Lord, be set free, and start on a new path of transformed life, contact Deacon Bob Devereux at 386-793-3255.

MOTHERS and Stewardship

Wecelebrate the month of Mary during May, and during this month, we also celebrate Mother’s Day. It seems fitting that we honor our mothers during May since Mary is given to us by God as the example of true Christian motherhood.

Those who are called to be mothers have been blessed by God and called to fulfill a very important responsibility. Mothers are the vehicle through which God brings new life into this world. When we talk about Christian stewardship, we talk about sacrificially returning to God what we have been given. What can more clearly be a demonstration of complete sacrifice than the relationship between mother and child during the nine months of growth in the womb? During these nine months, the child’s life depends on the actions of the mother as her energy and nourishment go directly to the growing baby.

Although this relationship may change to some extent after the child is born, a mother’s sacrifice for her child is far from over after the birth. The role of the mother is critical in the child’s development — both spiritually and physically — throughout life. Mothers provide the comfort, nurture and support necessary for their children to become productive citizens and responsible Christians.

The job of a mother is not an easy one. This is a fact that Mary, the mother of Jesus, knew very well. She worried when her young Son appeared to be lost, only to find Him later in His Father’s house. She was probably concerned as Jesus began His public ministry — not knowing what difficulties and rejections He would encounter along the way. And, Mary must have experienced great anguish as she watched her Son’s body being crucified to a cross.

May all mothers look to Mary as their model for motherhood and ask her intercession as they strive to fulfill their God-given role in their children’s lives. During the month of May, let us all take some time to express our appreciation to our mothers for allowing us to come into this world, for loving us, and for serving as an example of what it means to be a steward for life.

New Catholics Welcomed into Faith at Easter Vigil

Parish Community Shares in Joyous Celebration

For the duration of Lent, we spent time preparing ourselves for Jesus’ resurrection at Easter. Emphasizing prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we awaited the coming of Our Lord over 40 days. We entered into Holy Week and the Triduum, culminating with the Easter Vigil to mark the end of Lent.

The Easter Vigil is a sacred night for the Church. It is a significant event in the liturgical year for all Catholics, but especially for new members as they join our Church. Traditionally, the Easter Vigil has been the Mass during which candidates are received into the faith.

“It goes back to the tradition of the early Church when new members were welcomed into the community by being baptized on Easter,” says Katie Allio.

This year at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, 27 youths, teens, and adults were initiated into our parish at the Easter Vigil on April 8.

“They began preparation in August,” Katie says. “Both adults and children attend weekly meetings, experience retreats, adoration, witness talks from parishioners, clergy, and ministry leaders of the parish.”

The Easter Vigil is significantly longer and different from an ordinary Sunday Mass celebration. Several

elements set this celebration apart from the rest of the liturgical year.

“There are seven readings — seven from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament; including the Gospel — which recounts the history of salvation, each followed by a psalm, lighting of the new Paschal candle (the symbol of divine light), use of the catechumenate and chrism oils for the Baptisms and Confirmations,” Katie says.

The significance of the Easter Vigil is our participation as we have waited, keeping “vigil” for the newly risen Christ. The candidates were part of the igniting of the Church with light.

“They light their candles from the Paschal candle and then light the candles of the parishioners illuminating the dark church with the light of Christ,” Katie says. “They receive their Sacraments of Initiation — Baptism and Confirmation, culminating with them ‘eating at the Lord’s table’ for the first time in the Eucharist.”

The Easter Vigil wrapped up with a celebration in the parish hall for all new members of the Church.

We congratulate those who have made their journey into the Catholic faith, and extend the warmest welcome into our community!