St. John's Church Offers ARISE Together in Christ Program
 Swampscott - Parishioners of St. John the Evangelist Church in Swampscott are abuzz with interest in the upcoming, innovative ARISE Program and many have already made resolutions to spend 1.5 hours once a week during the Holy Season of Lent to meet Christ in small faith-sharing groups, at the time and day of their choosing.
Individual groups of eight to 12 people will meet in homes and at other locations throughout the Swampscott/East Lynn parish. The six weeks of meetings will begin the week of Feb. 22.
The goal of the program is to create a renewed community of faith for St. John’s Parish, to welcome back those who may be distanced from the church and to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ through active commitment to charity and justice.
The promise of the program is that each participant will: know God better, grow spiritually; meet new people, talk to God through prayer, put his or her faith into action, experience different prayer styles and become rejuvenated by bringing daily worries, cares and frustrations into an atmosphere of prayer and reflection. Faith-sharing can bring new hope and personal peace into one’s own and into another’s life.
Parish leaders say the program is “a wonder-filled, rewarding opportunity to improve oneself.” Parishioners will be invited to commit to the ARISE Program during the last weekend of January. Committee members will be available at the church to answer questions and to record each participant’s group meeting time and day preference at the 4 p.m. Mass on Saturday, Jan. 31, and at the 7:30, 10 and 11:30 a.m. and the 5:30 p.m. Masses on Sunday, Feb. 1.
The people who bring this opportunity to their fellow parishioners, under the co-leadership of Steven Dwyer and Bryan Butters, are Beatrice Yasi, Agnes Raymond, Orest Manzi, Helen McSweeney, Nancy DiLisio, Ellen Mills, Kirk Hassel, Patricia Buckley, Maureen Yasi, Mary Grace Weaver, Patricia Davern, Joanne van der Burg, Jim and Nancy Hughes and the pastoral staff. All of St. John’s Parish family and friends are encouraged to partake in the blessings of the program.
Further information is available by calling the rectory at 781-593-2544. |
This article originally appeared in The Swampscott Reporter and is reproduced with permission under a Creative Commons Agreement.
ARISE Together in Christ is a three-year process of parish and personal spiritual renewal and evangelization developed by RENEW International in collaboration with the Archdiocese of Boston. More than half of the Archdiocese's 295 parishes are participating in ARISE.
About RENEW International RENEW International is a canonically-recognized Catholic organization based in Plainfield, NJ, in the Archdiocese of Newark. RENEW International fosters spiritual renewal in the Catholic tradition by empowering individuals and communities to encounter God in everyday life, deepen and share faith, and connect faith with action. Since 1980 RENEW International has revitalized parish life in over 150 dioceses in the United States, touching the lives of 25 million people through its renewal processes. RENEW International also reaches many thousands outside the United States, having served people in 23 countries, across six continents and in 44 languages. |