Get Ready! He's Coming!

Let the Spring weather come! We as a team are defiantly ready to have some higher temperatures that don't involve a minus sign and snow (not that we really had all that much this winter, pretty mild for the most part). Anyways Palm Sunday was this past weekend which means that Easter and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ are soon approaching. This gives us a beautiful opportunity to prepare our hearts through fasting, alms giving, and attending reconciliation. 

Well as always a good old ministry update is in order. Sunday night was Unchained as always and we had an awesome night on our Mother Mary and how important she is in our life! We heard a talk from one of our priests which was so awesome and informative about our Mother starting in the old testament to the new. Michelle and myself (Matthew) had the talks afterwards for mens and women's session. Michelle's talk was about Marian titles and the ladies all got to pick out one for themselves which was really cool. I gave my testimony on how I relate to our Mother Mary through different events in my life and really emphasized how men can relate to Mary which is defiantly a need to know subject in our Catholic faith! 

It's crazy to realize that we've only got just under 2 months left here in Medicine Hat and we've already been here since October of last year. So many crazy/fun adventures have happened on the road, within the office, hanging with youth and in events that are constantly keeping us on our toes. I think one of the most amazing parts is that God is constantly giving us the grace to face these moments in our lives which is so tangible and noticed as a team. It's a thing of beauty! 

We shall catch up soon. God bless.

Matthew ten-Bohmer

Infuse 2, Medicine Hat, AB

From World's Largest Teepee  

Looking for something new to read? Check it out!

We had a super fun week of ministry events here in Drayton Valley. The jr.high youth joined us for some disco bowling and kareoke last Friday night, and we played an epic game of Bigger or Better with the high school youth. It's amazing what one can get by trading a paper clip!

If you're looking for a new book to read, I'm going to hand this blog over to guest Colin Hay, who is willing to share some insights on the book "Why Catholic's are Right" by Michael Coren.

Stephanie

It seems that these days everyone likes to take a quick shot at the Church. From (seemingly) harmless jokes to out right rants against the Church and the Clergy, it seems that the last acceptable prejudice in the world is against Catholics. Why does it seem that so many people can say such insulting things about Catholicism when saying the exact same thing against a different group of people would result in widespread public outrage? I think it’s because for so many years we as Catholics have just let it go. Instead of making waves and causing a stir by standing up for the Truth, we have simply shrugged it off, ignored it or even pretended like it doesn’t exist. I had always wondered why I couldn’t find any pro-Catholic books that had the same in your face style as so many of the anti-Catholic texts I had found. Then I picked up a copy of “Why Catholics are Right” by Michael Coren.

“Why Catholics are Right” is a well researched and well written deconstruction of society’s most popular arguments against the Church. Coren, a British-Canadian journalist and T.V. personality, writes this book with a wonderful mix of humor and objective historical evidence supporting the Catholic Church. Whether it’s historical events such as the Crusades or the Reformation, Catholic doctrine like papal infallibility or why the Church uses tradition and the Bible instead of the Bible alone, and even social issues such as the Catholic stance on abortion, contraception and homosexuality, Coren’s wonderful mix of knowledge and humor will keep readers entertained and intellectually stimulated. This book was my first encounter with Michael Coren and I must say it has become one of my favourite books and he has become one of my favourite authors. At only 217 pages it is a small book compared to the absolutely gargantuan books that are usually associated with the same topics and Coren’s tongue-in-cheek humor makes this book an easy and enjoyable read for anyone. Whether you have spent your life studying the faith or if you want to start but don’t know where to begin, “Why Catholics are Right” is an excellent book to read. I would recommend that every Catholic should read “Why Catholics are Right” and every non-Catholic should read it too.

“Christian, recognize your dignity” – St. Leo the Great

God Bless,

Colin & iNFUSE 3

Drayton Valley, AB

Station Time

 When Pope Francis made his first appearance as Pope in the Vatican I think my favorite part about his welcoming was when he asked everyone to pray for him before he gave his blessing! My mind was blown in how down to earth he is. All I can say is we need to keep a close eye on what's to come from Pope Francis because great things are about to happen. 

So going from the Vatican City in Rome, Italy all the way back to little old Medicine Hat, Alberta things are going well around these parts. A couple of us on the team (second years and team leaders) have been able to go off and take a personal retreat which has been very rejuvenating for body, mind, and soul.  Much prayer was had and it really gives us energy to keep going strong for the rest of the year. 

We had a really busy weekend with Equip, Family Fun Day, Leadership Training and Unchained. The highlight of the weekend was most defiantly with Equip. We did a shadow play of the Stations of the Cross which was seen by quite the crowd of youth and parishioners who just decided to join us in the hall instead of doing a traditional Stations up in the church. It was such a powerful experience for all who witnessed and partook in it because it made you feel as if you were there, walking beside Jesus on the way to his crucifixion. We had a giant screen set up (12x8 feet) with a projector projecting images on the back to really set the scene. It is defiantly a night that will be remembered for a long time. 

So I encourage you all who are reading this to prepare your own hearts for the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Attended a Stations of the Cross in your own parish, seek out reconciliation/confession to start this Easter season that is so near, spiritually fresh. God Bless

Matthew ten-Bohmer

Infuse 2
Medicine Hat, AB

The Holy Spirit works in awesome ways!

Hi Everyone!
God is so good!
What a wonderful past few weeks it has been in Lethbridge!
We had a community service night for our PULSE youth group for Jr. High students 2 weeks ago, and we baked cookies and made cards for a retirement home in Lethbridge. Everyone who came had a wonderful time! Who wouldn't, with the large supply of sugar being there!

This past week we had a night with a talk by Chase on baptism and confirmation, and how they relate.

Also this week, it was a very exciting day when we got a new Pope; Pope Francis! The day he was chosen, we were at one of the J.r. high school's we go to every week for lunch visits. The school had a few different TV's on through out the school with the news on it, for all the students to watch if they chose to do so. It was a very exciting atmosphere as we watched in the school's cafeteria. The students had chosen their top 5 picks for our new Pope, and Pope Francis was one of their choices! There was loud screams when he was announced! It was so cool seeing how excited they were and how they were genuinely interested in our new Pope. That night my team went out for coffee to celebrate Pope Francis and gave him a toast in Tim Hortons! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!
God Bless!
Love Amy ten-Bohmer & iNFUSE ONE
Lethbridge, Alberta

Habemus Papam!

We have a new Pope! Our team was blessed to see the white smoke while we were on our lunch break. We were so overjoyed to see Pope Francis that we decided to celebrate with Tim Tam Slams.

In anticipation for the Pope, we listened to "Why do we have a Pope?" by Dr.Scott Hahn at our young adults group Saturday morning. One young couple opened their home for us and the other young adult parishioners for fellowship and faith studies.

Also, this past weekend we ran a jr.high youth night with a variety of prayer workshops which included mini talks on Lectio Divina (Meditating on the scriptures), the PAL prayer method (Praise, Ask, Listen)and praying through worship music. The high school youth had a night on suffering where we answered tough questions like, "Why do we suffer?", and "Did God create evil?" To visually unite our sufferings with Christ, we nailed them written out to a wooden cross.

Our busy weekend concluded with a family retreat. I love retreats. Spending more time with parishioners allows us to minister to them in a variety of ways, which hopefully reaches the hearts of more people, guiding them closer to Christ. It was a great retreat and the only one we will be running in Drayton Valley this year. While it was a small turnout, the parents were very interactive in their small group and we were able to witness the sense of community they share as they contributed with personal stories and advice. How nice it was to learn from the people we serve!

Until next week,
God Bless,

Stephanie & iNFUSE 3
Drayton Valley, AB