Hello, friends: 

As the fall semester starts our Religious Education programs do as well. Sr. Nancy happily reports that numbers are great this year; in fact, for our younger grades (1-3) we are at capacity and the classes are closed. RE classes begin September 12/13, with the exception of Confirmation II, which will begin a week later. RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) begins on September 13. The RCIA is a process of formation for those folks who are either non baptized, who have a desire to enter into the Catholic church as well as for those who need to complete one of more sacraments, i.e. First Holy Communion, Penance and/or Confirmation. If you or someone you know needs to complete a sacrament, please call the office and we can certainly assist you! 

Fr. Alex is away this weekend. He’s visiting the parish where he assisted while a deacon and 4th year student, in Sealy, TX. Please pray for his safe travel and he’ll be back with us next week. 

Fr. Ray

Hello friends: 

On behalf of my mom, Lucille, and of my siblings and extended family, I’d like to thank this faith community for your expressions of care, concern and sympathy on the death of my father. We are grateful for the cards, calls, text messages and visits; they have helped us through this difficult loss. I truly didn’t understand grief and loss until my twin brother, Robert, died five years ago and again, now, as my dad has passed. 

We had a wonderful celebration of life for my dad, at his funeral mass! It was certainly challenging to both preside and preach at his mass, but I felt privileged and honored to have been able to offer this last mass for him. 

After having experienced this “death and dying” experience with my dad, I’m more aware of how important our bereavement ministry is here, at our own parish community. If you’d be interested in learning more about what this ministry does or if you’d like to join, please call the parish office. 

 Fr. Ray  

After two months serving the communities of Cloudcroft, La Luz, Tularosa, and Bent I am happy to be back home. These two months were a lot of learning and discovering my identity as a priest. I had a wonderful time. The people treated me very well. We all tried to work together in this journey of faith. 

This past weekend was my first official weekend at Newman. It wasn't my best weekend here since we all experienced the sad news of the death of father Ray's father. I felt it as many of you have, but at the same time it was beautiful to see the support and sympathy of the whole community towards his father and his family. This is part of being a community, to support and care for each other. Please keep father and his family in your prayers. 

On the positive side, this week I had the opportunity to spent some time in the heart of the Hondo Valley at San Patricio retreat center with the campus ministry team. What an experience to see such a wonderful team eager and excited about coming back to Newman and serve the community with their talents and time. I had the opportunity to catch up with some of them and to meet the new members of the team. It's a great group of students under the leadership of Sal Melendrez and Mona Chip. I am looking forward to serve and work with all of you. All these experiences in my short time as a priest have enrich and reaffirmed my calling to continue answering God's call. Let us pray for one another that the Lord may grants us all the blessing to hear Him. 

Blessings, 
Fr. Alex