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Our Small Groups are ready to launch! We have about 124 participants arranged in 14 groups, with a facilitator secured for each one. The groups are nearly evenly divided among three types: spirituality, service, and social. Next week all the participants will be contacted, and the facilitators will receive their orientation and resources. They in turn will arrange the first meetings of their groups in the Second Week of Lent (March 1). The groups will have an initial run now through May 31, when we will pause to evaluate the experience.
Given the large number of people and groups, the parish staff realized that with our Parish Life position vacant, we could not handle this ourselves; so we have taken on a temporary staff member for 3 months dedicated solely to supporting the small groups. Jill Kress comes to us after working in Jesuit ministries in Detroit the past 20 years, including the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, ministry at the University of Detroit Mercy, and service as a member of Gesu Jesuit parish. She has graduate degrees from Catholic Theological Union and the University of Chicago, where she specialized in theology, ministry, and social justice. If you’re part of the small groups, please welcome Jill when she contacts you!
RITE OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION
As Lent begins we formally welcome Aghogho Edevbie as a candidate for reception into full communion and confirmation at Easter. Please pray for him in these final weeks of his preparation. He has a long acquaintance with the Jesuits as an alum of U of D High and a volunteer at our Jesuit school in Dodoma, Tanzania. He currently works as an attorney for a voting rights organization.