Todd Gale, Discipleship Coordinator & Spiritual Director | St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church | Jackson, Michigan
Read discipleship reflections and spiritual guidance from Todd Gale at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Jackson, MI.
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Director of Faith Formation
THE STRATEGY FOR THIS AGE A few summers back, some of us joined Joseph & Crystal Gruber at a summer training conference at the University of Mary in North Dakota. We had a chance to meet a profound prophet in our age: the president of the university, Monsignor James Shea. He and his team penned
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From the Desk of Fr. Chas, Todd Gale, and Shayne Slough – Ministry Handbook Letter
Dear Parishioners, 1856. In this year, the “Mother Church of Jackson” laid its cornerstone, and from that moment on, parish life at St. John the Evangelist Parish began! This year, as we celebrate 165 years, we have over 50 active Service Ministries, Faith Formation opportunities, and Councils/Committees! The majority of those are described here in
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Director of Faith Formation
Our Faith Formation Team here at St. John Parish is a robust and dedicated bunch, with Todd Gale, Angel Koerkel, Valentina Piotrzkowski, Catechists who teach Children’s Liturgy and Sacramental Preparation, Joseph Gruber with FOCUS, and many wonderful volunteers. We’ve been guided by the vision of our Good Pastor, Fr. Chas, and we have soaked this
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Director of Faith Formation
Faith Formation 2020-21 Annual Report Summary • FIRST RECONCILIATION and FIRST EUCHARIST: We met with every family for a “check-in” interview; Fr. Chas scheduled separate, private Confession times with the families; First Holy Eucharist was celebrated with families choosing between the various Sunday Masses in May; we had 52 students combined celebrate from the School
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Director of Faith Formation
THE MASS IS THE CLASS Our Faith Formation Team here at St. John Parish is a robust and dedicated bunch, with Clare DeWitt, Angela Koerkel, St. John School, Religious Education Catechists (“catechist” is a churchy word that means religion teacher!), Joseph Gruber with FOCUS, those who teach Children’s Liturgy of the Word (CLOW), and many
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Director of Faith Formation
Something awesome this way comes! Can you feel it? Can you sense it? We so often see the downward spiral of statistics showing the Catholic Church of the Western world in decline. We’ve seen here in Jackson over the last 40 years a dramatic down-shifting in the numbers of parishes, schools, vocations, and participating members.
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From the Desk of Todd Gale, Director of Faith Formation
SALVATION STORY LEADING TO SCRIPTURE For the last month or so in homilies and articles we have been revisiting the basic story of Salvation. All people have been created by a loving Father God who wants us with Him for eternity. Then we were captured by the enemy, with our own free will as an
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From the desk of Todd Gale, Director of Faith Formation
The first memory I have of God was when I was five, my older sister told me that God was stronger than Superman. I couldn’t believe this! “Is he even stronger than Under Dog?” “Yup, even stronger than Under Dog.” Wow! God revealed the mystery of his might through my sister. My Grandfather was a
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Todd Gale – Director of Faith Formation
The first memory I have of God was when I was five, my older sister told me that God was stronger than Superman. I couldn’t believe this! “Is he even stronger than Under Dog?” “Yup, even stronger than Under Dog.” Wow! God revealed the mystery of his might through my sister. My Grandfather was a
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From the desk of Todd Gale, Director of Faith Formation
FALL FAITH FORMATION: DIFFERENT TIMES, DIFFERENT APPROACHES One of our favorite weekly events is the Catholicism 101 sessions, which also serve as the introduction to Catholicism for those who want to become Catholic (RCIA; the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults). Due to the safety regulations with the pandemic, we will be offering in-person classes
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Small Groups Countdown!
We have almost two dozen people who have taken an intense training course for leading Small Groups! We will launch this new effort just prior to Lent with each of the leaders meeting with a handful of people in their homes, or at local coffee shops, or restaurants, libraries or other locations. Some of the
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God Wants You to Help Teach Kids!
Jesus loves the little children and calls the children to himself! We need a few more adult-type-people to answer the call for teaching Jesus’ kids. We are looking for an adult lead catechist/teacher for 3rd grade Religious Education this year; we have two terrific and capable high school students as classroom aids. Our long-time teacher
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Religious Ed Off to a Great Start!
We had a great first week on September 10 with our Religious Education program, and are expecting several more families to join us this weekend as we get into the routine of Sunday morning CCD, Religious Education, Sunday School. CCD is the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, which are large words saying “a group that teaches