Holy Family Maronite Church

My Dear brother and neighbor, Msgr. Sharbel Maroun.
Dear Parishioners and friends of Holy Family Church,
Dear parishioners of our sister parish, St Maron’s ,
Dear guests,

There are a lot of wonderful benefits to turning 90 years old. Just ask Snookie Smith.
For example,
Kidnappers are not very interested in you.
No one expects you to run into a burning building.
You quit trying to hold your stomach in, even if the Pope who walks into the room.
Your health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.
Your joints can double as your own personal National Weather Service.
Your pacemaker can double as a garage door opener.
And finally, your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.

But for Holy Family Church, turning 90 has one single great benefit: It’s that after 90 years of uneasy times, we still have a warm place to call home, and a community to call our own. It’s that while, over the years, many institutions and powerful companies collapsed, our humble parish still stands firm and vibrates with life.
Since we purchased our first church building in 1918, Holy Family celebrated the sacraments and served the people of God uninterruptedly. Let us not take this for granted, my friends.

As a young boy I was always a very good student. By “very good” I mean a student who consistently got the highest grades in his class, and was as a result regularly praised and congratulated by parents and teachers. It mattered little to my family or my school – both in charge of my education and formation as a person - that my academic excellence required minimal effort on my part: I have a natural propensity to learning.

By the same token, it mattered little that some of my classmates put in long hours and exhausting efforts into their school work, but had only low or average grades. What lesson did that teach me and my classmates? That only results mattered. How one actually achieved those results, or what circumstances lead to them, was not taken into account.

I learned that same lesson in gym class too - this time from the losing end. Being one year younger than all of my classmates, and not particularly gifted in sports, I hopelessly tried to master this or that sport, run faster, or grow a few more inches…My performance having stayed lousy, not once were my efforts recognized by my gym teacher.

Lesson reinforced: results! results! results!

I have a suspicion that my childhood experience is not unique. Some of you might have one way or another learned that same lesson. Even as adults we are similarly conditioned to pursue good results, with little attention to the means adopted. As adults, the workplace becomes the place where ignoring the “results-only-matter” principle can cost you your livelihood. In fact, very few bosses would give you an “at-least-you-tired” end-of-year bonus. As long as you proceed in a “legal” or non-actionable manner, the business community allows for and expects some morally gray business practices – as long as you get things done!

Where am I getting with this auto-biographical tirade? What is the problem with this kind of social conditioning? The problem is we all bring this kind of mentality to our parish life and activities. After all, in our parishes too we have fundraisers and projects in which we hope to succeed. However, when you try to lead a Christian life, you MUST FORGET that precious childhood lesson.

Why? Simply because, unlike our parents, teachers and bosses, God’s narcissism is not tickled by our successes, his public image not brightened by our talents, and his bank accounts won’t be fattened by the huge business deal we just brilliantly closed. No. What matters to God is not whether we succeeded or failed, but HOW we proceeded before and after the success.

God would ask us: did you truly try your best?
Did you proceed with honesty?
Did you ask me to reveal my will for you regarding your project?
Did you count on me in your dark hours?
Did you have faith in my love and providence when you doubted your own abilities?
Did you pray the Spirit to enlighten you on the right measures to take?
Did you, along the way, marginalize or alienate others?
Did you give proper credit to people who deserve it?
Were you jealous or envious of other people’s achievements?
If you succeeded, how did you handle your success?
Did you use your success and influence to benefit other people as well?
It is based on the answers to these questions that God determines the value of our actions, the degree of our achievement, our success or our failure.

My dear brothers and sisters, we now, as a parish, are facing this same challenge. Convinced that relocating to a different church is vital for our growth, we engaged in a huge multi-million dollar project. What will matter to a lot of people, including ourselves perhaps, is whether we actually succeed at moving or not. Resist that temptation. Because, if there’s a time when the process counts more than the result, it’s when you work for the greater glory of God. It’s the present time, this present project.

You and I are blessed with this wonderful opportunity to grow in our faith. We can focus only on achieving our goals, or we can benefit from this learning experience, and achieve our goals THE RIGHT WAY! Our journey won’t be easy, but God willing we will succeed! Friends and community might recognize and rejoice for our success, but for our success to have any value IN GOD’S EYES, we have to always count on his love and providence, make sure we are honest, pouring our hearts and souls into our work, and keeping charity as our bond, faith as our weapon, and hope as our drive.

I've been thinking about it for a while. It's an issue that is very dear to my heart. No, it's not the extinction of wild salmon, or greenhouse emissions - however serious these issues are. It's Christian unity. I always wondered how is it that the "world" would believe us when we talk about love, forgiveness, peace and harmony, when we, Christians, cannot get along. We'd be hypocrites!
Such historic and deep schisms can heal only with time and prayer. One morning in December, I woke up thinking about holding an Ecumenical Prayer Service at Holy Family. I had to act fast before we published the January bulletin, because the week of prayer for unity is Jan 18-25.
I first thought of inviting Amazing Grace Lutheran Church with whom we have a special connection since they sold us our Mendota Heights campus. St George's Orthodox Church also has special ties to us, since we share the same Eastern Antiochian heritage. Calls were made, and all was set.
I was very excited about the service, but I didn't expect it to go that well. The attendance was relatively modest - about 75 people. Five clergy persons attended: Fr. Kevin Kenny from Our Lady of Guadalupe; Pastors Chris Becker and Sarah Lutter from Amazing Grace Lutheran; and Fr. Tom from St George's Orthodox.
The theme of the prayer service for this year was "Pray without ceasing." It started with an invocation of the Holy Spirit, and intercessions; then scriptural readings. One interesting ritual was the lighting of candles and proclamation of an ecumenical commitment.
A reception in the social hall followed the service. We had a chance to discuss and socialize some more. A few pictures are available in our picture gallery.
Worshiping with other Christians feels just right. United, together, just like God intended it. The service was, according to all who attended, heavenly, and I intend to make it a yearly tradition that I hope all parishioners will experience.
Meanwhile, let us keep praying!
Abouna.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In October 1918, the Maronite community of Saint Paul - that had already been active and vibrant for a couple of decades - purchased a protestant church on Robie Street on the west side of Saint Paul, and made it into its first home.

Eighty-nine years later, in October 2007, the same active and vibrant community - the faithful grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those pioneers who started the journey in 1918 – acquired yet another Protestant Church on Lexington Avenue in Mendota Heights, in order to continue that same journey.

What journey is that? It’s a journey towards a deeper knowledge of our faith, and a more committed living; a journey toward a more charitable community where parishioners find support, guests feel welcome, and the poor and weak find assistance; ultimately, it’s a pilgrimage, of a Church towards our final destination, the arms of our heavenly Father.

From the bottom of my heart, I congratulate each and every one of you on taking that leap of faith, and committing yourselves to this exciting project. You are making history, and planning for a brighter future. For that, I am very proud of you, and future generations will praise your futuristic vision.

I thank my Parish Council who initiated this project, as well as the Stewardship Committee that executed it. I am equally grateful for all of you, parishioners and friends of the parish, for supporting our endeavor. I look forward to celebrating this accomplishment with you at our new location in Mendota Heights on November 18th at 10 am.

Places and addresses change. Names and faces change. Pastors come and go. Parishioners live and die. Buildings rise and fall. But the goal, Jesus Christ, remains.

And so the journey continues…

Proudly your Pastor,
Abouna Rodrigue Constantin

It's Friday morning, around 2am. I returned to St Paul at 10pm, after a 4 hour delay at the Chicago airport, because of the thunderstorm that was hitting Minnesota in the early evening. Where was I? I was at the NAM convention: the National Apostolate of Maronites (www.namnews.org ). This 44th annual convention was held in Richmond, VA this year. This is the 5th convention I attend, after Minneapolis, New York, San Diego and Chicago. Richmond would be the least "exciting" of all these cities :) . It's rich with museums and historic sites. It's an American history buff's heaven! It would have been an occasion for me to learn more about America history. Or I could just pick up a history book, for that matter! However, we were busy from 8am till 8pm everyday. The day started with Morning Prayer, followed by breakfast, and then a first meeting; then a noon Liturgy and lunch; then a meeting at 3pm, and Evening prayer and dinner. After that we were free to roam the city - which we were constantly warned not to do after dark or alone!
The meetings were the "Clergy Conference" part of the Convention. Few lay people are at the hotel during that part. The bishop gave us updates on finances, vocations, Liturgical renewal, etc. Priests and bishops of both Dioceses were there. We had a great time sharing and discussing, in and outside of meetings.
On Wednesday, people started flocking to the hotel. I haven't seen that many Lebanese people in one place since....well, since the last convention, I guess. Or since the last time I went to Lebanon. The interesting phenomenon is the commitment some people have to the convention, especially the youth. They return year after year to see friends they had made the previous year, to spend time with relatives from other states, and to explore a new city every year. Many couples came out of this convention actually. But the convention is not a matchmaking event. It includes a lot of workshops, seminars, lectures about theological, spiritual, historical, pastoral and social issues.
Holy Family Church hosted the NAM convention in the early 80's, and it was pretty successful. Hopefully, we'll get to do it again soon. May be when we dedicate our new Church!
Anyway, I'm back in town for the weekend Liturgies and the parish picnic. See you there!
I think I should hit the sack now. May the angels watch over your sleep!
Abouna.

Fr. Armando Elkhoury and the community of St Rafka Maronite Church have celebrated the dedication of the first Maronite Church in Colorado. Bishop Robert Shaheen presided over the Dedication ceremony attended by a few hundred parishioners and friends of the community. I had the honor of being a part of this historic event, representing Holy Family Church. The following link takes you to the movie showing the ceremony, as well as the banquet. http://www.saintrafka.org/

May 20th was a great day at holy Family Church. We were blessed with the presence of our Maronite Bishop Robert Shaheen, who celebrated the First Communion Liturgy for four of our children: Valencia Andrade, Sean Conway, Cassandra hutchins and Austin Johnson.  Attached are some picture slideshows from the Saturday Liturgy. the First Communion Liturgy and the reception. Download these files and enjoy the memories!