ARISE Together in Christ

Completion of First Year of ARISE @ St. Paul

2009-05-05T08:13:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends: We ended the first year of ARISE with an impromtu Pot Luck Dinner at the school hall. It was scheduled quickly to capture the enthusiasm of the ARISE program and bring us together with the sharing of a meal. About thirty people attended and it was enjoyed by all ... somuch so that a few asked about the next one! We started the Friday night dinner at 6 and were all cleaned up and out by 8:30. As Father Rafferty said in his recent bulletin, it is hoped other ministries will do the same. It is not a difficult thing to do with helpful and generous hands assisting.

I am posting the roster of our program this past year. You might have seen it at the back of the Church in poster format. We look forward to another season beginning in September. I will be delighted to answer any questions about ARISE and my email address is: williamwise@gmail.com. We'll plan to kick it off with another Pot Luck Dinner. And this time there will be an announcement in sufficient time for you to make plans to attend.

God Bless
Bill

Sunday
7:00 p.m.
Parish House
Facilitator: Bill Mansfield
Jack Falvey
Bill Berigan
Tom Lydon
Bill Ramsey
Mary Corkery

Sunday
Home of Bob and Cathy Curley
7:30 p.m.
Susan & Mark Murphy
Phil & Linda Resca
John & Patti Burke
Cherly and Rick Pedone

Sunday
Parish House
Facilitator: Charlie Anderson
Paul Koenen
Jay Ippolito
Stephen Walsh
Steve LeBlanc

Monday
Parish House
9:30 a.m.
Facilitator: Mary Kerrigan
Kathy Sullivan
Tina Martino
Mary O'Donnell
Mary Long
Lisa Stover
Teddy Helfrich
Connie Melia
Beth Donahue
Marion Keen

Monday
Home of Joan Snober
7:30 p.m.
Facilitator: Donald & Maureen Jensen
Irene Manian
Blasdel Reardon
Jennifer Knobloch
Mary Bell
Dick Callahan
Sally Herzig
Mary Lou Longo
Maryann Keyes

Monday
Home of Steve Leary
7:30 p.m.
Facilitator: Steve Leary
Karen Smith-Lane
Joe Griffin
Bob Wisleder
Shirley Coyne
Matt Curran
Frank Deane
Lois & Dwight Crowther

Wednesday
Home of Cynthia Kelleher
10:00 a.m.
Facilitator: Cynthia Kelleher
Ann Marie Manning
Paulette LaCourciere
Dierde Anderson
Joan Dunn
Cindy McLaughlin
Carole White
Mary O'Donnell
Maureen Thompson
Maryann Lynner
Chirstine Saypek
Marie McLaughlin

Wednesday
Parish House
Facilitator: Donna French
12:30 p.m.
Kirsten Ward
Katie Osterman
Sue Sullivan
Demi Farren
Rosemary Motta

Wednesday
Home of Lynn Zofchak
7:30 p.m.
Facilitator: William Wise
Nancy Wise
Carol Cavanaugh
Sara Aiello
Lynn Zofchak
Cheryl & Jerry Smith
Sam Mullin
Lynn Zofchak
Kevin Connolly

Friday
Home of Mary Isley
10:30 a.m.
Facilitator: Frances Armstrong
Gladys Marshall
Ann Tyler
Mary Isley
Mary Ann Hunter
Jane Wisleder
Anne Temple
Marie Bernard

Friday
Home of Mary Dever
12:30 p.m.
Facilitator: Mary Dever
Kate Pershing
Maryellen Dever
Bernadette Ippolito
Anne & Basil Cronin
Patti Nash
Kathleen Cavanaugh
Tahni Morell
Julia Powers
Linda Hooley
Judy Boyle
Rita Gill
Maureen DeMena
Kelly Carey

Facilitators' Comments ARISE Oct - Nov '08

2008-11-15T18:20:00.000-08:00

Here are a few comments from our facilitators for your consideration.

"I enjoy being a facilitator for ARISE. The lessons are presented in a format which makes discussions flow freely and easily.
All I need to do is open & close with prayer and present the questions. An engaged, enthusiastic group makes the facilitators job easy."
Charlie Anderson, facilitator Sunday night mens group

"Being an ARISE Facilitator is a rewarding experience. You get to meet with a segment of your parish community and learn about where they are on their faith journey. Everyone is respectful and supportive of one another as we all attempt to grow in faith while we develop a deeper sense of community." Bill Mansfield, facilitator mixed group Sunday night Parish House

"As a facilitator I try to be a member of the faith sharing group. I share like everyone else. The only difference is that I get the meeting started and during the meeting I move the group along as necessary. The only other thing I've done is encourage others to add anything to the group that may make it easier or better. An example is, one of our group e-mails each of us a copy of the scripture reading so we'll all have the same wording. My experience is that it saves time and is easier for all of the group to follow since the wording is the same. When following from different bibles it can be difficult. I've been part of faith sharing before. I enjoy it and find it rewarding spiritually. I hope that it's the same for others in our group. Lastly, I am able to know more people in the parish.
Steve Leary, facilitator, Monday night mixed group

"All of our members feel very blessed to be gathering together each week to share our faith journey with one another and to encounter Christ in the Gospels. I prayed that God would form our ARISE community and as always I sat back and watched the Lord do His wonderful work. We all feel so comfortable with one another and feel so free to share honestly and openly from our hearts. God is forming us into a circle of love and support for one another. We are committed to praying for one another during the week. The Presence of Jesus and Mary being with us is a healing gift. One woman said, "I feel such peace here when I am with this group." Praise God for the abundance of His graces. Our loving Mother is always drawing us closer to her Son and to one another."
Fran Armstrong, facilitator Friday morning group.

"We first starting meeting at the Parish House. Challenged by space and competing groups we were invited to the home of a member. What a difference it made and how generous our hostess. I never thought that I would be singing hymns in a small prayer group, but it happened. Funny thing though, the singing is welcome and brings a deeper sense of peace to the meeting. Perhaps the old saying, "they that sing, pray twice" is true. Our group is mixed with four men and four women. We stay on the text but do not discuss the particulars of the instruction on historical setting of the Gospel. We just don't have the time in the 90 minutes we have for the meeting. There are two of us in the group who were trained as facilitators so if more parishioners want to join ARISE I am confident we will be able to accommodate them."
Bill Wise, facilitator Wednesday night group

2008-04-24T20:18:00.000-07:00

Dear ARISE Committee Members:

Your work in bringing ARISE to the parishoners of Saint Paul supports the instruction of our Holy Father given in his homily at Yankee Stadium on April 20th.

Benedict XVI informed us "the power of the word of God, authoritatively proclaimed by the Apostles and received in faith, to create a unity which transcends the divisions arising from human limitations and weakness. Here we are reminded of a fundamental truth: that the Church's unity has no other basis than the Word of God, made flesh in Christ Jesus our Lord. All external signs of identity, all structures, associations and programmes, valuable or even essential as they may be, ultimately exist only to support and foster the deeper unity which, in Christ, is God's indefectible gift to His Church. .... The Church's unity is 'apostolic'. It is a visible unity, grounded in the Apostles, ... and it is born of what the Scriptures call 'the obedience of faith."

The ARISE program is Christ centered, and thus focused on the Word of God proclaimed in the Gospel. We are His instruments to bring this unifying and faith filled program to our fellow parishoners.

It is a blessing to work with you.

Bill Wise

2008-03-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends in Christ,
We were surely blest to have participated in the first committee meeting for Arise in Christ. It was very up-lifting. Our risen Lord was certainly there in our midst. May we continue to pray that all hearts and minds will be open to the Will of God. May each one of us take advantage of the Word of God every day, even if it is for only 15 minutes.
May we reflect each day upon the workings of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives recognizing His guidance, His protection, His teaching, His Divine Providence, His Love. May we see Christ in others and may others see Christ in us. And may we always give Him thanks and praise.
God Bless.
Lynn

2008-03-27T18:01:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to all for participating in the ARISE Together in Christ Parish Team meeting last evening. I am humbled to collaborate w/ you on this very exciting opportunity for spiritual renewal for our parish & for each of us as individuals. I look forward to learning more about the RENEW experience @ St. Paul's & to praying with you for the success of this spiritual renewal.
May this Easter Season be a season of joyful prayer & discernment for our parish.
Patricia

Qualities Needed in Members of the Arise Parish Team

2008-03-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

From Bill Wise:
We came together in prayer tonight as members of the St. Paul "Arise Together in Christ" team. The Holy Spirit guided us in our deliberations and sharing Christ with others. You can't ask for a better Chair of any meeting! This is a blog communication to demonstrate the facility. I hope it works. You will get a separate email from me asking for you to choose a partner to pair with as we go forward. I will leave it up to each of you to reach out and select a partner. If one is not available to you because of selection by someone else on the team please let me know. Heck, we'll recruit a partner for you in the coming weeks!

Here are the qualities needed in members of an Arise Parish Team (from the instructional materials). From what we shared tonight - we are well on our way!
1. People of faith who seek spiritual growth
2. Committed to the spiritual growth of others
3. Prepared to work to energize others for involvment
4. Able to honor calendars, and time commitments
5. People who can bring a job to completion
6. Effective communicators
7. Able to work well with others.

Finally, here is an opportunity for you to respond with a Blog message of your own. Any comments about tonight's meeting, suggestions going forward, and any questions are welcome. For questions we'll get the right person to respond, either from the Archdiocese or from the national office of ARISE.

Bernadette Ippolito
bippolito4043@aol.com

Mary Dever

Katie Benjamin

Bill Mansfield
wtgmirish@aol.com

Bill Mezzetti
billmezzetti@yahoo.com

Cheryl Smith
cgrammie@gmail.com

Donna French
dfrench250@comcast.net

Fr. Chris Palladino
fr.chris.palladino@gmail.com

James Rafferty
jfrafferty@yahoo.com

Jay Ippolito
OCTLINC@aol.com

Kevin Connelly
kcc1104@yahoo.com

Karen Smith
ksmithlane@comcast.net

Lynn Zofchak
lynnazof@yahoo.com

Mary Isley
misley79@aol.com

Patricia Mikus
patricia.mikus@gmail.com

Steve Leary
murnandsteve@verizon.net

Kati Osterman
kosterman@tlcwm.com

William Wise
williamwise@gmail.com

First Posting to Blog

2008-03-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends in Christ:

I created this Blog for our use and the use by our fellow parishoners at Saint Paul Parish. What and how we use it will be up to us to decide. I am thinking of using it as a means of communication and comment for all. Since this is the first time venturing into the blog-sphere any suggestions will be welcome.

This link is to ARISE. You will find several informational items and the Pilot story about the Archdiocese of Boston launching the ARISE renew program.
http://www.renewintl.org/

We are meeting Wednesday at the Parish House, 7:00 p.m. Here once again is the list of our committee minus two who do not have email (Eddie and Mary).

Bill Mansfield
wtgmirish@aol.com

Bill Mezzetti
billmezzetti@yahoo.com

Donna French
dfrench250@comcast.net

Fr. James Rafferty
jfrafferty@yahoo.com

Jay Ippolito
OCTLINC@aol.com

Lynn Zofchak
lynnazof@yahoo.com

Patricia Mikus
patricia.mikus@gmail.com

William Wise
williamwise@gmail.com

Fr. Chris Palladino
fr.chris.palladino@gmail.com