Thank You For Your Prayers - The "Teepee" Church

Our Lady Of Seven Sorrows Catholic Church, Maskwacis Alberta
I was invited, on one day's notice, to make a presentation on Alpha to the board of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Catholic on the Samson Cree First Nation reserve at Maskwacis, Alberta. I think it may have been a, "put your money where your mouth is" kind of moment, because I have been communicating for some time with Fr Nilo at Sacred Heart in Wetaskiwin about Alpha in that parish. Fr Nilo also oversees Maskwacis. Fr Nilo, by the way, is familiar with Alpha, and likes it, having taken a course at another Catholic parish a few years ago. I love Sacred Heart. They are a very active parish full of the Holy Spirit with a number of faith formation programs going on.

I called him, perhaps on a whim, perhaps on the prodding of the Holy Spirit, on Tuesday. After the usual pleasantries, he said, "Come to Our Lady of Seven Sorrows tomorrow night and make a presentation on Alpha to our board meeting."

Have you ever had a target you were striving for and, when you reach it, you say, "Wow, now what?" Well, I had achieved a sort of goal of, "breaking in" to this parish, but suddenly I felt overwhelmed and intimidated; totally unprepared on such short notice. Normally I can speak enthusiastically about Alpha at the drop of a hat, but this was different. This was for Catholics; a Catholic Church board, no less, and on one day's notice!

I did a couple of things: I prayed a prayer of thanks; I prayed a prayer for help; I called Amy, our Alpha Youth coach in Alberta, who had just been a part of a wonderful Alpha on another reserve in the area; I fired off emails to Josh, alpha's National Coordinator for Catholics, and Mark, our Alberta Catholic coach, Christ the King, Edmonton prayer chain and others at Alpha Canada. Then sat down and started working on a Power Point presentation.

Sister Anunciata gave me directions; "Come down Hwy 2A, turn right at the Fas Gas and look for the teepee church (see pic). Great directions. Found the place no problem.

I believe our presentation at went well. We were well received by the dozen or so board members there. Amy says she saw heads nodding during my presentation (I hope out of agreement, not boredom), and people were very interested in Amy's testimony about her recent Alpha for Youth experience on the Alexis Reserve. First Nations elders are very concerned with their youth.

Amy and I made our presentation in the first 15 - 20 minutes, then left, so I have calls in this morning to both Fr Nilo and Sr Anunciata to get their feedback. I am hoping there may be opportunities for courses in several parishes in several contexts from this meeting. (Parishes plus RCIA)
 
I await eagerly what fruit the Lord plans to bring from this opportunity. We will continue praying and hope you will too.
 
Blessings,
 
John
 
PS: just had an encouraging call from Fr Nilo. I will update as things develop.

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