What does faith mean to you in one sentence?
Fully knowing Christ - Infinite Hope, Love and Mercy and therefore knowing that whatever happens we'll have a place in Christ's kingdom - death is just the beginning of Eternal Life and we are taking this journey together, all of us, everywhere.
If you were going to tattoo it on your arm, which Bible verse would it be?
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
- John 14:6
"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:31–34
What is your favorite thing about being part of Men of Faith?
Comradery and sharing. Men of Faith is somewhere I can contribute and receive on the same level. I can share my life experiences and I realize I have a wealth of experience both positive and negative in which I can be open and hopefully make a positive impression on someone else's life. I believe MoF can increase our faith through this open sharing of our experiences, thoughts, and ideas. Mass can maintain our faith and the homily can increase it, but I believe we are most defined by our experiences and the call from Christ. We have some training on how to be a servant of God, but there is no training on how to be a good father, husband, and son – we have to rely on experience and others as role models. We are all called by God, but not all of us listen. How can I make a difference? That's where Men of Faith comes in.
What is one thing you would like to see added in the future?
Indulgences - just kidding 😊
5-10 minutes of audience participation. Start with the Zoom folks and then the people in person - Prayers, thoughts, help requests, or ideas people want to share about life, MoF, faith, etc. Pass the microphone around.
I would like to have a team that goes out and tries to get the people back to MoF that don't come regularly and find out why and try to get them back.
Create a reading and or video list of interesting or important topics for the week/month. We can share our thoughts at the next meeting.
Create an email survey for feedback and have some blank basic survey forms at the end of each session folks can fill out if they want to.
I would like to see a small group of volunteers take on learning to evangelize more professionally. Maybe Father Mark or Father Kwame can give us ideas, direction, or training.
Parish-wide, I feel the pandemic has really cut back on community participation and especially Mass participation. I would like to see initiatives to get people back and recruit others. I would recommend volunteer work or efforts for improving both the parish and the outreach programs. Outreach is something often talked about, but we need leaders to drive it (lead, evangelize, organize, train, execute).
What is one thing you would like to see eliminated in the future?
Honestly, nothing that I can think of. We just need to do more.