Fr. Todd 10/19/25

Dear Sacred Heart and St. Mary on the Lake,

            I will be gone this week (Mon-Fri) for my annual retreat.  It is built into the IPF program I am doing, so I will be out at Mundelein Seminary north of Chicago for the week.  Please know I keep you all in my prayers on these retreat weeks, especially at the Masses each day.  Please keep me in your prayers too.  I am very much looking forward to these five days of time with the Lord.

            We will have our regular Masses Monday-Thursday.  We will not have Mass on Friday, October 24^th, at Sacred Heart, due to it being Fr. Paul’s day off.

            It is learning time!  School is back in session and our Faith Formation classes have started.  May our own growth continue too – we are never done knowing the Lord.

·         Bible in a Year: I have just finished my second time through Fr. Mike Schmitz’s Bible in a Year.  If you have not used this great tool for jumping into scripture it is well worth it.  Often, I would listen to it as I was driving or going for walks.  A couple of years ago Fr. Mike also released the Catechism in a Year and I would like to make that my next project after I am back from retreat.  (I have heard from a number of parishioners who are currently going through the Catechism in a Year about how good it has been.)

·         Hallow App: This great app (there is a free version and a subscription version) brings together so many excellent resources into one place.  It has both the Bible in a Year and Catechism in Year.  In fact, it was through the Hallow app that I listened to the Bible in a Year each day over the past year.  There are so many things to help each one of us grow no matter where we are in our Spiritual life.  Driving is a major part of living in the country so I have found it great for car time.

·         If you prefer a book, I recommend one of Matthew Kelly’s first books: Rediscovering Catholicism.  As advertised, Mathew Kelly does a nice job in this book helping us “Discover why Catholicism is not a lifeless set of rules and regulations, but a way of life designed by God to help each person reach his or her full potential.”  You can get this book very cheaply at Dynamic Catholic: https://www.dynamiccatholic.com/home.

God Bless,

Fr. Todd