Founder and Executive Director Gordy DeMarais spoke next on the work of Saint Paul’s Outreach.

After the meal was served, two inspiring testimonies from SPO missionaries were heard – a favorite part of the banquet for many.

The 6th Annual Bishop Paul Dudley Servant Leadership Award was presented to Mr. Joseph Lahti – an invaluable and ardent supporter and friend of Saint Paul’s Outreach for many years.

Father Peter Laird, President of the Board of Directors, delivered the keynote speech with inimitable erudition.

Many thanks to all who attended or supported the Banquet. Nearly $105,000 was raised, and donations continue to come in towards the goal of $150,00 to continue the work of the New Evangelization by Saint Paul’s Outreach. If you’d like to contribute, our donation page can be found by clicking the button below.

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(53 Photos)

Last year, Pontifical College Josephinum Vice Rector Fr. Walter Oxley extended the invitation for Saint Paul’s Outreach to lead a group of seminarians through the retreat. So impressed by the response of these young seminarians, Fr. Oxley wanted nothing more than to have SPO back for a second round!

The academic excellence expected from the seminarians at the Jospehinum is set quite high for these young men. They study and pray hard year round, and when spring break comes, these guys can’t wait to have relief from their day to day rigorous schedule. Many take off to various places to restore and relax, but for 25 enthusiastic seminarians and four priests, including Fr. Oxley, skipping town was not an option. They were thrilled to stay back to attend the retreat with expectant faith that their yes would bear much fruit.

Gathering in St. Joseph Chapel, the weekend off in the best way possible: with the Eucharistic celebration of the Holy Mass. The day moved quickly as the men soaked up the grace that was poured out to them. That evening, Fr. Oxley delivered a powerful message exhorting these young men to not fall into intellectual pride, but rather to know that the “success of a priest is not measured by intellectualism, but by fatherhood”. He continued to preach the heavenly Father’s love for them, and that they must first come to know his Fatherhood and their sonship before being able to bless others with the great gift of the priesthood.

This weekend had a very strong impact in the lives of these young seminarians. As these men continue to mature in their faith and their vocation to the priesthood becomes actualized, the grace they received from this retreat will be carried into their Apostolic ministry throughout the entire country. SPO is blessed to be a gift to the Josephinum in this way and are honored to share in the goodness of the Lord together!

-submitted by Dominic DeMatte, Assistant Branch Director in Ohio

(posted on http://stpaulsoutreach.wordpress.com/)

If you know of anyone interested in a Christian Living Situation like this over the summer months – coming off the road from NET, finishing GAP years, moving to the Twin Cities and looking for a job and a temporary place to stay, etc. – please let them know!

Note that this will be a housing situation, not a Summer Household program .

Below is a brief summary of the most important facts.

Info

• housing in the SPO UofM houses
• time: June 1st (Friday) – August 27th (Monday)
• $400 per month including internet & utilities (groceries not included)

Process

• email Barbara@spoweb.org if interested
• receive information and Summer Housing Agreement
• 30 min (phone) interview and explanation of commitments and paperwork (waived for former SPO Household members)
• send back by April 1st
• signed Summer Housing Agreement
• deposit ($ 100, waived if already deposit on hand with SPO)
• signed ACH Authorization Agreement
• June 1st: move in
• August 27th: move out

National Office Staff

Are you interested in working in an office that is centered on Christ and united in mission? Do you have experience in development, communications, administration, or finance? Then the SPO National Office may be just the place for you! In addition to the many mission leader and other program staff positions we fill each year, Saint Paul’s Outreach also offers long-term career opportunities and internships in our National Office and some Branch locations.

Please direct any questions to Mark Archibald, SPO Director of Operations, at marka@spoweb.org or 651-451-6114 x115.

At the conclusion of another epic School of the New Evangelization, Kelsey Schimmel, Leesha Plante and I packed up our cars and headed down south to SPO’s newest branch at Texas State University. Pretty soon the land stopped being green and having the A/C set on low just wasn’t cutting it anymore. That’s when we knew we had arrived.

Leesha, Kelsey and I knew that our primary task and greatest challenge would be to help build up a community of believers who desired to live radically for the Lord. This is what drew us into SPO when we were brought to our first outreach event.

Texas Mission Leaders: Leesha Plante, Packer Stevenson, Kelsey Schimmel

Fortunately we are blessed with a wonderful campus minister, Father Brian Eilers, a proud NET-alum, who handed us the weekly praise and worship event at the Catholic Student Center called The Rock. Before the semester even began, we assembled the leadership team and shared our vision for a renewed Rock centered on the Rock, Jesus Christ. We started off the semester with a series of exhortations all about what it means to worship and about how much the Lord thirsts for our hearts. We were overjoyed to see how willingly the students took to this new direction each week as we were blessed us with more and more people.

Fast-forward to January and you will find a room full of 70+ people lifting up their voices to the Lord on the first ever Fan into Flame retreat in Texas. I speak for all the missionaries and student leaders when I say it was downright motivating to witness how far the Lord had taken this community in such a short amount of time. It was during this retreat that students were challenged (some for the first time) with the bold proclamation that Jesus Christ desires to be Lord of their lives, and that he has given them all the graces they need in order to make this invitation a reality. There was a profound sense of freedom and joy that weekend as the Holy Spirit rushed into people’s lives at their invitation to tear down walls and claim them for the Kingdom. The Lord was establishing his Kingdom right in front of our eyes!

The fruit from this retreat has been abundant. The men living in Household were hit in a big way, especially for a student named Jonathan. Jonathan has been gifted with a great desire to follow the Lord and an intensity that rubs off on those around him, but last semester he was stretched too thin and as a result he grew distant from the house and the outreach. He came back from this retreat on fire and wrote a declaration on our household whiteboard exhorting the men in the house to leave behind lesser things and push on towards our ultimate goal. The men in the house have responded to his challenge with a renewed fervor, empowered by the Holy Spirit. The most encouraging sign of this renewed commitment has been their desire to consistently and sacrificially enter into a time of prayer and mediation each and every day.

Fan into Flame Retreat in February

For the women, the visible fruits have been equally compelling. During this retreat the Lord used the example of love of our more mature student leaders to challenge the younger women to see the faithfulness and tender compassion of the Lord and to trust Him with their hearts. Coming out of the retreat we witnessed almost a two-fold increase in the number of women desiring to be a part of our community and this led to the establishing of Discipleship Groups for the first time ever at Texas State. Discipleship Groups (or D-Group) are SPO’s small groups that meet frequently in order to share life together and to study Sacred Scripture while discussing topics in Christian Formation. It goes beyond a simple Bible Study because it invites the Holy Spirit into the center of the discussion and allows Him to convict the students of certain truths that need to be incarnated in their lives. If there is one thing that we are more convicted of than ever, it is the Lord’s faithfulness and His great love for His children. We quickly found out that the Lord was not asking just for our physical labor during this season of our lives—He was calling us to invest our whole selves.

While the first semester could be seen as a semester of investment without as much visible return, the second has been bursting with tangible fruits and encouraging encounters. Whether in a time of desolation or consolation, I have become convinced of this reality: the Lord is about a tremendous work here at Texas State (and around the world!), and whether I am able to see it or not, He is gathering His chosen people to Himself and arming us with the graces we need to live in total freedom as sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father.

Here’s a look at a few of the Fan into Flame Retreats that have happened (or will be happening) across the country:

Ohio
It has been big year so far for SPO in Ohio as 120 students came together for the annual Fan into Flame retreat in early February. Students were represented from a variety of colleges and universities, including Ohio State, Columbus State Community College, Bowling Green State and West Virginia University. Most importantly, the weekend left students deeply impacted by the power of the Holy Spirit!

Texas
SPO’s newest chapter started 2012 off by hosting a Fan into Flame retreat for 70 students from Texas State University. “God provided in so many ways,” said Mission Leader Kelsey Schimmel, “and once again showed his unending faithfulness in drawing souls–even the most reluctant–closer to Himself.”

Arizona
Out west, SPO Arizona set its sight on hosting a retreat that would build up student leaders and empower them for campus outreach. Leader, Daniel Tansill, said “We geared the retreat towards our student leadership team and looked at it as a “Pentecost” before heading out on mission. It was a great opportunity to gather in prayer and to pray for the Spirit to come more fully into our lives.”




Minnesota
In not too long, SPO Minnesota will be hosting its own Fan into Flame in the Twin Cities! Join us in praying for all of the students who will be attending, that the Lord may open their hearts to His grace and mercy.

For more information about SNE click here.

If you would still like to give, please click here. Thank you for joining us in reaching out to students with the Gospel message, so that the Catholic Faith would come alive on today’s college campuses!For questions a please email Tizoc Rosales at tizoc.rosales@spoweb.org, or call (651) 451-6114 x122.

One of the things that SPO has given me is an abundance of wonderful relationships.  This isn’t limited to just the relationships that I have here in Columbus, but includes awesome men and women from the other chapters of SPO around the country. This year, as a Mission Leader, I have had the opportunity to get to know those serving in the same capacity around the nation a little better.

 

The SPO Mission Leaders and other Staff members serve in Ohio, Kansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, Texas, Arizona and Florida.

Last week I was blessed to be able to join my fellow mission leaders in Kansas City, Kansas for a Mission Leader Retreat. I can’t think of a better way to start a new year and launch into a new term of service at OSU. It was so good to be with one another—to share how our service has been going, both the struggles and the joys. I loved hearing about how outreach is going at each of the other campuses, and stories of different ways that people have been serving the Lord, and growing in service of Him.

We spent our time praying together, going to daily mass and hearing talks and reflections aimed at helping us refocus on our task as mission leaders: building the Kingdom of God on the college campuses where we are serving. I was reminded how important this work really is. But the best and most important thing that I took away from this retreat is a reminder that my work isn’t worth too much if I’m trying to do it by my own strength. Serving the Lord is about focusing on him, gazing steadily on him and allowing him to work in me and through me.

-submitted by Terry Cahalan, OSU Mission Leader

SPO Ohio thanks The Catholic Foundation for this wonderful opportunity! To find out more about The Catholic Foundation, please visit their website at http://catholic-foundation.org.