Gerry Gerk, coordinator and Ken Lovato, coord. assistant, have agreed to organize the ringing of the bells which will happen every weekend before all of the Masses. I want to thank both of them for their generosity! Towards the end of this month, Gerry and Ken will begin to sign up bell ringers and then schedule an organizational meeting in April. Keep an eye on the bulletin for more information.

Coordinator of Sound Engineer

Our newly renovated church will have a sound engineer’s booth in the choir loft that will allow us to constantly adjust sound levels and music mixing during the Holy Mass. This will result in a dramatic increase in the sound quality of our music during Mass and help everyone present to hear clearly the priest and lectors. The sound booth will require a trained sound engineer to be present for each of the Masses of Saturday evening and Sunday. It will be the job of our new Coordinator of Sound Engineers to recruit and train sound engineers for each of the weekend Masses and to make up a monthly schedule. This volunteer position is perfect for someone who knows and loves sound equipment, likes working with people and is well organized. If you’re interested, please call Fr. Hilton.

We have almost 100 Candidates for Confirmation on retreat this weekend, so please keep them in your prayers that God grant them a deep love and fidelity for Him and their Holy Catholic Faith!

Registrations for new families for the 2010-2011 school year is now underway. Some classes are full or nearly full so the time to register is now. Holy Trinity is close to capacity and serving Holy Trinity parish families is our priority. You can pick up registration forms from the school office or ask to have them mailed to you. If you would like a tour of the school contact the office at 303-427-5632 to schedule an appointment.

Classes average about 24 students and the curriculum includes religion, language arts, reading, math, science, social studies, Spanish, art, music, physical education, and computer technology.

At Holy Trinity, students receive religious instruction daily, attend Mass twice a week, pray at least three times a day, and take part in several other religious activities throughout the year. Second graders are prepared in school for First Reconciliation and First Communion.

Holy Trinity Catholic School offers grades 1 to 8, full-day and half-day kindergarten, and preschool. Kindergarten is offered for students who turn 5 by October 1 and preschool is offered for students that will be 4 years old by October 1. Preschool meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and parents can choose classes two or three days a week.

Holy Trinity Catholic School can help you raise your child to be a faithful, educated citizen who lives in the path of Christ Jesus and works to serve others. Please consider our school for your child’s faith formation and education.

Class Status:
Preschool: Available
Kindergarten: Nearly Full
1st: Nearly Full
2nd: Nearly Full
3rd: Full/Waiting List
4th: Full/Waiting List
5th: Available
6th: Full/Waiting List
7th: Available
8th: Available

2010 School Lenten Stations of the Cross Schedules

Grades 5-8 Stations of the Cross:
10:15 a.m. Friday, March 12 (Grade 6 leads)
9:30 a.m. Friday, March 19 (Grade 5 leads)

Grades K-4 Living Stations of the Cross*
12:45 p.m. Thursday, March 11
2:00 p.m. Friday, March 19
10:00 a.m. Wednesday, March 31
*Presented by Grade 8

But, although Catholic Media is everywhere, it’s not as loud or intrusive as the rest of the stuff that’s out there. We have to be selective, because there is a lot of misinformation about the Catholic Church. For instance, I was once looking for saints on the Internet, and I ran across dozens of sites that were misleading at best, and blasphemous at worst. Now I have a few organizations that I trust, and stick to them.

Vatican
This is the most reliable Catholic website, of course. It’s the site of the Pope and all the documents we find there under the tabs “The Holy Father” and “The Roman Curia” are official documents that can be relied on.

Zenit
If you want Catholic news from around the world, this website is quite good, and it can be read in seven languages. It also alerts us of documents coming out of the Vatican, papal trips, upcoming beatifications and canonizations, and how Catholics are faring the world over. It’s a truly Catholic site in that it gives us universal news, and reminds us that the US Church is but a tiny fraction of the whole.

Catholic News
Another newsy website, focusing primarily on the US and events that touch us as Catholics. Most of the news are told briefly and if you want to make the most of your time, Catholicnews is the site for you.

Archdiocese of Denver
Yes, the Archdiocese of Denver has its own website. There, we can find all the parishes in Northern Colorado, find out where is Father So-and-So whom you once knew, and be up to date on diocesan events.

Ignatius Press
This is the website of the best Catholic publisher in the U.S. Its products are of good quality (their paperbacks are sewn, so they don’t dissolve at the third reading) and affordable. They are also of high content quality: they publish books written by our Holy Father, by prominent and faithful theologians (yes, Virginia, there are also unfaithful theologians). They also publish good children books, CDs, DVDs, movies and more. It’s hard to go wrong buying Ignatius’ stuff.

TAN Books
Another good Catholic publisher. TAN specializes in spirituality. They publish books such as the classic biography of St. John Vianney written by the Abbe’ Trochu, The Life of St. Margaret Costello, The Blessed Virgin Mary by St. Alphonsus de Liguori, and the books of Joan Carrol Cruz, which so many enjoy because they speak of miracles.

EWTN
This is, of course, the 800 pounds gorilla of Catholic Media, because most of us like to watch TV, and it is the only TV station that’s guaranteed not to scandalize our kids, to tell us the truth and to bring it in our homes in an easy-to-understand manner. After having read two of Mother Angelica’s books, I can’t but admire this feisty nun who took on everyone (and won) to bring His Word to the people. Starting out with absolutely nothing, and convinced that the Lord was calling her to start a TV station, she plowed on despite illness, setbacks and even hostility on the part of those who should have helped her. Like Mother Teresa of Calcutta, she was successful beyond anyone’s imagination, simply because she believed that He who asked her could do what seemed impossible to a small human being.

EWTN Radio
And now we have EWTN radio in Colorado: 1570 am in Northern Colorado and 970 am in the Colorado Springs/Pueblo/Limon area. Generous, talented and hardworking folks worked for years to purchase two small stations and rely on the donations of people like us to keep going. You won’t hear endless commercials on their airwaves. I like to listen to it when I drive (I can’t get it at home). Father John Corapi is on at 2:00 pm and his talks are truly powerful. Programs like Women of Grace, The Doctor is In (With Dr. Ray Guarendi and Dr. Colleen Kelly Mast), and Catholic Answers Live offer us practical advice, solid Catholic doctrine and uplifting events. They even broadcast daily Mass, the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy and the Rosary.

With Lent well on the way, this would be a perfect time to become familiar with at least some of these media.

• Friday, March 12, from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm

Whether we live for two months or 50 years, we want the goal for this Lent to be the same, don’t we? We need a goal to motivate our prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Let’s make our goal nothing less than life with Christ: may He be our greatest friend and love! I know that we are two weeks into Lent, but it’s not too late to adopt one or more of the following Lenten penances:

1. Unplug the TV, cover it with a blanket, and ignore it until Easter. What do you do with the time you save?
2. Offer the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary each day of Lent for the conversion of sinners and an end to the terrible sin of abortion in our beloved country.
3. During the Masses of the year 2010, the entire Church reads the Gospel of St. Luke. Read this Gospel on your own during Lent, slowly and prayerfully, a bit each day, and talk about it with your family.
4. Give the good people at Samaritan House or Seton House a call and volunteer to help them one day a week. This would be a memorable experience that you will not soon forget.
5. Look at your family finances, and ask yourself this question: “Are we giving our first 10% to the Lord, from whom all our blessing come?”

“My Good Shepherd, who have shown Your very gentle mercy to us unworthy sinners in various physical pains and sufferings, give grace and strength to me, Your little lamb, that in no tribulation or anguish or pain may I turn away from You..” (St. Francis of Assisi)

Then the feminist movement made women feel incomplete, unfulfilled if they were “just wives,” “just mothers.” Every woman worthy of the name was supposed to have “a career.”

TV shows reinforced that message. Remember the commercial: “I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never let you forget that I am a woman” commercial? How about those sit-com characters of successful, witty, popular “career women,” who could do it all and have it all? A fun, well-paid job; one thrilling affair after the other; bear a child; raise a sensational young person; party at night, and be happy, fulfilled, exciting, elegant, wise… Wonder Woman, move over!

Now, suddenly, that “piece of paper” that meant nothing thirty-something years ago looks all important to a new constituency: the gay lobby.

Ladies, can we talk? How many of you are “single-mom Wonder Women?” Exciting? Partying at night? Perfect children? (and always looking gorgeous, of course). Give me a break! Being mom and dad at the same time is no fun. Worrying about what your latch-key children are doing when you are at work is stressful. How many fun chores can you count? And let’s not talk about the doubling-up of responsibilities that are the prerogative of the one parent family! The glamorous heroines of the TV sit-coms didn’t go into the practical details, did they?

Don’t you wish we could turn back and return to the old-fashioned family? You know, the one where mom could be at home with the kids. I remember growing up that mom was always home when we were. When we were little, she’d take us to school and come and pick us up on the trolley. On very special occasions we’d walk a few blocks to this fabulous pastry shop where she’d buy us a “maritozzo con panna,” which was a sweet roll, split down the middle and filled with whipped cream.

When we were older and could take the bus, she’s be waiting for us at home, with a hot meal. Then mom would sit with us at the table as we did our homework, helping the slower ones and keeping us on task.

Mother made sure our clothes were neat, appropriate and clean. There were four of us, with a total age difference of only 5 and 1/2 years; still she managed to get us all at our Catholic school on time, sparkling in our white “coverall” uniforms. I remember that once, the Mother Superior brushed aside the excuses of a regularly-tardy mother of two with the words: “Signora Vigano’ (my mother) has four, and she’s never late!”

Often dad would work too late to have dinner with all of us, so she waited for him, and they sat at the dinner table, talking after we were all asleep. I remember one time, when she had prepared a big, frosted cake with lots of our favorite maraschino cherries on top for someone’s birthday. There was plenty left that evening for dad, and again for dinner the next day. Except… when the cake appeared on the table, all the cherries were gone! We kids let out a howl of disappointment. Our indignant mother asked which one of us had perpetrated the crime… while dad’s eyes were crinkling, then tearing; soon he could not contain his laughter any longer. When he could finally speak, he asked mom: “You were sitting right in front of me last night, when we were talking, and I was putting one cherry after the other in my mouth. Didn’t you notice?” We didn’t think it was that funny!

No, I would not trade our family life for anything. Our parents were raised in a Catholic family, and followed the example of their own parents. Thanks to that vision, our existence was peaceful, orderly, quiet; you may even say “boring” by today’s standards. Thanks to my mother’s gift of self, we had a happy home. I know that she would not have traded places with the most glamorous, successful, popular career woman on the planet. She was the darling of our father’s heart and the happiness of her children.

As I read articles written by “successful” women who claim marriage is an archaic institution, with no place in our modern world, my heart goes out to all our children and the children that they will bear. It is up to us, and especially to the younger women among us, to reclaim the privileged place that God intended for us since the beginning of the world. If we do, we will be, once again, the heart of the family, the teacher of our children, and the treasure of society. Holy Mary, Mother of God, You who raised God’s Son, help us to imitate You.