A (spoiler free) Catholic perspective on the Rise of Skywalker

Have you seen the Rise of Skywalker yet? It's the ninth (NINTH!) main-story Star Wars movie, and the last one in the Skywalker Saga (or so Disney tells us, anyways). I am a massive nerd, so I've seen all of them. Even though I'm not a rabid Star Wars fan, I know them enough to look at them critically, and I thought the release of this era-ending movie might be a good excuse to look at the series through a Catholic perspective!

If you haven't seen Rise of Skywalker, don't worry. No spoilers here. Either way, I'm sure you've heard that it's a divisive movie. Some people love it, and some people hate it. It currently sits at just a 53% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, but the audience score is considerably better at 86%. Even with some mixed reception, this film is still expected to make over $1 billion in worldwide revenue.

Whether or not you like this movie is likely a product of how much you've like the Disney trilogy as a whole. If you liked it, you'll probably like this movie, too! If you haven't liked it, I'd still recommend seeing this one, but don't expect to be blown away. But okay, Regis, you've talked about the movie and the Saga without really mentioning Catholicism once. Get to the point!

The original Star Wars trilogy focuses on Luke Skywalker, a young man who becomes a Jedi Knight and eventually defeats the evil Empire, bringing peace and freedom to the galaxy. We get to watch him grow from a whiny teenager to a mature, wise Jedi over the course of 3 of the most beloved films of all time. He is trained and mentored by Ben Kenobi, an unassuming old man who is later revealed to be exiled Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. He instructs Luke in the ways of the Force and helps him grow in maturity and strength.

Here comes the Catholic part: I would argue that Luke's journey in the original trilogy is kind of like the Sacrament of Confirmation. He has to study and learn the ways of the Force (kind of like we study and learn the ways, Gifts, and Fruits of the Holy Spirit) before he can reap its full rewards. Kenobi is kind of like a Confirmation Sponsor, guiding him along the way and even putting himself in danger, a huge sacrifice, to help Luke grow further. By the end of the trilogy, Luke is a fully fledged Jedi Master (Confirmed Catholic), ready to take on an expanded role in making the galaxy (world) a better place.

Whew! That's the first trilogy. The second trilogy, the Prequels, focus on Luke's father, Anakin. We know from the first trilogy that Anakin turns to the Dark Side of the Force and becomes Darth Vader (Spoilers for a movie that came out in 1980 I guess?), and his descent is the main plot thread of this trilogy. Anakin starts off as a hero, strong in the Force and hailed as the Chosen One who will balance the galaxy. But his selfishness and desire for power leads him to forsake the Jedi and turn against everything he's learned and been taught. This can be seen as a Confirmed Catholic leaving the Church.

A good priest friend of mine likes to say that the 2 most dangerous days in the life of a Catholic are the day after Confirmation and the first day of college. Well said! Much like Anakin received his training and began to think that he was beyond it, there's a strong temptation to view Confirmation as graduation and "get on with our lives." Anakin left his training behind, and he wound up with no legs and one arm! Now obviously that's not likely to happen to someone just because they leave the Church after Confirmation, but you get the point. Bad things can happen without that support system!

Quick reminder, though, Anakin performs one last heroic act right before he dies, siding with his son Luke and killing the evil Emperor. He is remembered as a hero in the end, reminding us that even someone as evil as Darth Vader can be forgiven if they repent and turn to the good!

Okay, we've finally come to the Disney trilogy, the most recent one. I promise I'll keep this brief and spoiler-free. The main plot of this trilogy is Rey, the main heroine, finding out who she is and deciding what to do with her Force power and training. Luke Skywalker acts as her mentor in the second film, doing what Obi-Wan Kenobi did for him. He takes the knowledge and wisdom that he gained and acts as a "Confirmation Sponsor" for Rey in her own journey!

We're all called to give back in similar ways, using the gifts and wisdom that we're given through God to bring others to Him. Being as vague as possible, Rise of Skywalker deals with Rey realizing the fullness of her identity and power, and having to make a decision about what to do with that knowledge. Will she be like Anakin and let greed and selfishness consume her? Or will she be like Luke and use her power for good, even sharing that power with others if need be? You'll have to watch the movie to find out.

This is worth reflecting on as Catholics who have a similar choice. What will we do with the gifts we're given in the Sacraments, specifically Confirmation? Will we "get on with our lives" and decide that we're past all of this church stuff? Or will we work and sacrifice to make the world a better place? That is ours to decide. Just ask yourself this: Do you want to be Luke Skywalker, or Darth Vader?

TL;DR: Confirmation is a lot like becoming a Jedi. We study the Gifts and Fruits of the spirit just like Luke and Anakin study the force, and we have to choose what to do with that knowledge and power. Will we use it for good and work to make the world a better place, or will we turn to the Dark Side and leave what we've learned behind?

God Bless,

Regis

Baptism of the Lord—January 12, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ:

Well 2020 is off to an interesting start isn’t it? Here we are only 12 days into the New Year and already I have heard from some regarding personal disappointment at the beginning of the year, disappointment at resolutions not being kept, and a general feeling that the year is not off to a good start! Bringing this to prayer it dawned on me that we can do something about it! We have the power in our lives to make it better, to change our mindset, and to ask God’s grace to help us make 2020 a year in which we not only manage our lives but truly grow in His grace through prayer and good works. So let’s get praying!'

Today is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Each year I see this Feast as an

opportunity to think about what baptism means in our lives, and specifically how am I living out my own baptism.

How many of us actually know the date and place of our baptism? I think it is safe to say only a handful have that information in their heads, yes many of us can look it up in our important documents, but really as followers of Christ we should celebrate our baptism just as much as our birthday, for it is the day we became a son or daughter of God and are promised the inheritance of eternal union with God!

Baptism according to Church teaching does five things specifically:

1. It forgives all sins that may have been committed prior to a person’s baptism including original sin, mortal sins, and venial sins.

2. It makes the newly baptized person “a new creature.”

3. It turns the person into a newly adopted son or daughter of God. Baptism also incorporates one into the Church which is the body of Christ.

4. It brings one to share in the royal priesthood of Christ (1 Pet. 2:9-10). Catholic baptism gives us a share in the common priesthood of all believers and it also brings about the sacramental bond of the unity of Christians.

5. Last, but certainly not in the least, baptism leaves an indelible spiritual mark (character) of belonging to Christ on the soul. Nothing you can do will take away this mark even if you sin a million times. Those sins may not grant you salvation, but you will always carry the mark of a Christian on your soul, therefore making re-baptism impossible.

So, if you do not know your date of baptism, I encourage you to find it out, and to celebrate it with great joy for it marks the anniversary of your becoming a child of God.

Happenings in our parish family life…

The Annual School Auction…The Saint Bridget School Home and School Association is gearing up for the annual Auction with this year’s theme Country and Cocktails! This is the major fundraiser of the year for our school. WE NEED YOUR HELP AND SUPPORT!

We all need to come together and support our parish school and the Annual Auction. Ways you can help:

1. You can mark your calendars and plan to join us at the Aqua Turf Club in Plantsville on Friday, February 21st, 2020, for a great night of food and fellowship as well as the chance to win a raffle item or an auction item.

2. You can place an ad in the evening’s program book or become a sponsor. Ads run anywhere between $50-550 and the sponsorships cost between $500-5,000.

3. You can donate an item for the silent or live auction, such as sporting event tickets, theatre tickets, bikes, grills, jewelry, televisions or electronics of all kinds, golf foursomes to local golf courses or Country Clubs, overnight stays to a nice place, or any item you think will solicit support for our school.

PLEASE help us make this year’s Annual Auction a SUCCESS. It is the 25th year since the reopening of our parish school and helping to make this year’s auction a success will be a great way to celebrate these past years and prepare for a bright future.

For more information about the auction or to sponsor us, please visit the school’s website at https://stbridgetschool.ejoinme.org/sbsauction2020.

The 2019 Annual Family Commitment was a huge success thanks to the generosity of so many of our parish families. I am beyond grateful to the 712 families who contributed $203,020.00 to the 2019 Annual Family Commitment. These 712 families represent 23.08% of the over 3,000 registered families in our parish. It is an amazing testament to the love you have for our parish family. This generosity will certainly help us to face the major costs associated with roof replacement, I pray, at both Saint Bridget Church and the Education Wing at Saint Thomas Becket Church. On behalf of our Finance Council, our Pastoral Council, our Trustees, and myself, THANK YOU for your generosity!

We are SUPER excited about our new Youth Minister Regis O’Neill and the work he is beginning. As you are aware Regis joined our staff back in December after spending a year with the Capuchin Youth & Family Ministry in Garrison, New York, running Catholic youth retreats and assisting with a local youth group! He has a tremendous amount of ideas to get our youth excited about living out the faith and I have full confidence that he will inspire our youth as he works with them. He has created a survey for all High School Age students in our parish to fill out! He wants to know what our youth want through the Youth Ministry Program. What day and time works best? What types of events would they like? What kinds of snacks would they like at meetings? Are they interested in becoming a Peer Minister? What should we call our youth group?

Regis is also looking for adult volunteers to work with him as he kicks off this new Youth Ministry Program. Adults will assist in the meetings and take an active role in walking the journey with our young people. Interested adults need not have a degree in theology but must love and live the faith and be Virtus trained or be willing to be Virtus trained. If you would like more information please contact Regis at ROneill@stbridgetcheshire.org or by phone at 203-272-6504.

JUST AS EXCITING is the beginning of our NEW Young Adult Ministry. We are

prepping for the start of this ministry this coming Tuesday evening at 7PM. We are meeting with some of our young adults and video conferencing with the team at id 9:16 Ministry to share how the Young Adult Ministry here at Saint Bridget of Sweden Parish will seek to effectively reach out to our young adults. Information will be shared about how often we will plan to meet, and other ways we can reach out to other young adults in the parish and beyond. It is our hope that from this initial meeting we will come up with a core group of leaders who will launch this Young Adult Ministry here in the parish.

If there are ANY interested young adults who would like to come to this informational evening please feel free to contact me or Father Federico by Monday.

TODAY the Knights of Columbus, Sante Fe Council #2978, are holding a membership drive. As you may remember I have been working for almost two years to help build up our Council and truly see our Council as a very visible and active presence right here in our parish family. In addition to the Tootsie Roll Drive, and their traditional Pancake Breakfast, the Knights of our Council have been becoming more and more active in our parish life. We see them helping to lead the rosary before the Saturday Vigil Mass, helping to organize the Clean-Up Days on our Church campuses, actively working to solicit support for our Parish School, and helping with any number of other improvements throughout the year. I am taking this opportunity to personally invite all men of the parish, over the age of 18, to consider becoming a Knight of Columbus, or if they are one already to become active in the Council once again! I am confident that we can accomplish much more for our Parish, our School, and the wider community with more Knights in our midst. Won’t you consider joining? Please see one of the Knights at the door on your way out of Church today to sign up!

As always, remember to pray for our parish family and ask God’s blessings as we build His kingdom here. Please know that I am praying for you, and I ask for your prayers for me, that together through the intercession of Saint Bridget of Sweden, our Patroness, and united in the Eucharist, we will reflect the presence of Jesus to the world!

What is this youth ministry thing?

Hey there! I am so excited to start building this Youth Ministry program with you. I’ve seen a lot of responses in our survey like, “what exactly is this,” and “I want to hear more about how this will actually work,” and I’d like to give a brief overview for those of you that are curious.

First off, if you’re asking these questions, that means you’re at least mildly interested, which is great! Here’s my vision for how it will work: our bread and butter will be weekly youth group meetings. This is a great way to build community and get familiar with the other people in the group. I recognize that high schoolers are REALLY busy, so there’s no commitment to come to every meeting. Drop in, drop out, come when you can, no pressure! I’d love to have you whenever you can make it.

Someone also told me to “make sure that people know this isn’t just all about church, otherwise they won’t come.” Interesting thought, but a fair point! I can promise you that we’re not going to be reading the Bible, praying, and sitting silently for the entirety of these meetings. We’ll play plenty of games and have ample time to just hang out and get to know each other. Now, there will definitely be discussions about faith and Jesus at these meetings, otherwise there’s no goal or intention behind what we’re doing, but I don’t want you to think of it like religious ed, school, or anything like that. This is your youth group, not mine, and I want it to be a place where you enjoy coming to hang out. It’s also a great, casual place to ask questions about your faith that you might not feel comfortable bringing up with your parents or a priest. That’s great! That’s why we’re here.

We’ll also get involved with service opportunities in the area. A big part of being Catholic is showing the world the love of Christ in our actions, and that’s something we’re all called to. Finally, we’ll have some (optional) retreats and trips for those who want to experience their faith in another way.

Bottom line, I want to create a space that you want to be in, a space that you’re comfortable in. I want you to have fun, learn more about your faith, and build an awesome, vibrant community while you’re at it. I can’t wait to meet you all, and I’m so excited to kick this program off!

God Bless,

Regis O'Neill, Youth Minister