Welcome Students and New Parishioners

Welcome

As we transition to a new academic year, welcome all who are moving into or returning to Berkeley.  We hope that Newman Hall – Holy Spirit Parish will be your spiritual home during your time at Berkeley. 

Striving to be faithful to our patrons Blessed John Henry Newman and the Holy Spirit, we endeavor to be a community that recognizes and employs the wonderful power of God’s gift of our intellect and reasoning skills, while humbly knowing we need God’s grace and love.  This is a place for questioning, exploring, stumbling, and discovering together the mystery of God’s creation and ways, and our role in the world.  We also endeavor to live the fire of the Holy Spirit, to be a community that loves and serves, co-workers in building the Kingdom the Heaven, a kingdom of peace and justice.

If you are a college student, this is wonderful time in your life to grow in maturity and personal identity.  Make sure not only to focus on academic growth, but also on growth of the full person – spiritual, emotional, relational, physical, as well as academic.  Though college will try to take up all your time, make sure to seek balance.  The ways of society have a tendency to want to rob our soul and spirit.

We have a wonderful Student Ministry Team and FOCUS Missionary Team who are planning lots of great activities for the year.  We also have numerous other student and parish groups and activities for students alone and students and permanent parishioners together.  Don’t forget to call on any of the staff members if you have questions or concerns or you just want to chat.  We also need your gifts and leadership skills, so please step up and get involved. 

This is also our parish’s 50th year in our current building, where we strive to make faith concrete.  We’ll be having a community celebration on Saturday, Sept. 30th.  All are invited.

God bless you and may we all have a great new beginning…

~ Fr. Ivan, Pastor

Transforming Lives Tour (9/10 at 11:15am)

Please keep Robert Paylor in your prayers

With great sadness, CAL rugby player and Newman parishioner, Robert Paylor, suffered a spinal injury at CAL's rugby national championship game.  His injury paralyzed his lower body with limited motion in his arms.  With an uncertain future and a long and difficult journey ahead for Robert, we send him our prayers.

"I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had no where else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day." - Abraham Lincoln

"Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference." - Max Lucado

Prayer for Robert

Lord,
You invite all who are burdened to come to you.  We thank You for being with Robert through thick and thin, in the best of times and in the most challenging of times. You are our rock, our fortress, our everything. You never forsake us.  With You, we discover complete serenity.

Allow Your healing Hand to touch Robert. Touch his soul with Your compassion; touch his heart with Your courage and infinite Love for all; and touch his mind with Your Wisdom.

Most loving Heart of Jesus, bring health in Robert's body and spirit that he may serve You with all his strength. In Your mercy, gently heal this precious life which you have created, now and forever.
Amen.

Bishop Barber promotes comprehensive immigration reform

We have a Catholic duty to have a preferential option for the poor and one of the greatest poor today are refugees and those fleeing oppression to seek safety and shelter and a decent living.  Our local ordinary, Bishop Michael Barber, SJ,  is a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform for our country so we can better live up to our Christian values.  And in this age of fear of the outsider, he reminds us we are all brothers and sisters with the Blessed Virgin Mary as our protectress and mother.  He has asked our diocesan parishes and offices to do what we can to protect our most vulnerable brothers and sisters at this time.  Please read the attach article to learn about some of the things he is promoting to address this most important issue.

Every once in a while, you can catch our bishop at People's Park with JC Orton and his volunteers (many of them are Newman parishioners) serving breakfast early Sunday morning.  He is truly walking in the footsteps of his Jesuit brother, Pope Francis.

Newman App is now available

Newman Hall-Holy Spirit Parish now has a mobile app for Android and Apple cellphones.  Go to your App Store and download the "Newman Hall" app.  It's a great way to stay connected with the happenings around the parish and to stay in contact with your parish groups.  This app platform was originally created for businesses and AppZocial is now exploring its value in the church environment.  If you have any feedback, please forward them to Fr. Ivan.

Meet you on the Newman App...

Paulist Visitation Open Forum

after the 7:30am and 10am Mass this Sunday

Every 4 years or so, Paulists leadership sends delegates to check in our our various ministry locations. This is an opportunity to do some self-reflection, evaluating how things are going and how we are progressing in living out the Paulist mission.  Fr. Eric Andrews, Paulist president, and Fr. Gil Martinez, pastor of St. Paul the Apostle (NYC), will be here March 18-19.

They will be available after most of the Masses if you have any feedback for them.  We will have two open forums after this week's 7:30am and 10am Masses, if you'd like to share as a community, your joys and/or your concerns about the parish.  The Paulist Visitation provides the Paulist Fathers a sense of the state of Paulist ministry at Newman Hall-Holy Spirit Parish and feedback to the local Paulists concerning what's working and where are areas for improvement.

The unexamined life is not worth living - Socrates

Newman Forum: Holy Mud

Newman Forum

Holy Mud

Dan Cawthon

Sun, March 19, 11:15am-12:15pm
in the Hecker Room

***   rescheduled   ***
for a Fall 2017 Forum

As we celebrate our 50th year on the south side, come hear about Newman’s unique art and architecture from a spiritual perspective. Parishioner Dan Cawthon will present “HOLY MUD” – drawing on the biblical image of God forming Adam from the soil of the earth. The dust from which we are made – and which constitutes part of our very building – is alive with the Spirit of God. Newman’s sacred space reminds us that the earth forms us as spiritual beings. Mud is our spiritual home! For more info contact Deborah Tatto.