Missionary Thought for the Week of November 19, 2018: Moving Forward

We begin this week with some housekeeping items.
 
First: The Mission of Saint Thorlak now has a phone line receiving both voice and text messages at +1 (585) 568-7147.
 
With this comes some important notes:
 
1) This line RECEIVES MESSAGES ONLY.  We maintain strict confidentiality among those who contact us, and at this time, our system does not allow for adequate privacy for us to make voice calls.  We are able to reply by SMS text to mobile phones, or to respond to messages using email, but we are not able to respond by voice.
 
2) This line is for FEEDBACK AND QUESTIONS.  We will check messages weekly and respond as we are able, and as we feel is appropriate.  We may not necessarily respond to every message. If we do respond, it will be either by email or SMS text.
 
3) This line is NOT FOR EMERGENCIES OR CRISIS SITUATIONS.  We are not able to monitor this line with enough regularity to assist with immediate needs.
 
As with all new features, there are bound to be glitches here and there, so we thank you for your patience as we establish this phone line as part of our regular offerings.  We apologize in advance for any inconvenience created by our policies, but privacy is of great importance to us, and in our current physical location, we cannot yet guarantee the degree of privacy our standards require.

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​Second: We are pleased to be moving forward with our Annotated Catechism for Autism initiative, and will begin posting in that vein in upcoming weeks.  

​Third: We are working diligently to upload recorded audio with video slides of the presentation “Autism, Spirituality and the Way of Saint Thorlak,” designed to be a starting point between people and parishes for building better connections with God through the channels of our faith, sacraments and community.  This, too, is new territory for our Mission, and with that comes both the joy of innovation and the need for feedback so that we can troubleshoot any areas missing the mark.

Fourth: For those who have asked if anyone makes icons of Saint Thorlak, the answer is – Uncut Mountain Supply!  The link may take a day or two to become active, so check back if it is not yet available… but we have it on trusted word that Thorlak is at last part of their icon catalog.
 
Good things are coming, and for this we thank all of our fellow travelers, and thank God for the grace to travel this journey together.
 
We leave you with a reflection written in recognition of the recent visit of the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux and her recently canonized parents, Louis and Zelie, to Iceland in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary Jubilee of the Diocese of Reykjavik.  We keep the Diocese and all of Iceland in our daily prayers!

​For plain text of this reflection click here.