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Parker - Ave Maria

Country: United States
State or province: Colorado

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Matt Martinez
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Back to the Streets (Park actually)!!

June 13, 2020

A few of us went out unplanned on Thursday evening. And wow! First time out since the Covid-19 crises. I think people are fearful and looking for hope. I pray that we offered some. I believe that we did! We set up in the park. It was fantastic! Here are a few stories:

As soon as we set up 3 young women approached us. They wanted rosaries. We asked if they had a any prayer requests. One of them (Coren) said for her health issues so we prayed with her and for her.
We met a man, who I believe was homeless. His name was Mike, when we learned this we asked if he wanted a St. Michael medal.We asked if we could prayer with him as well. He said yes, so we did.
A father with 3 cute kids came by they each wanted a rosary. The father said “now you can use them with your prayers tonight”
We met a woman born and raised Catholic, who taught RE at one time, but who fell away because the kids were disruptive at Mass. Well…in any case we talked to her for quite awhile, mostly small talk, but we did ask her toreturn to Mass. She said she would try. I suggested she return to the confessional so I gave her our pamphlet on Confession.
Two nice recent graduates (a boy and a girl) from Lutheran H.S. came by. They were very nice and interested in our pamphlets. He asked what is the Eucharist. We gave him a pamphlet on it and briefly explained that as Catholics it is the “source and summit of our faith” and explained a little bit about John 6.

All this in just one hour!

Still Evangelizing!

May 1, 2020

Well its been a long month or longer of stay at home (and work). I have been inspired reading what others in this great ministry have been doing during this time to continue to spread the good news and offer hope.
About the only thing I can do is take frequent walks and go to the grocery store. My wife and I decided one thing we can do is leave rosaries along the paths that we walk or other public places (an idea that came from reading about a Detroit MI team). We have noticed over the weeks that about 15 of the rosaries we left were gone when we looked for them. We pray that people were happy to find them unexpectedly. It is also possible, that someone who did not appreciate them took them down and disposed of them. But I hope for the former.
One story we can share is that last week my wife ordered some items from a store where you can then park in front of the store and someone would bring the items out. There were a couple trees nearby so I got out of the truck and hung two rosaries. I heard someone say "is he hanging rosaries?" I thought uh oh what might they say. The woman then asked me if I was hanging rosaries and I answered yes I was. She asked why? At first I misinterpreted the inflection in her voice and I thought she was going to chastise me. I told her I hung them to offer people hope and to provide rosaries to pray with.
She surprised me when she said "I wish I had one". So, always keeping a supply I asked her what color would she like. She took a blue one and was very happy!
I can't wait to set up in our normal places once we get the green light. Until then I will pray for all of you and your families and friends. And ofcourse for this great ministry!

The Street's of Castle Rock, Colorado

March 2, 2020

Saturday a few of us went out and hit the streets!. What surprise it was! We set up in front of the Castle Rock library. Ordinarily our experience of that location is generally light foot traffic based on where the parking lot and entrance are situated. But yesterday we met with quite a few folks. We gave out many rosaries, some medals- St. Christopher, St. Michael and Miraculous. We gave a a CD or two and couple books. But perhaps more importantly we offered to pray for people on the spot, several were open to it.

Here is a recap of some of the encounters:

-We met a nice women who lives in Castle Rock and had not been to church in long time. She accepted a rosary, and when asked when was the last time she had been to confession, she said it had been a very long time ago, So she accepted our pamphlet on Confession. We suggested she could make an appointment with Fr. Brad or Mark at St. Francis.

-A young man when asked if he would like a rosary responded with "no thanks I'm a Christian". So, instead we asked if he had any prayer needs or requests. He said yes, for him to fight his addiction. He thanked us for the prayers. I wish we could have done more for him.

-Another women accepted our prayers for the anxiety of an upcoming job interview.

-We had a conversation with a young man who was raised in a strong "protestant" family, but had recently become to question his beliefs from that faith tradition and was now interested in the Catholic Church. He had checked out a book by Bishop Barron, and then there we were!

Those were a few of the conversations I recall. It really was a great couple of hours! I look forward to getting out there again soon.