CHARLOTTE — The parish family of St. Joseph Vietnamese Church in southwest Charlotte is a growing, vibrant faith community. So Father Tri Truong, pastor, came up with an idea to keep parishioners connected and provide helpful information about parish ministries and groups by developing a yearly calendar featuring 12 groups – one for each month of the calendar year.
Father Truong stresses that the idea to have parish groups on the church's liturgical calendar instead of business advertisements promotes Catholic identity and participation among parishioners.
"Our Catholic identity needs to be at the center of our activities, because what we do comes from what we believe," he explains.
Parishioner Tony Do sponsors the calendar each year, so that families can get them for free and post them in their homes to remember special feast days in the Church and other parish celebrations.
The mastermind behind the calendar's design is volunteer and parishioner Tuan Nguyen, who is tasked with the challenge of coming up with a new color scheme each year. He also takes all the photos besides maintaining the parish's website.
"I do computers for a living," Nguyen says. "It's a fun project, I like doing it. I have to come up with a new color scheme and make it look different every year."
Nguyen photographs seven of the main groups at the parish including the parish council, finance council, liturgy committee and fundraising committee. He also photographs five other important ministries, including the Association of Eucharistic Reparation, Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Society and the Marriage Family Enrichment Program.
He says he takes these groups into consideration when choosing his color palette, so it corresponds to their ministry if possible. For instance, he has selected a shade of blue for the month when the parish's Legion of Mary group is featured.
Names and contact information for each committee chair or ministry leader is published in the calendar as well.
Nguyen works with Father Truong and another volunteer to place the important dates in the calendar.
"We like giving the calendars out at the beginning of each year. When I go to their homes and see it hanging on the wall, I feel good," Nguyen shares.
Father Truong notes the importance of the calendar project each year: "We are a community of faith, so it is important for our parishioners to remember that as much as we love and honor our traditions and customs, our Catholic identity needs to take a prominent place."
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
CHARLOTTE — Julie McElmurry has a great love for all things St. Francis.
As director of Franciscan Passages, a teaching ministry, McElmurry has spent years studying the saint and educating others about him, as a campus minister at Wake Forest University and also while earning a master's degree in Franciscan studies at St. Bonaventure University's Franciscan Institute over the course of five consecutive summers. Now a parishioner at St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte, she travels around the country teaching classes, leading retreats and conducting webinars on the humble saint from Assisi.
McElmurry also used her knowledge of St. Francis in curating a series of reflections by volunteers from Franciscan Service Network, an organization offering a network of Franciscan-based service programs across the United States and the world. The resulting book, "Living & Serving in the Way of St. Francis," was recently published.
Franciscan Service Network volunteers chosen to write reflections had each given at least one year of service to the poor and marginalized, living lives modeled after the lives of Sts. Francis and Clare. McElmurry edited each commentary for the book, which follows 40 themes found within "Testament"–her favorite work penned by St. Francis.
"For me it was important to root it in St. Francis' writing so I looked through my favorite writing of his called 'Testament'," she explained.
"My hope for the book is that people will get into their hands a writing of St. Francis and really take time with it. This is what this book does. In an enjoyable way it helps you understand what St. Francis was saying. Each theme is expounded on by a modern-day person who is trying to live the same way he did.
"I also hope people consider volunteering with Franciscan Service Network. It's not just for people right out of college. It's for anybody who might be in a life transition and can give a year as a modern-day missionary."
The book features a foreword penned by one of today's best known Franciscans: Cardinal Sean O'Malley, OFM Cap., the Archbishop of Boston.
"It is a great joy to mark the publishing of this book containing the reflections of young adult volunteers who have sought to live and serve in the spirit and path of Saint Francis of Assisi," Cardinal O'Malley wrote. "These volunteers give the Church such hope and joy and demonstrate the vitality of Christian witness and service."
Our Catholic understanding of service flows from Holy Thursday when Jesus washed the feet of His Apostles and commanded them to do the same for others, Cardinal O'Malley also wrote.
"The Holy Father, Pope Francis, followed this command by washing the feet of prisoners in a Roman prison, celebrating the Feast of the Lord's Supper, not in a church, but in that very prison. The Holy Father's actions challenge us to glimpse the truth and message of the Gospel. With a simple gesture, Pope Francis has tested our assumptions regarding power, authority and leadership. As he told the prisoners, this is a symbol, it is a sign. 'Washing your feet means I am at your service,'" he wrote.
Like McElmurry, Cardinal O'Malley wrote that he hopes the book inspires people to live the Gospel, no matter what their state in life.
"I pray that as you reflect upon your own call to service in light of Testament of Saint Francis that you will be moved to heed Pope Francis' call and become ministers capable of warming people's hearts; walking with them in the night, dialoguing with them about their hopes and desires; mending their brokenness; allowing them to help us in understanding our own brokenness; and bringing the joy of the Gospel to all we meet," he wrote.
"Like Saint Francis may you preach the Gospel in all that you do – using words when necessary."
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
Order the book
Order "Living & Serving in the Way of St. Francis" published by Tau Publishers and edited by Julie McElmurry, at www.franciscanpassages.org or www.amazon.com. To schedule a lecture or retreat with Franciscan Passages, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..