Standing in the Holy Spirit and having the anointing of God, I have some concerns in my heart to share with all of you that are supporting the mission of Sanctuary of Hope. First of all, the live-ins and I want you to know that you are always welcome to participate in the events at SOH. We have Mass at 7:30 AM on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On weekends we encourage everyone, even ourselves, to go to their own parishes, churches and places of worship. If you enjoy Morning and Evening Prayer, then please join us on Tuesdays thru Fridays at 7 AM and 5 PM. We are closed on Mondays, so the staff can have time to rest. You are also welcome to come to our Associate Meetings, which take place on the fourth Saturdays of the month, from 10 AM to 12 Noon, and help with our workdays on the second Saturdays of the month, from 8 AM to 1 PM. Lunch is included. Our Pastoral Council and Board of Trustees meets at 7 PM on the third Wednesdays of the month, except for July and August. We also have our monthly prayer groups that meet as follows: HIV/AIDS meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 7 PM, RECOVERY + meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7:30 PM and our BIPOLAR group meets as they advertise, sometimes for retreats and sometimes for social gatherings. I hope this helps you.

Secondly, we have been given an opportunity, with some memorial funds that have come into SOH, to build a new shrine on our property. What we would like to do is to have a sculpture of the burning bush, which is the logotype or symbol of SOH.

We have an artist, Matt Kirby, from Baldwin City, KS, who is willing to make the sculpture. Matt has already presented to us an illustration, drawn by Cathy Ledeker of Lawrence, KS. In order to do the proper thing in getting this shrine of the burning bush, it takes money to run the electrical outlet to the far South hill of our property where the bush could be seen from I-70. The sculpture would be of bronze, strong hand blown glass and cement lit by halogen lights and lights within the colored glass pieces of the heart, the flames and the leaves. When you come to SOH, you can see the illustrations of what we are thinking about. I do ask for your input on this matter and your prayers.

Thirdly, we are trying, as you will see from Bernadine’s article to move ahead with the renovation of the second floor of the NE Wing of the building in order to provide room for two more live-ins at SOH. This would give us more staff to do the work of welcoming retreatants. We sure hope we can get a reduced bid to begin such a project in the fall of this year. Please pray for discernment. We are also open to your input in this matter as well.

Lastly, I have always been dreaming about taking inner city people to the Holy Land. I have put this off for the last few years in order to get SOH off the ground. Well, an opportunity for this pilgrimage came up for Nov 5 to 19 of this year. Rick and Penny Torretto would be our leaders and I would be the chaplain.

We need about 25 people to sign up as paying members in order to have the pilgrimage. I have sent letters to some of you inviting you on this pilgrimage. If anyone else is interested, please let me know as soon as possible. In order for some of our inner city people to go, I need to raise funds for scholarships. The overall cost per person is $3000. So I humbly ask you that if you are interested in sending an inner city person to the Holy Land, would you please send me the money and I will put it in a fund and see how many people can go. Right now I have four people who have requested scholarships. I have told them that I can’t promise anything, but will ask for the money. Even a local Church or a business could send a scholarship for an individual to go.

Again may the Holy Spirit of the Living God reward each of you for all your acts of kindness, your prayers and your willingness to be a witness for the Lord in our world today.

Love and Prayers,

Fr. Dennis Wait