World Priest Day
WPD Starter Sheet
World Priest Day
I. Overview:
World Priest Day (WPD) is a celebration of our Worldwide Marriage Encounter movement ‘s love for our priests and our faithfulness to our Mission Statement.
We want to support the men who live their Sacrament of Holy Orders each day. This celebration and starter kit helps us as a couple, a family, a local Marriage Encounter Community and our Church with ideas on how to affirm our priests.
Priests have been and are a significant part of our lives. They have ministered to us, preached to us, counseled us, helped to present our weekend, and they continue to journey with us. Let us share our lives, our appreciation and love through suggestions on these pages. There is something here for everyone. Get your children involved. Encourage the young men in your family, in our marriage encounter families, and our church to listen for God’s call to be open to become great priests.
Remember you don’t have to wait until World Priest Day to do something and you can continue on even after that day.
II. Encountered Couple & Family Suggestions
1. Send a card to your parish priest or bishop telling them what their sacrament and/or friendship means to you.
2. Introduce yourself and family to your priest or bishop you have not met.
3. Invite a priest or bishop you know, or do not know, to breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
4. If you invite them to dinner, you may make it a candle-lighted dinner with china, linens, and maybe soft music. Be creative! Kids could be included in this too! Let the kids help set the table and prepare for his arrival. Or make it a down home barbecue or something unique and special to your family
5. Send them flowers or a balloon bouquet.
6. Invite them on a family picnic and pick them up if possible.
7. If you know a priest or bishop out of town, give them a call, send a note, flowers, balloon bouquet.
8. Bake them cookies, etc. (Kids love to get involved).
9. Have the kids color them a picture or write them a letter.
10. Invite them to your home.
11. Go on an outing together, such as a dinner and a play, bowling, movie, hunting, fishing, golf, tennis, etc.
12. Cook together in the kitchen.
13. Be creative and have fun with this special event. Let us know what you dreamed up to honor our priests.
14. Purchase WPD gift items (coffee mugs, pens, note cards) place them in a decorative basket with a note from you and deliver it to your priest.
III. Encountered Share Group or Community Suggestions
1. Send a card to your parish priest telling them what they mean to you, or introduce yourself. Send these as a share group or a community to every priest in our diocese, identifying yourselves as WWME. The blank WPD logo note cards can be run through a copy machine to imprint the WPD prayer inside.
2. Send a card to your bishops in the same fashion as above.
3. Invite your priest or bishop to a dinner hosted by your share group or community. It can be as simple or elaborate as you like – the key is building relationships with them.
4. Invite them to a breakfast or lunch.
5. Introduce yourselves personally to your priest or bishop.
6. Invite them to a picnic hosted by your share group or community. Pick them up and bring them.
7. If you know a priest or bishop out of town, give them a call or send them flowers or balloon bouquet.
8. Have a prayer day for your priests or bishop similar to that of a prayer scroll where hours are covered by couples and families. This is a way to pray for deeper relationships between our priests or bishops and our families.
9. Bake them goodies as a share group and deliver them personally.
10. Have the kids color them a picture or write them a letter.
11. Invite them to a wine and cheese tasting. Have each couple bring a priest or encourage them to meet a priest they do not know who is attending.
12. Invite them to your home.
13. Go on an outing together such as dinner and a play, picnic, out to eat, etc.
14. Include them in a family night hosted by your share group or community.
15. Adopt a seminarian by utilizing some of the suggestions here or some of your own ideas.
16. Send goody baskets, balloon bouquets, or flowers to all priests in the deanery or diocese. Include drawings, notes and prayer bouquets from the kids. Remember to identify that it is sent with love from the Worldwide Marriage Encounter community.
17. Be creative and let us know what you dreamed up.
18. Purchase WPD gift items (coffee mugs, pens, note cards), put them in a decorative basket with the card from your group and deliver them to your priests
19. Place an ad in the Catholic Newspaper wishing all priests a happy WPD from WWME, complete with WPD logo & WWME logo – or your own creative design. Better yet, get the diocesan, or city, newspaper to do an article on WPD!! (Don't forget to send us a copy!)
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