Fresh Ink from our Director of Religious Education
 
Season of the Butterfly Migration
by Kelli Olszewski

Years ago, over a decade, when the kids were small and we were on one of our yearly vacations to Hilton Head, it was a week of more rain than sun. After two and a half days stuck inside a 525 square foot condo with three young children, at the first sight of the evening sun emerging from the clouds, the kids and I were out the door! As my husband offered to make dinner, I sat on the observation deck watching the kids run off some built-up energy. I was fortunate to strike up a wonderful conversation with an older couple from Ohio who were regular vacationers to Hilton Head too. As one of my girls chased after a butterfly, they informed me if I ever have the chance to visit in late September to early October to do so to see the migration of the butterflies. They said it was a marvelous sight. Though I never doubted them, I thought it was a far-off reality.

Last year, celebrating our 24th wedding anniversary and first time away from the kids, we headed to Hilton Head for the weekend. After an early morning bike ride on the beach and sitting on the same observation deck 12 years later, I encountered that far-off dream: the migration of the butterflies. The flutter of butterflies everywhere was tranquil. As I watched them dancing from bush to bush and listened to the waves in the foreground, it was such an inviting moment to escape into a peaceful bliss and yet remember a moment of squealing children who delighted in discovery during our beach vacations.  
  
As peaceful as it is watching, the soft but sharp pain in the back of my throat appeared along with a few droplets of tears of momentary melancholy mixed with nostalgia as I recall a season from yesteryear; one filled with three young children who filled and captivated many moments of my day with life lessons, exhaustion and yet so much joy and love. Just like these butterflies who are experiencing a season in their own journey, my husband and I too have reached a new season in our marriage to enjoy the gift of each other as almost empty nesters and rediscovering the beauty of our life together in ordinary moments.

Arriving at St. Therese for the second time, just in a different role, I find myself being reintroduced to the world of parish ministry and religious education, one that is both familiar and yet refreshingly new. I am older and wiser and in a different phase of life as a catechetical leader. Maybe some of you too have changed jobs, become empty nesters or sent your youngest little one off to kindergarten. Whichever season we are in, it is an opportunity to redirect ourselves, especially in our faith. During a recent parish ministry leadership meeting, inspirational speaker, Fr. Tom McCarthy, said, “Our life is a journey. When we stop moving, things go wrong. Always journey in the presence of the Lord.” His words resonated. As I thought of the fluttering butterflies taking moments to rest, they truly never remained in one spot.

As St. Therese embarks on its 75th Anniversary, its rich history of growth and change echoes Fr. Tom’s wise words. The parish is never stagnant, always journeying in the presence of the Lord.

To the parish of St. Therese: many blessings—and much movement —on the next 75 years.
 
There is an appointed time for everything,
and a time for every affair under the heavens.
A time to give birth, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant…
I recognized that there is nothing better than to rejoice
and to do well during life. 
Moreover, that all can eat and drink and enjoy
the good of all their toil—this is a gift of God.  
—Ecclesiastes 3: 1-2; 12-13