Thankful For All of You!
November 22, 2023
Fr. John Riccardo
“ACTS XXIX is the most fruitful apostolate I’ve ever seen and been around. Every dollar is building the kingdom. There’s so much fruit, both measurable and of eternal consequences.” A dear friend and partner on mission recently shared these words with us.
Of course, it’s only by God’s immeasurable grace that we’re able to do anything. Saint Paul’s words regularly come to my mind, “We thank God continually because when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you received it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God” (1 Thess 2:13). Like Paul, we’re daily humbled that God can speak and work through us, broken and flawed as we are.
In these days of thanksgiving, I wanted to take a moment to express our great gratitude to you for your support for this mission God has entrusted to us in ACTS XXIX.
Though the news across the world, the country and the Church can often be challenging, and while there is so much to bring in agonizing prayer before the King of kings, at the same time we are blessed to see so many signs of hope and encouragement. As I never tire of saying God is not anxious or nervous right now. And He is not distant. He firmly holds each of us and all of His creation in His powerful and merciful hands. I’d like to take a quick moment and share with you just a few of the many, many signs of hope we see.
By God’s grace, the video experience we created called The Rescue Project is gaining an ever greater presence not only in the United States but across the globe. We passionately believe that the single greatest need in the Church is a compelling and attractive proclamation of the Gospel, and the fruit we have seen and the feedback we have heard around the world only confirms our belief. We hear day by day from dioceses, parishes and men and women of all ages how transformative The Rescue Project has been for so many. In fact, the Diocese of Gary, Indiana, has created an Advent preaching series based on The Rescue Project, so that wherever a person may go to Mass on the Sundays leading up to Christmas they will be exposed anew to the extraordinary, explosive and life-changing message of the Gospel. What thrills us as much as anything is the increasing number of college campuses that are running The Rescue Project. We just recently returned from Ave Maria University and The University of Mary, where we preached the final talk live to students and faculty. It’s beyond invigorating to see college students not only meet Jesus but get mobilized for mission to go and be agents of renewal in the culture. One person summed up his experience of The Rescue Project this way, “I can’t really put it into words, but today I am a Christian man who has been returned to a life of purpose as a son of God and a brother of Christ that I allowed to slip away a few years ago. The Holy Spirit has done this through The Rescue Project. Now go help Him help more people to do the same.”
This coming year, we will begin hosting in our ACTS XXIX home “leadership immersives” for various segments of the Church. These are week-long offsites, where we share with various leaders in the Church what the Lord has given us to bring renewal and transformation in the Church. Simply put, many of us leading in the Church were trained for a different era, one where a Christian worldview still held a place of prominence. That time is gone. Yet, these are great days and we need not become nostalgic for some (imagined) easier time. While there is no “silver bullet” or one-size-fits-all solution, we think the Lord has revealed to us three essential principles — not methods or programs — that can bring remarkable renewal to leaders at countless levels. We are desirous to give these principles away to as many others as we can, and so we will be conducting twelve leadership immersives starting in January. Attendees include bishops and their teams, pastors and their teams, diocesan offices, and other ministry and professional leaders from across the country. One attendee at an immersive told us, “Through the Leadership Immersive, I have shifted from being concerned only with what we do to how we do what we do. Now I know I need to lead be listening to God’s plan and not demanding my own.”
In addition to preaching the gospel, helping leaders become even better, and the media we regularly create and disseminate, we continue to be especially grateful for the opportunity to lead priests on retreat across the country. We have now brought more than 3000 bishops, priests and deacons on retreat. These retreats offer our brothers, many of whom are thriving and many others who are surviving, a chance to be renewed and encouraged by the proclamation of Jesus’ Lordship, given practical and non-prescriptive tools to bring transformation to their parishes, and plentiful opportunities for prayer so as to receive much needed healing and freedom from Jesus, the Divine Physician.
The feedback we have received on these retreats has been overwhelmingly encouraging:
97% of priests (80% with a ‘Strongly Agree’) said “I have recommitted my life and my priesthood to Jesus”, and
100% of priests (90% with a ‘Strongly Agree’) said “I have renewed confidence in the Lordship of Jesus.”
One priest shared the following with us after a recent retreat in his diocese: “The word I keep hearing is ‘incarnational.’ So often these things remain lofty, inspiring and rich theologically. But when the word becomes flesh it all becomes so real. That has happened here. This is truly the first time I’ve heard the gospel in a way that resonated with my masculine heart.”
Finally, in the coming year ACTS XXIX is going to be more significantly involved in seminary work, allowing us to get “up stream” with those who will be serving as future shepherds in the Church.
None of these things — and so much more— would be possible without your prayers and financial support! Because of the Lord, and your help, countless lives have been changed, hundreds of priests have moved from discouragement to hope, and untold numbers of people who did not know Jesus have experienced His rescuing power.
When we first began ACTS XXIX, I heard the Lord clearly tell me in prayer, “This is so much bigger than you think.” These past four plus years have only confirmed that word, so please hold us in prayer, as we sincerely rely on that. And kindly consider supporting us financially if you’re not already. Aside from travel and lodging, our ministry is offered free of charge, for freely we have received and so freely we give. If you’re already giving, know of our great gratitude and kindly prayerfully consider increasing your support for this mission.
Be assured of our daily prayers for you, especially at Mass in our St. Joan of Arc Chapel in Livonia, Michigan. We were born for this!