Saint Mark Adult Faith Formation

The Catholic Church of St. Mark has ministries for women and men, which provide unique opportunities to deepen your faith, to have fellowship, and to become the best versions of the women and men that God created us to be.

Small Faith Groups

Growing in our faith never ends. We are called to continue to deepen our relationship with Christ our whole life long. We believe that being in relationship with one another is essential to deepening our faith and strengthening our parish.

Our ongoing small faith groups allow us to gather, learn, and share/discuss the traditions, sacraments, theology and prayers of our Church while building community.

For 2023 – 2024 we will be looking at the following topics:

Fall/Advent: Join us as we walk through 'The Mass' with Bishop Robert Barron in his new six-week Program beginning September 17th!
With Bishop Barron as our guide, we will see how the Mass brings us out of the fallen world and into the heavenly realm. We’ll come to realize that the Mass is the most privileged and intimate encounter with our Lord, Jesus Christ here on earth. Several study group sessions are available to fit your schedule and signups are available in the commons.
Spring/Lent: TBD
Easter/Pentecost: TBD

The Men of St. Joseph (MOSJ) is more than a Bible Study or prayer group. We are a group of active lay Catholic Men, dedicated to supporting each other as we strive to become our families’ spiritual leaders by strengthening our faith, living each day as “real world” examples of Christ, and positively influencing our communities. Through prayer and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Men of St. Joseph dedicatee themselves to the following mission: “Put the family in the hands of the Father.”

MOSJ is open to adult men of all ages, especially those men who are actively involved in their work, communities and families. We acknowledge that our incredibly hectic schedules and personal time demands lead us to a “life of quiet desperation,” racing through each day, unable to set aside the time needed to focus on building a deep relationship with God. Our weekly morning meetings are a tangible commitment to making real life changes. MOSJ members gather to read and discuss the Lectionary Readings for upcoming weekend’s Mass, focusing on our relationship with God and each other before our minds become cluttered with the day’s events. In doing so, we strive to positively develop and nurture meaningful spiritual lives, actions by ordinary men that will hopefully inspire others to join with us on this lifelong journey.

If you’re interested, please join us each Thursday at 6:00am in the Great Hall. Topic: Lectionary Readings for the upcoming weekend’s Mass

If you would like to learn more about The Men of St. Joseph, please visit the national website at https://www.menofstjoseph.com, or f you have questions about our MOSJ group at St. Mark, please contact either Dan Wood (757-647-2135) or Dave Fritsch (757-477-9788).

Ladies Book Club

The Women’s Book Club continues to seek new membership. This group is comprised of women of varied ages and diverse backgrounds. It is a compatible group with members who share an appreciation for the Catholic Church and its teachings. The group strives to learn more about our Catholic faith through the works of varied authors and genre. Every other month, for approximately 90 minutes, the ladies gather to share ideas and insights acquired from a preselected book.

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday November 14th, 2023 at 6:30pm in the Saint Mark Library. Please consider joining us for a lively and informative discussion. New members are always welcome! Questions? Contact Kendra at kdimichele76@gmail.com

We are currently reading "The Big Hustle: A Boston Street Kid's Story of Addiction and Redemption" by Jim Wahlberg.

the big hustle

From the back-cover:
When Jim Wahlberg went to prison the second time at 22 years old, he was sentenced to six to nine years for breaking and entering, bargained down from life for home invasion. He had staggered into a Boston cop’s apartment, helping himself to the sellable stuff and all the beer in the fridge. The cop came home, found Jim passed out at the kitchen table, beat the hell out of him, and arrested him.

But Wahlberg, a 130-pound kid from Dorchester, had learned some things from his life on the street and his first prison sentence. He knew how to survive. And he knew that if he wanted to avoid serving the full sentence, he would have to do something.He did what he was best at: He hustled. He would create the illusion that he was trying to change, that he’d become the model prisoner, not a guy hell-bent on getting out while he was still young enough to drink more, steal more, and do more drugs. He didn’t know, though, that the Catholic priest he was trying to hustle was actually hustling him.

The Big Hustle is the story of a redeemed life and a family’s healing.
This is the no-holds-barred, unvarnished, and sometimes brutal true story of Jim Wahlberg, the fifth of nine kids growing up in a working-class Irish Catholic neighborhood outside of Boston, hustling for attention any way he could get it, which led him to the biggest hustle of his life. Against all odds he got clean, he got out, and he got the girl. Jim dedicated his new life as a former addict to working with addicts, and for years has spread the word that recovery is possible. But nothing could have prepared him for what came next. His discovery that his own son was an addict threw Jim into a crisis—one that led him deeper into his faith and led to healing he never thought possible. This book is a testament to God’s power and an invitation to all of us to hope in the darkest places.