CLC-USA's National Coordinating Council (NCC) with representatives from the various geographic Regions and Cultural Groups is having their annual meeting in St. Louis this weekend. Please keep them in your prayers for a grace-filled and productive gathering.

Polish-CLC (PCLC) Chicago celebrated its annual commitment ceremony at Mass on Sunday, September 10, 2017 at the Sacred Heart Mission Chapel, 4105 North Avers Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. Sacred Heart Mission is staffed by a community of Jesuits of the South Poland Province. The liturgy also marked the beginning of a new year of formation for the PCLC-Chicago group. Mass was concelebrated by Jesuit Community Superior, Fr. Tomasz Oleniacz, SJ and PCLC Ecclesial Assistant, Fr. Jerzy Mordarski, SJ.

Please click on the blue heading text above to join in answering Pope Francis’ urgent call in Laudato Si, I pledge to: • Pray for and with creation • Live more simply • Advocate to protect our common home.

Please click on the blue text heading above to be taken to a Spanish language site where you can electronically send a letter of petition to help save the indigenous park in Bolivia: Enter your name and email address in the box at top right of the page, then copy the suggested message from the bottom of the page (translation below) and past it inside the box labeled “comentario.” Make sure you re-type your name at the top of the message. Click on FIRMAR (Sign) to send your message. To: Evo Morales From: (Your name) Mr. President, In the name of our faith and the call of Pope Francis in the encyclical Laudato Si 'on the care of creation, we ask you to prevent the TIPNIS from being damaged. We ask you to say NO to the cancellation of the intangibility of the TIPNIS and that it will not allow private individuals to take advantage of their natural resources. Thank you very much!

On behalf of Ady and the ExCo team, please pray for the repose of the soul of Helen Plocha, wife of our past president, Ed Plocha.  While Helen has been a cancer survivor for some time, she developed some significant health complications during the past week and died the evening of Friday August 26 of multi-system organ failure.  Ed and Helen's children had been at her bedside these past few days.  In Ady's words, may Helen experience the loving embrace of our God.  She is experiencing God's peace and love.  Please ask your communities to pray for Helen, Ed, and Helen's children.  As we know more details of funeral arrangements etc we will pass them on.  May Helen rest in peace.  Your ExCo team

Ignatian Spirituality Conference Title: Adult Psychological Development and Spiritual Maturity: Ignatian Spirituality Across the Life Cycle Presenter: Rev. David McCallum, SJ Vice President For Mission Integration and Development, Le Moyne College Where: Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY, or online (live stream) November 4, 2017 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM We are committed to providing you with opportunities for growth, so that your ministry can continue to thrive. This conference, our second in 2017, is for you. Join us in person at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, or online. Invitation (with registration info) to follow. Co-sponsored by the Office of Ignatian Spirituality and Le Moyne College.

On behalf of Đồng Hành Family Ministry, we would like to invite all CLC couples to attend this workshop, then discern whether you would want to join our team in caring for the families as one of the frontiers stipulated in the World Assembly. For KCLC and South Florida communities, if you can send a few of your couples, we would love to spread it to Korean and Spanish speaking communities as well. Đồng-Hành CLC members in Houston will take care of your lodging and transportation to and from the workshop. For CLC members, financial assistance for registration is available upon request. Last but not least, if you have families and friends that would like to attend, please don't hesitate to ask them to register using the brochure or online via www.ctdshn.donghanh.org under MRW 42. For any questions you may have, please don’t hesitate to contact us via email or phone. In the Risen Christ, Hung & Kim-Anh Vu

Letter from Outgoing CLC-USA President, Ed Plocha, about our leadership changes.

It gives us great pleasure to inform you that Father John Lan Tran, S.J. of the Central and Central Province of the Society of Jesus assumes the role of CLC-USA National Ecclesial Assistant, effective immediately. Fr. John Lan is retreat director at Montserrat Retreat House, Lake Dallas, Texas.

Congratulations and welcome to the Chicago Polish CLCs! On June 27, 2017, the CLC-USA Executive Council discerned and accepted the Chicago-based Polish CLC (PCLC) request for affiliation with CLC-USA. CLC-USA is honored and very pleased to have PCLC as affiliated members of the US national body. Together, our respective CLC-USA communities represent the most culturally diverse national CLC community in the world. This is truly a blessing for us all. We so look forward to interacting as brothers and sisters in CLC-USA. Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam!

The Houston Dong Hanh CLC is sponsoring a weekend retreat for couples who wish to strengthen their relationship or deepen their sense of belonging to their Catholic community. A program created by couples for couples, it seeks to support the Sacrament of Matrimony by creating opportunities for spouses to experience God’s unconditional love, boost their relationship skills, and motivate them to share their gifts in active service to other couples and the greater community.

America magazine features a powerful article by Fr. Nathan W. O'Halloran SJ about The Lords Ranch Community in the desert of southern New Mexico where he grew up and learned the "Ignatius Option." Several members of the The Lords Ranch Community are also in CLC. Check out The Lords Ranch website at: http://www.thelordsranchcommunity.com/

The annual National Gathering of College and University CLCs took place at Loyola University Chicago from May 31st to June 2nd. The Gathering was a packed 48-hour experience of fun, joy, community-building, sharing, prayer, reflection, learning, eating, service, and planning. During the Gathering, CLC members had the opportunity to participate in a Silent Retreat, hear from guest speakers, meet and talk with other CLC student leaders and campus ministers, and learn more about how CLC gets lived out on other campuses.

The Season of Creation, running annually between September 1 and October 4, is a time of year when 2.2 billion Christians are invited to pray and care for creation.  Pope Francis has declared September 1st as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and has joined in this ecumenical observance.

The Polish-Language CLC group in Chicago -- after a months-long discernment process led by Jesuit Superior of the Sacred Heart (Polish) Jesuit community, Father Tomasz Oleniacz, SJ –  has discerned that they wish to formally affiliate with CLC-USA.  There are currently 80 members in the group.

Dick O'Brien, a wonderful member and leader of CLC for many decades in the North Central region, died Wednesday morning May 10, 2017. Dick, 89, had increasingly poor health for some time. Please pray for his wife Renee, a former CLC USA National President, and the other members of their family. Click on the headline for an article about Dick and Renee that appears on the Wisconsin Jesuit Province website. There will be a VIGIL Sunday, May 14, at Creighton University Omaha, St. John’s Parish, 6 p.m. visitation with family, 7:00 vigil service The Funeral Eucharist: Monday, May 15, St. John’s, 10 a.m

On Sunday April 30th, chiefs of the Munduruku tribe in Brazil's Amazon region, who were accompanied by World CLC President Mauricio Lopez, met with CLC-USA members at Fordham University at Lincoln Center in midtown Manhattan.

Fr. Hermínio Rico S.J. recently spoke at the Brazil CLC National Assembly about the identity of Christian Life Community in today's world. Article will open in Portuguese but you will have option to translate into English at top of page.

Ann Marie Brennan of St. Catharine Parish CLC in Metro NY writes about the graces she and her family have received from being immersed in the CLC way of life since graduating from NYU 30 years ago.