Dr. Juanee Surprise
Marion Napurano
On Jan. 9, 53 members of the Robson Ranch Catholic Community (RRCC) met in the Robson clubhouse for their first gathering of 2024. President Joan Bridges opened the meeting with a prayer, after which announcements were made regarding RRCC Potluck groups and RRCC Faith Sharing groups.
Joan also informed the group that our Feb. 13 gathering would be held in the Creative Arts building, and our speaker would be Deacon Mike Mocek from Holy Family Parish in Fort Worth. His presentation will be about Blessed Stanley Rother and his shrine in Oklahoma City. Blessed Stanley Rother is an Oklahoma farm boy who is the first U.S.-born martyr and the first U.S.-born priest to be declared Blessed. Blessed Stanley Rother was martyred in his Guatemala parish rectory in 1981 during the Guatemalan Civil War. Joan also announced to the group that in the spring, RRCC is planning a pilgrimage to the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City. Since its dedication in February of 2023, the shrine has welcomed tens of thousands of pilgrims who come to encounter the witness of the first U.S.-born martyr. The details of the pilgrimage will be announced later as plans are finalized.
Next, Joan introduced our speaker for the evening, Robson Ranch resident Dr. Juanee Surprise. Dr. Surprise’s talk was on food and drink: “What does the Bible say?” She began with God first created water, then plants for our good and for our food. She emphasized that the types of food mentioned in the Bible are different from today’s foods, due mainly to location. Also, in the Old Testament food which was described as clean or not clean was cultural. Wine is mentioned 266 times in the Bible. In Biblical times, wine was often diluted. Dr. Surprise stressed that our bodies are temples of the holy spirit and should be treated as such. She also had sign-up sheets for those in attendance wishing to find out more about the benefits of good nutrition.
The final blessing was delivered by Deacon Jim Galbraith, and all left feeling blessed by the fellowship of our Robson Ranch Catholic Community. Our next gathering will be on Tuesday, Feb. 13. Please join us!