Extraordinary Celebrations, Extraordinary Growth is a book chock-full of creative ideas for Catholic clergy and lay leaders interested in growing their Eucharistic communities during the 2020 liturgical year-the Year of Matthew! Intended for Independent & Old Catholic communities that follow the liturgical cycle of the Roman Catholic Church and embody the best of Vatican II liturgical reforms, this book will also serve as an invaluable tool for Roman Catholic communities desiring to inject their parish life with energy & creativity! Written by the former pastor of Austin's largest Spanish-language Roman Catholic community, Extraordinary Celebrations, Extraordinary Growth is the fruit of his 30 years of ministerial experience and varied degrees in philosophy, theology, fundraising development, business administration, and leadership. For each Sunday of the liturgical year, he shares tips for decorating your worship environment and celebrating the liturgy of the day, he highlights the thread that runs through all four Sunday scriptures, and he provides "holy humor" guaranteed to grab your listeners' attention and entertain! Woven throughout the work are ideas for celebrating the Church's saints, the spiritual leaders and authors of our world, and the important people and events in the very fascinating history of Independent & Old Catholicism, which seek to follow in Jesus' footsteps and create inclusive, catholic communities outside the structure and strictures of the Roman Catholic Church. The author shares the secret sauce: the "creation of experience." He writes, "The pastors of megachurches know that nothing is more important than the 'experience' they share with those who come to them! It's the same reason that concerts and sports games easily attract thousands upon thousands of people, while relatively few people seem interested in attending the liturgies that we, as Independent and 'Old' Catholic clergy, provide." He continues with a detailing of factors that contribute to a church's "creation of experience" and he challenges his readers to consider the opportunity they have to provide things to which their congregants can look forward-things that get people out of bed and into church on Sunday mornings!Extraordinary Celebrations, Extraordinary Growth opens with a theoretical framework for the five stages of growth of Eucharistic communities in the Independent Catholic tradition, and the author makes clear the intent of this work: to assist you and your community in achieving the next stage of your growth during 2020! Want to see the miracle of multiplication in your community? Want to nourish more hearts, open more eyes, and enlighten more minds-leaving them hungering for more and eager to tell others about the community you're building? Extraordinary Celebrations, Extraordinary Growth is your book!