Happy Monday everyone,
I hope you all had a blessing filled weekend and are looking forward to a wonderful final week of January 2016! There are many exciting things ahead in the month of February!
Lenten Parish Mission: Mark your calendars for NEXT WEEK on Monday, February 1st, Tuesday the 2nd & Wednesday the 3rd at 10:00am and 7:00pm in the church. You won’t want to miss hearing Fr. Aidan Peter (our Pastor) speak to us about Mercy and the Mass. (attending one of the talks counts as a Faith Growth opportunity for RE parents of year 1 & year 2 Communion students.) ALL are welcome to attend!
Speaking of LENT…it begins on Wednesday, February 10th! I have been waiting a couple of weeks to promote this fact since it feels like I was just telling you that Advent was coming. I wanted to share with you that Dynamic Catholic is having a wonderful journey for Lent just like they had for Advent. I have signed up for it and hope you will too. I loved the Advent daily emails and look forward to the same opportunity to go deeper in my relationship with Jesus during Lent. You can sign up here: http://dynamiccatholic.com/bestlentever/
Also, during Lent we will participate in the Catholic Relief Services Rice Bowl program. Each child will receive a rice bowl and Lent calendar that goes with it during classes on the week of February 10th & 11th. We are asking each child/family to consider saving change during Lent and turn in the filled bowl at class the week of March 16th & 17th. There is an app available for download to follow along as a family for daily reflections. The app is called: CRS Rice Bowl.
Biblical Studies Conference, Saturday, February 20th Held in the parish hall from 9:00am to 3:00pm. No cost to attend. Optional lunch available for $6. To RSVP for a lunch contact: Trent Benedetti at 922-4881. The topic for the day is The Bible, The Family and the New Evangelization. The speakers are: Dr. Michael Barber and Dr. John Kincaid. (attending one of the talks counts as a Faith Growth opportunity for RE parents of year 1 & year 2 Communion students.)
Parish Food Pantry in NEED: The food pantry volunteers have asked me to appeal to all of you because there is a severe shortage of food on hand for the food pantry to distribute. These are the items most needed that are given out to each family that comes to the church to ask for food assistance. Canned soups, cereal, jam/jelly, spaghetti sauce, canned chicken, canned tuna, top ramen, macaroni and cheese. Also, large bags of white rice and pinto beans (the large bags are divided into smaller portions for distribution). You can DROP OFF any food items at my office before, during or after class this week or next. You can also bring the food items to the large bins placed inside the church near the exits. Thank you for the generous support you have already given to the parish food pantry in the past. It is greatly appreciated!
Vacation Bible Camp 2016: SAVE THE DATE. We will be having Vacation Bible Camp July 18-22 from 9:00am to noon each day. Registration forms will be available in late February.
Early Registration for classes 2016-2017: We will begin the early registration process in March for classes that will begin in September. When you register early, you receive a $5 discount for each child registered. The other benefit is you have one less thing to have on your summer to do list.
The next activities for Communion Year 2 parents is a Parent Meeting. Topic: First Communion Retreat & Mass:
option #1 Monday 3/14/16 @7:00-8:00pm-parish hall
OR option #2 Wednesday 3/16/16 @7:00-8:00pm- parish hall
(one or both parents attend ONE or the other of these meetings. 2 options offered for convenience)
1st Communion Retreat: Saturday 4/16/16 @ 8:30am-noon in the parish hall. All year 2 Communion students attend the retreat.
1st Communion Rehearsal for Thursday classes: Thursday 5/5/16 @ 6:15-7:15pm in the church (during class time)
1st Communion Rehearsal for SLDM school: during school day the week of 5/2/-5/6/16 with Mrs. Fuller & Mrs. McLoughlin
1st Communion Mass for Thursday classes & school: Saturday 5/7/16 @ 10:00am in the church (children arrive at 9:00am)
1st Communion Rehearsal for Wednesday classes: Wednesday 5/4/16@4:00-5:00pm in the church
1st Communion Mass for Wednesday classes: Saturday 5/7/16 @ 1:00pm in the church (children arrive at noon)
Bald for Lexi 2016 March 19th: St. Louis de Montfort Parish & School has an effort underway to CONQUER CHILDHOOD CANCER! One of our parishioners, Jr High group member & SLDM School student, Lexi Brown, was diagnosed with cancer over 18 months ago & is about to undergo chemo treatment #3. Worldwide a child is diagnosed with cancer every 3 minutes. Only 4% of US Federal funding is solely dedicated to childhood cancer research. The St. Baldrick’s Foundation exists to fill the funding gap. The organization does ONE thing, fund childhood cancer research!
A person can help in 1 of 3 ways….1. shave in solidarity 2. donate $$$ to a person shaving their head or a volunteer or 3. sign up to volunteer at the event. Feel free to contact me anytime with questions or assistance with signing up or navigating the event webpage.
The direct link to the event on March 19th is: https://www.stbaldricks.org/events/baldforlexi2016 This link will make it easier for you to join our event.
There is a Facebook page as well: https://www.facebook.com/baldforLexi/?fref=ts Please like the page and share it with other people to help spread the word.
Parish website: Our parish has a website and efforts are currently underway to improve the website. I have begun to work with our webmaster to boost the Religious Education section of the website. The weekly updates and calendar are posted in the RE section of the website. You can access it directly at: http://sldm.org/re/ Check it out anytime. There is also a link to the Facebook page for Religious Education on the website. http://sldm.org/re/
Thought for the week: A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. –Proverbs 25:11
Tip of the week: I wanted to share an excerpt from Our Daily Bread that I read for reflection today. I found it a very helpful reminder on my personal journey. Careless Words My daughter has had a lot of ill health recently, and her husband has been wonderfully caring and supportive. “You have a real treasure there!” I said. “You didn’t think that when I first knew him,” she said with a grin. She was quite right. When Icilda and Philip got engaged, I was concerned. They were such different personalities. We have a large and noisy family, and Philip is more reserved. And I had shared my misgivings with my daughter quite bluntly. I was horrified to realize that the critical things I said so casually 15 years ago had stayed in her memory and could possibly have destroyed a relationship that has proved to be so right and happy. It reminded me how much we need to guard what we say to others. So many of us are quick to point out what we consider to be weaknesses in family, friends, or work colleagues, or to focus on their mistakes rather than successes. “The tongue is a small part of the body,” says James (3:5), yet the words it shapes can either destroy relationships or bring peace and harmony to a situation in the workplace, the church, or the family. Perhaps we should make David’s prayer our own as we start each day: “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Ps. 141:3)
Blessings to all,
Kelly
Kelly McLoughlin
Director of Religious Education
Junior High Ministry
St. Louis de Montfort Catholic Church
Proud member of NACYML www.nacyml.org
And NCCL www.nccl.org