Holy Childhood of Jesus Catholic Church
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Holy Childhood of Jesus Catholic Church
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February 3, 2008
FATHER'S TWO-CENTS WORTH
Here we are in February, and this week brings us into the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday, February 6. We will have Mass at 8:00 A.M. which will be our school Mass, and at 7:00 P.M. Both Masses are open to adults and students as well, and we do encourage our students who do not attend Holy Childhood School, to avail themselves of the 7:00 P.M. Mass to receive Ashes for their start of Lent. Moms and Dads! You have to be leaders here, since most of them depend on you for transportation. They also depend on you for role model—to be a sign of the Catholic faith in their lives. Please, please, please, realize that what you do, they will pick up, and develop into their way of living here on earth. If it is important for you, it will probably be important for them. But if it is not important, or too much trouble, you can bet they will find this a good excuse not to grow in their Catholic faith.
Something more—I sent a letter and the little Black Book earlier to all families on our parish registry, both active and inactive. Lent is an opportunity to grow, not merely in the knowledge of our faith, but to grow in its depth and spirituality. We can know our faith and defend it very well. But it must go on from there—to love it, and to love its purpose, which is to unite us to our God, to help us appreciate all that He has done for us, and to know that God wants to be in communion with us all of the time. God loves us with a love beyond our imagination and comprehension. And we can share in that love as we take the time to let us know the real depth of His love, and what it can do for us. Please take the time to pray more, not as a penance, but as an opportunity to feel God’s presence and goodness in our lives, our souls. Do good works, so that you can experience God working through you, and healing others. Make fasting an opportunity to show that you can make the right choices, choose the higher road, feel good about yourself as you let God help you and bless you. Lent is a time for us to grow in love, and to experience God’s love for us. If that will be our attitude, we will show also our effort to grow in the love of God, and allow Him to increase in us His grace. Please do not let it fly past, and at the end, say “Thank God it’s over”. .
Stations of the Cross and Benediction will be on Fridays (except Good Friday) and Mass on Wednesdays both at 5:30 P.M. during Lent. Please make the effort to come and experience God’s love for you, and His Blessing in the Benediction Service.
Announcement for Parents: Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 6th. PSR will be collecting dry goods for the Food Pantry as a Lenten service project. The 8th grade will be heading up this project and will be responsible for collecting and assigning items to each grade. The food pantry is in need of paper towels, tooth paste & brushes, dish soap, face soap, toilet paper, lotion, shampoo, etc. PSR will be collecting these items during the six weeks of Lent. Thank you for your help.
REMINDER The 2nd grade students will be receiving First Reconciliation on February 7th, 2008 at 7 PM in the church.
Mark your Calendar: There will be NO PSR on February 17th-President's Day weekend.
News IN OUR PARISH
ANNUAL LENTEN SPEAKER & SOUP SUPPER SERIES will begin on Monday, February 11th with Msgr. William Hitpas as the speaker. His topic will be "How to Make Lent Meaningful." On Monday, February 18th Msgr. Carl Scherrer will speak on "Forgiveness and the Sacrament of Reconciliation." and the third and final session will feature Fr. Elmar Mauer, OMI, whose talk is entitled "Alleluia People." We are fortunate to have three outstanding speakers. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend these sessions. Soup, bread, cookies and drinks will be served at 6:30 PM each evening in the parish center. The speakers will begin at 7:00 PM. See you there!
THANK YOU to Scott Anderson, Robert Bechtoldt, Henry Bechtoldt, Ben Mueller and Martin Mueller, who went on retreat at King House. It was a wonderful experience to visit with God. BAPTISMAL CLASS a requirement for all parents wishing to have their child baptized. First time parents or anyone who wishes to have their child baptized and it's been two years since attending the class. Class will be held on Sunday, February 3rd from 2 to 3:30 PM in our parish center. No registration required, you will sign in when you arrive. HCCCW The bi-monthly quilt raffle tickets went out this past week. We want to thank you for your past support of this project and hope you will continue your support by purchasing or selling the raffle tickets. All proceeds go to support the needs of our church, altar breads, wine, cleaning and care of the altar linens and much more. Additional tickets are available at all entrances of church or at the rectory. Please drop sold tickets in the collection baskets or send to the rectory. Also please return any unsold tickets. First drawing will be held at our March 11th meeting. If you have any questions please contact Lorraine Wuebbels at 566-4126 or Pat Fletcher at 566-9570.
HCCCW monthly meeting March 12th at 7:00 PM, 75th Birthday Party for Father to follow. In the parish center.
"CARING FOR CHRIS" Chris Berry, a parishioner and former student of Holy Childhood School, as well as former member of the youth group is serving in Iraq. The youth group is sponsoring a "Caring for Chris" campaign for Chris and his fellow soldiers. There will be boxes at the exits of each door if you would like to make a donation for this cause. If you would like to make a financial contribution to help offset the cost of shipping and handling please use an envelope marked "Attention CYO" or "Caring for Chris" and place in collection basket or contact one of the youth ministers. This campaign will run from January 19th to February 18th. Requested items: AT & T cards (the only ones they can use), Wet Wipes, tooth brushes, hand cream, antibacterial soaps/hand sanitizer, candy (gum, M&M's, snacks, hard candy, etc.)
MARK YOUR CALENDARS The Knights of Columbus will be serving breakfast on February 10th in the school cafeteria from 7 AM to Noon.
ATTENTION ST. VINCENT de PAUL MEMBERS There will NOT be a meeting in February. The next meeting will be Tuesday, March 4th at 1:30 PM in the parish center.
AN INVITATION Recently a number of families in the parish have been getting together to pray the rosary. This usually takes about twenty minutes and then we have some snacks while the children play. It's been good for the children as well as the adults. We would love to have more families join us. (We have "cheat sheets" with the prayers and can share some of our extra rosaries.) To find out more about where we will be meeting next and when, e-mail Tiffany Wright at: tiff_wright75@yahoo.com.
EUCHARISTIC ADORATION "Could you not then watch one hour with me?"
"Along with the sacraments, personal prayer is essential if we are to experience God's mercy. True prayer is the dialogue of a trusting soul with the God of mercy. Whether we are conversing our sins in prayer, or giving praise or thanks to God, authentic prayer always springs from our trust in the merciful love of God. It opens us to receive more and more of His love." (The Divine Mercy Message and Devotion, Fr. Serap
Join your fellow parishioners in prayers at Eucharistic Adoration every Tuesday after the 8 AM Mass until 7 PM, and on Saturday from 9 to 10 AM. Come for any amount of time you would like to share with our Lord Contact Mary Ellen Mueller at 566-9529 if you can commit to a specific hour.
Mass Intentions
Tuesday, February 5, 8:00 AM Brad & Erwin Kehrer
Ash Wednesday, February 6, 8:00 AM People of the parish 7:00 PM People of the parish
Thursday, February 7, 8:00 AM Norbert Friederich
Friday, February 8, 8:00 AM 1. Special Intention Schroeder Family 2. Frank & Agnes Rothluebbers
Saturday, February 9, 5:30 PM People of the Parish
Sunday, February 10, 8:00 AM People of the parish 10:30 AM Jessica & Kelli Uhl
TITHE FOR JANUARY 27, 2008
THIS COMING WEEK
MONDAY, February 4, 7:30 PM Athletic cmt.-hcs
Tuesday, February 5, 8:00 AM Mass followed by Adoration until 7:00 PM 9:00 AM & 6:30 PM Quilting 6:30 PM-HOPE-hcs 7:00 PM-Liturgy mtg.-rectory
Wednesday, February 6, 8:00 AM Mass 7:00 PM Mass
THURSDAY, February 7, 8:00 AM Mass 9:00 AM Quilting 7:00 PM First Reconciliation-church with reception following in parish center
FRIDAY, February 8, 8:00 AM Mass 5:30 PM Stations of the cross
SATURDAY, February 9, 9:00 AM Adoration 4:30 PM Confessions 5:30 PM Mass
SUNDAY, February 10, 7:00 AM-noon K of C Breakfast-hcs cafeteria 8:00 &10:30 AM Masses 9:00 AM PSR-hcs 10:00 AM-7:00 PM Pre Cana-pc
HOLY CHILDHOOD SCHOOL
WEB SITE:
holychildhoodschool.com
With Ash Wednesday just days away the Christian world prepares to begin its annual observance of Lent, forty days of reflection on the distance we’ve placed between ourselves and God. The story below of a little boy's struggle should encourage us in our efforts to live spiritually simpler lives.
“A teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the Bible, Psalm 23. She gave her students one month to learn the text. Little Rickie was excited but couldn’t seem to get it right. After many weeks of practice he could barely get past the first line without stumbling. On the day he was scheduled to recite Psalm 23 before the class and parents, Rickie was terrified, nervous beyond belief! But something marvelous happened when his turn came, for he stepped up to the microphone and announced proudly,” The Lord is my Shepherd, and that’s all I need to know.”
Yes, if we know and live that, that is all we need to know!
Deacon Ron Karcher Principal – Holy Childhood School
Preschool – Jim Rushing continues to refinish the classroom and Mrs. Judy Schneider is studying curriculums and making plans for the coming Preschool. Thanks to those who have returned the surveys. We will report in the near future of the final decision on what times preschool will be offered. We now have a kitchen set, found a teachers desk and chair. We are looking for a file cabinet at this time.
Gift Certificates – Scrips - We now stock Lowes in $25 and $100 gift cards. We can also special order $500 and $1000 gift certificates. We also carry Tom’s Supermarket and Shop n Save along with Sams/Walmart and many, many other cards. Stop in the school office or send in an order with the money to the school office.
Announcing Holy Childhood's Pre-school! Our 1/2 day preschool will be offered to 4 year olds on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays and 3 year olds on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Holy Childhood parishioner, Mrs. Judy Schneider, will be the director. (We will be accepting applications for aides February 11th.) The funding for our preschool comes from the Dinner Auction, Annual Fund Drive and our Before and After Care program. Open House will be March 11th at 7 PM. Mark your calendars!
FEBRUARY CALENDAR
2/6 7 PM Ash Wednesday Mass Luke 18 meeting following-yr
TICKETS AVAILABLE Bishop Braxton has been contacted by Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York who graciously offered our diocese thirty (30) tickets to The Holy Father's Pontifical Mass at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, April 20, 2008. Due to information requirements we have to know by February 11th if you are interested in attending. A lottery will be held on Tuesday, February 12 to determine who will receive the tickets (fifteen sets of two) and alternates. Those chosen will be contacted immediately to confirm their availability to make the trip. Please be advised that tickets are non-transferable and can be used only by the individuals for whom they are issued.
National collection for Black and Indian Missions in the United States will be taken at all Masses next weekend. Because of the generosity of the people of this parish and parishes around the U.S., last year, over 9 million dollars were contributed to the Collection and -98 cents of every dollar was distributed. The support went to some of the neediest people across the United States; 134 dioceses received assistance from the collection. Please give what your are able. If we all give a little - a lot will be accomplished.
THE PASSION ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW Four Thursday evenings in Lent. February 7th, 14th, 21st, & 28th from 7 to 8:30 PM at the Cathedral of St. Peter (Blessed Sacrament Chapel). You are invited to join Bishop Braxton for four Thursday evenings in Lent reflecting the Passion according to St. Matthew. Discover Matthew's unique vision of the Death of the Messiah. Gain new insights into the meaning and purpose of suffering. Enjoy highlights from Johann Sebastian Bach's splendid "St. Matthew Passion." The only text required is a copy of the New Testament. You may want to read Chapters 26, 27, and 28 in advance. But you MUST bring the text with you. If you can't attend all four sessions, you are welcome to come when you can. No registration required.
Are you living the beatitudes in today's gospel in your marriage? Learn how to live the way God wants you to in your marriage. The next Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend in this area is April 11th to 13th. To register or for more information call 888-889-9963 or go online to www.aweekendofdiscovery.org.
MESSENGER RENEWAL WEEKEND Where can you find out what is happening in the Diocese of Belleville, a neighboring parish or one across the state? Where can you find stories of faith from many areas of the diocese, across the nation or around the world? The Messenger, your local diocesan newspaper, brings news of events important in your parish, your diocese and the universal church. Please stay "connected" through a subscription to The Messenger. Annual subscriptions are $23 (less than a month of cable TV), and envelopes are provided in your packet.
ALTHOFF CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL incoming Freshman registration on February 25th, 26th and 28th. Schedule your appointment today, 618-235-1100.
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