Holy Childhood of Jesus Catholic Church
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Holy Childhood of Jesus Catholic Church
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February 17, 2008
FATHER'S TWO-CENTS WORTH
This week-end, the CYO has been conducting a LUKE 18 program for our 7th and 8th grade students. It is a week-end retreat, encouraging our grade school students to enter into a deeper relationship with their God, with Jesus, with the Church, and the saints. It is a great opportunity for the participants to grow spiritually, and to become more alive in their faith commitment. Pray for the presenters and for the participants. All of them are the future of our parish and our church, and need our spiritual support.
Many thanks to the team that presented the Pre-Cana Program for those who are going to get married this year from our parish, and from other parishes. They always do a great job, and I believe that they did an especially superb job this year. The team admits that they get more out of the day for themselves and their marriages than the participants and really enjoy the opportunity. We are building the family of God.
Today is Commitment Sunday for the Catholic Services and Ministry Appeal. If you did not make your pledge today, please do so as soon as possible. Please be generous, since you will be helping people in our own parish, as well as throughout the diocese. You will be helping the various agencies and ministries supported by this appeal to reach numerous people in need of their services. Please make a pledge that is a monthly gift and commitment to the Church.
Due to the weather this past Monday, the Soup Supper featuring Msgr. Hitpas was canceled, and is now rescheduled for Monday, March 3rd. This Monday, Feb. l8th, will feature Msgr. Carl Scherrer, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Columbia. Please come, learn, deepen your faith, and grow in the love of God and neighbor.
Our Blood Drive for Spring is scheduled for March 6th. Again, this drive, as all drives, is very important for the health and safety of those who are in a serious condition. The blood that the Red Cross collects supplies St. Elizabeth Hospital in Belleville, as well as the major trauma centers in St. Louis, Barnes and St. Louis University Hospitals, and many other hospitals. If you can give blood, please, please, please come and donate. You are saving lives. You are helping our doctors do what they are called to do, and bringing people back to health and happiness. Mark your calendars now!
This year, we have no RCIA program because we did not have any persons interested in joining the Catholic Church. Many of our church organizations want to recruit new members to fill in the ranks of those moving on in age, and out. We all need to reach out and invite new members into our church. We do that by word of mouth, that comes only after we have sold them by our lives that the Catholic faith is viable, uplifting, caring and happy. We demonstrate our faith in action in such a way that others become interested, or at least open to it. When was the last time you invited someone to come to our church for services? When was the last time we even talked to someone who is not Catholic, about our Catholic faith? I ask you to wake up to our calling to be Christ-like, to spread the good news of our faith, and to help our parish -- your parish -- to receive new members in the RCIA next year. Our actions show the vitality of our faith.
Announcement for Parents 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.
Mark your Calendar: There will be NO PSR on February 17th-President's Day weekend.
News IN OUR PARISH
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT On Monday evening, February 18th, Msgr. Carl Scherrer will be here at Holy Childhood as the keynote speaker for our Soup and Speakers Series. His topic will be "Forgiveness and the Sacrament of Reconciliation." Soup will be served at 6:30 PM and the presentation will begin at 7:00 PM. Following the presentation we will celebrate Msgr. Hartlein's 75th Birthday! Everyone is welcome to come and enjoy the party!
IMPORTANT! ANY changes to your household: address, phone, marital status. PLEASE do not forget to inform the rectory office. You can call, 566-2958, drop a note in the mail or collection basket, email the information, holychildhoodchurch@cbnstl.com - whatever is the most convenient, but we need to know. Thank you.
From the Pastor's Desk… This weekend our parish, along with all other parishes in the diocese, will conduct our Catholic Service & Ministry Appeal. The CSMA provides a convenient way for all of us, no matter what our time limitations, to take an active role in the mission of our diocesan church. As a guide to a proportionate gift, please consider pledging a percent of your income, or the pay for one or two hours of work for ten months. You can turn in your pledge card this week-end or next, or return it to the parish office.
Vatican International Exhibit of Eucharistic Miracles In His Mercy, God has shown us the flesh and blood of Jesus through Eucharistic miracles. Come see 126 Vatican authenticated miracles of the world. This walk-through exhibit will be available for viewing here at Holy Childhood on Saturday, March 8th from 2-7 PM and Sunday from 8 AM to 1 PM. Volunteers are needed to help set-up, take-down, and to stay with the exhibit during public viewing times. If interested please contact Susan Anderson at 746-4775.
BOOK CLUB Join us on Tuesday, Feb. 19th at 7 PM in the parish center youth room as we discuss, A Philadelphia Catholic in King James's Court by Martin De Porres Kennedy. After the tragic death of his father, Michael O'Shea travels from his native Philadelphia to rural Kentucky for the summer. In this land of tobacco farming bluegrass music and devout fundamentalist Christianity, he is compelled to explain and justify the Catholic faith. His only defense...the Bible.
AN INVITATION TO PRAYER 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, email Tiffany Wright at tiff_wright75@yahoo.com.
ATTENTION FRESHMEN & SOPHOMORES coming up March 8-9, there will be a Quest experience held at St. Dominic parish in Breese, IL. For more information/application contact Ron Hulliung or Kathy Renth.
THANK YOU! Holy Childhood's Knights of Columbus would like to thank all who came to last week's pancake breakfast. Your support allows us to continue in our upkeep and refurbishing of Holy Childhood's Cemetery.
Calling all men! The 2008 Catholic Men for Christ conference for the Archdiocese of St. Louis will take place on Saturday, March 15th and will feature dynamic speakers, including Richard Lane and Deacon Alex Jones. The church has chartered a bus to go to and from the conference. The conference is open to all men high school aged and older, and if fathers bring their sons, the sons get in free! Please, register by February 20th by contacting Bill Huff, 566-4357, George Harne, 566-9362, or Tom Norrenberns, 566-8531. For more details, you can also visit www.catholicmenforchrist.com.
EUCHARISTIC ADORATION "Could you not then watch one hour with me?"
"...Through the passion and death of Jesus an infinite ocean of mercy was made available for all of us. But God, who created us free, will not force anything on us, not even His mercy. He must wait for us to turn our sinfulness and ask: "Ask and it will be given to you...for everyone who asks receives." (Mt 7:7,8)
Pope John Paul II echoed this scriptural message with a new urgency for our own times: 'At no time...especially at a moment as critical as our own - can the church forget the prayer that is a cry for the mercy of God...the church has the right and the duty to appeal to the God of mercy with loud cries. (Rich in Mercy)
Jesus told St. Faustina "souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight Me...to such souls I grant even more graces than they ask." (Diary of St. Faustina)
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 19, 8:00 AM Louis Rolves
Wednesday, February 20, 8:00 AM Christ Dukart 5:30 PM People of the parish
Thursday, February 21, 8:00 AM Jacob Pruett
Friday, February 22, 8:00 AM People of the parish
Saturday, February 23, 5:30 PM Living & deceased members of the Oscar Wilhelm Family
Sunday, February 24, 8:00 AM Tom Moll 10:30 AM People of the parish
TITHE FOR February 10, 2008
THIS COMING WEEK
MONDAY, February 18, President's Day School out Rectory closed 6:00 PM Soup & Speaker Series-pc
Tuesday, February 19, 8:00 AM Mass followed by Adoration until 7:00 PM 9:00 AM Quilting 7:00 PM Welcome Committee-pc
Wednesday, February 20, 8:00 AM Mass 5:30 PM Mass 7:30 PM Choir 7:30 PM Finance meeting-rectory
THURSDAY, February 21, 8:00 AM Mass 9:00 AM Quilting 7:00 PM HC School board-hcs
FRIDAY, February 22, 8:00 AM Mass 5:30 PM Stations of the cross
SATURDAY, February 23, 9:00 AM Adoration 4:30 PM Confessions 5:30 PM Mass 6:45 PM Ford Baptism
SUNDAY, February 24, Shepherd Sunday 8:00 & 10:30 AM Masses 9:00 AM PSR-hcs
HOLY CHILDHOOD SCHOOL
WEB SITE:
holychildhoodschool.com
The Athletes who compete in extreme sports risk it all - even their lives. Extreme surfboarding. Extreme rock climbing. Extreme in-line skating. Extreme BMX (bicycle motocross). All these risky sports and several others besides have grown in popularity over the past decade. Those who participate in ultimate sports are prepared to pay the ultimate price - at least , they think they are. They do it, in most cases, for little more than the experience, the adrenaline rush, or the "bragging rights" attached to their sport.
The extreme love our Lord Jesus showed each of us as he died for us and rose again from death. Think about it! Jesus risked it all! In fact, he gave his all - even to the point of laying down his life on Calvary's cross.
Why did he do this? For us! His holy life and horrific death demonstrated his extreme love toward us in our extreme need. Every Christian might well frame every page of all four gospels in his or her Bible with the words: For me! For me! For Me!
Such is the extreme love of our Savior-God!
Love like that changes people! Love like that brings life - new life, eternal life - to human beings who struggle in sin, living apart from God, spiritually blind and dead (Ephesians 2:1). Love like that continues to work with life-changing power in the lives of those in whom the Holy Spirit has already worked a true and living faith. That love brings meaning and hope into our lives.
Deacon Ron Karcher Principal
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
February 27 7 - 8:30 Meeting
SHRINE HOSTS WORKSHOP for food pantry volunteers or those who have chosen to minister to the poor in other capacities. This workshop will be held Tuesday, February 19, 9 AM-3 PM at the Edwin J. Guild Center. Cost is $5 (lunch not included). For more information or to register, contact the Pastoral Department at 618-397-6700 ext. 6272.
THE PASSION ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW February 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.
National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows 2008 Roundtable Series, February 26th from 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM. "Consumer's Guide to Preaching: 10 Essential Tips for Every Hearer of the Word", Presenter: Fr. Greg Heille, O.P. 10 tips on how to get more out of a homily. Cost $20 (lunch included). Call 618-394-6272 for more information or to register.
St. Elizabeth's Hospital announces the addition of a Behavioral Healthcare Evaluation Center to its many services available to the community. The office is located on the main floor of the hospital in room 2300 and is open from 1-9 PM Monday through Friday. Anyone suffering from depression, anxiety, thoughts of suicide, alcohol or drugs can be evaluated by a counselor at the Center. To schedule a free evaluation call 618-234-2120. ext. 1555. This line is answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All calls are confidential.
Deacon Formation Informational Meeting A second meeting will be held on Saturday, March 1st for those interested in learning more about becoming a deacon. The gathering will be held at 10 AM in Building 6 of the pastoral center, 2620 Lebanon Ave. in Belleville. Those with a serious interest in the diaconate should attend this important meeting. For more information contact Patti Warner 235-9601 or email pwarner@diobelle.org.
World Marriage Day Let Jesus transform your marriage to be the Sacrament you are called to be by God. The next Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend in this area on April 11th to 13th. To register or for more information call 888-889-9963 or go online to www.aweekendofdiscovery.org.
Please consider the Meredith Memorial Home, a diocesan owned retirement community, located at 16 S Illinois St. Belleville, IL. For tours of the facility call 618-233-8780.
ALTHOFF CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL incoming Freshman registration on February 25th, 26th and 28th. Schedule your appointment today, 618-235-1100.
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