|
Religious Education |
|
|
Saint James Parish Goal
To deepen our own faith in Jesus Christ
in order to bring it to and share it with others. |
|
|
|
|
|
CCD REGISTRATION |
|
If your child is new or has not attended CCD at
St. James in the past and intends to do so this
September, please contact Sr. Zoe Ann as soon as
possible to register. Thank you! |
|
|
|
CCD CATECHISTS’ IN-SERVICE |
|
All CCD catechists in Lawrence County will
gather on Catechetical Sunday, September 19
for an in-service at the Villa. The topic will
be Experiences of Prayer, including the
labyrinth. Jim Merhaut will facilitate the day
from 2:00 to 6:00 which will include dinner.
The children will come for the first CCD session
on the following Sunday, September 26. |
|
|
|
THANK YOU |
 Kudos
to the many, many adults and teen helpers who
came each during Vacation Bible School to help
the children learn about the Bible and grow in
their love for Jesus. We appreciate all the
parishioners who brought in delicious snacks for
our VBS and those who came to help serve the
refreshments to our hungry cadet astronauts.
Special thanks also to the two catechists, Susan
Fette and Tammy Zehner for their hours and hours
of preparation and to the CWO for supporting us
financially so that we could provide the many
crafts, books and materials needed for a week of
learning and fun for the children. And a big
thanks to Sr. Jeanne Thurin and Frank Romeo at
the Villa for their informative presentation on
bees, to Carol Hidock and McDonald’s for
providing all the beverages for VBS and the
Men’s Group for the strawberries and ice cream
for our party on Friday! It takes many generous
people to make VBS happen and we are grateful
for each of them |
|
|
|
Vacation Bible School |
|
We had a wonderful week on our outer space
Galactic Blast during Vacation Bible School!
Each day we walked through the door into Bible
Land, the Good News Galaxy, and heard the Word
of God spoken to us. Our 2010 theme was based
on Psalm 150:6, “Let everything that breathes
praise God!” See the display of crafts and
projects in the narthex showing the children’s
activities during the week. During our skits we
especially enjoyed meeting Galileo, the green
gorilla who gave us lots of “green tips” for the
environment and we had lots of fun on our field
trip to the Villa, singing our favorite VBS
songs, designing our crafts and art projects,
sharing our snacks and making new friends.
Thanks to the 36 children who participated and
the families for their support! |
|
|
|
FIRST COMMUNION |
We celebrated First Communion on Sunday, May 2
at the 10:45 Mass with ten young children. On
Saturday the day before, the children and their
parents gathered in the Social Hall for a
retreat day and baked the bread for their
special liturgy. Please continue to pray for
the children and their families who have joined
us to eat and drink at the Table of the Lord and
be nourished with the Body and Blood of
Christ.
Alexandria Anderson, Kara Bobosky, Bryce
Endrizzi, Emilia Labbiento, Blake Lahr, Ryan
Popovich, Dominic Summers, Amanda Trinckes, and
Adam Zehner. |
|
|
|
NEWLY INITIATED |
|
Our two new Catholics DAWN GAGLIANO and EMILY
McANALLEN are now in the final stage of their
process of full initiation into the Catholic
Church. During this period of the MYSTAGOGIA
which lasts from Easter to Pentecost, they will
be reflecting on the Easter sacraments that they
just celebrated – Confirmation and Eucharist, as
well as the renewal of their baptismal
promises. The word ‘mystagogy’ is a Greek word
that means mystery or sacrament. The neophytes
and the newly initiated continue to meet with
their sponsors on Thursday evenings to deepen
their understanding and appreciation of the
great mystery of Easter. May we as a parish
continue to welcome them, support them, and love
them during this time of Mystagogia. If you did
not yet pick up an address label to send a card
of welcome to our two newly initiated, you can
still do that. It’s never too late! Just
check the poster with their pictures in the
narthex. We are so happy they were chosen by
God to be initiated into our church! We
celebrate our kinship with them in Jesus
Christ! Alleluia! |
|
|
|
CCD |
|
At our final CCD session for this year the
children were given their textbooks and their
catechetical reports to take home for their
parents’ review. We appreciate all the children
who came to Mass to GIFT and to CCD so
faithfully each Sunday and the parents (and
grandparents!) who facilitated this. Although we
will miss having the children in CCD during the
summer, we look forward to seeing them and their
families at the liturgy each weekend and
worshipping with them at Mass. |
|
|
|
TEXTS |
|
If
your child was absent for the last CCD session,
please stop downstairs in the religious
education office to pick up their catechetical
report, papers and text book. We appreciate
your cooperation with this and helping us to
save on postage. |
|
|
|
GIFT = Growing In Faith Together |
|
We had two great GIFT sessions recently with
over 120 adults and children participating as we
focused on another line of the Apostle’s Creed –
We Believe in the Communion of Saints. We thank
all who planned and helped to make this session
so meaningful, especially the catechists, the
GIFT team, and the Pastoral Council for
preparing the delicious meal! Each of the
“saints” (who presented so dramatically at the
10 centers!) dressed in costume and told the
story of their life as a saint, encouraging us
to model our lives on the same virtues that they
lived. Anyone not at the GIFT session who would
like a take-home kit can contact Mary Ann Moats
or Sr. Zoe Ann. This was our last GIFT session
for this year. We now look forward to next year
when we will focus our three GIFT sessions on
Morality with a promise of more exciting parish
adventures in intergenerational learning.
|
|
|
|
THANK YOU |
|
 We
are grateful to all the CCD children and their
families who donated $120 for the
children in Haiti who are suffering from the
effects of the earthquake. In addition, Grace
McGinnis (with the help of her sister
Anna) and her Girl Scout Troop participated
in a "Kids 2 Kids 4 Haiti" fundraiser which
brought in over $160. Grace in 4th grade
CCD and Anna in 1st grade CCD are the daughters
of Connie and Bob McGinnis. We thank them for
their heartfelt outreach and generosity. The
money collected was sent to Sr. Judy Dohner and
Sr. Kathy Limber in Haiti. These two Sisters of
the Humility of Mary from the Villa are working
as nurses at St. Damien Children's Hospital in
Port-au-Prince helping injured children, many of
whom are now orphaned. Please continue to pray
for the Sisters and the afflicted Haitians as
they continue struggling to recuperate and cope
with this tragedy. |
|
|
|
VIDEOS
|
 You
may have noticed the rack in the narthex with
many videos on it. Check it out and see if
there are any that you and your family might
want to see. Feel free to take home any
videos. When you are finished, you may keep the
videos, pass them on to someone else or you may
return them. Happy Viewing! |
|
|
|
NEW in CCD |
|
This year we welcomed some families who are new
to our CCD:
Alex
(gr. 6) son of Angel and Brian Derrick
Bryce
(First Communion group) son of Charlene and
George Endrizzi
Kendra
(gr. 5) daughter of Jessica and Josef Kneisl
John Frank
(gr. 1) son of Maria and John Ostapowicz
Ryan
(First Communion group) and Logan (gr. K)
sons of Robin and John Popovich
Sydnee Ward
(gr. 1) granddaughter of Margaret and Tom Zets
In addition, we welcomed some children to our
preschool who have siblings in our CCD:
Maddalena,
daughter of Karen and Ralph (Bo) DiMuccio and a
sister to Claire (gr. 5) and Katie & Claudia
(gr. 1)
Deanna,
daughter of Debra and Mark Novak and a sister to
Jolene (gr. 5) |
|
|
|
CCD ATTENDANCE |
 We
ask parents to be sure their children are
present for CCD by 9:00 on Sunday so we can
begin on time. If your child is going to be
absent, call the catechist or the DRE to
report this. Also, please do not bring your
children before 8:50 or until there is an
adult volunteer present in the classroom. We
also ask that parents pick up their children
at 10:30 each Sunday. The catechists often
go to the 10:45 Mass and cannot stay with the
children beyond that time and still get to Mass
on time. We ask that the parents come to the
rooms to pick up the children, especially
those in preschool through grade 4. This gives
the catechists a chance to greet you and it also
helps with safety on the parking lot. We are
grateful for the opportunity to help parents
with the faith formation of their children. For
this end, it is essential that all children
attending CCD also be participating in Mass
each weekend. Thanks for your continued
cooperation. |
|
|
|
GUESTS and VISITORS to our CCD |
|
Children often like to bring a friend with them
to CCD. We encourage this practice and hope
that the visiting children will feel welcome as
guests at our religious education sessions. To
ensure the safety of all children, we must
have an emergency medical form completed and
a permission slip signed by the parent
of the visiting child. Please pick up a
copy of the blue visitor’s form from the child’s
catechist or from the DRE’s office or from the
table in the downstairs hall. Thank you for
your cooperation with this. |
|
|
|
CCD
CALENDAR |
 Parents
are asked to stop in the downstairs religious
education office to pick up a copy of this
year’s emergency medical form (only one form per
family), a registration form for the October
GIFT sessions, and a copy of the CCD calendar,
if they have not yet done so. Thank you for
your cooperation. |
|
|
|
PICTURES NEEDED |
 In addition to completing a CCD
emergency/medical form,
families are asked to bring a picture of each
child (e.g., a school picture) to Sr. Zoe
Ann as soon as possible. We want to update our
downstairs bulletin board with the pictures of
all the children in the parish. |
|
|
|
LIST
OF CATECHISTS FOR 2009 |
|
Preschool - Susan Fette
Kindergarten - Susan Sallmen
Grade 1 - Vicki Tekac
Grade 2 - Lesley Herman
Grade 3 - Marleen Sikora
Grade 4 - Mike Deemer
Grade 5 -
Lisa Norden
Grade 6 – Roxanne Romeo
Grade 7 - Michele LoGalbo
Grade 8 - Mary Ann Moats
Confirmation - Mary Ann Buly
ROCKS (gr 9-12) Leader – Kathy Perry, Dawn and
Lonnie McFall
Director of Religious Education (DRE): Sr.Zoe Ann
Reiter, HM
DRE’s Office:724-964-8276 ext.15
|
|
RCIA |
If you know of someone who may be interested in
learning more about becoming Catholic, please
contact any member of the RCIA Team or Sister
Zoe Ann by calling the parish office.
|
|
NEW ADULT CATECHISM |
|
If you ordered a copy of the new United States
Catholic Catechism for Adults, please contact
Sr. Zoe Ann about picking it up. If you forgot
to order one and still want to make a purchase,
there are a few extra copies for the discounted
price of $16. Checks can be made payable to St.
James. On the table in the narthex is a free
“Catholic Update” summarizing the new
catechism. |
| |
| WOULD
YOU LIKE TO READ THE BIBLE ONLINE? |
|
Would you like to read
the Bible online? Go to
www.usccb.org
and click on Bible, then click on Matthew, and
then on the chapter of Matthew’s Gospel that you
want to read. You will find the text for the New
American Bible including footnotes. Check it
out! Read a chapter a day online! |
|
|
