Here's a bit of sad news...our Children's Liturgy of the Word will be discontinued after January 10th. This is when the small children at the 10am Mass would go into the cry room and would read a children's version of the bible stories we were reading in the church. They would then have a little discussion and activity to help them understand the Word of God on their level. However in recent years the attendance has dropped so low...even to no children at all...that we feel it best to discontinue it. It's a rather sad reality that in many churches, children are not being brought to Mass on a regular basis. We all know that Mass attendance by adults is down and of course that affects the children as well. As a parish, we need to continue our discussion as to what we might be able to do to encourage people to participate in this important part of faith. We have already begun that conversation in our parish but it needs to be a high priority since it deals with the most basic parts of faith: community, sacraments (especially the Eucharist), listening to the Word of God & the homily, and the worship of God who commands us to do these things so that we may respond to his loving invitation of friendship. Please pray that our efforts in this regard will be joined by God's grace so that we can do something--anything--to help our fellow believers come to appreciate the importance of living the faith they have been given.
My sincere thanks to all those who have sacrificed their time for the sake of this ministry to our children: Diane Toronski, Eileen Gabel, Betty Hinton & Jennifer Robinson. I know that the children who were present for some of their lessons will not forget these experiences.
Congratulations to the parents of Allegra Detwiler who is being baptized today. We pray that her parents may raise her in the practice of the faith that they profess in the name of their daughter today.
Our bulletin for next Sunday, December 27th, the feast of the Holy Family, will be available for our Christmas Liturgies this week (since there is no separate Christmas bulletin). We will have confessions on Monday, December 21 at 11am and on Tuesday, December 22 at 7pm. Our Christmas Mass schedule will be the same as in previous years & you can find that here in the bulletin. Now I have to get my Christmas shopping done...Michaela has a very long list...bones, treats, & stuffed animals she can destroy. Abby wants only one thing...for me to give away Michaela so she can be Queen of the household.