Welcome to a new year of Religious Education at St. Mary's Parish.  We are excited to begin this new year with some of our grades in our new St. Mary's School.

Catechists and aids - please plan to attend the meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the new school.  We will meet in the cafeteria.

We will go over schedules, dismissal, curriculum, and we will have a change to tour.  Most importantly we can spend time reflecting and praying together for another successful year.

See you tonight!

Anita

Father,
We thank you for the opportunity
to begin this new school year,
and we ask that you bless
the students, faculty, and student families
that make our school a great place.
We pray that you will guide us in all ways,
so that we will seek your will
in everything that we do.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Rev. Anthony Gittins, CSSp talks on the Urgency of Discipleship and Evangelization. In his talk, Fr. Gittins makes some excellent points about evangelization. First, he identifies 4 requirements for evangelization:

• Proclamation
• Witness (which he says is “proclamation with our mouths shut!” – I love it!)
• Dialogue (with an emphasis on listening)
• Liberation

He also went on to explain that our evangelization must imitate Jesus’ approach which he said can be characterized by the following:

• ENCOUNTER – Jesus didn’t just talk at people from a distance. He encountered them. Jesus didn’t love “the poor.” Jesus encountered people who were poor and loved them.
• TABLE FELLOWSHIP – Jesus practised a radical inclusion that was scandalous to many because table fellowship puts everyone at the same level.
• FOOT WASHING – Whereas table fellowship places all of our heads at the same level, foot washing lowers our head beneath that of those we serve.
• CROSSING BOUNDARIES – Jesus ventured beyond the established boundaries (e.g. into Samaritan territory) to minister to people unlike himself. We need to minister to people who are not like ourselves.

Very inspiring thoughts! Thanks Fr. Gittins!

5th week of Lent

Activities of the Week
5th Sunday of Lent - Week of March 25, 2012

Choose one of the following activities as a way to further reflect on the Sunday readings:

• Plant flower seeds in small pots, and decorate the pots with signs of new life. Water the seeds carefully. Watch the seeds grow with your family. Relate this mystery to the mystery of Jesus' death and resurrection.
• Talk about ways you are called upon today to "lose your life." In what ways are you reluctant or fearful? Pray for the courage you need to rise with new life.
• Select one station of the cross to pray each day. During family prayer, talk about what happened at that station and relate it to the difficulties family members face today.
• Put a cross in a place of honor in your home. Share with your family the simple story of Jesus' death and resurrection. If you have any small children, review the sign of the cross with them.

I got this information from osv.com, under parishes, then under lifelong catechesis page

Happy February!

Thanks for joining our blog!  Feel free to share pictures of your class here, ideas that you've used, ask questions, or anything pertaining to our Religious Ed. Program.

February is filled with several things you could add to your classtime.  Of course, we have St. Valentine that you could talk about.  There are several good sites that you can find information on.  Catholic.org has a Saint Index that you can find info on any saint.

Lent starts in February too.  Again, there are a ton of sites out there with creative ideas to share.  I like CatholicMom.com and OSV.com.  On OSV, you can go to OSV4me and find good articles on sacraments, saints, rosary, and other good articles.

Anita

Welcome

Welcome to the St. Mary's, Greensburg, blog for our Religious Education volunteers.  We will talk about this blog and it's purposes at our January 4, 2012 meeting.

In the meantime, you can subscribe, look around, and get familiar with blogging. 

Ask any Religious ed questions...share ideas....post pictures from your classes...

Merry Christmas!  See you in January!