Thursday, May 8, 2014

GIFT May Follow Up Email

May GIFT Follow Up Email


Thank you for attending our May GIFT Gatherings: Acting in Justice: Peace. If you were not able to attend the GIFT sessions this month, please click the link here  to download the PowerPoint presentation from the event. We are beginning a long-range planning process – this process will begin with our
PARISH CONVOCATION ON MAY 18TH FROM 11:30-4:00 PM please mark this date on your calendars and plan to attend. We will be offering child care for those who need it – contact Liz at aff@stmatthiasparish.org to sign up. The process will examine seven areas of parish life – everyone will be asked to participate in the areas that are of interest to them. Even if you are new to the parish, we want your input! Watch the bulletin and parish bulletin boards for more information!

In order to plan for the June Evaluation gatherings (Sunday, June 1st from 11:30-1:30 pm and Wednesday, June 4th from 6-8 pm), we ask that you complete the survey found by clicking here. (survey is in google docs – you should not need to sign in to complete this, but please let me know if you have trouble with it).

At this month’s gatherings, the Catechists led the K-4th grade children through the Faith in Action chapter for Solidarity of the Human Family in their books. Please work through the remaining Faith in Action pages. The website for the text is http://calltofaith.osv.com.

The 5-8th graders talked about the Catholic Social Teaching of Solidarity. We begin the session with an activity called “The Human Knot” in which we stood in a circle, left hands grasped a person across from us, right hands grasped another person (so that we were all tangled up!) then tried to untangle ourselves – we had to work together to suggest ways to do this – all without letting go of hands! This illustrates our interconnectedness and how we depend on one another for everything in our lives. We continued by talking about bullying at our schools. Some schools seem to be doing a better job at anti-bullying campaigns than others. Some kids have not experienced bullying and don’t think it’s an issue at all, while others are quite troubled by it. Some feel that if they “tell” they will only make the situation worse. I shared a story about being bullied when I was in 6th grade and how my mom was able to help diffuse the situation through her use of humor! Ask me about it – it’s quite a funny story!

Other Resources:

Pinterest –
Mary Ideas  http://www.pinterest.com/smff2013/mary/ (including our Living Rosary)
Vibrant Faith @ Homewww.vibrantfaithathome.org
This is a great resource – even has a iPhone app – which offers short 5-10 minute long activities that families can do at home to explore or teach faith topics.
Sabrina’s Blog – Do you children ever ask you faith related questions that you are just not sure how to answer? Or do really cool things related to their faith that you want to share with the community? If so, follow the blog http://faqsfaithandquestiosn.blogspot.com


Announcements:
·         Thank you for your donations to the CRS Rice Bowls! We collected $257.50 a very generous donation!
·         We are still collecting things that we’ll take with us to Ecuador. See the blue bin – collection box in the Hall for a list of what we are collecting.
·         A Living Rosary will be on Saturday, May 17th at 11am in the Church.
·         High School Youth Ministry (HSYM) will meet Sunday, May 18th  from 5-7pm downtown RWC. Email me for more information: cff@stmatthiasparish.org
·         Middle School Youth Ministry (MSYM) will meet Wednesday, May 14th from 6-8pm at St. Matthias for a potluck dinner followed by a scavenger hunt. We will be celebrating the Feast of St. Matthias! All 5-8th graders are welcome to attend.
·         Parish Convocation will be on May 18th from 11:30-4:00 pm. See above for more information.




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