Good News for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

In St. Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is either eating a meal, planning a meal, serving a meal, dashing to or from a meal or telling some story about a meal. And in all this meal stuff, Jesus teaches us something about ourselves as Christians and as a Christian Community.

That’s just what happens in today’s gospel: “On a Sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees . . . and told a parable . . . [about] a wedding banquet.” (See what I mean!) And what did he teach? An important and timely (or is that timeless?) lesson. “Christian” is not a label, but an attitude. It is an attitude not only of openness, but of aggressive invitation to all who are unlabeled—the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind—those with an inability to pay back our kindness. And when the Christian Community convenes, don’t bother looking around for a place of rank; there aren’t any. All of the unlabeled, who have been invited in, stand around the Banquet Table in total equality.

OPENING DAYS for KidsRelig

KidsRelig will begin on Tuesday, September 28, Wednesday, September 29 and Thursday, September 30. The weekly schedule remains the same:

Tues. 2:45-3:45 (Bell)

3:45-4:45 (Westorchard)

Wed. 3:45-4:45 (Grafflin)

Thurs. 2:45-3:45 (Seven Bridges)

3:45-4:45 (Roaring Brook)

REGISTRATION for KidsRelig

Registration Emails have gone out to everyone who was with us last year and all those who have sent First Grader or First Timer emails to kidsrelig@optimum.net . Many have logged on to the Online Registration Form and submitted the very important data requested. (At this writing, over 160.) Of those, many have completed registration by mailing payment and the permission slip. I estimate that we should have an enrollment this year of approximately 490. That means, I haven’t heard from a lot of people.

If you have not received a Registration Email, contact me immediately at kidsrelig@optimum.net.

One or two email addresses in our Address Book have been reported as wrong or outdated. This may be the reason you did not receive a Registration Email. If that’s you, it’s very important that you email us with your new email address.

FIRST GRADERS AND FIRST-TIMERS

Before you do anything, email the following information to kidsrelig@optimum.net:

· Child’s Name

· Grade & School

· Parent(s)/Guardian(s) Name(s)

· Address &Phone

BUS INFORMATION EMAIL BLAST

A separate Email Blast will go out this week with bus information. (I was going to send separate emails, but time is of the essence.) It will be sent to all KidsRelig Families, but it only applies to those in Seven Bridges, Westorchard, Grafflin and Roaring Brook. Attached to the email will be a PDF form for bus registration. There will be fee information and an explanation of how to complete the bus registration process.

Remember the Religious Education page on the Parish Website: http://sjsmrcc.com/ .

Good News for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel, Jesus reminds us of two things—one with a frown and the other with a broad smile. He scolds us like a first grade teacher would scold a student for muscling his/her way to the front of the line, as if first place belonged to him/her. It’s not that we take our place in line, but that the line has a place for all of us. And Jesus smiles and says that the line is so long that there is enough room for people from east and west, north and south. And it's not the place we choose for ourselves, it's the place we are given.

As KidsRelig starts to fill up its registration for the coming year with new First Graders, First Timers and all our Old Timers, we are reminded by Jesus that in the Kingdom of God there are no "insiders." What makes the kingdom God's Kingdom is the invitation and welcome to all us "outsiders." And that's our first job at KidsRelig--to put out the "Welcome Mat."

OPENING DAYS for KidsRelig

KidsRelig will begin on Tuesday, September 28, Wednesday, September 29 and Thursday, September 30. The weekly schedule remains the same

Tues. 2:45-3:45 (Bell) 3:45-4:45 (Westorchard)

Wed. 3:45-4:45 (Grafflin)

Thurs. 2:45-3:45 (Seven Bridges) 3:45-4:45 (Roaring Brook)

REGISTRATION for KidsRelig

On the HomePage of the New Parish Website (http://sjsmrcc.com/), click on Religious Education in the links column on the left. This leads to a “Welcome! Letter” from KidsRelig and an explanation of the registration process for 2010-2011. The letter explains that First Graders and First-Timers in upper grades must begin the process by emailing the following information to kidsrelig@optimum.net:

· Child’s Name

· Grade & School

· Parent(s)/Guardian(s) Name(s)

· Address &Phone

REGISTRATION EMAILS

On Thursday, August 19, the first of the Registration Emails were sent to each KidsRelig Family with a child in Grades 2 thru 8, who was enrolled in KidsRelig last year. Registration Emails also began for Families with First Graders or First Timers, who have notified us by email that there is a new KidsRelig kid on the way. (That’s why those emails for First Graders or First Timers are so important. If we don’t know you’re coming and we don’t have you in our KidsRelig Address Book, you won’t receive a Registration Email.)

And what is a Registration Email? These emails include a link to the New Online Registration Form , fee information and an explanation of this year’s simplified registration process.

A separate email with bus information will be sent to KidsRelig Families in Seven Bridges, Westorchard, Grafflin and Roaring Brook within the next two weeks.

MORE LINKS on PARISH WEBSITE'S RELIGIOUS EDUCATION PAGE

In the links column for the Religious Education page, you will find links to Confirmation Information and Registration, CYO Registration and the KidsRelig Blog. This will soon be the home of other important links.

As I post this Blog, I have sent out approximately 150 Registration Emails, and many have already replied. Our enrollment spreadsheet is filling up with the names of our kids and all the needed data. Thanks so much for your cooperation.

Love,

Deacon Charlie

Good News for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel moment, a pregnant Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth, and the Church is born. For the first time, people of faith, who believe “that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled”, gather in the real presence of Jesus. And what happens? A hymn breaks out, praising God for his faithfulness to us.

If you want to know what the curriculum is at KidsRelig, read today’s gospel: Church is Eucharist, a thanksgiving for Jesus alive among us, who is proof and promise of the story of God’s faithfulness to us; tell the story and retell it, until everyone finds their own place in it and sings, “The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”

OPENING DAYS of KidsRelig

KidsRelig will begin on Tuesday, September 28, Wednesday, September 29 and Thursday, September 30. The weekly schedule remains the same:

Tues. 2:45-3:45 (Bell) 3:45-4:45 (Westorchard)

Wed. 3:45-4:45 (Grafflin)

Thurs. 2:45-3:45 (Seven Bridges) 3:45-4:45 (Roaring Brook)

REGISTRATION for KidsRelig

On the HomePage of the New Parish Website (http://sjsmrcc.com/), click on Religious Education in the links column on the left. This leads to a Welcome! Letter from KidsRelig and an explanation of the registration process for 2010-2011. The letter explains that First Graders and First-Timers in upper grades, must begin the process by emailing the following information to kidsrelig@optimum.net:

· Child’s Name

· Grade & School

· Parent(s)/Guardian(s) Name(s)

· Address &Phone

Then, Registration Emails will be sent to all KidsRelig Families, including First Graders and First Timers, later next week. These emails will include a link to the New Online Registration Form and fee information. (I promise; the new form is very simple—only a few boxes and a few clicks.)

A separate email with bus information will be sent to KidsRelig Families in Seven Bridges, Westorchard, Grafflin and Roaring Brook.

MORE LINKS on the RELIGIOUS EDUCATION PAGE

of the PARISH WEBSITE

In the links column for the Religious Education page, you will find links to Confirmation Information and Registration, CYO Registration and the KidsRelig Blog. This will soon be the home of other links, especially the KidsRelig Calendar.

Love,

Deacon Charlie

Good News for 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

With all the talk in this week’s gospel about getting ready, I’m almost wondering if the Lord isn’t leaning over my shoulder and nudging me, indeed, to get ready. I can feel him breathing down my neck, as I count all the kids from last year, move the 4^th to 5^th Graders to Bell or Seven Bridges, assign classes and classrooms, figure out which teachers are returning or retiring, finalize this year’s online registration form, bus registration and annual calendar. OK! OK! I hear you. We’re getting ready.

Then, something very interesting hits me about this week’s gospel. Hidden in all the “get ready” talk, Jesus twice slips in something about food. For those who are ready, the Master will invite them to “recline at table, and proceed to wait on them.” Again, Jesus says that his faithful servants are those who share with others “the food allowance at the proper time.”

As we get ready for KidsRelig, I, too, must slip in something about food, only because Jesus makes it clear that without this food we will never be ready. Try, as we should, with all the other stuff, nothing is more important than Sunday Mass. So, we will continue this year to make the connection between KidsRelig and Sunday Mass with the weekly Gospel Newsletter the kids get to bring home and our Gospel Time during each KidsRelig session. As a parish family of families, we have to keep trying to make that connection and follow the Lord’s command: “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

FIRST GRADE AND NEW KIDS REGISTRATION

For students entering First Grade or being enrolled in KidsRelig for the first time, please EMAIL the following information to kidsrelig@optimum.net

· Child’s Name

· School

· Grade

· Parent(s)/Guardian(s) Name(s)

· Phone Number

· Residence Address

KidsRelig Weekly Schedule Unchanged

Tuesday

2:45-3:45 BELL

3:45-4:45 WESTORCHARD

Wednesday

3:45-4:45 GRAFFLIN

Thursday

2:45-3:45 SEVEN BRIDGES

3:45-4:45 ROARING BROOK

New Parish Homepage and KidsRelig

Thanks to Rich Diefenbach, our Parish Homepage has been rebuilt. It’s got a great new look with more and more information we all need to know. The Homepage address is:

http://sjsmrcc.com/

The Religious Education (KidsRelig) Page is there and will soon be filled with all kinds of information for the next year: registration instructions, bus information, weekly schedule, annual calendar and more. An email blast will let you know when it is ready. As the old hymn says, “Soon and very soon.”

Love,

Deacon Charlie

BACK-TO-SCHOOL OUTREACH--August 7 & 8

A reminder about one of the most important Outreach Appeals of the year. This weekend August 7 & 8, is our Annual Back-to-School Outreach. As the 2010-11 school year fast approaches, there are so many families who need the basics in school supplies to get their kids started for the new year. These items are not only needed tools to do the job in the classroom, they are also boosters of self-esteem. We can help make sure that kids don't have to worry that their backpacks are empty or missing, and they don't have to explain away that embarrassment to anyone.

Here's what's needed:

thin & thick line markers & erasers

pencils and pencil pouches & loose leaf paper

3 and 5-subject notebooks & pocket folders

marble notebooks (different colors) & binders

plastic lunch bags & scissors

pens (black & blue) & colored pencils

inexpensive calculators & backpacks

crayons - regular & “fat” (for small hands) & glue sticks

tissues (large boxes) & index cards

small notepads (for homework assignments) & rulers

Please bring these items

to any of the Masses this weekend.

And thank you for your generosity!!!