TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

KidsRelig On-line Registrationat 35%

Please Register Now

&

Use the New Credit Card Payment Option.

*Go to Parish Website (www.sjsmrcc.com) *Click Religious Education--CCD tab on left

*Read letter on Religious Education Page

*Go to top of page and find two links to:

1. On-line Registration Form
2. Fees & Payment Options Page

It’s quick; it’s easy, and it’s a big help to us in forming classes, getting teachers in the classrooms, planning the year and setting up our classrooms.

2011-2012

KidsRelig Calendar

It’s here! Where? On the Religious Education Page of the Parish Website.

• Go to www.sjsmrcc.com
• Click Religious Education tab on the left
• Click KidsRelig Calendar link on the right

At the bottom of the Calendar, tab to the month you want. Go right to October, since . . .

FIRST DAY OF KIDSRELIG IS

OCTOBER 4^TH

All scheduled class days and times, “no class” days, holiday and recess days, the dates of First Penance and First Communion, Lenten Confessions and Stations of the Cross are on the calendar right now. As the year goes on, other events will be added, which will remain available for easy and quick access on the Parish Website.

This Week’s Gospel—A Non-Jewish Woman Asks Jesus to Cure Her Daughter (Mt 15.21-28)

Scandalizing—that’s what this week’s gospel is. And not because of the poor woman who wanted a few scraps like a dog. But because of Jesus, who wouldn’t even give her a few scraps. Why? Because all of us human beings build such high walls to divide ourselves from each other that not even God could breach them. (After all, the woman was a Canaanite, as foreign as the Sharks to the Jets in West Side Story.) But what does breach the divide? Faith! Even a scandalous God could be touched by faith and reach across the human divide with the release of a miracle.

Sounds so simple, but it is both a terrible and awesome story. We have the power to build divisions that can even keep out God. And the power to destroy them and let miracles happen. Terrible and awesome, and ours to believe or not.

Love,

Deacon Charlie

Poor Peter! Jesus seems a bit hard on him this week. Somebody ought to stick up for him. Why scold the guy for having little faith? Wasn’t Peter the first one to recognize Jesus? Sounds like faith! Wasn’t he the first to hear Jesus’ invitation to come? Sounds like faith! Wasn’t he the first to accept the invitation? Sounds like faith! And wasn’t he the first to give it a try? Sounds like faith! So, he slipped; what’s the big deal! Give him a break! And, of course, we know Jesus does—over and over again. But in his scold of Peter, Jesus reminds us that faith is simply keeping ourselves above the storm with our eyes on Jesus. Sounds easy, but it really isn’t. Of course, the alternative is no easier. Take your eyes off Jesus and get swallowed up by the storm. Ask Peter.

2011-2012

KidsRelig On-line Registration

25%

have already registered on-line and used the

NEW CREDIT CARD

PAYMENT OPTION.

For the rest of our KidsRelig families , please register as soon as possible. It’s quick; it’s easy, and it’s a big help to us to complete registration early. DEADLINE TO REGISTER: AUGUST 31ST

*Go to Parish Website (www.sjsmrcc.com) *Click Religious Education--CCD tab on left

*Read letter on Religious Education Page

*Go to top of page and find two links to:

1. On-line Registration Form
2. Fees & Payment Options Page

IMPORTANT!!!

First, go to On-line Registration Form; fill out & submit a separate form for each child registered. When all registration forms are submitted, go to Fees & Payment Options Page with 3 easy clicks:

1. Click the link to Parish Website (www.sjsmrcc.com) in Confirmation you get when you hit the “submit” button on Registration Form(s);

2. Click Religious Education—CCD on left of Parish Website homepage;

3. Click link to Fees & Payment Options Page at top of Religious Education Page.

Watch for the KidsRelig Calendar

The KidsRelig Calendar for 2011-2012 is just about ready for release. Watch your email inbox for the announcement. On its release date, it will include all scheduled class days, “no class” days, holiday and recess days, the dates of First Penance and First Communion, Lenten Confessions and Stations of the Cross. As the year goes on, other events will be added to the calendar, which will be available for easy, quick and continual access on the Parish Website.

Love,

Deacon Charlie

2011-2012 KidsRelig

On-line Registration &

Credit Card Payment Option

Registered already>>>>>>

For the rest of our KidsRelig famililes , please register as soon as possible. It’s quick; it’s easy, and it’s a big help to us to complete registration early.

DEADLINE TO REGISTER: AUGUST 31ST

*Go to Parish Website (www.sjsmrcc.com)

*Click Religious Education--CCD tab on left

*Read letter on Religious Education Page

*Go to top of page and find two links to:

1. On-line Registration Form
2. Fees & Payment Options Page

IMPORTANT!!!

First, go to On-line Registration Form; fill out & submit a separate form for each child registered. When all registration forms are submitted, go to Fees & Payment Options Page with 3 easy clicks:

1. Click the link to Parish Website (www.sjsmrcc.com) in Confirmation you get when you hit the “submit” button on Registration Form(s);

2. Click Religious Education—CCD on left of Parish Website homepage;

3. Click link to Fees & Payment Options Page at top of Religious Education Page.

The Loaves and the Fish

I read this week’s gospel about the feeding of the five thousand and how the disciples advised Jesus to dismiss the crowd so that they could buy food for themselves. And Jesus’ words in reply jumped off the page at me: “ There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” The real miracle is not that Jesus fed five thousand. Why should that surprise us?We’re talking Jesus here. The miracle is that he has invited us, his disciples, to join him in making miracles. And that’s an invitation we hear all the time at KidsRelig

Love,

Deacon Charlie

KIDSRELIG 2011-2012 ON-LINE REGISTRATION with NEW CREDIT CARD PAYMENT OPTION

2011-2012

KidsRelig On-line Registration

is officially

launched.

NEW THIS YEAR

Pay by Credit Card Option

Go to the Parish Website (www.sjsmrcc.com) and click on the

Religious Education—CCD link on the left.

On the Religious Education Page, first read the short letter explaining the registration process.Then go to the top of the page and find the two links to:

1. On-line Registration Form

2. Fees & Payment Options Page

IMPORTANT!!!

First, access On-line Registration Form and fill out & submit a separate form for each child you are registering. Then, when all registration forms are submitted, go to the Fees & Payment Options Page with 3 easy clicks:

1. Click the link to Parish Website (www.sjsmrcc.com) in Confirmation you get when you hit the “submit” button on Registration Form(s);

2. Click Religious Education—CCD on left of Parish Website homepage;

3. Click link to Fees & Payment Options Page at top of Religious Education Page.

REGISTER EARLY

Please register as soon as possible, but NO LATER THAN AUGUST 31^st. It is so helpful to us at KidsRelig to have registration completed on time so that we can form classes and have our teachers on board to set sail in September. Thanks.

Love,

Deacon Charlie

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

At the conclusion of Jesus’ rapid-fire parables about the kingdom of heaven, he says, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” As I read these words in the gospel, there sitting on my desk in the KidsRelilg office was a card Lily Schoonmaker (3^rd Grade KidsRelig) gave me last week after Mass. On one side of the card was a star with the word “Shine.” On the other, was this prayer:

Jesus,

Like a shining star

Shining like a light to the path of heaven,

Shine like a star.

You are the star of my heart.

It looks like Lily knew what was coming up in this week’s gospel. And I’m so glad she shared it with me, and I could share it with you. Thanks, Lily.

LAST YEAR’S 4^TH GRADE

ROARING BROOK:

WHICH MIDDLE SCHOOL THIS YEAR?

Parents of last year’s Roaring Brook 4^th Graders, please email me which Middle School your 5^th Grader will attend this year. Email at:

kidsrelig@optimum.net

REGISTRATION FOR NEXT YEAR

The new on-line registration form is going through some final testing with our technical advisers. It’s coming very soon and will include a new payment option. You will be able to pay through a secure credit card program.

NEW TO KIDSRELIG???

If registering a First Grader for 2011-12 or older kids for the first time, please, send me an email as a heads-up. This is NOT registration. It’s only a way to alert us to newcomers so that we can pay them the special attention they deserve. It will also get you in our Email Address Book and put you on our Notification List for KidsRelig Blasts. Email at:

kidsrelig@optimum.net

Love,

Deacon Charlie

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Look and don’t see; listen and don’t hear! That’s certainly the complaint of this week’s gospel. But is it the message?

What gets the disciples a private, parable power-point? Their knowledge and intelligence? Not! They seem as clueless as everyone else in the crowd. What is it then that makes them different? Patience. They stick around and hang in there until they see and hear what the Word means. Patience—being there and staying there until the Word takes all the time he needs to reveal himself just at the right time.

At KidsRelig, it’s all about patience.

LAST YEAR’S 4^TH GRADE

ROARING BROOK:

WHICH MIDDLE SCHOOL THIS YEAR?

Parents of last year’s Roaring Brook 4^th Graders, please email me which Middle School your 5^th Grader will attend this year. Email at:

kidsrelig@optimum.net

REGISTRATION FOR NEXT YEAR

Registration continues on-line. A new form will be posted shortly after the July 4^th holiday. Watch for announcements here, in the BLOG and on the Religious Education Page of the Parish Website.

NEW TO KIDSRELIG???

If registering a First Grader for 2011-12 or older kids for the first time, please, send me an email as a heads-up. This is NOT registration. It’s only a way to alert us to newcomers so that we can pay them the special attention they deserve. It will also get you in our Email Address Book and put you on our Notification List for KidsRelig Blasts. Email at:

kidsrelig@optimum.net

Love,

Deacon Charlie

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

As we hear Jesus this weekend, we could think that he promises no problems and no worries. But instead he says there is a burden; there is a yoke. What makes it easy and light is a meekness and humility of heart.

On this July 4^th weekend, we celebrate ourselves as a nation, and hopefully we think twice about who we are and who we need to be. With the words of the gospel echoing in our ears, we remember the words of one of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln. In his Second Inaugural, he speaks with meekness and humility about the burden and yoke to be borne.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

For the United States of America, we pray to the Lord.

REGISTRATION FOR NEXT YEAR

Registration continues on-line. A new form will be posted shortly after the July 4^th holiday. Watch for announcements here, in the BLOG and on the Religious Education Page of the Parish Website.

NEW TO KIDSRELIG???

If registering a First Grader for 2011-12 or older kids for the first time, please, send me an email as a heads-up. This is NOT registration. It’s only a way to alert us to newcomers so that we can pay them the special attention they deserve. It will also get you in our Email Address Book and put you on our Notification List for KidsRelig Blasts. Email at:

kidsrelig@optimum.net

Love,

Deacon Charlie