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Connecting YOUTH
AUTUMN 2007
• Put the Changing of Colors on Your
Windows
Decorate windows and mirrors
with colorful falling leaves. Go to http://www.plaidonline.com/projectDetail.asp?projectID=1505&cat1ID=5&CurPage=2
to find instructions on how to make beautiful “window cling” leaves.
Connect to Fall.
•
Make a Fortune Cookie Message
(click
on gift wrap and boxes on left side) and invite them to use their computer printer to make
a paper fortune cookie box with their own personal note, piece of advice of
“fortune” inside. Suggest they give click
on gift wrap and boxes on left side) and use your computer printer to make a paper fortune
cookie box with your own personal note, piece these “cookies” to friends and
family members.
Connect to
Fortune Cookie Day (September 13).
• Play with Magnetic Poetry in Honor of
St. Francis
Use “magnetic” strips to
create a poem to St. Francis. (E-mail me your creations). Magnetic Poetry
activity can be found at http://www.faithfirst.com/html/teenCenter/gameAlley/poetry.html.
Connect to Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
(October 4).
•
Make Rosaries
Get instructions on how to make rosaries (and
buy kits if you like). Visit http://www.rosaryshop.com/.
Click on ‘Shop’ and search for ‘how to make a rosary’.
Connect
to Month of the Rosary (October); Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (October 7);
or Feast of Blessed John XXIII, who prayed the joyful mysteries daily (October
11).
•
Dye Your Hair for Halloween
GET YOUR PARENTS PERMISSION FIRST!
Here are some suggestions for
using common kitchen items for dying hair for Halloween. All are temporary and
wash out after a few shampoos.
◦ Mix a thick paste
using Kool-Aid and water, apply to hair and rub in. Let sit five
minutes and then rinse.
◦ Make a thick paste
with Jell-O
powder and cold water, apply to hair, wait five minutes and rinse. (This works
best on light colored hair).
◦ To make hair blue or
green squeeze a few drops of McCormick Food Coloring onto hair
and comb through.
◦ For orange coloring,
mix Tang
breakfast drink with a little water into a thick paste, apply to base of hair,
wait five minutes and rinse.
Connect to Halloween (October 31).
• Make
a Fisherman’s Bracelet
Andrew,
like many of the apostles, was a fisherman. Purchase a package of #10 brass snap
swivels available at the sporting goods store (by the fishing supplies). Hook
enough of the swivels together to go around their wrist (like the old “paper
clip” bracelets you made as a kid). (If the swivels are extra tight, use pliers
to pinch open.) Add a fish charm (metal or wooden)— check out www.orientaltrading.com (search
under “fish charm” and “fish key ring”).
Connect to the Feast of St.
Andrew (November 30).
All ideas are from the Center for Ministry Development,
Nantucket, CT.
Parish Subscription Expires 11.06.2007.
(Please report any bad links.)
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Connecting FAMILIES
AUTUMN 2007
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Fall is the time that
forces families back into some kind of a regular schedule. It’s also a great
time to celebrate the changing of the seasons and the blessing a family truly
is. Non-gathered opportunities provide families with a variety of ways to have
“quality time” together.
• Pray at the Beginning of a School Year
Go to http://www.homefaith.com/sprituality/frame.html for a lovely prayer for the beginning of a
new school year. There is also a back-to-school prayer for younger children at http://www.homefaith.com/2005/08/hf0508.html#MLH1.
Connect to New School Year.
• Roast Pumpkin Seeds
Help families celebrate the fall by
learning how to roast pumpkin seeds.
Need: mixing bowl; measuring cup; measuring spoons; small
saucepan; wooden spoon; large baking pan; aluminum foil; pumpkin seeds; butter;
salt
Directions:
1. Scoop the seeds out of a pumpkin, but
do not rinse them clean. Instead, use your fingers to remove as much of the
stringy orange pulp as possible. (Yuck!) Then measure how many cups of seeds
you have and put them in a mixing bowl.
2. For every cup of seeds, you will need
1 tbsp. butter and 1 tsp. salt. Melt the butter in the small sauce pan. Add the
melted butter and the salt to the bowl of seeds. Mix thoroughly with the wooden
spoon.
3. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Line
the baking pan with foil and spread the pumpkin seeds on top in one layer
4. Bake the seeds until they’re dry and
toasty – about 45 minutes to an hour. Remove from pan and let cool. Enjoy!
Connect to the Fall; Halloween (October
31), and to Thanksgiving (November 22,2007).
• Conduct an Angel Scavenger Hunt
Conduct an ‘angel scavenger hunt’ by
scouring their home for angels—figurines, logos, accessories, toys, etc.
Suggest they offer a prize for the most items collected and for the most
creative or unusual angel—things like angel food cake mix; a CD with an ‘angel’
song; angel wrapping paper; a t-shirt with ‘daddy’s angel,’ etc.
Connect to the Feast of Archangels
(September 29) or the Feast of Guardian Angels (October 2).
• Family Blessing of Pets
Dear St. Francis, you loved all creatures
great and small. You praised and blessed the Lord for the animals who shared
your life. Joining our prayer to yours, we too thank and praise God for our
pets. We give you thanks, God, our Creator, for your wonderful and surprising
gifts: for birds and fishes, and all creatures of the sea and sky; for wild
animals and tame animals, for cats and dogs and for all our pets.
Help us, God, our Creator, to take good
care of our pets. Thank you for the happiness they give us. St. Francis of
Assisi, pray for us and pray for our pets, too. Amen.
(From Religion
Teachers’ Journal “Trading Post” feature submitted by Ellen Javernick of
Loveland CO in October 2001 issue on pages 35-37.)
Connect to Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
(October 4).
• Decorate Home with a Bible Quote or
Two
Consider decorating one of the family
gathering spaces in your home (kitchen, living room, family room, etc.) with a
Bible quote that is meaningful to you. Check out “Wall Words” which are easy to
apply, come in a variety of fonts, colors and styles and can be easily removed
when re-decorating. Go to www.wallwords.com
and click on ‘Quotes and
Graphics’ and then on ‘Higher Power’ for selections.
Connect to the Feast of St. Jerome
(translator of the Bible, September 30) or National Bible Week (November
21-28).
• Make Dessert Sandwiches
We’re all familiar with ice cream
sandwiches made from two cookies with ice cream in between. Create unique
dessert sandwiches—slices of cake with fruit in the middle; cream cheese and
strawberries of jam on a bagel; use an electric sandwich maker to make sealed
sandwiches with pie filling or chocolate icing in the middle.
Connect to National
Sandwich Day (November 3).
•
Float Prayers for the Missions
When Frances Cabrini was a young girl,
she used to make paper boats and fill them with tiny violets. These represented
the missionaries she hoped to send all over the world. She would sail these
little boats down the canal near the home of her uncle. Write prayers for the missions on pieces
of paper and fold the papers into small boats. Take them to a nearby pond,
river, creek or other body of water and set them afloat as you say the prayers
you have written. Or, you can all join hands and say a simple prayer together
for all missionaries and for peoples in foreign lands.
Connect to World Mission Sunday (3rd Sunday in October) or Feast of St.
Frances Cabrini (November 13).
• Hold Virtual Family Gatherings for the
Holidays
Can’t get the entire extended family together
for the upcoming holidays? Suggest a virtual family gathering. Celebrate
together using wireless web cameras positioned where the family gathers around
the table or in the living room. Or use video messaging services available
through your existing messenger service (AOL, Yahoo!, or skype.com). You just
make a phone call through your Internet connection (both parties must have the
software on the computer as well as a web camera for it to work).
Connect to Thanksgiving or other family
holidays.
• Build a Family Website
If you can’t do the “real time”
suggestions above, consider building a family website to share the upcoming
holidays and special events with scattered family members. One site: www.myfamily.com, offers a variety of packages (as do other
sites). Web site builders offer e-mail options, chat rooms for guests, ways to
post photos, and sometimes the ability to build a family tree (prices vary). Or
create your own private group with yahoogroups.com, grouper.com or
multiply.com. Connect to Thanksgiving or other family holidays.
• Make College Care Packages
Donate any unwanted or leftover candy to
be used to send care packages to college students.
Connect to new ministry year.
• Design Thanksgiving Placemats
Write a Thanksgiving prayer or blessing on placemats
for Thanksgiving dinner. Decorate them. Say the prayer together as a family.
Connect to Thanksgiving.
• Begin the Tradition of 5 Grains of
Corn
“Five Grains of Corn.” (It’s an old New England custom.)
This practice started as a reminder of
those hard early winters when the corn supply of the Pilgrims was so depleted
that only five grains were rationed to each individual at a time. The Pilgrims
wanted their
children and descendents to
remember the sacrifices, the sufferings, and the hardships; which made the
settlement possible. Eventually each kernel came to express gratitude to God
for a different type of bounty: 1) autumn beauty; 2) family; 3) God’s love and
care; 4) friends; and 5) freedom.
Place 5 kernels of corn beside each
person’s plate this year as a reminder of the great sacrifices people made for
religious freedom; as a symbol of a grateful heart today; and as a form of
renewal of strength for days to come. Invite family members to use the kernels
to express specific things/people they are thankful for within each category.
Connect to Thanksgiving.
(Please report
any bad links.)
All ideas are from the Center for Ministry Development,
Nantucket, CT.
Parish Subscription Expires 11.06.2007.
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Connecting PARISH
WINTER 2007
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•
Get Coaches Connected to NCCYS
Make sure the adults who serve as coaches (for
parish youth sports) are aware of the National
Center for Catholic Youth Sports (NCCYS). Visit the website on a regular
basis; there are many excellent resources there for athletes, coaches and
parents. Connect to the beginning of a new ministry year, a new school year
and Homecoming at the local high school.
• Pray the Prayer to St.
Michael at the End of Mass
Years
ago the prayer to St. Michael was said after every Mass. Consider saying this
traditional prayer after the daily masses on his feast day or after the masses
that week. (The Feast of the Guardian Angels is only three days later.)
Holy
Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.
Be
our protector against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we
humbly pray,
And
do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God,
Thrust
into hell Satan and all wicked spirits
Who
wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.
Connect to the Feast of St. Michael and the
Archangels (September 29).
• Prayer
of Thanksgiving for Gifts of Native Americans
One
Native American belief sees the world as having six directions, each associated
with the colors of corn: north (red), south (black), east (blue), west
(yellow), up (white), and down (variegated). When they shared corn with the
early American settlers, the native people were sharing something sacred to
them. Make a centerpiece of Indian corn. Serve cornbread, corn on the cob, and
sweet Indian pudding. Before your meal, pray:
We
thank you, God, for this food, sacred to native peoples. We thank you for their
generosity and or the generosity of all people who share with others. Teach us
to be generous. Help us to make other people feel welcomed and at home. Amen.
*For
recipes for Sweet Indian pudding and great-grandma’s Iowa Cornbread, see The
Art of Tradition: A Christian Guide to Building a Family by Mary Caswell Walsh.
[Denver: Living the Good News, Inc., 1998 p. 106.]
Connect
to Thanksgiving (November 22, 2007); Native American Day (same as Columbus
Day), or Native American Heritage Month (November).
All ideas are from the Center for Ministry Development,
Nantucket, CT.
Parish Subscription Expires 11.06.2007.
(Please report any bad links.)
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Connecting WIDER
COMMUNITY
WINTER 2007
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• Organize a Neighborhood
Rake-N-Run Event
Imagine multiple groups all
around your town or neighborhoods raking and running
Connect to Fall; International Day of the Elderly
(October 1); Do Something Nice Day (October 5); Make a Difference Day (October
22); World Kindness Week (2nd week in November) or World Kindness
Day (November 13).
• Collect
Children’s Books
Go through your home libraries and old toy boxes to
look for no-longer-used children’s books in good condition (hardcover
preferred). Donate books to a local children’s shelter, clinic, hospital, or
agency serving disadvantaged children. Any religious children’s books can be
donated to your parish library, Catholic school, or elementary religious
education program.
Connect to International
Literacy Day (September 8); Children’s Sabbath (second weekend in October) or
Universal Children’s Day (November 20). Donations to hospitals and clinics can
be connected to Feast of St. Frances Cabrini (November 13). Donations to parish
libraries or schools can be donated to Feast of St. Robert Bellarmine (patron
of catechists, September 17) or St. Charles Borromeo (also patron of
catechists, November 4).
• Crucifixion was Capital
Punishment
In 335, the Emperor Constantine dedicated the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre over the site of Golgotha where Jesus died. Crucifixion
was a horrific form of torture and was used for capital punishment. Reflect on the
Church’s current position on capital punishment (see Evangelium Vitae #56). Rent a copy of the DVD Dead Man Walking—the story of Sr. Helen Prejean’s consistent stand
on the value of life.
Connect to
Feast of Triumph of the Cross (September 14); Respect Life Month (October); or
Respect Life Sunday (first Sunday in October).
• Donate Trick or Treat
Candy to Food Pantry
Put the Halloween candy that
you gathered trick-or-treating or you have leftover into individual snack bags.
Give the candy to a local food pantry for distribution. (Clients at food
pantries rarely get these kinds of treats.)
Connect to
Halloween (October 31); Feast of St. Martin of Tours (November 11) or Feast of
St. Margaret of Scotland (November 16).
• Blessing for a Social Justice
Conscience
…May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and
superficial relationships, so that you will live deeply within your heart.
…May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and using people
and the earth so that you will work for justice, equity, and peace.
…May God bless you with compassion for those who suffer because of
others, and may you reach out to comfort them.
…And may God bless you with the foolishness to think that you can make a
difference where you are, in this world, in this ministry, in your
surroundings, and that you can do the things which others say cannot be done.
…We pray this, O God, in your name. Amen.
(From prayer card
distributed by Center for Ministry Development, 2006.)
Connect to the Feast of St. Martin de Porres (patron of
social justice, November 3); Feast of St. Vincent de Paul (September 27).
• Observe
a Silent Memorial at the Eleventh Hour
Veterans Day was originally
called Armistice Day to commemorate the ending of World War I. When the
armistice agreement to end World War I was signed on November 11, 1918, it said
that the fighting would stop at 11:00 am that day. That meant that the soldiers
laid down their weapons at the 11th hour of the 11th day
of the 11th month. Observe a moment of silence at exactly 11:00 am
this Veterans Day as a memorial to all our veterans and as a time to offer a
prayer for peace and the end of all wars.
Connect to Veterans Day (November 11).
• Play Games with Veterans
Challenge youth to gather
some of their friends and some of the board games they have at home and go to
the local V.A. hospital to play games with the residents there. Many V.A.
residents have been there a long time and have few visitors. Many are also
quite good at some of those old games like Clue, Scrabble, Monopoly, etc. Card
games are also very popular.
Connect to
Veterans Day (November 11).
All ideas from the Center for Ministry Development,
Nantucket, CT.
Parish Subscription Expires 11.06.2007.
(Please report any bad links.)