Good Deed Beads

October 1st is the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux. One of her spiritual practices was to carry around a little string of beads, and try to do ten good deeds each day. With every good deed she would move a bead over on her string. Perhaps this would be a good practice for you to try. Spend a little time reading about St. Therese and then make your own "Good Deed Beads". This would be an activity that everyone could participate in from the young ones to the teens the adults. This week, let's change the world, one deed (bead) at a time! Check this out ...(http://thelittleways.com/how-to-make-sacrifice-beads)

Safeguarding All God's Children

For many years the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has been offering a program called "Safeguarding all God's Children". The intent of this program is to help adults, who work with children, recognize the signs of abuse committed to children. It will give adults the tools to respond to suspected abuse in appropriate ways. While we ask any adult working with children on a volunteer basis to go through this training, it is without a doubt valuable to all adults, parents, grandparents, neighbors and friends. 

Parents who will be leading a group of children this year in GIFT, are asked to complete the Safeguarding class. There are many sessions offered on different days and times in the archdiocese. We will be hosting a session here at St. James on Monday, October 4th at 6:30p.m. in the Community Center. To register for this session or for another session please go to www.archmil.org/safeguarding . If you have any questions please call 251-0897.

Being a Domestic Church (A church of the home)

At our  first GIFT session we talked about the early church as talked about in Acts 2:42-47. That reading talks about a lot of qualities that could be found in the early church and hopefully in our church today. This week you might want to pull out your bible and re look at that passage. One of the qualities that keeps showing itself is love. I heard someone say today "How we love others, is how we love God".

It might be a good time to take stock of how we are doing in this area. How do we show love to each other at home (and hence, to God)? How do we show love to the people at school, at work, and in our community (and hence, to God)? How might you show love to strangers who are poor or struggling (and hence, to God)? Have everyone in your family contribute to a list of ways that you could share love with family, friends, relatives, acquaintances, and strangers. Hang that list in a prominent place and revisit it a couple times this week. See if you can do at least one concrete activity to show love to others (and hence, to God). Hope you have a 'love'ly week!

We are Church

Remembering that our theme for this year of GIFT is "We are Church", I was wondering if you knew that 90%of the 4.3 million women & men who serve in church ministries around the world are LAY people - that is, people besides the ordained priests and permanent deacons, who are the other 10%. You can see that right here in St. James' staff. We have 1 priest, 2 permanent deacons and 12 dedicated lay people. Yes, I, S. Carol Ann Jaeger, am considered part of the laity. Sisters are not ordained and therefore not considered part of the clergy.

Today in the United States, there are an esimated 31,000 lay ecclesial(church) ministers serving in Catholic parishes. St. James Staff is part of that group. Many of you do thank us when you see us "for all the hard work you do ." We appreciate that very much. We appreciate all of your cooperation and volunteering you do at S. James.

This weekend, there will be a commisisioning service for all the volunteers who serve in the ministries of passing on the faith to children, youth and adults. When the category is announced and you are part of,i.e. teach in the GIFT program, please come forward.

Always remember that by virtue of our Baptism, ALL are called to spread the Good News of the Gospel by our words & actions. We are all commissioned to pass on our Catholic faith.

Second Grade Sacraments

Families of second grade children will begin preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation at our next GIFT session. Information will also come home at that time to let the parents know what they can do to continue this preparation. There are many dates associated with these 2 celebrations so I have included a link to the parish web site where you can find all the dates needed for the year. Please go to Reconciliation & Eucharist Preparation & Celebration Calendar and add the dates from this calendar to your home calendar!

This & that

GIFT – Thursday Thoughts For Sept. 15, 2010
What a great start to our 2010-11 year of GIFT! See the picture.
53 of the 73 registered families attended the retreat either on Saturday or Sunday last weekend. We did not video tape the adult segment this time, so those who missed a fun time, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you pick up your packet in the Gathering Area this weekend, Sept. 18-19(on table with green cloth).

Packet contains:
-The Calendar -Hand-out sheet from Daryl’s Adult presentation on the early
-K-4-Gr. 5 materials Christian community
-Food schedule - Information on optional adult small faith groups in the
home(explained by Nate Lasnoski, one of the GIFT participants).
-Service opportunities
WE ARE THE CHURCH is our theme for this year. We saw excellent of this already at the retreat.
As a review for all the GIFT participants, please read again these Scripture passages sometime this month: Acts 2:14-21, Acts4:42-47 and Acts 15:1-28.

Be sure to check the Gospel question of the week in the bulletin and discuss it with you family, either before going to Mass or after. Some families even have someone read the Gospel from their copy of At Home with the Word on the way to Mass.

Thank you to all the people who helped teach the children during the retreat. We are also grateful to the Knights of Columbus for providing our wonderful pancake breakfast on Sunday. They donated their time & the food.

Sue will be attaching a family activity.

Next month we will be distributing the House of Peace information for the poor as a service project.
Next GIFT core meeting is on Monday, October 18 at 7PM in the cafeteria. WE NEED HELP! We need input from you, the GIFT participants, to shape the GIFT program, to plan and implement the ideas for each session. Please consider being on this important committee. Call Sue or S. Carol Ann for more info.

Family Prayer

The Practice of Prayer
When I was a young mother I wanted to help my children to be faithful to daily prayer. I wanted it to be simple enough that they would be able to do it without me, but also meaningful. I came up with a 3 question system for them to use.
What can you thank God for today?
What do you need to say you’re sorry for?
What do you need to ask God to help you with?
Over the years this has been a good format for them and for our family. It is a prayer process that we can do together or individually. Twenty three years later, it is still a way that we pray. Try it for a week and see how it works for you.

Parenting class for parents of teens

Love and Logic for parents of Teens

September 27th through November 1st
(6 consecutive Monday Evenings)
6:30 – 8:00 p.m. in the Youth Room (#1)

For parents of Middle and High School Youth

Have you ever wondered why the techniques that your parents used for child rearing don’t work so well for you. Do you wonder how to be a more effective parent? Would you like to gain some new insights and tools to help you parent?
The Love and Logic method might be the answer. This method teaches parents how to hold their kids accountable for their actions by locking in empathy, love, and understanding, prior to telling kids what the consequences of their actions will be. This method causes the child to see their parent as the “good guy” and the child’s poor decision as the “bad guy”. When it’s done on a regular basis, kids develop an internal voice that says, “I wonder how much pain I’m going to cause for myself with my next decision?” Kids who develop this internal voice become more capable of standing up to peer pressure. This common sense approach provides parents with easy to learn skills that create respect, responsibility, and good decision making in youth.

Love and Logic rests on four scientifically-based principles:

1. Logical consequences delivered with empathy
2. Collective thinking and problem-solving
3. Shared control
4. Adult-child relationships that build mutual respect and self esteem


If you think this is something for you, or you have questions, call Sue at 253-2904 to reserve your space today!
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