In Honor of St. Francis The Blessing of Pets

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1 October 2018 St. Margaret Mary Religious Education News & Views Welcome to October! Hopefully turning the page on the calendar will usher in some cool, crisp fall days. Make sure you set aside some time for a family trip to one or more of our Forest Preserve areas where Mother Nature shows off her spectacular fall colors!! We also celebrate the Feast Day of a couple of our favorite saints in October. St. Francis of Assisi is not only the Patron Saint of Animals, but is also the Patron Saint of Ecology. Here at St. Margaret Mary, we will honor St. Francis with our annual Blessing of Pets on Saturday, October 6th. See below for details. And there s more about plans for St. Margaret Mary s Rain Garden and its benefits to the ecology on page 3. Not to be forgotten, October 16th is the Feast Day of our Parish s Patron Saint St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Encourage your children to pray to their own Patron Saint and to any of their favorite Saints for special blessings. In Honor of St. Francis The Blessing of Pets The annual Blessing of Pets has been a long-standing tradition at many churches including St. Margaret Mary. In honor of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Patron Saint of Animals, you are invited to bring your pets to the courtyard outside our Parish Center on Saturday, October 6th, at 10 am for a special Pet Blessing.

2 Stewardship of Time and Talents When most adults hear the word stewardship, they associate it with making financial contributions to a charitable organization. While our financial contributions are certainly important, they are by no means the sum total of what being a good steward means. Giving of our time and talents is equally important. And it s important to teach our children to be good stewards of their time and talents as well. But it s not always easy to find meaningful volunteer opportunities for families to do together. Here at St. Margaret Mary, we have just such an opportunity: our 2nd annual BIG DAY OF SERVICE! See below. Once again, coinciding with the 2nd World Day of the Poor, Saint Margaret Mary s 2nd Annual Big Day of Service will be on Saturday, November 17th We will have many volunteer opportunities to choose from here at the church, like preparing things for PADS, any church cleanup needs, writing letters to our military and prepping baskets or bags for a local organization; or opportunities on-site at a local service organization. Examples from last year include working at a St Vincent DePaul store, park cleanup for the park district, painting projects, crafts at a nursing home and bringing a large meal for families at Edward Hospital s Ronald McDonald House. Opportunities will vary in length of time between 9am and 4pm, usually 1 1/2 to 2-hour shifts. You choose what you d like to do and sign up ahead of time. Volunteer signup will start in mid-october; online, in person after mass, or through the parish office. The sign up will also include opportunities to donate items for the on-site projects at the church. Monetary donations are welcome and can be dropped off at the parish office. Please specify that it is for "The Big Day of Service". This event is for families or for individual signup (minors should be accompanied by an adult). Please questions to carrietilt@gmail.com or julie.lomax@gmail.com Pray for us, O Blessed Margaret, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

3 First Communion Blessing Rites As our 2nd graders and Special Sacrament students prepare to enter more fully into the Christian life through the Sacrament of Eucharist, we invite them to receive special blessings at weekend masses throughout the year. Each one of the three Blessing Rites they will experience during the year will focus on one of the symbols of our baptism: sprinkling of water, lighting of the candle, and the signing of the cross. The first Rite of Blessing (signing of the cross) will take place at the 5 pm Mass on Saturday, October 20th, and at the 8 and 10 am Masses on Sunday, October 21st. SMMP CARES FOR OUR BEAUTIFUL EARTH; We re going to create a Rain Garden! Plans are in place to create our very own rain garden on our property just south of the Green Trails parking lot near the storm drain. It will be 66 feet long and 18 feet wide. You may have noticed that some sod has already been removed; however, we won t begin planting until spring. The plants we hope to include are Swamp Milkweed, Marsh Blazing Star, Blue Lobelia and Queen of the Prairie. Besides being beautiful, a few of the benefits of a rain garden are pollution control, flooding protection, habitat creation and water conservation. Religious Education Take a Break! We will have no K-8 classes on Monday, Oct. 29th, Tuesday, Oct. 30th and Wednesday, Oct. 31st. Hope everyone enjoys a frightfully Happy! Help Your Kids Understand the October Sunday Gospels October 7, 2018 Mark 10:2-16 Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time In the beginning of today's Gospel, Jesus is questioned by the Pharisees on the lawfulness of divorce and remarriage. Jesus teachings on this subject are difficult for us adults to understand and so much more difficult for children. However, the second half of this reading is the famous Let the children come to me discourse. When read together, these passages present a strong picture of Jesus emphasis on the importance of family. October 14, 2018 Mark 10:17-30 Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Today s Gospel is a continuation of last week s and another difficult one for us to grasp. A rich man comes to Jesus and asks what he must do to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus reply is to sell his possessions and follow him something the rich man cannot do. Material possessions are a necessity in our culture. Our use of these possessions and our attitude about their importance is our choice, however. It is a choice we can make with the awareness that our faith in Jesus commits us to be generous with our time, talent and treasure for the good of all. October 21, 2018 Mark 10:35-45 Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Today's Gospel can be an invitation to consider how authority is exercised in your household. There is a temptation to exercise our authority in ways that show our power over others. Especially when conflicts emerge, many of us rely upon the power we believe our role gives to us. Jesus teaches us that there is a more persuasive form of leadership. In these daily challenges we have the opportunity to practice and teach the kind of service and leadership Jesus modeled for us in his ministry and in his passion and death. Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant. October 28, 2018 Mark 10:46-52 Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Today's Gospel offers us a powerful example of faith and persistence in prayer. Jesus is journeying to Jerusalem with his disciples. A crowd of people are following along as well. A blind man, Bartimaeus, does his best to attract Jesus' attention in order to be healed. He is persistent and bold in his confidence that Jesus will show mercy on him and do what he asks. His persistence and great confidence that Jesus will help him is an example of the attitude with which we might approach God in our prayers.

4 MEDIA MADNESS CULTURE & TRENDS MOVIE Title: The Hate U Give Genre: Crime, Drama Rating: PG-13 Cast: Amandla Stenberg, K.J. Apa, Issa Rae, Regina Hall, Common Synopsis: Starr, a black teenager, witnesses a white police officer kill her friend. Starr, who lives in a black neighborhood but attends a mostly white school, struggles with standing up for what s right. This film is based on the award-winning, bestselling book by Angie Thomas. Our Take: This movie sparks important discussions about racism, violence, loyalty, and social justice. It contains some language, violence, and drug material. Mature preteens especially who ve read the YA novel may benefit from watching with a parent. Games, Sites & Apps Flat Heroes In this minimalistic arcade game, available for PC and Switch, a player is a square and must maneuver to avoid flat-shaped obstacles. Up to four people can play simultaneously, and only one needs to survive a level in order for all players to move on. The game is rated E for Everyone. What If World These wacky stories, available through the Kids Listen app, are inspired by questions from real kids. Host Mr. Eric spins tales based on questions such as What if cats ruled the world? and What if there were a never-ending bowl of ice cream? The storytelling encourages creativity and imagination. MUSIC Musician: Zedd Synopsis: DJ-producer Zedd (born Anton Zaslavski) has had 10 songs on Billboard s Hot 100, including four in the Top 10. His specialty is the superpopular genre of EDM, or electronic dance music. Zedd partners with top pop artists such as Ariana Grande and Liam Payne. Our Take: Dance-club music isn t always inappropriate for preteens; even some worship music now has an EDM sound. Zedd s songs such as Stay and The Middle don t contain objectionable content. But because he works with a variety of artists, it s tough to predict future content. For example, Hailee Steinfeld s song Starving features Zedd, and it s all about a sexual relationship. Use caution. Cydia This jailbreak equivalent of the ios app store lets iphone users get apps that aren t available from Apple and customize their phones with them. Preteens can use Cydia to do anything from change the color of icons to watch videos on Pro- Tube HD, which has fewer content restrictions than YouTube does. Wanted: Space to Shred Skateboarding s popularity continues to grow, with the sport making an Olympic debut in America has 3,500 skate parks, about onethird of what it needs, according to the Tony Hawk Foundation. (nytimes.com) Level Up Eager to help kids improve their Fortnite performance, some parents are paying big bucks for hourly video-game tutors. Goals range from improving children s social standing to helping them earn scholarships or even go pro. (wsj.com) QUICK STATS Kind Kids Although bullying still makes headlines, kindness is quite prevalent among kids today. In a recent survey, 80% of 9- to 11-year-olds say they ve gone out of their way to do something kind for a kid who was having a problem or feeling down. More than one-fourth of those children say they ve done that many times. (cartoonnetwork.com) Pay Up! In the past eight years, there s been a 26% increase in the average hourly rate U.S. parents pay baby sitters, now reaching almost $14. That doesn t include tips, which one-third of parents say they add in. (care.com) This page is designed to help educate parents and isn t meant to endorse any movie, music, or product. Our goal is to help you make informed decisions about what your children watch, read, listen to, and play.

5 October SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY St. Francis Pet Blessing; 10am; East Courtyard st Communion Blessing Rite 8 & 10am Masses Parent Sacrament Retreat Option 1; 12-3pm; Upper Room Feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque 1st Reconciliation Parent Meeting; 7pm; Upper Rm st Reconciliation Retreat Planning Meeting; 7 pm st Communion Blessing Rite 5pm Mass Break; 30 Break; 31