CATECHIST NOTE WEDNESDAY, NOV. 2, 2016 Please remember in your prayers: Amy Orzolek and her family her father-in-law passed away last week Michael Nelson a former catechist whose husband has recently been diagnosed with cancer Marie Divine a Sunday School catechist whose father-in-law has been diagnosed with blood clots in his lungs... and all your children and families, too! TONIGHT! Gather and Go! (We will gather for prayer at the end of the session... see below) All Soul s Prayer Service will be in the gym towards the END OF EACH SESSION: 5:30pm for the 4:30 session; and 7:15pm for the 6:15 session. Please remind your children about reverence (even though we re in a gym) BEFORE you leave your classroom. 2 nd Grade Catechists! I would like to meet with you briefly... let s try 4:45pm in Room 113 (Shurts); and 6:30pm in Room 113 (Turner/Hopkins/Pederson). Children will watch A Child s First Penance, while we meet in Room 111 at both sessions supervised by a Hall Monitor! Thanksgiving idea packets, and Saint activity sheets/resources are available on the RESource Table (outside the office, by the wire shelving!) NEXT WEEK! The Operation Christmas Child video will be available for viewing in the Gym. Operation Christmas Child is a program of Samaritan s Purse through which people fill shoe boxes with small toys, hard candy, school supplies which are then sent all over the world primarily to Third World Countries to help children experience the JOY OF CHRISTMAS! Even if you do not plan to invite your children to fill a box or two the video always is worth the time to view! o Please feel free to share the information about Operation Christmas Child with your families; even if your class is not filling a shoe box, some families may want to do so on their own. More information is attached to this note! o If your class has decided to fill a shoe box (or more) for Operation Christmas Child, please remember that filled shoe boxes need to be in the RE Office by DECEMBER 2. You also should collect $7 for each box to help with shipping and handling. You also may choose to pay on line which also gives you the opportunity to TRACK YOUR SHOE BOX at it travels to its destination! To use online TRACKING, go to: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/follow-your-box/ To look for WOW ideas to pack in your shoe box, go to: https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/what-goes-in-my-shoeboxsuggestions/ OR https://www.pinterest.com/occshoeboxes/ You will need to determine the age and gender of your box(es) recipient! All boxes need to have a label on them. o We have purchased a limited number of official Operation Christmas Child gift boxes which you can take to fill or use one of your own shoe boxes (any size!). Plastic shoe boxes (available at most dollar stores) also work for packing and the children have a storage box when the box is emptied!
REMINDERS! Please check to make sure you have the latest and greatest copy of your group roster with contact information. If you need a copy, please contact Christy at cconnelly@stjohns-savage.org or call 952.890.9434 you will need this roster especially if we encounter weather that may result in session cancellations! NEXT WEEK! Father Tix will meet with all children in Grade 3: The Church Begins! Safe Environment (PCYI) training for all children in Grades 1-5 is POSTPONED until after the NEW YEAR! Enjoy the gift of time! Thanksgiving Baskets are due in the office NOVEMBER 16. Please remember, if you have not already done so, to let us know if your class is putting one (or more) baskets together. Please also remember to collect some $$$ to use towards the purchase of grocery gift cards which are included in each basket. INQUIRING MINDS MAY WANT TO KNOW... The Feast of All Souls -- From Catholic OnLine All Souls Day is a holy day set aside for honoring the dead. The day is primarily celebrated in the Catholic Church, but it is also celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church and a few other denominations of Christianity. The Anglican Church is the largest protestant church to celebrate the holy day. Most protestant denominations do not recognize the holiday and disagree with the theology behind it. According to Catholic belief, the soul of a person who dies can go to one of three places. The first is heaven, where a person who dies in a state of perfect grace and communion with God goes. The second is hell, where those who die in a state of mortal sin are naturally condemned by their choice. The intermediate option is purgatory, which is thought to be where most people, free of mortal sin, but still in a state of lesser (venial) sin, must go. Purgatory is necessary so that souls can be cleansed and perfected before they enter into heaven. There is scriptural basis for this belief. The primary reference is in 2 Maccabees, 12:26 and 12:32. Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out... Thus made atonement for the dead that they might be free from sin. Additional references are found in Zechariah, Sirach, and the Gospel of Matthew. Jewish tradition also reinforces this belief as well as the tradition and teaching of the Church, which has been affirmed throughout history. Consistent with these teachings and traditions, Catholics believe that through the prayers of the faithful on Earth, the dead are cleansed of their sins so they may enter into heaven. The belief in purgatory has not been without controversy. Certainly, some flagrant abuses of the doctrine
were used to raise money for the Church during the renaissance. Famously, Martin Luther argued with the monk, Johan Tetzel, over the sale of indulgences. Indulgences were sold as spiritual pardons to the poor and applied to the souls of the dead (or the living) to get people into heaven. The abuse of indulgences and the blatant, sometimes fraudulent practice of selling indulgences for money, led to Luther's protest. When Martin Luther translated the Bible into German, he omitted the seven books of the canon which refer to prayers for the dead. He then introduced the heretical belief that people are simply saved, or not, and argued that there is no need to pray for the dead to get them into heaven. The Church reeled from Luther's accusation, and reformed its practice of selling indulgences. However, it reemphasized the Biblical and traditional practice of praying for the departed and the importance of such prayers. All Souls Day is celebrated in much of the western world on November 2. Other rites have their own celebrations. The Eastern Orthodox Church has several such days throughout the year, mostly on Saturdays. All Souls Day is not a holy day of obligation. It should not be confused with All Saints' Day, which is a holy day of obligation. Many cultures also mark the day differently. In North America, Americans may say extra prayers or light candles for the departed. In parts of Latin America, families visit the graves of their ancestors and sometimes leave food offerings for the departed. November is a month to remember! Visit the church! Ask your children what s different? There are candles around the altar space. Explain each candle represents a person who was a member of our parish who died this past year. Invite children to look at the Book of Remembrance and perhaps silently choose a name written there for whom they can offer a prayer... or perhaps they have a family member who has passed away they would like to remember in prayer. But please remember -- ALL SOULS Evening Vespers are scheduled TONIGHT (Wednesday, Nov. 2) in the Church at 7pm which may make it difficult for the children of our 6:15pm session to visit the church to see the candles and the Book of Remembrance tonight but the candles and book will be in the church all month until Advent! What is the difference between All Saints day and All Souls day? All Saints day is a day is when we celebrate ALL the saints in Heaven. It's a day to pray to the saints and ask them to intercede for us. This includes ALL the saints, even the ones that we don't realize are saints. Not all holy people who have died and gone to heaven are canonized by the Church. There are many holy people who have died and gone to heaven but have never been acknowledged by the Catholic Church. Even though they are not canonized, they are still saints. So we celebrate them all and ask for their intercession. All Souls day is a day we focus on prayer for those who have died and are suffering in Purgatory. These souls need our prayers to help them to get into Heaven. This is a special day dedicated to prayer for these needy souls. The Communion of Saints The Communion of Saints, which includes both the saints and the souls in Purgatory. Actually, there are three groups in the Communion of Saints: The first group includes all the saints in heaven. This group is the part we almost always think about when someone mentions the Communion of saints. We call this group the Church Triumphant. So what does triumphant mean? Normally, when we say someone is triumphant we mean that they won or succeeded in what they were trying to do. For example, a runner is triumphant when he wins a race. The second group in the Communion of saints is the Church Suffering. This group is made up of the poor Souls in Purgatory. These are people who have died in union with God's teachings, but are not yet holy enough to enter into Heaven. They need our prayers to help them become pure enough to
enter Heaven. They cannot enter into Heaven without our prayers, so always be sure to remember the Souls in Purgatory when you pray. All Souls Day on November 2 is a great time to take the kids to a cemetery and say a few prayers or a Rosary for the souls who are most in need of prayers. This is a great visual reminder to them of who they are praying for. The third group is one we all know well, but often times don't think of as saints. The third group is called the Church Militant and it's made up of living people here on Earth who strive to follow God's will. This group can include the Pope, bishops, priests, and anyone who is living their lives the way the church teaches. All of us can belong to this group, but we must do as the saints in Heaven have shown us: we must live for God and try to do His will in all things. A worksheet is attached. QUICK CRAFT FOR NOVEMBER! Another one of my favorite November crafts: Indian Corn Beads Using the following Indian Corn Reflection as a guide, invite children to create an Indian Corn pin or magnet using pony beads We have all the supplies (safety pins, not jewelry pins, though) in our storeroom; just ask! What you need: 30 Pony Beads in Assorted Colors of Yellow, Ivory, Orange and Black 1 Yard of Natural Raffia Scissors Instructions: Cut raffia in two 18" pieces. Slide both pieces through one pony bead. Separate strands. String seven pony beads on each of the four strands. Slide one pony bead through the four strands to pull them together. Tie into a bow. Trim. If you want to make it into a pin, glue a jewelry pin to the back with a glue gun and let dry. Thanksgiving Indian Corn Cross Legend God put colors for you and me On all the Indian Corn we see! Brown is for the beauty of fall. Red is God s love for us all. Yellow is for the golden sun. White tells us to love everyone. Orange tells us to give God praise And keep Him with us throughout our days! Other quick ideas... Bingo games: We have a selection of bingo games on a variety of topics available including Saints Bingo, Thanksgiving Bingo, Sacrament Bingo, First Communion Bingo, etc. We also have blank templates which can be filled in by your children using vocabulary from your lessons (check the glossary at the end of your books for ideas, too!) IF USING A TEMPLATE, gather the children and invite them to share words from their chapter(s) which are written on the white board or poster board. Children then choose words from the list to write onto their template remember to mark the FREE SPACE! Use the master sheet of words to call out the words FOR THE FIRST ROUND invite someone to define the word you called BEFORE THE MARKER CAN BE PLACED! This can be used for chapter and unit reviews! There are several online bingo card generators, too! Here s just a few: http://osric.com/bingo-card-generator/?title=1st+ http://myfreebingocards.com/bingo-card-generator http://print-bingo.com/bingo-cards-custom.php There are customizable Word Search sites, too. Here is my favorite: http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/wordsearchsetupform.asp?campaign=flyout_teachers_puzzle_wordcross
Prayer Relay: Print out the prayer you want the children to learn in such a way that each line can be cut. If using as a relay, you ll need a set for each team! Once cut, shuffle the lines so they are mixed, and place the pile at one end of the room, hallway or gym. Have children line up and explain that when you say, GO! the first person in line runs to pile to pick up one of the lines and run back to their line so the next person can go. Tell children NOT TO LOOK AT THE LINE THEY RETRIEVED! When all the lines of the prayer have been collected, children work together to put the lines in order! Saints in the Building Scavenger Hunt Take your kids on a journey to find as many saints as they can in the church/school! A list is provided with this note! Also, If you have decided to choose your classroom icon as your group s patron for the year and would like book marks or stickers to help the children remember their patron, let me know! I will be happy to create them for you! Just let me know which of the many saints adorn your doorway! Saintly Children! Since we all are members of the Communion of Saints... invite children to discover their saintly quality for each letter of their name! Start the page with the title: is a Saint in the Making! Build a Saint -- you may know it as Hang Man! After you have a chance to talk about some of the more familiar saints... put their names on pieces of paper in a basket or hat... have children draw one name and play Build a Saint, having children guess who it is by growing the name letter by letter! Don t forget the HALO! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO TO SHOW THE FACE OF CHRIST TO OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES! YOU ARE SAINTS!
By Door #3 (Parish Center entrance) St. John the Baptist (wall statue) St. Pope John Paul II (portrait) In Church St. Veronica (Station #6) St. Kateri Tekakwitha (icon) St. Joseph (statue, with Mary) St. Patrick (icon) Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos (icon) Saints in the Building! A Scavenger Hunt In Chapel St. Gabriel (Stained glass; panel 1) St. Elizabeth (Stained glass; panel 1 & 2) St. Joseph (Holy Family plaque; with Mary and Jesus) St. John the Baptist (as a baby; imprisoned and beheaded: stained glass) St. John the Baptist (icon; by piano) St. John Neumann (icon; by candles) St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (icon; by candles) Our Lady of Guadalupe (icon) Bell Tower Entry St. John the Baptist (statue) In Atrium St. John the Baptist (statue; over fireplace) St. John the Baptist (framed page from St. John s Bible) Gabriel (stained glass; with Mary: The Annunciation) In Book Store St. John the Baptist (stained glass; baptizing Jesus) Outside Atrium St. John the Baptist (statue) Fr. Wittman Auditorium Hallway Holy Family (Jesus, Mary and Joseph!) And of course there is a plethora of Saint icons one for each classroom!
Ages 7-12 November 6, 2016 Luke 20:27-38 2016 CRI PO Box 6360, Beaufort, SC 29903 800 992-2144 www.childrensbulletins.com Enter your SECRET CODE to unlock games @ games.childrensbulletins.com WJCSX1
Ages 3-6 November 6, 2016 Luke 20:27-38 2016 CRI PO Box 6360, Beaufort, SC 29903 800 992-2144 www.childrensbulletins.com Enter your SECRET CODE to unlock games @ games.childrensbulletins.com XQ8496
SAMARITAN S PURSE how to pack your shoebox 1 2 3 4 5 6 Shoebox Use an empty cardboard or plastic shoebox (average size). You can wrap the box and lid separately, but wrapping is not required. Boy or Girl Decide whether your gift will be for a boy or a girl, and the age category: 2-4, 5-9, or 10-14. Fill with Gifts Fill the box with a variety of quality gifts that will bring delight to a child (see Gift Suggestions). Include $7 and Shipping Label A donation of $7 per box is critical to transport your gift and deliver it into the hands of a child in need. Standard Shipping Label: Donate $7 per box by check to Samaritan s Purse (note OCC on the memo line) and place it in an envelope on top of the items inside your shoebox. Print and cut out an appropriate boy/girl label from page 2 of this PDF download. Mark the correct age category and tape the label to the top of your box.* Follow-Your-Box Shipping Label: Donate your $7 online and discover the destination of your shoebox. We ll email you a special Follow- Your-Box label to print and use. Later, you ll receive a notification about the destination of your shoebox gift. PRAY Ask God to use your gifts to show His love to the child who will receive your shoebox. Drop Off Place a rubber band around each shoebox and take it to the nearest drop-off point during National Collection Week, third week in November. For locations, visit samaritanspurse. org/occ, or call 1-800-353-5949. You can also send your shoebox gift to: Samaritan s Purse, 801 Bamboo Road, Boone, NC 28607 Gift suggestions ALL AGES TOYS! Start with a central item that a child will cherish, like a beautiful doll, a deflated soccer ball with pump, or a plush stuffed animal. Then add quality items like cars, musical instruments, puzzles, jump ropes, etc. School Supplies such as pencils, pens, crayons, notebooks, coloring books, etc. Hygiene Items such as toothbrushes, bar soap, washcloths, combs, etc. ACCESSORIES such as socks, hats, t-shirts, flip-flops, hair bands, sunglasses, etc. A Personal Note and photo of you and your family/group. If you include your name and address, the child may be able to write back. Younger Children: Blankets, sticker and picture books, blocks, finger puppets, pages of colorful stickers. Older Children: Small tools, tape measures, sewing kits, fabric squares, etc; deflated balls with pumps and needles; solar calculators, rulers, scissors; jewelry; deodorant Do Not Include used or damaged items; war-related items such as toy guns, knives or military figures; seeds; chocolate or food; liquids or lotions; medications or vitamins; breakable items such as snowglobes or glass containers; aerosol cans. * If you are preparing multiple gifts, please make one combined donation. Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan s Purse, Franklin Graham, President. 1-800-353-5949 samaritanspurse.org
Don t forget to include your $7 donation per shoebox. If you donate online, you can use a special Follow Your Box label and discover the destination of your shoebox gift.