News from St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish

Parish E-news

April 30, 2010

Greetings!

My dear sisters and brothers in our Lord Jesus Christ,

A blessed Eastertide to all! We continue to celebrate this great Easter season for fifty days through Pentecost on Sunday, May 23. Let us rejoice and be glad for this truly is the day the Lord has made!

In lieu of my "normal" weekly columns, I will continue again with various summaries of last fall's Pulse of the Parish Neighborhood Meetings. I do hope you are finding these informative. The summaries can be found on the website.

This weekend we will celebrate two Confirmations on Saturday morning and afternoon, May 1 - may we all continue to pray for an abundant outpouring of the Spirit's gifts on our confirmandi. This weekend we also celebrate First Communion at every Mass - we also lift up our First Communicants and their families in our prayers. Our final First Communion Masses are next weekend, May 8-9, at the 4:30 p.m. and 12 Noon Masses.

That's all for now. God bless one and all!

Fr. Geoff

Confirmation Information Meeting for Current 7th Graders and High Schoolers
1) This meeting is for Candidates (current 7th graders, and high schoolers) who are discerning entering the Confirmation Preparation Process for 2010-2011. The Rite of Confirmation will be conferred on May 14, 2011 with the Most Reverend Daniel E. Pilarczyk, Archbishop Emeritus of Cincinnati.
2) This is the first step in the Confirmation preparation process. Come and discern if this is the year for your Candidate to attend Confirmation Preparation and to be Confirmed in 2011.
3) Attendance at an information meeting is required to enter the process.
4) Candidate should attend ONE meeting with a parent or guardian.
5) The meetings last 1 hour each and will be held on:
Sunday May 16-1:30pm in the Church or
Monday May 17-8pm in the Church or
Tuesday May 18-10am in the Church or
Wednesday May 19-6:30 in the Church.
6) Those who begin Confirmation Preparation should know that ALL Confirmation Information will be available to reprint on the St. Max Web page. Also, we expect that families with a Confirmation Candidate will read each parish bulletin, e-news and web page for the latest information and reminders.

MOST IMPORTANTLY - SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF 7TH GRADE AND ENROLLMENT/PROJECTED COMPLETION OF 8TH GRADE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN EITHER RFY, RFY HOMESTUDY, SUMMER RFY, CATHOLIC SCHOOLS OR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN A HOME SCHOOL SETTING IS A PRE REQUISITE FOR REGISTRATION IN CONFIRMATION PREP.
ACCORDING TO THE RFY OFFICE, THERE ARE SEVERAL STUDENTS ENROLLED IN HOME STUDY AND/OR SUMMER RFY WHO ARE DELINQUENT IN SUBMITTING ASSESSMENTS, REQUIRED EXTRA ACTIVITIES OR ENROLLED IN CLASSES WHO HAVE MISSING MAKE UP WORK. PLEASE CONTACT MARY MONTOUR AT 777-4322, EXT 120 OR CINDY ULM, EXT. 109 TO DISCUSS THE STATUS OF YOUR STUDENT'S RFY WORK. CONFIRMATION REGISTRATION FORMS WILL BE WITHHELD FOR ALL FAMILIES WHO ARE NOT CURRENT IN THEIR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION STUDIES.

RFY Enews for 4/30/10

RFY Closing Mass-Monday, May 3, 6:00 pm
            Who Should Attend? ALL RFY Families
                                                -Weekly Class Students
                                                -Home Study Students
                                                -Summer Home Study Students

SUMMER RFY: Registration materials are now available, in the Gathering Space or from the parish website, www.saint-max.org, link to Faith Formation Youth, Gr. 1-8. The Summer RFY program is home study format and includes a mandatory retreat (books distributed at retreat). Please see REGISTRATION materials for more information.

HOME STUDY: All Home Study students should be finished with the scheduled lessons by the end of April. Seventh & eighth grade students, please return your books to the RFY Office as soon as possible.

LOOKING AHEAD:
            Fall Registration Information will be available on Monday, May 3

PARENT/CATECHIST EVALUATIONS: If you have not turned in your Evaluation, please bring it to the Closing Mass on May 3, or to the Parish or RFY Office.

Please contact Mary Montour, 777-4322, X-120, or mmontour@saint-max.org if you have any questions about the RFY program.

EUCHARIST PREPARATION UPDATE:

FIRST COMMUNION MASS SCHEDULE:

The sacrament of First Communion will be celebrated with the St. Max community on the following weekends:
            DATE             MASS
            May 1              4:30 Mass
            May 2              8:00 Mass
            May 2              10:00 Mass
            May 2              12:00 Mass
            May 8              4:30 Mass
            May 9              12:00 Mass

REMEMBER!!

Please be attentive to arrival at church 15 min. before Mass

Facilitators will be on hand for check in and last minute questions

Children will be randomly selected and contacted for the Offertory procession

Each family will be assigned one pew-First Communion certificates will be in pew & pew will be labeled with family name

First Communion banners will be hung at the end of your family's pew

Relatives may also need to arrive early if additional seating is needed

No photography during Mass-before & after Mass if time permits
Please contact Mary Montour, 777-4322, X-120, with any
questions or concerns regarding the Sacrament Preparation
program, or e-mail: mmontour@saint-max.org. Thank you!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL

IS THE WEEK OF JUNE 21-25TH.

VBS IS IN NEED OF

AREA COORDINATORS FOR MUSIC & CRAFTS

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN BEING A PART OF AN EXCITING TEAM,

CONTACT JULIE McDANIEL AT 777-4322, EXT 119

HEALING AND REMEMBRANCE SERVICE

FOR THE LOSS OF AN UNBORN CHILD

The service for healing and remembrance for those who have lost an unborn child due to miscarriage or abortion has been rescheduled for Tuesday, May 18 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Max. Come to know that your child is safe in the arms of Jesus and receive His love and healing. For more information, contact Debbie Sander at 856-8494 or sanfam@fuse.net

BOTTLES FOR BABIES

The Respect Life Ministry will distributed baby bottles after Mass on Mother's Day weekend - May 8 & 9. Please put any spare change or cash in bottle. The bottles will be collected on Father's Day weekend. Money will be donated to Elizabeth's New Life Center in Lebanon. The Center provides positive solutions to unexpected pregnancies by offering free pregnancy tests, ultrasound scans, consulting/mentoring, prenatal care and maternal assistance. For more information, contact Mary Jo Suer at 755-1193 or maryjos1@fuse.net

CROSSES

There are approximately 4000 abortions performed everyday in the United States. As a way to remember and show love for all of these babies, the Respect Life Committee is sponsoring the installation or 4000 crosses along the front of St. Max. Your help is needed! Please sign up to help put up crosses. They will be installed on May 22 at 8:30 a.m. Families are welcome. The crosses will be taken down on June 1 at 8:30 a.m. To sign up or for more information, contact Sol Gross at 759-2131 or solcarmelagross@roadrunner.com

FASHION SHOW-THANK YOU
A HUGE thank you to the Fashion Show committee for all your dedication and hard work. Thank you to everyone who helped including those that donated baskets, gifts, service, money and their time. A special thank you to all the men volunteers that helped at the event... selling raffle tickets, working the bars, counting money, serving the ladies and clean-up. You were all awesome. Last, but not least, thank you to Ken & Christine Zampese for their generous donation of the trip to Orlando, Florida. A rough estimate looks like about $15,000 will be applied to Debt Reduction. Thank you to everyone.