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ECC Midwest
Partner Communities | |
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Little Rock, Arkansas
Tulsa, Oklahoma
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This Week
"At a Glance"
7:00 am Centering Prayer
12:30 pm Book Discussion Saturday, March 19 5:00 pm Mass
Tuesday, March 22
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Want to add an event to the calendar? Contact Jessica (314.918.2766). |
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General Info | |
The Parish Council meets on the third Wednesday of the month. Members: Anne Knight, Frank Krebs, George von Stamwitz, Jessica Rowley, Nancy Wamser, Sheila Leander, Steve Campbell, Sue Stolze.
We frequently have community gatherings called Convocations where we discuss the
vision of the community. Dates and times are announced in this newsletter.
The Parish 0ffice is located at Eden Theological Seminary, 475 E. Lockwood, Saint Louis, MO 63119. The office is being renovated during the month of December. Frank and Jessica are available for appointments. You can reach them at... Jessica: 314.283.4697, Frank: 314.740.1160.
We have an initiative to connect people to small faith sharing groups. If you are interested in joining a small group, please contact Jessica Rowley (314.918.2766 or email).
Do you have friends who would like to know more about Sts. Clare & Francis?
Would you be willing to invite them to your house for an hour or so to hear about us? Frank is willing to come to your home to share the story of SCF with your friends.
We Tithe as a parish and we need your recommendations
We have committed to tithing as a parish. We donate 10% of all that we collect in our offerings to worthy causes. We do this as an act of faith, trusting that, in doing this, we will still be able to meet our financial needs. We have received a number of wonderful suggestions. Please continue to let the Parish Council know about worthy organizations that you would like us as a community to contribute to. Information needed: your name, name of organization you are suggesting, to whom check should be made payable, where to send check and to whose attention. Please send your suggestions to Marilyn Tenholder.
Matthew 25 The Matthew 25 Fund helps members in our community who need financial assistance. All information concerning the people with whom we work is held in the strictest confidence. If you would like to contribute to this fund, make your check payable to Matthew 25, and place it in the collection basket. If you would like to donate cash, put it in an envelope labeled "Matthew 25" and place it in the collection basket. If you need assistance from the fund, you can contact We have a SafeChurch Policy to protect our children and other vulnerable populations. |
| Fundraising |
Do you shop at Schnucks?
Please keep our Schnucks E-Scrip fund raiser in mind when you shop. If you don't already have an E-Scrip card, please call Marilyn Tenholder (314.323.1467) and she will get one to you. There is no charge and all you have to do is activate it by either a phone call or by going online. Simply show the card when you check out and a percentage of your purchase cost will be rebated back to Sts. Clare & Francis. Thank you! SCF Online Booksale Please consider donating books to the Sts. Clare & Francis Online Book sale Fundraiser. All proceeds, net of fees, will go to Sts. Clare & Francis. We are looking for good quality new or used books on religion, spirituality, self-  help, business, textbooks, cookbooks, psychology, books signed by the author and children's books. We will accept books from other categories, too, but fiction (especially paperback) doesn't sell very well. You can bring your books to the weekly Mass on Saturdays at 5:00 pm or you can arrange for pickup by calling Art Maines at 314.518.1973. If you have questions about the sale or books you'd like to donate, you can call Art at the same number. 
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COMMUNITY CORNER...our family news
(It is good for us to know what's happening in each other's lives. If you have any news you'd like to share with the community, please email Steve ).
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The Weekly News
March 17, 2011 |
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Second Week of Lent
Saturday, March 19, 2011 5:00 p.m.
Readings: Gn 12:1-4a; 2 Tm 1:8b-10; Mt 17:1-9
Presider/Homilist: Frank Krebs
Lectors: Karen Diehl, Therese Gabriel
Sacristan: Sheila Leander
Eucharistic Ministers: Marty Campbell, Mary Hart, Mary B. Jordan
Children's Church: John Powell, Lisa Tebbe
Lenten Witness: Jessica Stelzer
If you are unable to serve in your scheduled ministry, please let Jessica know when you get a substitute so that we can publish the correct names in the newsletter. Thanks so much. Jessica Rowley (314.918.2766). |
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Expressing our Compassion for Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami Survivors
We will be taking up a special offering this coming weekend as a way to express our solidarity and compassion toward the people of Japan. We will be sending our offering to Church World Service (CWS) to distribute to response projects in Japan. Newly elected ECC Bishop Steve Rosczewski from Florida told me that CWS "has extremely high philanthropic ratings by those who watch-dog and monitor such." The new ECC Florida Diocese has designated CWS as their choice for "first response" in situations like this. Church World Service is an arm of the National Council of Churches, USA.
On Ash Wednesday for centuries the Church has repeated the call "to give alms," that is, to be generous to those in need. This Saturday evening we will have an opportunity within our Eucharistic gathering to exercise the generosity and compassion that the gospel calls us to. Or you may wish to make an individual contribution. In either case, here is how to participate:
Offering at Church: You may make out a check to "Sts. Clare & Francis" with "Japan" in the memo and place it in the second collection on Saturday. We will forward it to CWS.
Individual Contribution: If you are unable to make it to church on Saturday but still wish to participate, you may do one of the following:
1. make out a check to "Church World Service," indicating "help for Japan" in the memo section of the check, and send it to
Church World Service
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515
2. You can go to http://churchworldservice.org/helpjapan and use a credit card.
3. You may also make a contribution by phone (800-297-1516).
Let us continue to hold our brothers and sisters of Japan in our prayer before God, whose love is especially available in the midst of suffering.
Your brother,
Frank |
Parish Council
Minutes of the February Parish Council meeting can be found as an Adobe PDF here. |
All Are Welcome at Chrism Mass
When I became President of the ECC House of Pastors (i.e., the body that represents the clergy of the Communion), I had to resign as ECC Vicar for the Midwest. Bishop Rick Hollingsworth has now become the vicar. (Bishop Rick's community, St. Jerome in Tulsa, recently joined the ECC and became a part of the Midwest Region.)
Rick invites anyone who can to come to a Chrism Mass on April 15th at his parish church. Bishop Rick will consecrate oils, which we will use for various sacraments during the year. This is an opportunity for anyone who could make it to express our unity with the greater church. We would meet at St. Jerome on Thursday evening, April 14th for dinner and conversation. Then the Chrism Mass would be on Friday morning, April 15th after a light breakfast around 10:00 AM. We'll return after that. Let me know if you are interested in joining me.
-Frank
frank.krebs@stsclareandfrancis.org. |
Liturgy Book 
Discussion Continues
If you enjoy reflecting on liturgy and your experience, please come! We will continue discussing the second section of Gabe Huck's Liturgy with Style and Grace on Friday, March 18, 12:30 - 2:00 pm at the parish office at Eden. |
Crafter's Group - March 19
Our next Crafter's Group will be Saturday, March 19, 3-4:30 pm. We craft, we chat, we deepen our love of the present moment, creativity and one another! Please join us. |
Ecumenical or Roman Catholic?
Our sister community, Emmaus in Oshkosh, WI has a simple test posted on their website to help people determine if they are more an Ecumenical or a Roman Catholic. This would be a good one to share with your friends who might be interested in what we are up to. Click here for test. |
Thank You!
I'd like to say a big "Thank You" to everyone who made my 50th birthday celebration such a memorable and fun evening. I appreciate all the terrific food and birthday wishes, and we raised over $650 for Kiva! Thanks to Peggy Montgomery, the money is already helping people in a variety of ways and places.
I appreciate all of you, and my entire Sts. Clare & Francis family. I hope we share many birthdays together!
Affectionately,
Art Maines |
Parish Retreat!
Discovering our Thin Places
April 8 - 9, 2011
Rockhaven
$40 for commuter (scholarship money available)
Additional $50 for overnight accommodations
There are only a few rooms still available, so get your registration in soon!
Download a registration brochure here.
 Please set aside April 8 - 9 for a parish retreat with Stefan Andre Waligur.
Please note, the dates have shifted to Friday evening and Saturday. We will begin at 7:00 pm Friday evening and conclude in time to drive to Webster Groves for Mass on Saturday.
One of the highlights of the ECC Synod in October was a Celtic prayer experience in which Stefan led the music. We are thrilled that he has agreed to come back to St. Louis for this retreat.
His website describes him as a contemplative, musician/composer, and retreat leader.
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Tridu-what?
Learning about and preparing for
the high point of our liturgical year
The word Triduum, three days, refers to the period of time from the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday until evening prayer on Easter Sunday.
This section of the newsletter during the season of Lent will help us prepare for these three important days. We hope you will not only be inspired to attend the liturgical celebrations of the Triduum this year, but also enter more deeply into their mystery.
The bond between the Jewish Passover and the Christian sacramental experience of dying and rising with Christ is not simply that the gospels tell us it was at the time of Passover that Jesus was executed and rose from the dead. Rather, the early Jewish followers of Jesus gathered from their own keeping of Passover the notions, words, experiences to name what had happened to Jesus and to them. It was the Passover festival understood as present reality ("...not for our ancestors only did he do this, but for us..."), that make what Jesus did understandable as a present reality in the church. It was Passover as memorial and dedication to freedom that gave them a way to talk about what happened in Jesus and now in the church. And it was Passover as "not yet," as longing for the final liberation, that kept the church's Easter human.
Liturgy With Style and Grace
Gabe Huck
They are at table
They do not touch their plates
They don't feel all that well
And their plates stand up straight
Vertically behind their heads.
Last Supper
Jacques Prevert, translated from the French by Jeffrey Fiskin
Join us...
April 21, 2011, 7:00 pm Holy Thursday
Mass of the Lord's Supper
April 22, 2011, 7:00 pm God's Friday Service
with Evangelical UCC
April 23, 2011, 7:30 pm Easter Vigil Service
Holy Saturday |
Frank's Lenten Blogs
Frank will blog during Lent again this year. Last year he did a series on prayer. This year he is going to be blogging about the relationship between prayer and the rest of our lives. To follow just go to the SCF website and under "our community" click on SCF Blog, or just click here. |
Lenten Practice: Meditation
 A group of SCF members have been meeting on Friday morning at 7:00 a.m. at church to meditate together. They would like to open it up to anyone who wishes to join them. Maybe Lent is a good excuse to start (or try) meditating. The group usually has a short check in, then meditates for maybe 20 minutes, then has a short time for sharing, and finished up by 8:00 a.m. Please join us. Beginners are welcome! Contact Frank with any questions at frank.krebs@stsclareandfrancis.org.
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Following Up Again: Sunday Mass?
I am not able to attach the notes from our convocation as I had hoped. (I can email them to any SCF member.) If I were going to put some sense to what I am reading it would be the following. If anyone of the 26 persons who attended would like to correct me or add something, please let me know.
- We need more information before deciding.
- How would this affect our clergy, music ministers, other ministries involved at mass?
- How would this affect our finances?
- What is the preference of current members about mass time?
- What effect would a different location for one of the masses have on us and the public at large? (e.g. confusion or more opportunity?)
- Thre was a big concern that having two masses would "split the community." So then the question is: How do we keep a feeling of community and still grow?
- This could be risky; this could be energizing.
- We ought to discern this (which combines rigorous fact-finding with lots of prayer and openness to the Spirit).
Remember, we are only in the conversing stages now. Nothing is contemplated before August or September. The purpose behind this initiative is simple: we have been told by many in the eCC that it is much easier to grow with a Sunday morning mass. Please let me or one of our other Parish Council members know your take on all of this.
Thanks,
Frank |
Homilies
George's homily from March 12, The University of the Desert, along with other archived homilies from Sts. Clare & Francis, is available at http://scfhomilies.posterous.com.
Most weeks lately between 500 and 700 people read these homilies, according to data from our service. You may have a friend you want to share the link with. |
Events Sponsored by Friends of SCF
Woman's Place
Springtime Trivia Night
April 9, 2011
Doors open, 6:30 pm
Trivia begins, 7:15 pm
St. Gerard Majella Parish Center
Ballas & Dougherty Ferry Road
$20 per person, Tables of eight
For reservations, send a check payable to Woman's Place to:
R.J. Hall, 403 S. Van Buren Ave., Kirkwood, MO 63122
Please make reservation by April 1.
For information, call 314.966.6084.
All proceeds benefit Woman's Place, a drop-in center for adult women experiencing the effectgs of relationship violence. A ministry of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary, its mission is to help women break the cycle of violence and facilitate their trnaition toward safety, personal power and dignity.
~~~
 Catholic Action Network
Visioning Meeting
May 15, 2011
1:30 - 4:30 p.m.
The Former CSAT Building
(Center for Theology and Social Analysis)
1077 South Newstead Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63110
(in the Forest Park Southeast Neighborhood)
Catholic Action Network (CAN) is planning a visioning meeting for our upcoming work. We would like members of the Sts. Clare & Francis Community to come help us create the future at CAN by attending. If you are interested, please contact John Powell at jpowell@vdoh.org. For more information about CAN, click here. |
random sightings
wisdom...reflection...insight...amusement
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, "Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don't believe?"
Quentin Crisp |
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