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).

We Tithe as a parish and we need your recommendations
We donate 10% of our collections 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. Please let the Parish Council know about worthy organizations that you would like us 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 need assistance from the fund, contact Peggy Montgomery.

Membership Care Prayer List
If you have a joy or concern you would like to share on the prayer list please contact someone on the pastoral team.

Jessica Rowley 314.918.2766;

Frank Krebs 314.740.1160;

We have a SafeChurch Policy to protect our children and other vulnerable populations.

Fundraising

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!

ECC Midwest

Partner Communities

Emmaus

Oshkosh, Wisconsin

San Damiano

Little Rock, Arkansas

St. Jerome

Tulsa, Oklahoma

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 ).

The Weekly News
December 5, 2013

Second Week of Advent

Saturday, December 7, 2013

5:00 pm

Readings: Is 11:1-10; Rom 15:4-9; Mt 3:1-12

Presider: Frank Krebs

Homilist: Frank Krebs

Readers: Jenn Lay, Art Maines

Eucharistic Ministers: Mary Ellen Kruger, Joan Switzer, Joann Noll

Sacristan: Sheila Leander

If you are not able to serve in your scheduled ministry, please let Steve know when you get a substitute so that we can publish the correct names in the newsletter. Thanks.

scampbell@ppcsinc.org or call or text 314.603.9991.

Visit With Bishop Peter

Friday, December 13, 2013

6:30 pm

Frank & Art's home

You are invited to a Potluck with ECC Presiding Bishop Peter Hickman at Frank and Art's home on Friday, December 13 at 6:30 pm.

Please sign up at the back of church this Saturday, or email Therese (theresem40@gmail.com) if you can bring "heavy" appetizers, festive drinks or desserts.

Christmas Mass Survey

Advent Blessings to each of you! As we move through the Advent season as a community, we eagerly anticipate celebrating the birth of Christ on Christmas. In the past, due to scheduling, we have had our Christmas mass on Christmas morning. Celebrating mass on Christmas eve has not been an option for Sts. Clare & Francis as our host church, Peace United Church of Christ, holds both of their Christmas services on Christmas eve. Most churches offer one or more Christmas Eve masses because many people prefer going to mass on Christmas eve rather than Christmas morning.

This year, we would like to offer our community an opportunity to celebrate our Sts. Clare & Francis Christmas mass on Christmas eve. Bob and Ann Leible have graciously offered their home in Kirkwood to have a Christmas Eve mass. Our Parish Council agreed to extend a vote to our community to help decide, with a simple majority, whether to have our Christmas mass on Christmas Eve at 5:00 pm, OR continue to have mass on Christmas Day at 10:00 am. Please note: We would still have one Christmas mass, either on Christmas Eve at the Leible's OR on Christmas day at church.

This is a 'one time' alternative. Next year we would evaluate and decide again. In the past, our Christmas Day Mass has not been that well attended due to the time/day and people's schedules. We would like to try and accommodate more of our parishioners.

The Leibles will also be hosting a parish Christmas Party on Sunday, December 22 at their home. More info on this gathering will be coming.

So, to help decide date/time/location of our Christmas Mass, please

click here and indicate which Mass time works in your schedule. Please vote by Saturday. We will send out an announcement to our email list early next week with the finalized date/time/location.

Blessings,

Ann and Bob Leible and Jessica Rowley

Communal Work of Service

KIVA

Kiva is a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world.

Anna is 45 years old and lives in the town of West Point, Liberia. She has four children between the ages of 15 and 28 who are attending school and live at home. For 20 years now she has been selling door locks, hinges, nails, etc. She started selling these items after she found out that she needed to support herself; so she asked her older sister for some money to start this business. She likes the business because she is able to make her own money to support her children and pay her own expenses. Anna requested a loan of $350 to purchase more door locks, hinges, nails, etc.

The Sts. Clare and Francis Kiva committee extended a loan of $100. As with all loans, this borrower agreed to a scheduled repayment plan. Anna will be making twelve monthly payments to pay back the loan by one year from now.

As loans are repaid, we are able to view the website and see how much has been repaid into our account. At some point we will utilize that money and turn it around to extend more loans. You might ask about the risks in lending through Kiva.

Each borrower is screened by a local Kiva Field Partner before being posted on Kiva's website. The Field Partner looks at a variety of factors (past loan history, village or group reputation, loan purpose, etc). Kiva reports a 99.01% repayment rate for all ended loans.

Fair Trade

Equal Exchange Fair Trade Organic Coffee and Chocolate products will be available for purchase on December 14, the second Saturday. This will be the last time before this year's end that I'll be setting up in the Gathering Space, so stock up for your holiday good times. Ground coffee and beans, tea, chocolate bars, chocolate chips and cocoa mix will be offered. Yumm. Thanks for your support of small- scale farmers in far off places.

Homilies

Frank's's homily from November 23, The Lord Who Refuses to Lord It Over, and all homilies from Sts. Clare & Francis, can be found at http://scfhomilies.wordpress.com/.

Sponsored by Friends of SCF

Mercy Center

A Time to Proclaim the Dawn

A quiet Advent day of prayer

Guided by Harry Byrne, OP at Mercy Center, Frontenac

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Registration: 9:00 a.m. Program: 9:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Non-refundable registration: $25 due November 15, 2013
Total cost, including registration: $75 (includes lunch)

In Advent, we are invited to reflect and pray as we remember Christ's mission to bring a new "dawning," a saving light, a renewed hope into the world. It is a special time when God enters into human life to bring us reconciliation and unconditional love through his son, Jesus. Becoming more aware of these holy gifts enables us to bring enriched meaning to the pilgrimage that we call our life of faith. So let us in reflection and prayer "proclaim the dawn!"

Presenter: Harry Byrne, OP is Professor Emeritus at Aquinas Institute of Theology.

Contact: Bonnie Green (314) 909-4677 or bgreen@mercycenterstl.org

~~~~~

Fr. Dickson Cemetery

Give and Glow

Friday, December 6, 2013

6:30 - 8:30 pm

Fr. Dickson's 'Ghosts of Christmas Past' invite everyone to a Christmas party to benefit the St. Louis Area Food Bank!

Join them around a bonfire in a traditional Gospel Christmas carol sing-a-long.
Enjoy hot cocoa and take a stroll along the candlelit bike trail and Sappington House complex (where you just might meet Ms. Peppermint Patty or Santa-on-a-Bike!)
The Barn restaurant will be open for yummy seasonal desserts.

Price of Admission: Canned goods to help fill area food banks.

random sightings

wisdom...reflection...insight...amusement

We live today in a highly polarized world and within highly polarized churches.

In this, we are not unique. A certain degree of polarization exists within every community and is normal and healthy.

However the bitterness, mean-spirit, and lack of respect that characterizes much of our political, ecclesial, and moral discourse today is not normal and is far from healthy.

And we shouldn't delude ourselves in thinking that it is healthy or, worse yet, in the name of truth or justice or God, try to rationalize our lack of respect for those who think differently than we do.

Ron Rolheiser, OMI

Sts. Clare & Francis offers information about other organizations and activities as a way of providing information that we feel is useful or relevant to our members and to the public. As an Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) organization, Sts. Clare & Francis is required to abide by certain rules. Sts. Clare & Francis is absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Sts. Clare & Francis is also prohibited from devoting a substantial part of its activities to attempting to influence legislation. As a result of these rules, we do not specifically endorse these organizations or activities nor do they specifically represent the views of Sts. Clare & Francis, to the extent that doing so would jeopardize Sts. Clare & Francis' standing as a Section 501(c)(3) organization.

If you have an item that you wish to submit for publication in the Weekly News, please send it to

Steve Campbell no later than noon on Wednesday of the week you would like it to appear. If you cannot send an

e-mail, you may contact Steve at 314.603.9991.