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 12, 2013

Third Week of Advent

Saturday, December 14, 2013

5:00 pm

Readings: Is 35:1-6a, 10; Jas 5:7-10; Mt 11:2-11

Presider: Frank Krebs

Homilist: Frank Krebs

Readers: Ceci Paul, Mark Reinhardt

Eucharistic Ministers: Kay Schmitt, Art Maines, Barbara Harris

Sacristan: Cecelia Andres

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.

Christmas Mass

Christmas Eve, December 24, 2013

5:00 pm

The Sts. Clare & Francis Christmas Mass will be celebrated on Christmas Eve, Tuesday, December 24th at 5:00 pm at the home of Ann and Bob Leible.

Their address is:

830 Craig Forest

Kirkwood, MO 63122

There will be no Mass on Christmas Day.

Bringing Christmas Cheer to Dorothy

Christmas Eve, December 24

4:00 pm

Anyone wishing to visit and sing a few carols with Dorothy Armbruster, (our oldest SCF member, who now lives at The Glen at Aberdeen Heights), is welcome to come.

Where: meet at The Glen lobby, 575 Couch (just a block from the Leible's house)

When: 4:00 , Christmas Eve before our Saturday evening Mass at the Leible's house.

Song sheets will be provided.

Communal Work of Service

KIVA

This week we will tell you about another loan recipient in Liberia, Eline B.

Eline is 40 years old and lives in Sinkor, Liberia. She is married and has four children between the ages of 1 and 21 years old, three of whom are in school and live at home. Eline is a 10th grade dropout who describes herself as a talented businesswoman. According to her, she established her business with a little money from her husband. She has sold charcoal by the bag from Monday to Saturday, spending ten hours each day at her business in the local market for 11 years now. She enjoys her business because she has a lot of customers and makes a good profit. Eline requested a loan of $500 to purchase more charcoal for her business. Her plan for the future is to build a house. We extended a loan of $100 and along with 16 other lenders Eline's loan has been funded.

Kiva empowers individuals to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending. Kiva was born of the following beliefs: people are by nature generous and will help others if given the opportunity to do so in a transparent, accountable way; the poor are highly motivated and can be very successful when given an opportunity; and by connecting people we can create relationships beyond financial transactions and build a global community expressing support and encouragement of one another. As of November 2009, Kiva has facilitated over $100 million in loans.

The Sts. Clare & Francis Kiva group expects to meet again sometime in January to fund more loans. Date TBD.

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

George's homily from November 30, A More Mystical Advent, and all homilies from Sts. Clare & Francis, can be found at http://scfhomilies.wordpress.com/.

ECC News

News of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion

From Europe: Our Presiding Bishop, Peter, recently made pastoral visits to the ECC communities in Europe. He was in Poland, where there is currently one community and three mission communities. While there, Bishop Peter ordained two individuals as deacons, one of which was a woman. This was the first Catholic ordination of a woman in Poland! Then Bishop Peter traveled to Belgium, then to The Netherlands, where he ordained a woman deacon. Finally, he traveled to Austria, where he ordained two individuals as deacons. The ECC Communities in Austria have recently decided to form as an autonomous diocese, or "local church." They have elected Rev. Christian Blankensteinas their Bishop. Congratulations, ECC-Austria, and Bishop-elect Christian!

~~~~~

A new ECC community, Epiphany, was recently formed in Chicago. Epiphany's pastor is Bishop Rafe Adams, and the Parish Administrator is Geoff Duffy. Currently Epiphany meets the 1st and 3rd Sundays at 5 pm at Unity Lutheran Church, 1212 W. Balmoral, Chicago, IL. For more information, see their website: www.epiphanyecc.org

A new ECC community, Mary of Madgela, was recently formed in Fort Collins, CO. Their pastor is Fr. Jim DeMuth. They meet every Sunday at 5 pm at St. Paul's Episcopal Chapel, 1208 W. Elizabeth, Fort Collins, CO. For more information, see their website: www.marymagdalafc.org.

Sponsored by Friends of SCF

Franciscan Hermitage Experience

December 29, 2013 - January 1, 2014

Sunday 4:00 pm - Wednesday after 11:30 Mass

IL RITIRO Franciscan Retreat, Dittmer, MO

For more information, click here.

random sightings

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

I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas lights.

Maya Angelou

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.