Bellarmine Chapel Bulletin

To receive the Bellarmine bulletin by email, please send your name to Liz Keuffer at Keuffer@xavier.edu.   Thank you!

May 11, 2008

Pentecost

BELLARMINE CALENDAR

Sunday, May 11

Infant Baptism

Parish Registration

9 and 11 Socials after Liturgies

Wednesday, May 14

7:00 PM COAP Meeting - Nieporté Lounge

Thursday, May 15

7:00 PM RCIA - Activity Room

Saturday, May 17

9:00 AM St. Vincent de Paul - Parish Center

Sunday, May 18

Children’s Liturgy of the Word

Fair Trade Coffee for Sale

BAPTISMS

Please join us in celebrating with us as we welcome the following children into our community:

Chloe Elisabeth Sommer, daughter of Karsten and Stephanie Sommer

Ryan James Kady, son of Michael and Katherine Kady

Jonathan Titus Weeks, son of Bradley and Holly Weeks

Paxton Sevachko Fraley, son of John and Susan Fraley

Liam Joseph Lalley, son of Brandon and Sarah Lalley

The Pentecost Banner you see today was created by our teen Confirmation Class of 2005. The image of the Holy Spirit hovers above a vision of the "New Jerusalem" with its power swirling through wind and fire. The eclectic architectures symbolizes the artists’ vision of God's Kingdom inclusive of all faiths, races and ethnic cultures. Those young people who imprinted their actual footprints on the path to the ‘Kingdom of God’ are now all in college or headed that way this fall. Let’s remember them in prayer along with our next group of Confirmandi who will be celebrating the sacrament next fall. The path on the banner intentionally extends to the ground to extend out into the community gathering.

THIRD SUNDAY SPECIAL COLLECTION

The TriHealth Parish Nurse Ministry is the beneficiary of next Sunday’s Outreach collection. Several of our current parishioners are parish nurses in various neighborhoods throughout the city. Visiting clients from the elderly to infants and everyone in between, the twelve Parish Nurses serve in nine underserved neighborhoods, free of charge. The Parish Nurses often meet situations in which the clients have little or no resources. Your donation on May 18 will go to the special needs fund and help the Parish Nurses provide things like baby beds, window fans, bus tokens, and emergency food. The Social Mission Core Team and the TriHealth Parish Nurses appreciate your generosity in helping to improve the lives of people in need.

Open meetings about hiring staff, following Stephanie Beck Borden’s moving on to a new position. Sunday, May 18 after the 9 and the 11:00 Masses, Nieporté Lounge. And Monday, May 19, 7:00 PM, in the Chapel.

An open invitation to parents: "How can we better realize our hopes of passing on the faith to the next generation?" A time of input and sharing, raising questions, defining next steps. Meet with Richard Bollman, Sunday, June 1, 5 - 7 PM. In the Nieporté Lounge.

Our second Family Mass in the Chapel, Sunday, August 3, 4 PM. With an emphasis on broad involvement in planning and ministries, come help make this happen by calling Jim Crosby at the office.

The parish Finance Committee is looking for three new members to join up with us this year. We are the working group responsible for oversight of our financial management, and for helping to promote good stewardship among all the parish for the support of our weekly operations. Advice about development, capital improvements, personnel policies and benefits, and collaboration with the University, all of this comes into play. The Committee also reviews and approves the annual budget and puts together our annual reporting to all of you. Your responsiveness to needs and to the nuts and bolts of parish life make this committee’s work a creative and happy task. We enjoy the meetings and getting to know one another.

Barbara Beimesch, our Chair, and Fran Niehaus will be leaving the committee this summer. The remaining members are Tim Helmick, David Ludwin, Kevin Berlon and Blake Smith. (Liz Keuffer, Karen Brandstetter, and I are members from the staff.) To tell us about your interest just write or e-mail me at the Chapel. Include some idea of the experience you’ve had working with budgets, ledgers, especially balancing priorities of spending to match the values we espouse. We want to meet with interested persons during June and get commitments from those who would best balance the committee. As you can see, we’d be very helped by some women members joining up this year! The term is three years, with another three years after that if you’re willing. We’ve found that it takes a few years to get aboard with this work.

Registration forms and additional information are available in the vestibule today for our Summer Religion Program for children in grades 1-6. It will be held from July 28-August 8 at St. Clement Parish in St. Bernard. The program last year was very successful and we look forward to having your children participate this year.

Please be assured that the summer program will be supplemented by periodic gatherings of families that will reinforce throughout the year what is learned in the summer. The entire parish will be encouraged to attend these meetings as we continue our process of developing a program of intergenerational catechesis.

Priority registration for the participating parishes will end on May 19. After that date and if there are openings in the classrooms, families from other parishes will be able to register for the summer program. We will limit the number of students in each class to 20 and expect that the space will fill up quickly, so we encourage you to register early.

Vacation Bible School will be held June 16 - June 20, 2008 from 9:30 am - 12:00 pm at St. Mary Church in Hyde Park. The theme this year is Miracles Happen.

The deadline for registration is midnight on Memorial Day, May 26. Registration is online at the website listed below.

We hope you will consider volunteering in one of the on-site, full-week positions for VBS. The lesson plans and activities are all planned and we need your help to make "miracles happen." Part-week, on-site volunteers are also of great value in many areas, and children/grandchildren of these volunteers will receive priority registration.

As always, we look forward to working with our teen volunteers, too. There are many areas in which you can step up and make a difference for VBS.

A complete description of all volunteer positions is available online at www.knox.org/vbs/, or you may contact Jim Crosby at 745-3317 or crosbyj@xavier.edu

The next Bellarmine / Hoxworth blood drive will be held on Sunday June 1. The Hoxworth mobile donation unit will be parked outside of the Chapel with donation appointment times available from 8:00 AM to 1:30 PM. As we are entering into summer, please consider giving the gift of life by signing up to be a blood donor. The need for blood never takes a vacation and the need is especially vital during the summer months. The time it takes to donate is minimal - perhaps 45 minutes. It is relatively painless and you will be treated to cookies and drink afterwards. But most rewarding is the knowledge that you are making a difference in the lives of others who live in our community. If you would like to schedule an appointment,  Tim Helmick will be signing up donors after the morning liturgies on Sunday May 18 and May 25. Please sign up to donate and make a difference in our community.

Our efforts to reach out to those in Harlan, KY who struggle with insufficient housing is open to the whole parish. If you can, please help out by donating new or used tools, machinery and/or office equipment. A copy of the wish list can be found in last week’s bulletin or at the Youth Info Table in the narthex.  If you have larger items to donate, contact Sue Antoinette as soon as possible so we can make space to accommodate them. Thank you!

Join panelists Eve Bolton, Jeff Edmonson and Emmy Partin, as well as parents from public, parochial and charter schools as they discuss a variety of approaches to education. You will have the opportunity to pose questions and discuss issues around the topic of education in respectful small group experience.

Saturday, May 17 from 9 AM - 12 PM. Registration begins at 8:30. First Unitarian Church (536 Linton at the corner of Reading and Linton). Reservations are requested but not required and childcare is available. This event is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center. Please contact Kristen Barker at kristen@ijpc-cincinnati.org or 579-8547 for information.

Our current schedule:

May 14 NO BYG - COAP meeting for Teens, Parents and Adult Volunteers in the Nieporté Lounge

May 21 Dinner at CCWA 958 Marion Ave 5:30 PM

Please RSVP by May 14, so we have enough food for everyone. Thanks, 745-4224

Young Neighbors in Action: Sunday, May 18, 12:30 - 5:30 in the Presentation Room in Schott Hall.

COAP: Wednesday, May 14, 7:00- 9:00 PM Parents, Teens and Adult Volunteers, Nieporté Lounge. Make-up meeting can be scheduled for either Monday, May 19 (958 Marion) or Thursday, May 22 (Parish Center), 7:00-9:00 PM. Please call Sue as soon as possible if you need to schedule the make-up meeting.

Checks for these trips should be made out to Bellarmine Chapel.

Please keep the family of parishioner Nancy Danahy in your prayers. Nancy died on Tuesday, May 6 and was buried from the chapel on Saturday.

Every Parent's Library is a non-profit organization that puts quality videos in the hands of parents. Videos address child birth, newborns, toddlers, child safety etc. No time for classes? Go to www.everyparent'slibrary.org to view a video on-line or at home. Call 513-791-8434.

RANDOM QUOTE

Soon we shall die and all memory of those we have known will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning. ~Thornton Wilder

On a cold Saturday morning SVDP members visited a woman in desperate need of help. " Irene" suffered from the effects of an earlier stroke as well as diabetes and asthma. She cared for three grandchildren and an autistic son. Recently relocated to a house using Section Eight, she was struggling with an erroneously assigned water bill, a Duke bill and rent all due within the week. All this was compounded by a difficult and sometimes verbally abusive landlord. Volunteers gave her bus tokens to get to the appropriate agencies and a phone number of an attorney at Legal Aid. In a follow up phone call a volunteer prayed with her and promised more assistance. Later, when called with the news that SVDP could help with $100.00 towards the Duke bill, she was so grateful and requested prayer again. Though not all problems are resolved, more bills are paid, and hope has arrived.

LAUDATE: Forming Youth for Music Ministry! Now in its fourth year, this popular four-day, three-night workshop will feature sessions in voice, organ, piano, guitar, and other instruments used in liturgy. Teens will learn liturgy fundamentals and hear witnesses from those who work in the field both full and part-time. This program is designed for young people who love song, music, and faith, and want to bring them together in a fun community experience during the summer. Mark your calendars for June 9-12 and check out the center link at www.catholiccincinnati.org/youthmin for more information.

TACKLE (Teens Advocating Change through Knowledge Leadership and Experience) coming June 22-27! Don't let your youth miss this powerful immersion experience, an inspiring and challenging week that develops youth into strong, justice-focused, Catholic leaders. The week includes community building, prayer, and service learning directly from community leaders and those in need from our own communities. Check out the TACKLE link on our homepage at www.catholiccincinnati.org/youthmin for more information.

RANDOM QUOTE

Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in. ~Alan Alda