Bellarmine Chapel Bulletin

Bulletin Archive

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

March 14, 2010

Fourth Sunday of Lent

BELLARMINE CALENDAR

Sunday, March 14 Registration Sunday

Socials Following Morning Liturgies

12:30 PM First Eucharistic Preparation - Activity Room

1:00 PM Voices of Immigration - Chapel

Monday, March 15

6:45 PM Coffee Meeting - Chapel

7:00 PM St. Vincent de Paul - Activity Room

7:30 PM Lenten Series - Conaton Boardroom

Tuesday, March 16

6:30 PM Religious Education - St. Agnes, Bond Hill

7:00 PM JustFaith - Activity Room

Wednesday, March 17 7:00 PM BYG - Alumni Center

Thursday, March 18

6:00 PM Finance Committee - Gallagher Center, Room 304

7:00 PM RCIA - Activity Room

7:00 PM Mystagogia - Gallagher Center, Room 330

Friday, March 19

7:00 PM Junior High Youth - Alumni Center

Saturday, March 20

9:00 AM Saint Vincent de Paul - Activity Room

Sunday, March 21

Bread for the World Offering of Letters

Fair Trade Coffee for Sale

12:30 PM First Eucharistic Preparation - Activity Room and Chapel

CALLED TO BE NEIGHBOR

Please join us for the 2010 Lenten Series. All sessions will be held on Monday evenings from 7:30 - 9:00 PM in the Conaton Boardroom, Schmidt Hall.

Presented by Maria Arcocha White, Executive Vice-President of local diversity consulting firm Pope & Associates. A native of Havana, she holds in M.Ed. in counseling from Xavier.

"Overcoming Obstacles to Relationships" is the theme of this year's "Answer the Call" Catholic Men's Conference on March 20 at Music Hall. World Series Champion Manager, Jack McKeon, will return to Cincinnati as the keynote speaker at this prayerful, spirit-filled and life changing Lenten event. Tickets are $40 and include a nice box lunch, a reconciliation service and Mass. Brochures are in the narthex.

Fair Trade Coffee Sales will be held after all Masses on Sunday, March 21. Why not think beyond the traditional chocolate bunny this Easter, and fill your baskets with rich, delicious Fair Trade chocolate bars--- there will be a larger selection than usual available. Stock up on fairly-traded coffee and teas, too. They also fit nicely in Easter baskets!

ECONOMIC REALITIES AND JESUS

Did you know that the federal Child Tax Credit, recently expanded to include lower-income families, can provide up to $1,000 for each child under age 17 claimed on a worker’s tax return? This year’s Bread for the World Offering of Letters asks Congress to keep this effective tax credit expansion in place. By advocating for tax credits that help the working poor, we help strengthen families, children, and society, as we follow Jesus’ example of compassion and justice for hungry and poor people.

Join in Bread for the World’s Offering of Letters. Donate 10 minutes of your Sunday after Mass to write a letter in support of working families in poverty. Everything you need is available in the narthex.

If you’d like to be a member of the Bellarmine Prayer Chain, offering prayers for those in need in our community, please send your name and email to Liz Keuffer in the Chapel Office at keuffer@xavier.edu.

Here's a chance to enter together more deeply into the Easter journey as it is unfolding in our lives. Registration is now open for the parish annual winter/spring retreat, April 16 and 17. Using Gospel stories and figures, we will explore together the path through loss into joy, considering the possibility of gifts in the ashes of our lives. The retreat will offer presentations, prayer services, song, story and time for private reflection and sharing. Retreat begins Friday night at 7 PM at Bellarmine Chapel and continues Saturday from 9:30 to 4:00 at the Pavilion at Milford Jesuit Spiritual Center. Leaders are: Bob Dufford, S.J., a retreat director, liturgical composer and musician with the St. Louis Jesuits; and Maureen Martin, MDiv, MPAC, a former pediatrician who now serves as a hospice chaplain, writer and spiritual director. Come to both sessions if you can, but come to either if your schedule only allows for one. No charge for Friday evening alone; Saturday session is $30 including lunch. Checks payable to Bellarmine Chapel can be sent to the office until April 13. Questions? Call Liz Keuffer at 745-3398.

Help is needed serving lunch at Tender Mercies on Saturday, April 10. The time commitment is about two hours. This is a great opportunity for an individual, group of friends, or small faith community. If you can help, please call the Chapel Office at 745-3398.

We will be collecting handwritten letters this Sunday in support of Clean Energy. Please see the article in last week's Green Pages (available in the narthex or online) about the Clean Energy Campaign with tips on letter writing. You can place your letters in the baskets in the narthex after mass, or mail your letter to Bellarmine Chapel next week.

COME AWAY DAY

...to pray about God's call, April 9-10, 2010. An overnight retreat for single Catholic women between the ages of 18 and 45 who are exploring a call to religious life.  There will be prayer, sharing, reflection and input on discernment and religious life. The fee is $15, with scholarships available. Held at St. Joseph Heights in Covington, KY. For more information or to register, contact Sr. Jean Marie Hoffman, SND at 859-344-6258 or jhoffman@dcchome.org.

There is an exhibition of original quilts on the third floor of the Gallagher Center. The Jesuit quilt maker, Fr. George Wilson, will be present today from 2 - 6 PM to talk about his work.

MULCH MADNESS IS BACK!

Ready for spring flowers and warm weather? Well, Xavier's Habitat for Humanity is! Have enthusiastic Xavier Habitat for Humanity students come mulch your yard for you. All our proceeds go toward building our house for the fall semester. When: March 20, 27, April 10, 17, 24. Where: your yard, you provide the mulch How much: $15 per person per hour. Contact us at: xumulchmadness@yahoo.com.

Would you like to learn more about the orders of women religious in our area? A panel of Sisters will tell us about their community and how Vatican II affected them. Come to learn the joys and struggles of Sisters and express your gratitude. Tuesday, March 23, 6 - 9:00 PM, Nativity School Cafeteria (Pleasant Ridge). This event is a potluck, and reservations are required. Please RSVP to Cheryl at wsgrbr@fuse.net.

Our thanks to the 30+ Greater Cincinnati families who host AFS exchange students each year, adding to global harmony one family at a time. AFS is looking for caring, flexible host families for the 2010 high school year. You'll choose from 15 to 18 year-olds like Maged from Egypt who loves his school swim team, and Michela from Italy who joined the cheerleading squad. AFSers become part of your family. Local AFS volunteers' support is ongoing throughout the year. Interested? Please email Georgia Moore at damoores3@fuse.net .Visit www.greatercincyafs.org for local news, or www.afs.org/usa for national AFS information.

SCRUTINY SUNDAYS

The ceramic pot in the middle aisle is a way for you to unload some of the baggage you want to get rid of during this Lent: resentments, addictions, regrets, anxieties, discouragements. Or you could call it a chance to give over to God, or to our Higher Power, the things you can’t manage alone, where you are ready to surrender to the grace of God’s help. Why not? We pay a lot of attention in Lent to our practice of fasting or prayer or service; in some ways, we desire to make a difference happen for ourselves. We offer these good things: and all along God asks for you to offer only your burdens, your sins, where God will walk with you and heal, and lift the weight from your back.

So the pot is there for you, for all of us. Make the simple gesture of writing down what you want to hand over, and drop it in the pot with the common stuff of our community’s life now. It’s a way of giving it to God. And then on the next couple of Sundays, we’ll pray at the liturgy to be delivered from the fears and hindrances. For the sake of our souls, our inner peace, and for the world’s peace and healing.

Friends are always welcome at Youth Ministry gatherings. Please ask anyone new to bring a note of permission signed by their parent and detailing a phone number where a parent can be reached while their child is in our care.

Jr. High Youth Group meets in the cafeteria on the ground floor at 1507 Dana Ave. It is best to use the door facing Dana Ave. Meetings are Friday nights from 7-9:30 PM, every other week. Meetings begin with dinner and teens are welcome to stay and socialize for half an hour afterwards. Next dates: March 19, April 16 and 30, May 7.

April 16 - JrH Field Trip to Starfire for a Games Night May 7 - "Challenge Party" at XU O’Connor Sports Center

Bellarmine Youth Group for high school teens meets at XU’s Alumni Center, 1507 Dana Ave, basement cafeteria. We meet Wednesday nights from 7-9pm weekly. BYG upcoming meeting dates: March 10 at St. Vivian (see below), March 17, April 7, 14, 21, 28.

April 23-25 High School teens - retreat and yurt camping in beautiful Chilo Park, Clermont Co. Ohio. Flexible schedule - come to one or both days. Save the dates - more information coming soon!

Summer Service Dates - Sign-up starts next week. Forms are available at the Youth Info Board or online.

#1 St. Jude Catholic Church on the Navajo Reservation in Tuba City, AZ., June 8 - June 17, $350 plus airfare. Please fill out a reservation form and send the $150 Deposit by Sunday, March 21.

#2 Harlan, KY July 4-10, 2010, $265 complete. Please fill out a reservation form and send the $125 Deposit by Sunday, May 2

Please contact Sue Antoinette soon if you have questions or are interested in joining either group - 745-4224 or antoinette@xavier.edu.

RANDOM QUOTE

One Saturday the SVdP volunteers visited "Joe" one of our neighbors who had recently moved here from the south to find work. His wife was still living there. When asked if he needed a Bible he showed the volunteers a well-worn Bible. The volunteer asked which was his favorite story and he responded "the temptation of Christ." The volunteer thought this was most unusual and asked Joe why he chose this particular story. Joe said that in his neighborhood there were so many temptations that would take him off course. Prayer was his recourse. Many of our neighbors who have to face temptations every day depend on their spirituality to continue on the right path. At the end of our visit, we were blessed as Joe led an inspirational prayer for our efforts in SVdP and for all those we serve.

Bergamo Center in Dayton presents an Introduction to the Enneagram Workshop on Saturday, March 20, 9 AM - 4:30 PM. Presenters are Eric McClellan and Carol Ackson. Cost is $80, including lunch. The Enneagram is a powerful and dynamic personality system that describes nine distinct and fundamentally different patterns of thinking, feeling and acting. For information and to register, please call 513-723-5054.

Holy Week Retreat – The Jesuit Spiritual Center is offering a special Holy Week Retreat directed by Fr. Michael Sparough, SJ April 1 - 3. The Retreat, open to both men and women, will begin on the evening of Holy Thursday and conclude with lunch on Holy Saturday. Using his background in drama and storytelling, Fr. Michael will enact the story of the passion and resurrection throughout the retreat and offer insights into each section of the gospel text. The retreat will be silent and will include celebration of the sacred liturgies of Holy Thursday and Good Friday. For more information, or to register, call (513) 248-3500, ext. 10, or visit jesuitspiritualcenter.com.

RANDOM QUOTE