Bellarmine Chapel Bulletin

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

March 2, 2008

Fourth Sunday in Lent

BELLARMINE CALENDAR

Sunday, March 2

Children’s Liturgy of the Word

Monday, March 3

7:30 PM Lenten Series - Conaton Board Room, Schmidt Hall

Tuesday, March 4

6:45 PM Religious Education - St. Agnes, Bond Hill

Wednesday, March 5

7:00 PM BYG - Parish Center

7:30 PM Taizé Service with Reconciliation - Chapel

Thursday, March 6

7:00 PM RCIA - Activity Room

Friday, March 7

7:00 PM Junior High Youth - Parish Center

Saturday, March 8

9:00 AM St. Vincent de Paul - Activity Room

Sunday, March 9

Parish Registration

4:00 PM Confirmation Meeting - Schott Hall

PARKING TICKETS LAST SUNDAY

Four parking tickets issued by the Cincinnati Police were given to Karen Brandstetter. They were from the 7:00 Mass last Sunday (Feb. 24) and written to cars parked on Ledgewood.

If you left one of these tickets, you should come to the chapel office to pick it up. The chapel has no recourse with Cincinnati Police to have these tickets written off.  You will have to pay them or dispute them yourself.

In general, parking along Ledgewood and Herald is overlooked on Sundays for mass, but occasionally an officer will decide to ticket. There is nothing we can do about this. You always park on the street at your own risk. But please remember that there is no parking on the street in front of the Xavier Police building on Herald. These are campus tickets, but we are not able to get these excused either. The same with parking illegally in a handicap spot on campus.

Join us on Wednesday, March 5 at 7:30 as we pray together in the tradition of Taizé. There will be an opportunity for reconciliation following the prayer service.

Volunteers are needed to help serve lunch at Tender Mercies on March 8 and April 12. The time commitment is from 11 AM - 1 PM. This is a great opportunity for a small faith community or group of friends to do a service project together. To volunteer, please call the chapel office at 745-3398.

COOKIES FOR KAIROS

Pete Buswinka and Mark Stockman will be participating in an upcoming Kairos Prison Ministry at Southern Ohio Correctional Institution. Kairos is a 4-day Christian retreat for residents (inmates). It has been a life changing experience for thousands, the start of a new faith journey and ray of hope for them. You can be part of it by: baking cookies, praying for the team and residents, giving monetary donations, or having children create "agape" posters and/or placemats that will be used for the weekend.

Cookie instructions, prayer sign-ups, and blank placemats are available in the narthex. Cookies should come in one gallon zip lock bags containing two dozen each. Please no powdered sugar or raisins in the cookies, and do not include any plates, twist ties, notes, etc. Plastic wrap, brownies, and rice krispy treats are ok.

Cookies and other agape will be collected on the Sundays of March 2 and 10, the final pickup will be Wednesday, March 12. Contact Mark at mark.stockman@uc.edu  with any questions.

RANDOM QUOTE

There is no time left for anything but to make peace work a dimension of our every waking activity.   ~Elise Boulding

Please join us in the Conaton Board Room, Schmidt Hall on Monday, March 3 at 7:30 as Adam Clark, New Prospect Baptist and member of XU Theology Dept. discusses Violence and the Voice of the Poor.

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.

Children saved from kidnaping and forced slave labor are too old to attend traditional schools. Matt Ahlgren, and his mother, Gillian, want to help build a school in Sierra Leone, Africa for children released from captivity. Over the past year, they have raised $3,000 in connection with "Free the Children." The Jr. High Youth group contributed a couple hundred dollars with "Change for a Change" last Lent. Matt and Gillian are renewing efforts toward their goal of the $8400 which it takes to build a school. Next Saturday they are having a table at the Flea Market at Clark Montessori in Winton Place (5425 Winton Ridge Lane) from 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM.

If parishioners would like to help by bringing in salable items by this Wednesday, March 5, they will be picked up and brought to the sale (call Sue at 745-4224 for details).  If you would like to donate items, but can’t get organized by Wednesday, please start putting your items aside and watch the bulletin for the next sale. You can also go shopping on Saturday and see what treasures have been gathered. 

Looking for: A young person (18-30) of faith who would like to serve as an intern for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the Catholic Church’s domestic anti-poverty program. Intern will work out of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s Catholic Social Action Office in downtown Cincinnati (100 E 8^th Street).

Responsibilities: Promote the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and its Poverty Awareness Program. Good communication skills required.

Duration: 13 hours per week: Fall 2008 (12 weeks)

Spring 2009 (12 weeks)

Stipend: $10.00/hour

To receive an application or for further information, please contact Tony Stieritz at (513)421-3131 x239 or csacintiintern@catholiccincinnati.org

A memorial mass for Mrs. Constance LaRocca, mother of Fr. John LaRocca, S.J., will be held on Friday, March 7 at 5 PM in Bellarmine Chapel. A reception in the Gallagher Clock Tower Lounge, will take place immediately following Mass. Mrs. LaRocca passed away on December 7, 2007 in New York, at the age of 99. Memorial contributions can be made to the "Joseph and Constance LaRocca Scholarship Fund", through the Xavier University Development Office.

Thanks to donors at our Alternative Giving Fair Bellarmine Chapel is currently loaning to 25 entrepreneurs through Kiva.org You can follow our loans at www.kiva.org/lender/bellarmine8597. As loans are repaid, we will continue to re-loan the money to continue the cycle of support. To learn more about this program, or to donate to increase Bellarmine’s loans, please contact Liz Keuffer in the chapel office at 745-3398.

RETREATS AT MSC

Holy Week Retreat – The Milford Spiritual Center is presenting a 7-day Holy Week Retreat March 16-22. The first four days of the retreat will offer retreatants a silent and individualized experience including Mass and daily meetings with a spiritual director. The final three days will feature the Holy Thursday and Good Friday liturgies with meditations offered by Father John Ferone, SJ. The retreat will end on Holy Saturday to allow retreatants to participate in their Easter parish celebrations. For information, call the Milford Spiritual Center at (513) 248-3500, ext. 10.

Thomas Merton Retreat – The Milford Spiritual Center is offering a retreat on the writings of Thomas Merton April 4-6, led by Jonathan Montaldo, associate director of the Merton Institute. Mr. Montaldo is also the director of the Bethany Springs Retreat Center and a past president of the International Thomas Merton Society. The JSC retreat will focus on those writing by Merton intended to help with the integration of the spiritual and secular lives. For information, call the Milford Spiritual Center at (513) 248-3500, ext. 10.

RANDOM QUOTE

If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.   ~Anita Roddick

Junior and Senior High students and their families are invited to pick up information about upcoming events and trips at the Youth Info Table in the narthex. If you would like to be added to our mailing list contact Sue Antoinette at 745-4224 or antoinette@xu.edu

Jr. High teens get together every other Friday from 7:00 – 9:30 PM in the Parish Center.

March 7 and April 4 - Meet in the Parish Center

April 25 - Jr High Challenge Party at XU’s O’Connor Center – save the date!

Our current schedule:

March 5 and 12 in the Parish Center

March 19 and 26 No BYG

March 14 - 16: Retreat to Ropp’s Country Cottage and Farm. There is plenty of space to get away from the city and business. Dream by the waterfall, paddle in the pond, talk by the campfire, walk in the woods and much, much more. Come join us for a weekend away. Kristen Barker from IJPC will spend the afternoon with us in an interactive workshop on peace and justice. Flyers have been mailed and more are available at the Youth Info Table. Please let Sue know by March 2 if you’d like to attend.

Mar. 9 4:00 dinner and meeting, mass at 7 PM

Holy Week Retreat – The Milford Spiritual Center is presenting a 7-day Holy Week Retreat March 16-22. The first four days of the retreat will offer retreatants a silent and individualized experience including Mass and daily meetings with a spiritual director. The final three days will feature the Holy Thursday and Good Friday liturgies with meditations offered by Father John Ferone, SJ. The retreat will end on Holy Saturday to allow retreatants to participate in their Easter parish celebrations. For information, call MSC at (513) 248-3500, ext. 10.

RANDOM QUOTE

First a howling blizzard woke us,

Then the rain came down to soak us,

And now before the eye can focus -

Crocus. ~Lilja Rogers

Sign-up has begun for the Summer Service Opportunities. We don’t want anyone to miss out on these wonderful opportunities. Because of parish support, we are able to offer these trips for only $250 each. Forms are being mailed out and are also available at the Youth Info Table. Reservations and the $100 deposit are due by Sunday, March 9.

June 15-21 Young Neighbors in Action - Chicago, IL Service opportunity is chosen with input from participants and can range from construction to serving in soup kitchens, tutoring young children, or working in day care or Vacation Bible School. 14 openings

July 6-12 COAP - Harlan, KY COAP mission is to help with building projects for people with low income or poor health that can’t do or afford the work by themselves. Expect projects in new construction, housing repair, roofing, insulation, painting and more. 24 openings

Ireland in Word and Music II will be presented this afternoon from 2:00 - 4:15 in the Long Recital Room of Edgecliff Hall (first building on the University Drive). The program will consist of dramatic readings plus authentic Irish music presented by Dottie Davis (piano), Ryan Masterson (tenor), Kerry Moran (fiddle), and for the first time the Celtic group Foley Road (see dougsawan.com on the internet). No admission charge. Attendees are encouraged to make a donation for the work of Father Joe Mulligan in Nicaragua. Checks should be made out to Bellarmine Chapel with the designation "work of Fr. Joe Mulligan." Convenient parking will be available on the University Drive. Contact person: Joe Wessling at 861-4519.

CHILDREN’S BOOK DRIVE