About this time every year I ask myself, “What am I going to do for Lent?” (Sound familiar?) One year I gave up coffee and afterward I thought, “So what?” I usually end up “wandering in the desert of indecision” with no real plan. Lent is all about adding Christian simplicity to our lives. But how?
Besides attending Mass and Reconciliation (Confession), there are two ways you and I can be guided in our Lenten journey: One is by attending an interactive workshop here at St. Francis: Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus: A Lenten-Journey Roadmap to Christian Simplicity. By attending this Workshop for one hour, week-by-week, each Friday during Lent, together we can learn specific steps to take to live simply so that others may simply live. For details and the schedule, save the flyer in this week’s bulletin. Register NOW by calling the Parish Office and telling Naomi you want to register for Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus.
Another guide to Lent is Operation Rice Bowl. Rice Bowl is not just a fund-raiser. The Rice Bowl calendar in your Rice Bowl packet is a day-byday guide to prayer, fasting, learning and giving for a rich Lenten experience. When you give, you are not being asked to write a large check. Following the daily Rice Bowl calendar teaches us the meaning of giving in small amounts two or three times a week by putting coins in your Rice Bowl. Rice Bowl packets will be handed out at Masses on February 18 and 19. At the Masses on that weekend, a video on El Salvador will be shown. We have a sister parish in El Salvador. See the work that Catholic Relief Services is doing in El Salvador by providing villages with a source of fresh, clean water. Your contributions of money to Rice Bowl further this work. Your contribution of simple living benefits the whole world.
Another fun way of participating in Rice Bowl is by attending the Friday Lenten Soup Suppers. Enjoy fellowship and a simple meal of soup and bread, and then give the money you saved from preparing a meal at home to Rice Bowl.
Ash Wednesday is February 22.
The first Friday of Lent, February 24, is the traditional Fish Dinner. The following 5 Fridays, March 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30, are the Lenten Soup Suppers at 5pm in Unity Place. The Pastoral Council will host the Soup Supper on March 2, and the Sister Parish Committee will host the Soup Supper on March 9. If your group wants to prepare a Lenten Soup Supper on one of the remaining three Fridays, call me in the Outreach Office and pick your date! Frances Davis, 242-4575 ext 29 or email
Suggestion: Why cook at home on the Fridays of Lent? You could eat at the Fish Dinner or the Soup Supper and then head on over to the Parish Hall for the Walking in the Footsteps of Jesus workshop. Too tired after a day of work? Head on over to the church and be fed and renewed. What could be easier than that?
OUTREACH OPPORTUNITY - On the fourth Tuesday of the month, St. Martin de Porres could use 500 sandwiches instead of the 300 we have been making. The sandwich makers feel that God is calling us to do this. The extra 200 sandwiches will take another half hour to make. We should be finished by 10:30. We need more help, though. Please lend your hand right after Mass in Unity Kitchen on the fourth Tuesday of the month. A school parent could earn an hour of service. We purchase scrip for the sandwich supplies, so the school benefits and it is a win-win for all. We encourage cash donations to cover the cost of the sandwiches. $10 will make enough sandwiches for 20 men.
The Outreach Office has had an excellent suggestion from a parishioner. The suggestion is that we place a notice in the bulletin reminding anyone who is ill and homebound to call the Outreach Office and request that a Eucharistic minister bring them Eucharist. The question I have, in the words of the hymn, is “Whom shall I send?” We have no available Eucharistic ministers. Is there anyone out there who has heard the call? Without Eucharistic ministers to the hospital and homebound, we can’t fulfill the mission of the parish.
There is an opening for someone to take Eucharist to Highline Hospital every other Sunday and another opening for someone to take Eucharist to a homebound woman every other week. Training is provided. Preparation for this ministry involves a personal interview, doing some reading, attending a three-hour class and passing a Washington State Patrol background check. We need a man, woman or married couple for these two ministries. Contact Frances Davis, 242-4575 ext 29 or
It’s not too soon to begin preparing for Operation Rice Bowl, the Lenten Program of Catholic Relief Services. One of the ways we support Operation Rice Bowl at St. Francis of Assisi is with our Lenten Soup Suppers. Parish groups volunteer to prepare a simple meal of soup and bread. Members of the parish gather in Unity Place to enjoy fellowship and the delicious soup. They donate to Rice Bowl what it might have cost them to prepare a meal at home.
Volunteers who bring salads and desserts for funerals or other events, please pick up your dishes. Donna F. can arrange to be in Unity after Mass. Her number is 433-8547. Thank you!
The Outreach Office requests that in the future, donations of clothing be taken to St. Vincent de Paul on 1st Avenue S in Burien. The folks there will take it right out of your car and handle it for you. Hospitality House has an overstock of clothing at the present time. Leaving clothing donations at the church ends up being too much of a good thing. I have to find a way to get them to the St. Vincent de Paul store. Hospitality House does not need toiletries or shampoo but I can route those items to St. Martin de Porres, Lazarus Day Center or Operation Nightwatch. Hospitality House does need Metro bus tickets, laundry products and paper products., so those are ways to remember them. Thank you.
ST. VINCENT DE PAUL seeks some generous souls to help people in need. It involves giving 2-3 hours a week in service, as a team member. We make home and telephone visits. If you’d like to become a Vincentian, please call the parish office and
leave your name and number. Thank you!
ADOPTION Catholic Community Services is currently accepting applications for their South Korean Adoption Program. CCS has been placing infants and toddlers for adoption from South Korea for over 25 years. To learn more: Contact the Adoption Program at 206.328.5921 or visit our web site at ccsww.org.
An important part of your growth is taking the class Living Your Strengths. Contact Moira Schumacher 242-4575 ext 34 for more information and to enroll.
Catholic Social Teaching Archbishop Desmond Tutu reflects on the human dignity of each person as reflected in the other
As a created and precious child of God I have been blessed with a great sense of dignity. Recognizing that we are all created as sisters and brothers belong to a common humanity, leads us to treat one another with respect. Our sense of dignity is affirmed when our uniqueness is recognized and valued by thosearound us, as we all become global citizens.
Africans have something called Ubuntu. It captures the essence of being human. It embraces hospitality, caring about others, being able to go the extra mile for the sake of others. We believe that a person is a person through another person; that my humanity is caught up, bound up, inextricably, with yours. Respecting a person takes account of their feelings and experiences; their social situation; their ethnic, religious, and sexual identity, though they may be very different from my own.
The practice of Ubuntu demands an open-mindedness that celebrates difference, recognizing the validity of others’circumstances and experiences. It recognizes the uniqueness of each person and looks for the image of God in the other.
- Most Reverend Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town
From Archdiocesan Missions Office
Take ACTION! - Protect our Poor and Vulnerable Brothers and Sisters
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops urges Congress and the Administration to protect programs for poor and vulnerable persons during deficit reduction negotiations. What you can do:
Urge the Administration & Congress to give priority to poor and vulnerable persons in the negotiations to reduce the deficit. Fiscal responsibility is important and our current budget deficit must be addressed; however, a just framework for future budgets cannot rely on disproportionate cuts in essential services to poor persons. A balanced approach requires shared sacrifice by all, including raising adequate revenues, eliminating unnecessary spending, and addressing the long-term costs of health insurance and retirement programs fairly.
Urge Congress and the Administration to consider these moral criteria to guide their budgetary decisions:
1. Every budget decision should be assessed by whether it protects or threatens human life and dignity.
2. A central moral measure of any budget proposal is how it affects “the least of these” (Matthew 25). The needs of those who are hungry and homeless, without work, or in poverty should come first.
3. Government and other institutions have a shared responsibility to promote the common good of all, especially ordinary workers and families who struggle to live in dignity in difficult economic time.
Take Action Now! Call 1-888-245-0215 to be connected to the White House comment line.
To locate your Representative or Senator, visit www.house.gov or www.senate.gov, or call 1-202-224-3121 to be connected to the Capitol Switchboard.
Background: Bishops’ Letter to House on FY 2012 Budget Resolution : http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/2012-Budget-Letter-to- House-04-13-11.pdf - Bishops’ Letter to Senate on FY 2012 Budget Resolution : http://www.usccb.org/sdwp/
Senate_budget_resolution_letter_May_5_2011_final.pdf
50+ Plus Friends This is a group age 50 and over, plus their friends of any age. We meet for social activities and service projects. This year our service projects are Sock it to Homelessness, (collecting new men’s white socks so that homeless people will have a clean dry pair of socks to wear) and Warm for Winter, (collecting hand knit or fleece hats and scarves for homeless people). The Knit and Chat Group is also working on Warm for Winter. In early December the 50+ Plus Friends will wrap sets of hats and scarves to be given as Christmas gifts to Bishop Lewis House and Ratcliff House. The remainder of the hats and scarves will go to Lazarus Day Center.
50+Plus Friends Schedule for 2011-12 Feb. 16 - Presidents’ Day - Book Sale Mar. 15 - St. Patrick Day - Plant Exchange Apr. 19 - Out to Lunch May 17 - Fundraiser - Silent Auction Potluck June 21 - Western Barbecue
Steering Committee members are: Pat C., Sandy G., Ken L., Pat L. and Marge V. Staff support: Frances Davis. The Steering Committee meets at 2 pm on the first Wednesday in the Parish Office Conference room. All are welcome. Your input is appreciated.
50+ Plus Friends Luncheons -We are gathering on the 3rd Thursday of the month this year, rather than the 1st Thursday.
Mother Teresa “I have come more and more to realize that being unwanted is the worst disease that any human being can ever experience. Nowadays we have found medicine for leprosy and lepers can be cured. There’s medicine for TB and consumptives can be cured. But for being unwanted, except there are willing hands to serve and there’s a loving heart to love, I don’t think this terrible disease can be cured.” Mother Teresa of India.
Do you have willing hands and a loving heart for the elderly? Friend To Friend matches volunteers to visit one-on-one with residents in local nursing homes, who seldom or never have visitors. Call 1-888-FTF-7818 or email for more information. Website: www.friendtofriendamerica.org
Our St. Francis Knit & Chat Group meets in the Parish Hall at 9:00AM on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays. All are welcome.
Planning on making an adoption plan? Planning on parenting? Call Catholic Community Services Pregnancy Support Services, (206) 328-5922. We can help. Free. Confidential. Non-judgmental. Available to both parents of the baby, family members and others affected by the pregnancy.
Building Families through Adoption is a service of Catholic Community Services.
If you are considering adoption or if you know of a family who is, there are brochures on the table just outside the Parish Office. For additional information on our Adoption Programs or other services, please call or write Catholic Community Services, 100 – 23rd Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98144-2302.
Phone (206) 328-5921. We welcome the opportunity to cooperate with physicians, clergy, attorneys and agencies for adoption planning.
Hospitality House, the Burien shelter for homeless women, has a need for the following.
• TOILET PAPER
• HAND SANITIZER (preferably the large economy size bottle that can be used to refill the smaller bottles)
• PAPER TOWELS
• DEODORANT
• DISPOSABLE CLEANING GLOVES (one-time use gloves)
(Please do not bring donations to the parish office)
Donations should be taken directly to Hospitality House Women’s Shelter (located in the basement
of Lake Burien Presbyterian Church), 15003 14th Ave SW, Burien, WA 98166 (206) 242-1860.
Note: On Friday, Saturday and Sunday the shelter is closed during the day but opens at 6:30. Suggestion: Mail a cash donation or SCRIP that can be purchased at the school.
ECONOMIC SUPPORT BULLETIN BOARD: If you have items to give away, crops to share, handyman jobs needed, or are looking for employment, please see the bulletin board at the bottom of the interior Unity Place Staircase. Also, please refer to the bi-monthly “yellow pages” in the Parish bulletin.
There are brochures for Ruth Dykeman children's Youth & Family Services in the outer lobby of the parish office. Services include Counseling, Drug/Alcohol Counseling for Teens, Diversion Services for youth referred by juvenile court, Parent Child Interaction Therapy. Groups: Aggression Replacement Training; Dialectical Behavioral Therapy; Seven Challenges Group for youth 13-18; Parent Survival Drop-in Group.
Location: 137 SW 154th St., Burien; web site: www.rdcc.org; phone: 206-243- 5544, ext. 311.
Buy Free Trade Coffee from St. Francis School. Order forms can be found here.
Choose Life. To give birth to a child is to save the world. You never know what that child will contribute to the peace and healing of the world.
National Council of Catholic Women individual memberships are available, $25.00 per year includes 6 issues of “Catholic Women” magazine. www.NCCW.org
Mass Cards to send sympathy, congratulations or prayer to your friends and support our parish are available in the parish office.
PLEASE CONSIDER THIS URGENT NEED
Catholic Community Services is seeking married couples and single adults willing to open their hearts and homes to foster children. Our children range in age from 0-17 and come from varying ethnicities. We need homes where a child can remain as long as needed, whether for two weeks, two years, or perhaps even longer. There simply are not enough homes to meet the needs of the children coming into care. We need your help. Choose today to make a difference. Contact Jesse Mattina at Catholic Community Services at 206-328-5914 or .
Widowed Information and Consultation Services is a nonsectarian program, not affiliated with any other organization, that offers support to men and women who are coping with the death of their spouse/partner. When a widowed person telephones or visits a WICS office, he or she can be sure to find other widowed people who will listen and understand. WICS publishes a great newsletter and they have support group meetings in our area, as well as weekly Sunday breakfasts and Wednesday get-togethers. Call WICS for more information (206) 241-5650.
Spiritual Healing After Aboriton
Project Rachel is a program of the Catholic Church which offers healing to anyone suffering emotional and spiritual pain resulting from a past abortion.
For more information or to register call Valerie at1 800 822 HOPE (4673)
Project Rachel is a program of Catholic Community Services. You need not be Catholic to participate.
A New Free Prescription Drug Discount Card is now available to any Washington resident regardless of age or income. This free card allows you to save up to 60% on generic drugs and 20% on brand name drugs at hundreds of participating pharmacies around the state. You can enroll on-line at www.rx.wa.gov or by calling 1-800-913-4146.
State Resources for medical care services: If you’re having a difficult time affording health coverage for you and your family, you might qualify for help. Contact the Department of Social and Health Services for information on medical services available. Visit http://www1.dshs.wa.gov/basicneeds/#med or call 1-800-737-0617.
Office of the Insurance Commissioner’s SHIBA helpline: Whether you need help finding an affordable insurance plan or prescription drug medicines, have questions about your current provider or want information about preventing insurance fraud and abuse, you can contact the SHIBA Helpline. Visit www.insurance.wa.gov/consumers/SHIBA_HelpLine or call 1-800-562-5900.
Those 65 and older who make less than $35,000 a year can receive a reduction of property taxes by contacting the King County Department of Assessments, 206-296-5202. They will mail you the forms. You can go back three years. This could also result in a significant refund as well as a reduction in future taxes.
Caregiver Support
Family Caregiver Support Groups provide a consistent and caring place for caregivers to learn, share, and gain emotional support from others who are also on a unique journey of providing care to a person with dementia.
Meetings are free and open to all care partners, family members and friends of individuals with dementia.
The groups are led by trained volunteers who receive ongoing technical support and training from the Chapter office. We meet the third Thursday of each month from Noon to 1:30PM at the Boulevard Park Presbyterian Church, 1822 S. 128th St., Boulevard Park. make the first call, contact Lois E., 206-244-1338.
Building Families through Adoption is a service of Catholic Community Services. If you are
considering adoption or if you know of a family who is, there are brochures on the table just outside the Parish Office.
St. Francis of Assisi Parish
15226 21st Avenue SW | Burien, WA 98166
Parish (206) 242-4575 | School (206) 243-5690
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