Bulletin – February 20

In this week’s bulletin, Lent 4.5, the Scarborough Missions Interfaith Series, and the Marriage Enrichment Weekend.

FROM THE DESK OF FR. PAUL: LENT 4.5

While Lent and Easter come a little later than usual this year, it is nonetheless fast approaching. This year the parish will be launching a special Lenten program: Lent 4.5.

The Lent 4.5 program is developed by the Passionist Earth & Spirit Centre based in Kentucky, USA. (It is an unusual name, but in time you’ll hear more about it.) Through the program, we approach the Lenten season of purification and repentance with a particular focus on how our lifestyles affect creation, as well as the poor of this world. It gives the traditional Lenten practice of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving a whole new meaning.

Beginning February 27, each week during Lent, there will be an additional insert to our Parish Bulletin, covering a variety of themes, such as Christian simplicity, food, energy, water. Each week the particular theme will be explained in the insert, along with what the Church teaches on the subject. There will also be simple actions suggested so that if we decide to, we can make a difference in caring for the poor and for God’s creation.

We encourage you to take a few moments each week, using the insert to ponder and reflect. Hopefully this Lent will be for you a new experience of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

AN INVITATION TO LEARN!

Jean Vanier at 80
Tuesday February 22nd at 7:30 PM
Wednesday, February 23rd at 10:30 AM

ANNOUNCED MASSES

February 21st – March 5th 2011
MONDAY – JOHN LAW Requested by Mary & Alec Chan
TUESDAY – SR. VIRGINIA FLAGG (STELLA MARIE) Requested by the Maryknoll Alumnae of Ontario
WEDNESDAY – BARRY BRADBURY Requested by Peggy & Family
THURSDAY
FRIDAY – DENIS MAILHOT Requested by Mary-Ann Mailhot
SATURDAY – GUILHERME DE MEDEIROS Requested by Mimi

OFFERTORY ENVELOPES FOR 2011

There are several boxes of offertory envelopes still left in the hallway outside the Gabriel Room. Please pick yours up as soon as possible if you have not already done so.

If the address on your box is incorrect, please inform the Parish Office in order that we might update our records. If you do not receive offertory envelopes and would like to do so, please call the office at 416-221-8866 and we will prepare a box for you.

TAX RECEIPTS

Tax receipts for donations made in 2010 will be mailed to you by the end of February. If you have changed your address or are moving out of the Parish, please notify the Parish Office at 416-221-8866.

COLLECTION

February 12th/13th
Our operating expenses average $14,000 per week.

Loose Change – $1,158
Envelopes (442) – $8,818
Weekly Portion of Pre-Authorized Giving (146) – $2,950
Total – $12,926

CASSEROLES FOR THE GOOD SHEPHERD CENTRE

Your prepared chicken rice casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at the Masses on the weekend of February 26th/27th, 2011 for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre. More volunteers are encouraged to get a copy of the casserole recipe and a pan and give it a try. For more information, please contact Irene Albrecht at 416 221-2791.

A MESSAGE FROM THE LEPROSY MISSION OF CANADA

What an amazing gift! Thank you very much for the stamps you sent to us and for bringing us closer to a world without leprosy. We are very grateful for all your effort to save the stamps, trim them and send them to us. In 2010, we raised over $8,679.
Please keep on sending us your used postage stamps so that we can work towards the day when leprosy is eradicated. We are happy to accept any and all trimmed stamps, leaving no less than ¼ inch and no more than ½ inch paper border. Stamps may be deposited in the basket just outside the Parish Office.

FAMILY DAY

Monday, February 21st is Family Day. The Parish Office will be closed. There will be a 9:00 AM Mass.

THANK YOU FOR A WONDERFUL CELEBRATION

We want to say a special word of thanks to all those good people who donated toward and worked so hard to make the celebration of the Lunar New Year such a wonderful success. Everyone who stayed for the celebration thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The food was plentiful and awesome! This is one of the nicest events we have though the year. Again, thanks to all. You’ll find photos on our website.
Many thanks to those who collected over $125 for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

SCARBORO MISSIONS

2011 Interfaith Series
Jewish – Christian Relations & Roots

From the Ghetto of Rome to the Wider World: Calls and Challenges in Catholic-Jewish Relations.
by Margaret McGrath & Mary Babic (Sisters of Sion)
Wednesday, February 23rd 7:00 – 9:00 PM

No admission fee. Voluntary offering to help defray costs is always appreciated. For more information, please call: 416-261-7135 ext 244/296
Email: lthorson@scarboromissions.ca or www.scarboromissions.ca

QUEEN OF APOSTLES RENEWAL CENTRE

Marriage Enrichment Weekend
February 25th – 27th

Older married couples are essential to their families and community when they become ‘elders’ not elderly.  Couples married over 25 years, looking at retirement and those in retirement are a valued resource to their children and grandchildren.

Discover your unique role by participating in a special marriage renewal weekend called Alone Again being held at Queen of Apostles Renewal Centre, Mississauga, February 25th – 27th.

For information call 905-278-8879 or 416-694-1742 or register at Queen of Apostles, 905-278-5229. 

NEW BEGINNINGS: WIDOW / WIDOWER SUPPORT GROUP

For those who are Separated, Divorced or Widowed
March 4th to April 15th at 7:30 PM
St. Louis-de-France Church (Don Mills south of York Mills)

Looking for hope and guidance after the death of a spouse? Searching to lighten this burden of loneliness and sadness? In an informal setting, we meet for 7 weeks, where we share and learn from each other. You are most welcome to join us as we seek answers to help prepare us for our new journey.

Facilitator : Mary Muir
To register, please call 416-921-1163, Ext. 2246

WORLDWIDE MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER

March 25th – 27th

Married couples: You deserve a weekend to celebrate being together; to rediscover each other and focus on ways to make your relationship even better. A Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend offers this opportunity. 

Consider giving each other or another couple that you know the gift of a weekend away from daily pressures; time to be with each other and with God on a Marriage Encounter Weekend.

Upcoming Weekend Date: March 25-27, 2011
For further information or registration please contact Cora & Mike Bryce at 905-896-2958 or cora-mikebryce@sympatico.ca

THE GREEN CORNER

“Living Downstream”
March 6, 2011 at 7:30 PM
Temple Emanu-El

The Bayview Corridor of Synagogues will be presenting “Living Downstream”, a film that explores the link between cancer and the environment, as part of their Eco-Film Festival.

“Living Downstream” will be shown Sunday, March 6, 2011, at 7:30 PM in Temple Emanu-El, 120 Old Colony Road, Toronto (Bayview and York Mills), (416) 449-3880. Dr Georgina Wilcock from Physicians for the Environment will be the featured speaker for the evening. Admission is free.