St. Leonard Catholic Parish
M anotick, Ont

"Celebrating 50 Years as a Catholic Community "
Monthly E-Newsletter for Jan 1st
Welcome to the St. Leonard monthly E-Newsletter as we continue to celebrate the great joy of Christmas:" The  Word became flesh  and dwelt among us." John 1:14
God has literally entered the world. When we see we see God we see Jesus! Happy New Year!
Pastor's Message for Jan 1st

Family and Community

Happy New Year and Greetings from Nigeria. I just arrived home to visit with my dear mother and my brothers and sisters, but I am still thinking of you, my St. Leonard’s community. Thank you for your generosity to me and the children of the orphanage and I hope that you and your family had a wonderful Christmas as we once again celebrated the birth of Jesus. God is truly with us!

Recently I have been reflecting on family life and its role as the building block of our Catholic community. This all comes together for us during the Christmas season when our families and extended families gather together. Every year right after Christmas, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. There is a reason for this. It’s easy to think the “incarnation” means God took on a human body. But there is much more to it than that. In Jesus, God unites himself to an entire human nature. He fully enters the human experience, with all its peaks and valleys. And a part of that human experience, with more than its share of joys, challenges and suffering, is family. Just as the Holy Family modeled a virtuous life in their household, we too are called to life a virtuous life in our household and our community, placing love for God and neighbour above all else. If we are going to have strong faith-filled communities then we need to have strong faith-filled families. One cannot exist without the other. I would like to consider three values of a “holy” family and how can we put these virtues into practice in the life of our community.

Compassion means to “feel the feelings of the other”. In a loving family, family members put themselves in the shoes of their brothers or sisters, or mothers or fathers so that they can see issues and conflicts from the other family members perspective. In a similar way in a strong community, members enter the feelings of their fellow parishioners and place the highest value on their relationship.

Humility means to “be deeply aware of your own truth.” In a caring family, brothers and sisters and fathers and mothers are aware of their own ignorance and weaknesses. Others are not always wrong! Fostering the virtue of humility in a community leads to members saying to themselves “I might be wrong. Maybe it’s me.”

Patience means to bear another’s burdens. A family where family members ask the question “Whose burdens can I bear today?” It is a family where happiness will reign. The kids know the parent’s burdens. The husband knows the wife’s burden’s and the kid’s burdens. The same question should be asked of all our community members, “Whose troubles can I alleviate?”.

Compassion, humility and patience are all facets of love. As Bishop Robert Barron often states, “Love is to will the good of the other.” Everything in the Christian family should lead to love because love is what God is. All dysfunction in families flows from a lack of love and it is a lack of love that causes families to break down. The same is true of all Christian communities, including our own of St. Leonard’s Parish.

As we begin this new calendar year let us reflect on the virtues of compassion, humility and patience that were so lovingly lived out in the Holy Family and renew or commitment to apply these virtues of love in our own family and in our community of St. Leonard Parish.

Wishing you much love this year and looking forward to seeing you in February! Father Titus
The Joy of Christmas in our Community
Lots of joyful activities occurred around the parish as St. Leonard's parishioners showed their Christmas spirit and engaged in community building activities. In the pictures below (1,2.3) we see our newly renovated Parish Hall being put to good use in the annual Victorian Tea and Penny Sale under the leadership of Arlene Bretzlaff . The St. Leonard's float (4) was all decked out and fully staffed with our children for the Manotick Christmas parade under the direction of Stephane McNichol. Again this year the team from the Knights, under the leadership of Trevor Ibach, set up our beautiful Nativity scene (5). And of course, the children who put on this years wonderful Christmas Pageant (6,7,8,9) under the guidance of Elizabeth Murphy and Sue Doucet. 
Christmas Hampers for 14 Families
Just before Christmas the Amor Dei volunteers gathered to bring together 14 hampers of food, gifts and sundry items for needy families in our community. This year the Christmas Hamper program was lead by Norm Chapman and Deltra Van Dongen and the overall Amor Dei program was lead by Roxy McCarthy. They wanted to extend a big THANK YOU to all of those that supported the program through their time, energy, food and financial resources.
Discipleship
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Fr. Titus Receives Rose Chasuble
Back in September, at the celebration of his 25th Anniversary of his ordination into the priesthood Father Titus was presented with a gift certificate for a rose chasuble from the Catholic Women's League and the Knights of Columbus. On Dec 5th that promised gift was presented by Carol Daily to Father Titus at a Wednesday Mass. And, as you can see, what a beautiful chasuble it is!
PS: Fr. Titus wore it on the 3rd Sunday of Advent.
Youth Ministry
All youth, Gr. 6 - 12, are invited to join us for a diocesan-wide youth night on Friday, January 18th, 6:30-8:30pm at Annunciation of Our Lord Parish (2414 Ogilvie Road).
Bob Rice will be facilitating the evening. He is a phenomenal Catholic speaker, musician, and writer from Steubenville, Ohio. He will tackling some big questions in a discussion about 'Love, Suffering, and God.' If God is all loving and all powerful, why does he allow suffering?
Like any youth night, you can also expect snacks, small group, music, and fun. It's free, so bring your friends. See you there!
Share the Facebook link.
Stewardship
New Liturgical Environment Team Leader
Ogo Nnebe has recently taken over responsibility for the Church's Liturgical Environment from Claudia Ressler. She is pictured 2nd from the right along with helpers Marc Wood, Michel Doucet and Barry Gauthier as they set-up for Advent. A big thanks to Claudia Ressler for providing us with such a high quality liturgical environment over the last number of years.
Get Involved in our Community!
The best way to get involved in our community is by becoming a volunteer. Visit Get Involved/Volunteer

What's on in January?
Jan. 2    7:00 p.m. Pastoral Council Meeting 
Jan. 9    7:00 p.m. Knights of Columbus Meeting
Jan. 23  7:00 p.m. Service - Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Jan. 28  6:30 p.m. Confirmation Session
After the 9 am and 11 am Sunday masses in January coffee will be served in the Parish Hall. Click on the Parish Calendar for a full listing of upcoming meetings and events.
Parishioner Feedback: We Love Your Input!
Dear Parishioners we are very interested in your feedback. If have any comments and/or suggestions as it relates to any of our Parish activities, including the E-Newsletter, please  click here. If you would like a direct response to your suggestion, please include your email address.
St. Leonard Electronic Communications Update

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