From your Vestry

The last three editions of this email sending have introduced Mary Bach, who recently joined Chapel of Our Saviour to help with our growing children’s programs. Mary is a committed, energetic addition to the planning and supervision of our youth programs, and we hope you get the chance to welcome her aboard. She can usually be found at fellowship after the 10:45 service – she is the one surrounded by several adoring little ones. Our thanks to the couple of parishioners who have added to their pledged giving to support this initiative.

There has been a buzz this year at our Vestry meetings over the growth in the number of youth participating in our Chapel programs. This growth may not be visible to all, particularly those who attend primarily at the earlier services—so this seems an opportune time to describe a typical week’s activity. Last Sunday saw 10 children in our child care during the 10:45 service and another 11 participating in Children’s Chapel, all pre-school or elementary school aged. Sunday afternoon at 4 pm, as on most every Sunday afternoon, another twenty young people in grades 6 through 12 took over the parish house for a couple of hours. That’s about 40 of our youth participating in our youth programs on a given Sunday. Pretty good reason for a buzz—this is a notable increase over recent years.

Last Sunday’s Gazette included an article discussing a recent Harvard study that showed that children raised in a religious environment that includes church attendance are much better protected against depression, substance abuse, and other risky behaviors. Our thanks to Krista, Mary, and all our involved parishioners for making our youth programs so welcoming to our young people.