St. Anthony Catholic Church Davenport, Iowa Weekly Email Newsletter

Grandmother Holds onto Her Faith After Tanner's Suicide By John Cooper

Tanner is pictured above.

Trailer video about the book After Suicide .

Last year on his 38th birthday on January 27, Jean's grandson Tanner took his life. He is one of 800,000 people who commit suicide every year. Like most of those people, Tanner has family and friends who mourn his death, trying to make sense of it. That's where I found Jean last January after daily Mass, praying the Rosary and asking God to strengthen her faith to deal with the loss of her grandson. Jean's eyes were filled with tears as she prepared to go to his funeral. Seeing her pain, I wanted to do something. Several months later, I stumbled upon a new book co-authored by Father Chris Alar, MIC and Jason Lewis, MIC, titled After Suicide: There's Hope for Them and for You. Cardinal Soane Mafi said, "Alar and Lewis have dared to deal with such a sensitive subject in a way few others have: from the perspective of Church teaching and from the aspect of spirituality, which many abandon in the midst of such a tragedy." I decided to purchase two of these books, one for Jean and one for me. Last week, I sat down with Jean to talk about the book, but first, I wanted to know more about Tanner. An elementary school teacher for nearly 50 years, Jean described her grandson as an intellectual. Although, he never finished a college degree, she said, "Tanner was a very deep thinker." CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.

Youth Choir Rehearsal and Ukulele Band Mark your calendars for rehearsals for the Youth Choir Musical “A Not so Terrible Parable” beginning on January 26th, 2020 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm. Ukulele Band will practice from 1:30 to 2:30 pm on January 26th, 2020. Schedules for both activities are found at the entrance of the church.  EMAIL Kim for more info.

Join St. Anthony's Adult Choir Wednesday, January 22 Adult Choir Rehearsal 6:30-8:00 pm Choir Loft in Church New members are always welcome. EMAIL Kim for more info.

HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH GROUP THIS MONTH... Sunday, January 19 - 6 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. - Cooking Meal and Taking It to Serve at Kings Harvest Shelter. Meet at Parish Center. Sunday, January 26 - 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. - Mass in the Parish Center with Father Apo followed by pizza and board games. Email John for More info.

RESCHEDULED: Downtown with St. Anthony's at Cafe d'Marie Due to projected inclement weather this Saturday evening, we are rescheduling our Downtown with St. Anthony's at Cafe d'Marie for Saturday, January 26 after the 4:30 p.m. Mass.

Wear Your Faith Evangelize by... Choosing to wear St. Anthony’s Apparel Visit: https://stacc-webshop.itemorder.com/sale to view all the different clothing options.

“Hesburgh” A documentary film “Hesburgh” a film about the extraordinary life of priest, civil-rights and social justice activist, University of Notre Dame president Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., will be shown at St. Ambrose University’s Galvin Fine Arts Center on Saturday, Jan. 18, and Sunday, Jan. 19, at 3 p.m.

Sponsored by SAU, the Notre Dame Club of the Quad Cities and the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Students free, all others suggested donation of $10 to support summer intern project at Davenport’s Project Renewal for disadvantaged youth. Galvin is at corner of Gaines and High streets, two blocks north of Locust Street, in Davenport.

If You Missed It.... Norm Bower, a parishioner at St. Anthony's recently published an article in the Catholic Messenger about his experience of taking Holy Communion to Genesis Hospital. Click here to read Norm's piece.

CONFESSIONAL REMODEL IN PROGRESS

We expect the confessional remodel to last at least a month. We are having daily Mass in the Parish Center to allow the workers to keep working. All weekend Masses will be in the church as usual.

A 1958 St. Anthony calendar courtesy of Halligan Funeral Home found behind a wall during confessional remodel.

A Little Older Folks Humor REMEMBER, old folks are worth a fortune with silver in their hair, gold in their teeth, stones in their kidneys, lead in their feet, and gas in their stomachs. I have become a little older since I saw you last and a few changes have come into my life since then. Frankly, I have become quite a frivolous old gal. I am seeing five gentlemen every day. As soon as I wake up, Will Power helps me get out of bed. Then I go see John. Then Charlie Horse comes along, and when he is here he takes a lot of my time and attention. When he leaves, Arthur Ritis shows up and stays the rest of the day. He doesn't like to stay in one place very long, so he takes me from joint to joint. After such a busy day, I'm really tired and glad to go to bed with Ben Gay. What a life! P.S. The Preacher came to call the other day. He said, "at my age I should be thinking about the hereafter." I told him, oh, I do all the time. No matter where I am, in the parlor, upstairs, in the kitchen or down in the basement, I ask myself, "What am I here after?"