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St. Emily and St. Thomas Becket Parishes
January 28, 2019
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Dear Families,
I hope your student (in fifth through eighth) enjoyed the presentation by Rabbi Nina Mizrahi last week.
This week is just a bit more routine.
Project Exodus is going very well so far! We have just a few things on the list that have not been spoken for. If you'd like to contribute, there is still time.
Somewhere in the world, there is a family hoping against hope to get one of the few slots available for refugee settlement in the United States. Say a prayer for whoever they are. We'll meet them in a month or two and help them get their new lives started. For more information and to sign up,
see below
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 Project Exodus
Help a family begin life in the United States
Project Exodus is an outreach project we have done the last five years. We collect the items that a family needs to begin life in the United States. (We don't take care of furniture - but all the rest, including linens, towels, and kitchen equipment.) We do this in conjunction with
Exodus World Service.
On the day they land to begin their new life, we meet the family at their apartment and set it up so that they can settle in quickly.
We have helped families from Syria, Iraq, Myanmar, and Congo. We don't yet know who we will help this year.
There are 62,000,000 refugees in the world today. It takes between five and twenty years to apply for and receive refugee resettlement status in the United States.
How can you participate?
- Sign up to bring some of the items. Sit down with your kids and decide what you want to contribute and take them with you to shop. (Besides modeling generosity, I have found this project helps to teach kids about setting up a household!)
We hope to have all the items donated by February 13.
- Come with us the day we move them into their new apartment. Because we don't know when refugees will be arriving until about a week to ten days prior, this date is not yet set. Kids have a fantastic time meeting the arriving family and doing the work to set up. "It is like playing house, but with real stuff!" Let Cathy know if you'd like to be included.
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Join a "House Church" for Lent
A Faith Sharing Group that Meets While the Kids Are in Class
This is a tradition at St. Emily. We'd like to make it available to the families of Religious Education students while the kids are in class on Wednesday.
Melissa Hajdu is leading the group.
This year, the groups will read and discuss the book,
Give Up Something Bad for Lent
. Change a bad habit or way of relating that hurts your life with God and others. The books will be available for purchase for $10.00 each. (Melissa will have them for sale in February during RE. They are also available in the parish office.)
The group will meet on March 4, 8, 11 and April 1 in the school faculty room. You can drop off your kids, sit down and have a cup of coffee, and then you'll be close by to pick them up at the end of class at 7:30 PM.
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Woman's Welcome Weekend
A great way to jump start your spiritual life
St. Emily has sponsored Christ Renews His Parish (CHRP) for many years.
Welcome is the '2.0 version' and will take place here on February 29 to March 1.
Welcome is a renewal experience for all Christian women 18 years and older. It's an experience that promises to remind us there's MORE to life.
For more details, and to register,
go here.
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Choosing a Catholic School
Financial Help Might Be Available For You
There are a number of ways you might be able to pay for a Catholic school education.
This year, the reservation form will be available at 6:30 PM, to give families time to enter their information before submission at 7:00 PM. More information about preparing for reservation night can be found on the
Empower Illinois website.
The
Big Shoulders Fund is also accepting tax credit scholarship applications, on January 14, beginning at 8 AM.
In addition, please apply for Holy Family Fund tuition assistance (a parish fund at St. Emily) with an application to
SmartAid.com.
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Emergency Closing Information
Know how to be informed
We hope that all our Wednesdays are sunny and dry, but it is Chicago and we realize that winter weather is no joke.
If we find it advisable to close, we will send a blast email to all families that day.
We will also post any closings at the
Emergency Closing Center. Please check there to make sure.
You can also sign up there for email alerts that tell if and when the Religious Education program is cancelled.
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- February 26 - Ash Wednesday. Mass at 7:00 PM.
- March 4 - First Lent House Church meeting
- March 7 - First Reconciliation at 1:00 PM
- March 10 - Confirmation Rehearsal at 7:00 PM
- March 15 - Confirmation at 2:00 PM
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St. Emily Parish
Catherine Crino, DRE
847-299-5865
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St. Thomas Becket Parish
Renata Sosin, CRE
847-296-9051
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