Ministry Weekend Registration is Open!
Ministries Weekend, now in its second year, is an opportunity for leaders and volunteers in several ministries to come together to learn, share their faith journeys, and spend time together reflecting on our shared call to serve. Those who serve our parishes and schools as catechists, youth ministry volunteers, family life committee members, liturgical leaders, and parish social ministers are especially invited to share in this weekend experience. For complete details and registration information, click here.

Coaches Training: A Must for Coaches

The first series of coaches training have passed. Read the article from The Dialog here. The next sessions are scheduled for spring 2006. These sessions permit all adult leaders in CYM athletics the opportunity to gain insights into the values at the core of the CYM sports experience and provide tips on ways to be a positive coach. Keynote presenter is Jack Holloway, a legend in the Delaware sports community. Please note: this training is required once every three years. All 2005-2006 CYM coaches who have not yet attended a session must do so in spring 2006. To download a flyer for the spring sessions, click here.

Theology on Tap is Back for a Refill

Socially-responsible investing, marriage, discovering one’s vocation, spiritual direction and how the Catholic Church helps to make the world a better place, are some of the topics tackled in the upcoming Theology on Tap discussion series. The popular discussion series for young adults that brings topics of faith and contemporary issues into local bars will be back in Wilmington in November and December. TOT continues on Thursday, November 17 and continues each Thursday through December 15 at Catherine Rooney’s Irish Pub & Restaurant on Delaware Avenue, across from Trolley Square in Wilmington. Each evening begins at 7:00 p.m. with socializing; the presentation begins at 7:30 followed by discussion and an opportunity for further socializing. The talks are free and open to all young adults, married or single, in their twenties and thirties.

The Theology of Thanksgiving
You are probably aware of the origins of the Thanksgiving holiday. If not, a quick Internet search will bring you up to speed. Both the Wampanoag (Wam pa NO ag) Indians and the Puritan pilgrims had traditions of giving thanks to God for the gifts of the earth. They knew that giving thanks to God was of critical importance for human beings.

When we give thanks to God we are making a foundational theological statement. That statement is this: We are not the center of the universe. We are not self-sufficient. All that we have, all that we are, comes from another. That other is ultimately God.

God does not need our thanks. God will be just fine, thank you, whether or not we acknowledge our debt to our Creator. So why are there so many prayers of thanksgiving in the Scriptures and in our liturgy? Because we need to give thanks to God--not because God needs it but because we need it. To be thankful to God is to remember our need for God. To be thankful to other people is to remember our need for each other.

Let us help young people understand the importance of thanksgiving, both as a form of prayer and as a virtuous practice with others. In the next two weeks we'll provide some activity and prayer ideas to give you opportunities for doing this. ~Brian Singer-Towns, St. Mary's Press
 

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