Operation Rice Bowl

CRS’ Operation Rice Bowl is Catholic Relief Services’ Lenten program that began in 1975 in the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania as an ecumenical response to the drought in the African Sahel. For more than 35 years, CRS’ Operation Rice Bowl has offered Catholics in the United States a way to connect with our brothers and sisters in need around the world through the traditional Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Nearly 13,000 faith communities across the United States participate in the program each Lent to demonstrate solidarity with the poor around the world.

Seventy-five percent of CRS’ Operation Rice Bowl donations come to Catholic Relief Services to help fund development programs designed to increase food security around the world. These projects focus on initiatives that bring clean water, small enterprise development, agricultural expertise, educational opportunities, and HIV/AIDS and mother/child health programs to the poor in more than 40 countries. Twenty-five percent of CRS’ Operation Rice Bowl donations support hunger and poverty alleviation efforts in dioceses within the United States.

By praying with our families and faith communities; fasting in solidarity with those who hunger; learning more about the challenges of poverty overseas; and giving sacrificial contributions to support those in need, we can make a difference in our world.

For more information go to the Catholic Relief Services website at Operation Rice Bowl.

@ Saint Pius X, the Faith Formation and CGS Atrium children are asked to return their Rice Bowls on Wednesday, March 28 or bring them to the Rice Bowl drop boxes in the Gathering Space during Holy Week.  If you have questions, call Mary or Sherri at 278-5684, ext. 130 or 152.

http://therichsoil.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/operation-rice-bowl-global-solidarity-in-action/

Silent Auction is Coming!

Join us for a Silent Auction during the Fish Fry!
Proceeds to benefit CGS Atrium & Faith Formation


Friday, March 2, 2012
5:00 - 7:00 pm
Saint Pius X Parish Center
3601 1/2 66th Street
Urbandale, Iowa 50322


Auction Items for everyone in the family, including:

Nintendo Wii
handmade Quilt
Golfer's Basket
Drake Basket
Bucs Hockey Basket
LiaSophia Jewelry Basket
Thirty-One Bags
Avon Basket
Girl Scout Cookie Basket
Movie Basket
Templeton Rye Basket
Tastefully Simple Basket
Bike World Basket
A Night at the Embassy Suites
Gift cards to area restaurants, including Iowa Machine Shed and Mustards.
Tour of WHO-TV during the 6:00 pm News
Special baskets for our youngest parishioners to bid on and much, much more!

From a Level Three Atrium in NW Texas

From my friends in Texas comes a beautiful story from a Level 3 Atrium (ages 9 -12):


One of the Level 3 boys took a Bible to the white board in the room and after paging through it for some time, carefully read Ezekiel 34:7 (“Therefore, you shepherds hear the words of the Lord”) and wrote it on the board. After reading it to himself a few more times, he then looked through the Psalms, reading some, passing by some. Soon I saw that he was writing Psalm 137:1 (“By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down there we wept when we remembered Zion”) underneath his transcription of Ezekiel. He read the two together, standing back and gazing at them for some time. Then, he drew a line to connect the two verses, and wrote to the side of them, “these two related”.

He asked me, “How are these related? I know they are; I feel it. They said these in church, but I think there’s more.” I suggested that he look at Ezekiel chapter one. He did, and then he grew greatly excited to see that Ezekiel was hearing and speaking his prophecy at the same time that the people of Zion were weeping by the sides of the rivers in Babylon; Ezekiel had even had his first vision of God by the banks of one of those rivers. “I knew it; I knew it!” he said. “I knew that they were connected!”

Later I looked up and saw that he had written Psalm 23:1 (“The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want”) as well, and he had drawn a line connecting it to the Ezekiel. “Miss Kay,” he said, "I know these are connected too”. I asked, if this was because they both talked about a shepherd. “Not just because they both talk of a shepherd. This one”, (he pointed to Ezekiel) “means that God takes care of us. I think this means that too (pointing to the Psalm 23), but there’s more, isn’t there. They sound the same, but they mean something different too.”

I sat with him a moment, then wondered with him about the use of the word “shepherd”. Did he know that in the time when Ezekiel was writing, the Hebrew word for shepherd could also be translated as “King”?” Here he became very excited. “That’s it! These shepherds were the kings! (Ezekiel). They weren’t taking care of the sheep, the people. That’s why they needed to hear God’s words! But here (the Psalm), the Lord is our King and he IS taking care of everything we need. That’s it!”

He then began to write in his work journal for the day: “Throughout the scriptures there should be more special fraises (sic). Like: The Lord is my shepherd I do not want. So I think there needs to be just a few more special verses. This work relates to when we get in a circle and read and discuss our parable. Did the people who wrote the bible long ago, did God tell them what to write or did they make some of it up? Plus why do the Psalms relate to almost all the scriptures? In the book of Psalms there is a lot of stuff to learn, so I think we should start reading Psalms in class.”

Later, as the students were coming to the door to be dismissed to their next class, I saw him arranging a prayer with the magnetic prayer words above his writing on the white board. After they left, I went to read his prayer. It read, “My Good Angel Teacher” . Indeed! His exegesis was clearly lead by a heavenly visitor, and his short prayer of thanksgiving was there for us all to see.

Overheard in the Atrium

While meditating on the Precious Pearl, with a four and a half year old, D., the catechist asked, “Why did the merchant sell his pearls?”

D.:  “So he could get money and buy food.”

Catechist:  “Did the story from the Bible mention food?”

D.:  “No, he bought a special pearl.  The pearl was special because it gave him light.”

Catechist:  “Can you tell me about he light?”

D.:  “The light was bright and shined all around (waving her arms up over her head) when it was dark.  It was beautiful.”

Tour of the Church with Father John

Thank you for the tour Father John!

Father John talks about the use of Sacred Chrism

Father John talks about praying and lighting candles.

Profession of Faith

The fourth grade have learned how to identify ways God makes Himself known to us.

God revealed Himself most fully in Jesus.  

 We profess our faith at Mass each week.  We pray one of the creeds of the Church. 

 The creeds of the Church are also called professions of faith.

 Our fourth graders prepared personal statements about their faith, what they believe.

Tonight they went to the Church to "profess" their faith statements at the ambo.  

Confirmation Retreat: Sunday, January 22, 2012

Please pray for our 88 young people who will be on retreat this Sunday, January 22, 2012.  Our retreat begins at 1:00 pm in the Martha and Mary Fellowship Hall.
We will conclude with Mass at 5:45 pm.  This Mass fulfills your Sunday obligation and parents and siblings are welcome to join us for this Liturgy.
May God bless the team as they prepare for the retreat and all those preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Fish Fry and Silent Auction

FISH FRY and SILENT AUCTION
Friday, March 2, 2012
5:00 - 7:00 pm
St. Pius X Parish Center


Auction Items include:
Handmade Quilt
Wii (Sport)
Golfer's Delight Basket
Bucaneers Basket
Drake Bulldog Basket
Movie Night Basket
Thirty-One products
Lots of Jewelry
Handmade item by Deacon Dave
Girl Scout Cookie Basket
Joe's Photo Booth
Graziano Brothers Italian Basket
Palmer's Deli Gift Cards
Books, Games and Coloring book Baskets for the kids
and much, much more!


All proceeds go to the CGS Atrium for materials and training costs.


If you would like to donate toward a basket or have an idea to create a basket, contact Mary at 515-278-5684, ext. 130 or mheinrich@saintpiuschruch.org

A family Lenten journey...Come suffer with Chris!

Overheard in the Atrium

Tonight in the True Vine Atrium, a catechist was presenting the Mystery of Faith with a group of seven year olds.  As they spoke about the Resurrection and how we come to know that Jesus rose from the dead, one little boy proclaimed, "I know where that is!" and proceeded to get up and walk over to the Blue Strip and point to Redemption.

I love it when the children make those connections!

Catechist Formation

This week (Wednesday, January 4, 2012) our catechists will be gathering from 7:00 - 9:00 pm at St. Francis of Assisi Parish for our Winter In-Service.   There will be over 300 catechists from around the city in attendance.  Our catechists will have a variety of workshops to choose from, including:

The Examen: Checkup for Daily Life

Fr. Bob Hoefler

Learn about this practice begun by St. Ignatius

Your Catholic Charities

Trish Radke

Learn about the history and work of Catholic Chari-

ties along with ideas for service.

Mary of Nazareth

Dr. Tom Neal

Fostering a Catholic approach to the Virgin Mary

The Gift of Prayer-In A Box

Erin Nennig

A lesson on how to pray as middle school students

with the tools to create a holy place for prayer.

Praying the Psalms with Children and Families

Patricia Mathson

Creative ways to encourage children and families to

give praise to our God with the psalms

Answering the Tough Questions: Reconciliation

Kayla Richer & Debbi Chalik

Answers along with teaching tips

Women in the Bible

Deb Richards

Explore some of the women in the Bible and what

they have to do with us today

Music in the RE Setting

Cathy Gray

Fun for the primary grades

Breathe

Ann Mertes

Have you ever thought about your breath from a spiri-

tual perspective? View and discuss Rob Bell’s video

“Breathe.”

Making Booklets in the Atrium

For Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

Mary Heinrich

Simple bookbinding for tracing packets or Maxim booklets

This is a great opportunity for our catechists to share and learn new ideas to bring to the classroom or atrium.

Sessions will resume the following week:

Sunday, January 8, 2012:  CGS Atrium  for Sunday Preschool

Tuesday, January 10, 2012:  Tuesday CGS Atrium

Wednesday, January 11, 2012:  Wednesday Night Faith Formation and CGS Atrium