Catholic Daughters of the Americas - cdastlouis.org newsletter March... · Web viewSomeone said...

Chaplain’s Message Msgr. Joseph Luca

CDA Court St. Louis Newsletter March 2016

Catholic Daughters of the Americas

Court St. Louis # 2579St. Louis Church

Clarksville, MD 21029

In this issue:

Chaplain’s Message

2

Regent’s Message 3

March General Meeting

4

RCIA Breakfast and Evening Snack

4

Easter Egg Hunt 5

Charity Committee 5

Charity Bingo 6

Rosary Guild 7

Confirmation Letters

7

For the Good of the Court

8

State News 9

Upcoming Events 11

PLEASE REMEMBER

CDA Mission Statement – Catholic Daughters of the Americas strives to embrace the principle of faith working through love in the promotion of justice, equality and the advancement of human rights and human dignity for all.

Court St. Louis’ Mission Statement - As recipients of God’s many blessings we, as Court St Louis #2579 of the Catholics Daughters of the Americas, endeavor to use these gifts to support our faith through love, by promoting justice, encouraging equality, and supporting human dignity for all (11/08/09).

Dedication - It was agreed that Court St Louis is dedicated to Mary, Mother of God.

Meeting Date – Business meetings will be held on the third Wednesday of the month from September through June in the St. Louis Church Parish Center. Meetings start with a social time at 7:00, the business meeting will be called to order at 7:30pm and adjournment will be followed by social time until 9:30pm.

State Newsletter – The most recent State Newsletter was emailed to you at the end of the month. Did you receive yours via email from Mary Lea? If not, please let her know so that you can be added to her email list!

The lives of each of us may be ordered by the Lord in a beautiful way for His glory, if we will only entrust Him with our life. If we try to regulate our own life, it will only be a

mess and a failure.

March 2016 Volume IX, Issue VI

Dear CDA Sisters,

Someone said there are basically two kinds of people in the world: those who divide people into two kinds of people and those who do not. The prophet Jeremiah does indeed say that there are two kinds of people (see Jeremiah 17:5-10). One kind he calls cursed and the other he calls blessed.

The life of the cursed he compares to a low bush in the desert, inhabiting a parched and desolate wilderness. The life of the blessed, on the other hand, he compares to a tree planted by the waters that spreads its roots out by the river. Its leaves are green; its fruit is bountiful. Two kinds of people. For one life is meaningless, empty, without hope or promise. For the other life is purposeful, rich, and full of promise, hope and good cheer. Two kinds of people. To which group would you like to belong?

If you would like to belong to the first group here’s what you need to do—absolutely nothing. If you want your life to be meaningless all you have to do is just sit there. It’s easy to live in a desert. All you have to do is withdraw into yourself. What can be easier than that? Make up your mind that you are the only person in this world that matters—your wishes, your pleasures, your way. Spend your life looking out for number 1. Turn your back on any relationship or reality that requires sacrifice, patience, generosity or love—or a cross. It’s easy to be a low bush in the desert.

On the other hand, if you want to join that other group—the group that is like a tree planted by the water with its roots spreading out to the river, with its green leaves and bounteous fruits, there are a couple steps we must take.

In the first place, we need to learn to trust God. It is not enough to worship God, or honor God, or fear God, or simply believe in God. Our lives will be barren deserts until we learn to trust God. We are strange people. We put on our coins that marvelous inscription “In God we trust.” But it seems to have little ring of truth to it. As a nation, we would be more honest if we inscribed on our money: “In our military might do we trust;” “In our economic superiority do we trust;” “In our technological expertise do we trust.” It is difficult to find some semblance of trust in God in the way we conduct our life as a nation. That is also true in the way we live our lives as individuals. As Jeremiah said: “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him” (Jeremiah 17:7)

Secondly, we need to see the possibilities God offers us. God has some rich possibilities for your life. For one thing, you can learn to genuinely care about people: people you live with, people you work with, people you run into on the job, at church or in an organization like the Catholic Daughters of the Americas. You can learn to get involved and make a contribution. God can make a new person out of you. As someone has put it: “He can turn your scars into stars.” He can put a smile back on your lips. He can make your life a blessing to others. He can give you something to live for and work for and hope for—when you try to be a blessing for others.

The choice is ours on how we live our life. Two kinds of people. So which are you—a thriving tree or a withering bush?

Msgr. LucaRegent’s Message


Mary Lea Bain

Dear CDA Sisters and Msgr. Luca,

Goodbye winter and hello to Spring!

These past weeks of Lent have flown by and we, CDA, have touched so many lives. First of which were our CDA soup and sandwiches held on 3 Friday nights during Lent. We raised around $1000 but, most importantly we fed hundreds of people in our St. Louis community. So many of the attendees brought their families and if they did not have their family with them, their friends were there to partake in the sharing of food and friendship. This annual event could not have so successful without the help of the cooks, servers, greeters, runners to purchase food and supplies and the coordination behind the scenes. THANK YOU Sisters!

On Saturday, March 5th approximately 10 CDA sisters attended an Empty Bowl painting event which was sponsored by St. Vincent de Paul. There were approximately 70 CDA sisters in attendance. The close out of the Empty Bowl Program was held on Saturday March 19 at the Timonium Fairgrounds where people were able to choose a bowl, fill it, so that the bowl will never be empty.

I hope and pray everyone experienced a Blessed Holy Week and a joyous Easter. May God continue to be part of your lives.

Mary LeaRegent


March General MeetingMarch 16

At the March meeting, The Arc of Howard County was the topic of our two speakers, Brenda Sackandy, Director of Community and Family Services, and Lisa Kawata, Volunteer Coordinator. The Arc is the oldest and largest non-profit organization that provides services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Howard County. “Achieving full community life for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities — one person at a time” is the mission of The Arc of Howard County.

The Arc’s many programs are designed to assist clients as they live, work, and play in the community. These men and women, ages 21 and up, have available to them a large range of assistance including employment, housing, dental care, vacation funding, and transportation. The Arc and its many volunteers are continually working to offer clients opportunities that will also enrich their lives through social interaction and companionship.

Many sisters in attendance had questions about what community assistance was needed. Although basic state funds do provide help, additional financial assistance is greatly needed, of course. Fuel costs for transportation alone can run from $11,000 to $15,000 a year. Vans and buses are used to transport clients to work, shopping, appointments, and for social activities in the community such as a bowling party or a visit to a senior citizen center. Donations such as large print paperbacks are welcome, as are volunteers to be readers, visitors, or just simply new friends.

You can get more information on The Arc of Howard County at their web site – www.archoward.org.

RCIA Breakfast and Evening Snack

Ladies of the Court gathered in the Social Hall early on Easter Saturday morning to prepare a breakfast for the CIA candidates and their families. Tammy and Johnnie Sczepanski provided Easter candy, ladies in the Court donated hard boiled eggs and the Church provided bagels, cream cheese, muffins and yogurt. We plated it, set it up in the Social Hall and served as hostesses when they joined us after Morning Prayer. They were most appreciative. Thanks to Mary Lea Bain, Debbie Mangus, Tammy Sczepanski, Carolyn Sladic, Phyllis Hipp and Joan Farabaugh who helped in the morning.

After the morning event, we made deviled eggs out of the hard boiled eggs, plated veggie trays, all in preparation for a snack before the Easter Vigil. Debbie Mangus, Tammy Sczepanski and Peggy Whyte served this food plus veggie soup from the last Soup Dinner. Again, the folks were very appreciative!

And, anything that remained was left for either the Knights of Columbus who were directing traffic for Easter Masses or for the office staff after Easter. Lots of people benefited from this event!


http://www.archoward.org/

Easter Egg HuntNancy Cary

After preparing for 245 children, ages 10 and under, the Easter Egg Hunt took place on Monday, March 28th at 10 am. Loretta Shields, Barbara Beach, Nancy Carey and her 4 and 5-year old grandchildren braved the rain and hid 1200 eggs in the back field, the tot lot and the grass between the school and St. Louis Church. However, we were blessed with sunshine around 9:30 a.m. Loretta started off the event with a prayer and directions. Then about 50 children and their parent/grandparents eagerly hunted eggs and got their picture taken with the Easter Bunny.

This year the eggs were not filled with candy. The children exchanged the found empty eggs for a sandwiched size baggie with 10 pieces of candy in it. Some of the bags were packed after the March Meeting and the rest on Wednesday March 23rd by Cathy Stefano, Sally Fleshman, Barbara Beach, Carol Dunn, and Janice Vanisko and Nancy Carey. There were six special eggs, two for each age group, which would earn the egg hunter a special prize. Tammy Sczepanski donated 3 of the special prizes--homemade chocolate crosses. The other prizes were play dough and sidewalk chalk.

The unusually small attendance gave us many bags of candy left over. They will be donated.

A fun morning was had by all!

Charity Committee

The Charity committee met on Wednesday, March 2, 2015. There were 12 submissions from the membership. All except one were verified as 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations. There were 3 submissions for one charity. The committee discussed all 8 charities.

Following the discussion, a vote was taken and the consensus was to fund smaller, less well funded, local charities that used 80% of the donations for client services, and these charities were first time recipients of the CDA donations.

The charities selected were:

ONE MONTH'S RENT INITIATIVE, PO Box2153, Columbia, MD 21045Provides one month's rent or security deposit for Howard County residents threatened with losing their housing due to personal, economic or medical crisis. All receivers of OMR are asked to reciprocate once during their lifetime.

LAZARUS CAUCUS, PO Box 21274, Catonsville, MD 21228Provide supplemental support to the men of Baltimore County Westside Homeless Shelter


FIDOS FOR FREEDOM, 1200 Sandy Spring Rd, Laurel, MD 20707Improve the quality of life for people in the Baltimore Community by providing Specially Trained Assistance and Therapy Dogs

WHEATLAND FARMS, 15158 Berlin Turnpike, Purcellville, VA 20132Provide hope and healing for families with special needs thru therapeutic riding, adaptive hair salon, wheelchair lending, wheelchair detailing programs. They also have fun activities, designed to include siblings and typically developing children in an all-inclusive environment throat the year.

The amount of monies awarded to each charity is $$1355.12. The total amount for charity distribution for 2015-16 was $$5420.48. It is hoped that a representative of each charity will come to a meeting in April or May to tell us about their activities and receive their donation.

Do you have a favorite charity? Would you like the Court’s Charity Committee to consider them in our next Court year? Complete the form, available at all meetings and were emailed to members in October. The Committee will select charities based on nominations received one time this year. This does not prevent the board/membership from coming to the rest of the membership with a request which is more time sensitive.

You are invited….

Charity Bingo Beth Draminski

Save the date for the 10th annual Charity Bingo sponsored by Court St. Louis #2579. Friday, June 10th is the date and planning has started for this event that has been very successful through the years. The committee is shopping for a variety of Vera Bradley and other top name purses, totes and duffel bags.

Raffles are a very important part of the fundraising and we would like very much to have donations of theme baskets and other special items. In March and April we will be asking CDA members to pick a purse or bag to fill with a $25 gift card of their choice. Each donation will be recognized in the program booklet.

Another aspect of pre-planning is for the selection of food that will be sold to our players. Anyone have a favorite meal that you had at a previous Bingo?


The co-chairs of Nancy Carey, Carol Dunn, and Beth Draminski are being mentored by the previous co-chairs of Tammy Sczepanski and Patty Tarka. Our next meeting is Tuesday, April 12th and we welcome any member to get involved, who would like to make this another successful fundraiser.

Rosary GuildBeth Draminski

At the last Soup and Sandwich dinner, Msgr. Luca blessed rosaries made by our Rosary Guild. The rosaries will be given to each of the 110 Confirmandi while they are on their Confirmation retreat. Maggie Fischer, Youth Minister, was absolutely thrilled with the rosaries!

The rest of the blessed rosaries will be given to our regular recipients, the patients at Howard County General Hospital and the mariners helped by the Apostolate of the Sea. Thank you to those who make beautiful rosaries with beads and knots.

Rosary kits are distributed on a regular basis as the Rosary Guild members complete the kits at a meeting or at home. We always welcome new members to this worthwhile spiritual activity. The next meeting will be Tuesday, April 5th at 7:30 pm in Room 306.

Letters of Encouragement to Confirmation CandidatesIn addition to the rosaries for the confirmandi, ladies of the court have written Letters of Encouragement to Confirmation candidates. You all donated beautiful cards and we have written notes of encouragement to the 100+ students who are preparing for Confirmation. As of now, we have written notes to all students; these notes will be included in personalized packets given to each confirmandi at their Confirmation Retreat. Thanks so much for supporting this worthwhile activity.


For the good of our CourtMass Cards

Do you use Mass Cards? If so, do you know that you can get them from CDA? We have sympathy cards which are $5 as well as birthday cards, get well cards and all occasion cards which are $4. And profits from the CDA Mass Card program fund the Scholarship Program. You can purchase them at any meeting or by contacting Mary Ellen Cote. Please support CDA and our Court by purchasing and using Mass Cards.

What do you think of this?

I received a suggestion from a sister and would like your thoughts on this.

“Have you thought about putting together a section relating to "A Sister's Needs.....? We don't have an active "phone tree" to get the messages out to everyone when there is illness, crisis, etc. with one of the sisters, other than Mary Lea's email which sometimes gets lost in all the messages. I'm thinking about a section of the newsletter devoted to this kind of information. I'm going to give you some examples below:

Mary Smith - Husband in the hospital, spending a lot of time there. Could use an occasional meal brought in, a cheerful card, and whatever help is needed.

Mary Brown - Anticipating hip surgery. A call to see if she will need transportation for medical care, groceries, etc.. Maybe, even call to share your own experience with that kind of surgery and give encouragement.

Mary White - Will be selling her house and downsizing soon - Pass on personal knowledge of recommended places to move to (apts.etc.), moving companies that you recommend, help with packing, etc.

I know there have been several times when one of our sisters have been in "crisis" and I didn't hear about it, and felt badly that I hadn't helped. I know we are usually aware of when sickness strikes, but I would like to think that we could also respond to other types of problems in our lives that we could do something more specific about for another sister.”

I have noticed that the State has a section like this in their newsletter – let me know if you think this would be a good addition to our newsletter!

~ Debbie


From the State

Day of ReflectionNational Shrine of

St. Elizabeth Ann SetonJoin the Maryland State Court as we travel to The National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, a U.S. religious site and educational center in Emmitsburg, Maryland, that pays tribute to the life and mission of Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

DATE: Saturday, May 14, 2016 ADDRESS: 339 South Seton Avenue Emmitsburg, Maryland 21727-9297 TIME: 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

AGENDA Welcome Prayerful Reflection Time, Rosary Keynote Speaker – Jackie Antkowiak, Spiritual Advisor of Court St. Joseph; topic: Spirituality

Among Women in Today’s World. Guided hour-long Walking Tour of Mother Seton’s house and grounds and/or self-guided tour

of the Museum and Gift Shop LUNCH: Assortment of Chicken Caesar, Ham and Swiss, and Turkey and Provolone Wraps,

Confetti Slaw, Fresh Garden Salad, Coffee and Tea. Private Mass in the Basilica - Father Chris, State Chaplain; Departure

COST: $20.00 per person Court checks must be received no later than May 02, 2016. Checks payable to Maryland State Court and mailed to Anne Burgan, State Secretary.

State Court Fund Raiser

In lieu of the 10 Week Club Raffle which has been declining over the past couple of years the State Board has decided to try something different. Change is good… Your dues and this single fund raiser support the operation of the Maryland State Court.

Raffle tickets for a handmade 83” X 98” “Colonial Stars” quilt will be sold at the price of $5.00 each. Raffle tickets have been mailed to all local court Regents.

The winning ticket will be drawn at the Day of Reflection on May 14, 2016 in Emmitsburg. You may bring the ticket stubs and a court check to the Day of Reflection.


QUARTER MANIAEXTRAVAGANZA

Benefiting the Father Henry Hughes Scholarship FundSaturday, June 04, 2016St. Philip Neri Catholic Church6405 S. Orchard Rd, Linthicum Heights, MD 21090Admission $5.00Local courts will be requested to donate three items for the event. Use the resources of court members. Each donated item must have a total value of $25.00 or more. Examples: themed baskets, bank, restaurant, grocery store, Starbucks gift cards, bags, purses, bath and body products, jewelry, house and home items, gardening items etc. Items need to be dropped off by May 20 to Linda Field or Marguerite Collins or bring them with you to the Day of Reflection. To be a success,participation is needed from ALL courts. We are looking for “WOW!” items. Make it an item YOU would like to win. At the event each player will bid one quarter per $25.00 of the valued item, two quarters for a $50.00 value etc. Person holding the drawn wining number wins the item.

Food will be available for purchase.


Mark your calendar . . .

April 20164-8 -10 2016 - Spring Retreat 4-05-2016 – Bingo Planning Meeting – 7:00 PM in Room 3034-12-2016 – Rosary Guild 7:30PM – 9:00 PM in Room 306 4-12-2016 – 10th Anniversary Committee Meeting – 6:16 PM4-13-2016 – CDA Board Meeting 6 PM – 9:30 PM Room 304 4-16-2016 – Court St. Joseph Tea, Eldersburg4-19-2016 – CDA Audit 6PM-7PM Room 3034-20-2016 – CDA General Meeting 7PM – 9:00PM Social Hall and kitchen4-27-2016 – CDA Book Club Morning in Room 304 4-30-2016 – Set up for May Crowning 2 PM – 4PM Social Hall and kitchen

MAY 20165-8-2016 – CDA May Crowning Social Hall and kitchen – 9:30 AM – 2:30PM 5-10-2016 – Rosary Guild 7:30 PM- 9:00 PM in Room 306 5-11-2016 – CDA Board Meeting 6 PM – 9:30 PM in Room304 5/14/2016 - Day of Reflection National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton 5-18-2016 – CDA General Meeting 7PM – 9:00PM Social Hall and kitchen5-25-2016 – CDA Book Club Morning in Room 304

Upcoming Activities6/04/2016 - CDA Scholarship Bingo, St. Philip Neri Catholic Church, Linthicum Heights, MD6/05/2016 - Clergy Appreciation6/10/2016 - CDA Court St. Louis Bingo, 7:00 PM Social HallOctober - 10th Anniversary Dinner, Social Hall


Contact Us:Court St. Louis #2579

RegentMary Lea Bain7003 Deep CupColumbia, MD 21045443-374-7259 [email protected]

Vice Regent and Newsletter EditorDebbie Mangus12680 Clarksville PikeClarksville, MD [email protected]

TreasurerMary Ellen Cote3275 Gwenlee CircleGlenwood, MD [email protected]

Financial SecretaryMaria Hoffman9421 Farewell RoadColumbia, MD [email protected]

Recording SecretarySally Regnier3345 Route 97Glenwood, MD [email protected]

Court ChaplainMsgr. Joseph Luca410- 531-6040

CDA District DeputySandra [email protected]

Catholic Daughters of the Americas - cdastlouis.org newsletter March... · Web viewSomeone said...

Documents

Transcript of Catholic Daughters of the Americas - cdastlouis.org newsletter March... · Web viewSomeone said...