082408 New

August 24, 2008

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21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Georgia Support

Readings for Mass August 24, 2008

August 31, 2008

1st Reading

Is 56:1, 6-7

Jer 20:7-9

2nd Reading

Rom 11:13-15, 29-32

Rom 12:1-2

Mt 15:21-28

Mt 16:21-27

Gospel

Open Auditions for Festival Extravaganza September 20th! Calling all Musicians, Singers, Dancers, Jugglers, Comics & Comedians, Poets, Story-tellers, Magicians, Tumblers, Drama Queens, Sword-Swallowers & Fire-Eaters! Open audition for the September 20th Festival Extravaganza will be held at 6:00 p.m. September 6th! Polish up your number, find the old straw hat and cane, memorize all the words to "Gunga Din!" and let the parish see your Godgiven talents! For more information call Gayle (Ziegfeld) Peters at 770.964.5804.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR THE SEPTEMBER 20th EXTRAVAGANZA FOLLOWING THE 5:00 P.M. MASS! Extraordinary Minister of Communion Training will be held at St. Matthew this Sunday, August 24th at 12:30 pm. To assure continued participation in this ministry at St. Matthew one annual training session is necessary.

Rosary Group Invitation and Prayers I would like to invite everyone to join the Rosary Group to pray the rosary with us Thursday mornings after the 9:00 Mass. If you want us to pray for someone, please call Helen Martin 770.463.3697.

Lost & Found (Last Call) There are numerous items in the Lost and Found. If you think you may have lost one of your treasures at the church please come by and see what we have. Anything not claimed by the end of August will be donated to the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Mass Intentions Tuesday 9AM Wednesday 6PM Thursday 9AM Saturday 5PM Sunday 8:30AM Sunday 11AM

No Mass Intention Jim Whalen Rachel LaPrade Anne Hippo Donna Sommers St. Matthew Parish Family

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is supporting the relief efforts of Caritas Georgia in the South Ossetian towns of Tbilisi and Gori in response to recent fighting between Russian and Georgian forces that has killed thousands and left hundreds of thousands displaced. CRS is the official international humanitarian agency of the U.S. Catholic Church. To donate, please call 1-877HELP-CRS (1-877-425-7277), make a safe online donation at www.crs.org, or send a check to Catholic Relief Services, P.O. Box 17090, Baltimore, MD, 21203-7090. Memo line: Georgia Emergency Fund.

Prison Ministry Meeting There will be a Prison Ministry Meeting on Saturday, September 13, at 9:30 am at the Church. We will be planning upcoming projects. Jim Powers from the Archdiocese Prison Ministry will attend. All invited. For more information, call Nancy Wood 770631-9663. The Saint Matthew Cub Scouts Pack is having an information/sign up meeting for the 2008/2009 school year on Friday August 29th in the conference room from 6:30pm to 8pm. We are signing up 1st through 5th grade boys who are interested in joining the Scouts. Check out the Scout Information table this weekend in the Narthex after Mass.

More about CRS in Georgia and Across the World:

Young Adult Ministry

www.crs.org www.crsespanol.org http://www.crs.org/Georgia/

Calendar of Upcoming Events August 26 9:30AM

Church Cleaning

August YAM Calendar

See Bulletin Board

Adult Choir Is Starting Again! Attention existing and new adult choir members: Please mark the following dates on your calendar as it’s time to start adult choir. Please email Sheri Dillon at [email protected] if you have questions or cannot attend one of these dates! Thursday, August 28, 2008 – 7:00 to 9:00 pm: Rehearsal

St. Phocas Workday Join us on Saturday, September 13th from 9-11:00 am to do a little work in the gardens.

Ministry Highlight PRISM (Practicing Religion in St. Matthew) Our senior youth group is open to all young people who have finished the 8th grade but have not yet graduated from high school. We meet after the 11:00 Mass and focus on 3 pillars: formation (including preparation for Confirmation), social and service. Our goal is to empower young people to live as disciples of Jesus in our world today, draw them to responsible participation in the work of the Catholic community, and foster the total personal and spiritual growth of each young person. The Leadership team is looking for interested adults to share their time and faith with this group. For information about this ministry contact Deacon Gayle Peters at 770.964.5804.

Are you in your 20s or 30s? Do you know someone who is? Come meet other married and single Catholic young adults from Coweta and Fayette county parishes. We meet for social and spiritual events. Please contact Pamela to receive monthly emails with event details at 404-934-4115 or [email protected] Do you have friends or family who have left the Church? If so, check out www.CatholicsComeHome.org. This website has proven very effective in bringing Catholics back to practicing their Faith and a return to a vibrant life in the local parish.

Religious Education News PSR Late Registration Late registration for St Matthew's Parish School of Religion for the 2008-9 school year began July 26 and continued through August 3, 2008. PSR Registration Packets can be found in the narthex or in Deacon Gayle's office. There is a late registration fee of $15 per child unless you are a new member of the parish.

Women’s Faith Formation Women’s Faith Formation is back from a summer break! Please come join us for some socializing and planning for the coming year. We will be meeting on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month from 7:00-8:00 pm except in September when we will meet on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month. All women of the parish are welcome.

RCIA In celebrating this month of Our Lady’s final journey to God in her glorious Assumption, let us ask her motherly intercession to draw souls to the Sacred Heart of her Son. The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) is a journey too – of conversion to God and what he intends for us. RCIA is the process by which persons who was never baptized, or was baptized in other Christian tradition, become members of the Church, a people on a pilgrimage to our Heavenly Father. Please contact King Cooper at (770) 774-1182 for more information.

Bible Study Daytime Bible study will begin Tuesday, September 16th from 10:15 to 11:30 am in room 3. All are invited. No previous experience is necessary. Please join us as we explore God's word together! For more information contact Doris Cooper at 770.632.0426 or Linda Spencer at 770.632.8880.

No PSR or PRISM next weekend due to the Labor Day holiday.

Tending Our Gardens Stewardship In Everyday Life “What have you done with the garden entrusted to you?” — Machado Many are familiar with the phrase “time, talent, and treasure” as a description of Christian stewardship, and these are indeed important aspects of it. However, stewardship is much more. It entails accepting all aspects of our lives as gift, and inviting God into each. I believe God cares deeply about how we take care of our bodies, emotions, and relationships. God wants us to use everything we have to bring about the kingdom in our lives and the world around us. In March of 2004, Bishop Robert Morneau gave a presentation on “The Spirituality of Stewardship” at the annual Regional Stewardship Conference in Atlanta. He presented this idea of stewardship as different gardens that we are called to tend in our lives. We will cover the difference gardens over the next few weeks, as a guide for discernment. It is important to realize that this is simply a starting point: a tool to help you start asking your own questions. Only you can ultimately determine how God is calling you in your life. It is important to note that this process should not necessarily be seen as a way of adding more tasks to your life, but as a call to balance and openness. Stewardship addresses what we do in our lives, but more importantly how we do them. As you read through the questions, check off areas in which you would like to be more attentive or spend more energy. Feel free to star questions related to areas where you are doing well. When you are done, go back and circle one to three areas you want to work on.

Garden of the Mind Science tells us that we only take advantage of a small part of the capabilities of our minds. We can develop our God-given mental capacities in a variety of ways, but we can be sure that God wants us to grow. Have you considered taking a class at an adult school, parks & recreation department, or community college? Do you ask friends, family members, or co-workers to teach you new things? Do you participate in activities that keep your mind sharp? Have you considered returning to school for a diploma or degree? With the intelligence and education with which you have been gifted, how is God calling you to serve?

Visit Fr. Vic’s blog at http://padrevic.blogspot.com/

Financial Giving in our Parish Family August 17, 2008 Offertory

$15,685.00

Feast of the Assumption Given in checks & envelopes (299) Parish Debt Reduction

$1,512.00 $15,971.00 $378.00

Upcoming Second Collections August 24—Archdiocesan St. Vincent de Paul Society August 31—No second collection