|
Greetings to one and all! I hope that this Autumn
season has found you healthy and happy. I find this to be a very
beautiful time of the year and a very busy time as well. As we gather
to help others with woodcuts, leaf-raking, blood drives and Chicken
and Dumplings, we remember that we are grateful for all of the gifts
that God has bestowed on us. May we all continue to know the generosity
of God and to share it with others. May God's peace be with you
during the upcoming holiday season.
Please hold in prayer Rick Fiala, son of Neil (ME '56) and Barb
Fiala, who is recuperating from injuries sustained in a serious
car accident.
Also, please pray for the safety of Jerry Maurseth (BS Civil '74,
MS Civil '76) who is deployed for the third time to Afghanistan
with the US Army Corps of Engineers for the next 6 months)
Congratulations to Ron and Stephanie (Garvin) Chinn (BS EMgt '03)
on the birth of their daughter Abigail Marie born on October 27th.
The Social Concerns Group held their first major activity in October.
On October 5th, students spent the night in cardboard boxes and
listened to speakers discuss the issue of poverty and homelessness
in the United States. The night was covered with a blanket of stars
and early in the evening it was gorgeous but as the night progressed
and temperatures dropped, the reality of the need for warm shelter
became prevalent. The welcomed relief from a charitable person of
blankets and sandwiches around mid-night helped awareness levels
grow. Donations for the event went to an area food pantry.
With the weather changing, we are starting to get the chainsaws
roaring through wood and the rakes collecting leaves. Already we
have given wood to three area families and have cut a good size
pile that is stacked at Newman. The ice storm last spring left a
lot of tree damage and we now have an abundance of cutting opportunities.
The Annual Chicken and Dumpling Dinner was this past weekend and
once again it was a great time for all. Friday evening we boiled
and de-boned over two hundred pounds of chicken and baked cakes
and brownies. On Saturday, the early crew arrived in the morning
and began to set up the dumpling machines. It is quite a hilarious
flour laden time when making flat dumplings from scratch with 30
of your closest friends! The clean-up crew always has a lot of "extra"
flour to get up after the cooks have shared with others!
In October we began a six-week series on Catholic Identity and
the core teachings of the Church. This series is focused on the
Creed and the essential beliefs of the Catholic Church and is aimed
at not only educating but also assisting students with answering
other's questions about the Catholic Faith. Each session is 90 minutes
long and each week has a different presenter of the material. The
first semester series will continue through the first week of December.
In the Spring, we will be offering another six-week series focusing
on the Sacraments.
In November, the Social Concerns Group will be sending care packages
to Newman family members and St. Patrick's Church parishioners who
are serving in the armed forces in current conflict zones.
We have ordered some Hoodie style sweatshirts. The sweatshirts
are a good quality gray hooded pullover sweatshirt with a pouch
in the front. The word NEWMAN is on the front of the hoodie. The
cloth lettering is sewn on the hoodie. This is a simple hoodie without
the year on it so that it is good for everyone who wants to be warm,
support Newman and give all Newman Centers 'free advertising.' The
cost of the hoodie is $30 and we have adult sizes small through
3XL. If you are interested in seeing a photo of the hoodie let me
know and I will be happy to send you one. Purchase can be made by
check, cash or charge. Please add $5 for shipping.
We would like to start a new venture with you. We would like to
coordinate regional gatherings of MSM-UMR Newman Alums in an effort
to deepen relationships with you and among the Newman Alums. It
would be our hope that some of you would like to be a part of team
that would contact alums in your area and invite them to a dinner/social
event that would benefit the Newman Center. This is a brand new
idea and some of the details are in process. Thank you to those
who have already volunteered. If you are interested in being a part
of this new idea, please contact me at director@rollanewman.org
Would you like to help Newman in a big way? Buy something for yourself
or do you holiday shopping online! Join iGive.com at www.iGive.com/ROLLANEWMAN.
When you buy your everyday necessities at the iGive.com Mall, up
to 26% of each purchase is donated to the Catholic Newman Center,
at no cost to you!
iGive.com is a free service, and their online mall features over
680 brand-name stores like Barnes & Noble, Staples, Lands’
End and PETsMART with super savings and deals every day. There are
even ways to set up your account so that iGive automatically knows
that you've purchased something through one of their stores.
That's what's happening with us...
We want to hear from you and get to know all the great Newman alums.
So, please stop by, phone, or email me and we'll get connected.
You can write me at director@rollanewman.org.
Likewise, we always like to keep current on the location and contacts
of all of our alums and what is happening in their lives. So, if
you have anything that you'd like to share with us please contact
me. You can update through the web at www.rollanewman.org/alumni_update.htm
or drop us an email. In January, the newman@umr.edu
email will change to newman@mst.edu.
Our domain and my personal email will remain www.rollanewman.org.
May God's peace and abundance be with you.
Sr. Denise Descoteaux, OSF
Director
UMR Catholic Campus Ministry
director@rollanewman.org |
