Prevention and Recovery Ministry Drug addiction and alcoholism are recognized medically and legally as diseases. They are known as Substance Use Disorders (SUDs). These diseases are preventable and treatable. Recovery is possible. The recent newsletter from Ashley Addiction Treatment included a link to an article on how spirituality is an important tool in helping patients manage their SUDs. Here's the link: Leveraging Spirituality in Recovery, Fighting Misconceptions to Improve Patient Outcomes (hmpgloballearningnetwork.com) If you have any questions, please contact Bob at crhoopert@zoominternet.net.

Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday Food Projects Thanks to the 5 parishioners who have recently volunteered to help with our rapidly approaching food projects. We could definitely use some more volunteers. All volunteers must complete either the Virtus training (ages 18 and older) or the Worthy of the Call training (ages 14-17). Here are our upcoming dates: Thanksgiving November 19 7:00 PM Sort November 20 9:00 AM Distribute Christmas December 17 7:00 PM Sort December 18 9:00 AM Distribute To help, please submit your name(s) to Bob at crhoopert@zoominternet.net as quickly as possible. Your name(s) will be sent to Barbara Sadler and she will contact you if training is necessary. Please do not wait until the last minute. It can take up to 2 or 3 weeks for all training and forms to be completed and approved. We cannot allow walk-ins. If you have any questions, please contact Barbara at bsadler@stmaryspylesville.org or Bob.

Prevention and Recovery Ministry We have obtained another donation of the Deterra drug deactivation bags from Harford County's Office of Drug Control Policy. We will place several of the bags and a box of the DisposeRx units in the back of church. Please take some whenever you need them. Remember that both of these units can be used to safely dispose of prescription and over-the-counter medications. And we recently found out that these units can also be used to safely dispose of pet medications. For more information, take a look at deterrasystem.com and disposerx.com

Our dear friend and parishioner, Charles Guerriero, passed away on October 10, 2021. Viewing in the Church from 9-10 a.m. followed by a Mass will be celebrated at St. Mary’s, Pylesville on Wednesday, October 13th at 10:00 a.m.

Thanks again to everyone who took pans and returned the frozen casseroles for our September and October deliveries to ODB. We were able to deliver our assigned number of casseroles for both months. Our next distribution of casserole pans will be held on November 6th-7th. If you have any questions, please contact Bob at crhoopert@zoominternet.net.

For our upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas Holiday Food Projects, we are planning to return to our traditional process of using the Parish hall for sorting and distributing the groceries and Christmas gifts. To do this successfully, we must have volunteers who have completed either the Virtus training (ages 18 and older) or the Worthy of the Call training (ages 14-17). For Thanksgiving, we'll sort on November 19th (7:00pm) and distribute on November 20th (9:00am). For Christmas, we'll sort on December 17th (7:00pm) and distribute on December 18th (9:00am). If you are willing to help, please submit your name(s) to Bob at crhoopert@zoominternet.net as quickly as possible. Your name(s) will be sent to Barbara Sadler and she will contact you if training is necessary. Please do not wait until the last minute. It can take up to 2 or 3 weeks for all training and forms to be completed and approved. Also, we cannot allow walk-ins. If you have any questions, please contact Barbara at bsadler@stmaryspylesville.org or Bob.

Ecumenical Prayer Service, September 11, 5:30 PM, St, Mary's Church. The Mason-Dixon Ministerium is going to hold an ecumenical prayer service commemorating the 20th anniversary of September 11th, 2001. Please plan to join with our neighbors at 5:30 PM on September 11, 2021 at St. Mary's Church. If you can't attend in person, you'll be able to view the service through St. Mary's FaceBook page. Just logon to FaceBook, go to St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church Pylesville MD and scroll down to the livestreaming section labeled for the service.

The Masses for the weekends are as schedule: Saturday & Sunday 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Masses will be held in the Parish Hall. The 9:30 a.m. Mass on Sunday will be held in the Church and will be live streamed. Hall with a limited capacity of 70. Church with a limited capacity of 40, depending upon household sizes.

Volunteers are the backbone of the parish and we welcome new volunteers with open arms. However, in the world today we must do everything we can to protect all people of all ages, the church and also yourself. If you are ready and willing to give of your time and talent, to be a part of one or more of our many ministries, please contact Barbara Sadler, Extension 22 or Barbara_stmarys@yahoo.com for the information and guidance of the required Virtus training. The training will provide insight for the protection of all age groups and the responsibilities. DON’T WORRY!! It is an easy procedure.

Click the title above. You will see a section, "All Videos." The first video on your left will have a red "LIVE" sign. Click the video to watch and worship. You do not need a Facebook account to watch. Cell phone: You will see a pop-up at the bottom. Click the "x" at the right-hand corner to remove it. The live video will be the first video on the left with a red "LIVE" sign. Click the video to watch and worship. Computer: There will be a pop-up at the bottom, but you can still see the video. There may be another pop-up across the screen. You will see an option at the bottom of the pop-up which says, "Not Now." Click that. Then click the live video to watch and worship.

CEMETERY GUIDELINES: DURING MOWING SEASON In the next week or so we will be removing all flowers from the Christmas Season. There cannot be any planting of flowers or shrubs in the cemetery. Also, no glass containers or ornaments on the ground; only on the head stone and attached securely. During mowing season flowers can only be in vases on the side next to the stone; on the head stone or over the head stone. We will have no choice but to remove the above items if the guidelines are not followed. Thank you.

After many years of service Jim Janiski (Fry Room) and Julie Nelis (Children’s Games) have decided to step down as chairperson. Thank you both so much for your many years serving and giving of your time and talent. These positions require you to be here to set up, be present the day of the dinner, to take down and to attend the meetings, four times a year, planning and evaluation. You must also be Virtus Trained. Jim and Julie will be here to help in any way they can, answer your questions and guide you. We are also hoping to get a co-chair for these positions. Just a reminder: Last dinner we had to cancel the White Elephant because no one came forward. So, if you were unhappy because it was canceled, please consider this position also. Of course we cannot cancel the fry room so we really need someone to step up to the plate for all of these positions, especially the fry room. We are looking for a chair and co-chair for the fry room, children’s games and white elephant. If anyone is interested or would like more information, please contact Barbara, Ext. 22.