Our dear friend and parishioner, Anne Poole, passed away on January 18, 2020 The Mass will be celebrated at St. Mary’s, Pylesville on Saturday, January 25, 2020 at 10:00 a.m.. In lieu of flowers a donation can be made to St. Mary’s Maintenance Fund or St. Jude Foundation for children.
The phone system is currently down at the church and rectory. We are waiting for the repair company to show up and fix it. Should an emergency arise or someone is in need of a priest please call Deacon Phil
Knights to Sponsor Youth Free Throw Championship All boys and girls ages 9 to 14 are invited to participate in the local level of competition for the 2020 Knights of Columbus Free Throw Championship. The local competition, sponsored by the Mason- Dixon Council will be held on Friday, January 24 at the Peach Bottom Recreation Center in Delta. Registration will take place at the door from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. with the competition starting promptly at 7:00 p.m. The event is FREE and participants must have a parent/guardian sign for them. Winners for each age and gender will receive a trophy. All participants will receive a medal for their efforts. For additional information contact Neil Bittner at renttibn@icloud.com or 717-490-3914. If inclement weather closes schools, the event will not be rescheduled
The Christian Outreach Ministry would like to thank all of the parishioners who made donations for our Thanksgiving and Christmas food projects. Through your amazing generosity, we were able to serve 20 local families for Thanksgiving and 28 local families and 10 St. Edward’s families for Christmas. Overall, we served 39 adults and 35children for Thanksgiving and 71 adults and 92 children for Christmas. Thanks to the 38 volunteers for Thanksgiving and the 40 volunteers for Christmas who helped sort and distribute the groceries and the Christmas gifts. All of your efforts were truly appreciated by th the families that we served and by our associates at Mason- Dixon Community Services.
When we lose a loved one, we enter a period of grief that may last for many years, usually very deep and painful at first, but easing gradually as time passes. Some of us prefer to be left alone to grieve our loss. Of course this is natural and a good thing as long as we don't let it become a way of life. Our grief support meetings bring together several others who are also suffering from grief and are thus very understanding and supportive of each other. It is good therapy to talk to others about your loss and your feelings, and hear about theirs. We also have suggestions and tips and prayers to help you get through your grief or to cope with your current problems. That is what we do during our one and a half hour meetings which we hold twice each month. We are starting this year scheduling the meetings on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays at 2 PM until 3:30 PM. If we find some people would prefer an evening meeting, or a different day, we can make appropriate changes, but it works best if we have 3 or more people in attendance. Please come join us and see if it won't be of help for you. In January our meetings will be on the 8th and the 22nd, and in one of the rooms in our parish education building. We hope to see you. If you would like more information, call Joe Healy 410-692-5359 or email jchealy74@gmail.com.
WALKING WITH PURPOSE Will resume again on Monday, January 20, 2020 with a study that shows us how Old Testament scripture points us to our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. We will be looking at King David, the Psalm, the temple and many Old testament Prophets. The study runs through March 16, 2020. Registration forms will be available in the back of the Church beginning the weekend of December 28th. We welcome newcomers!!
MEN OF ST MARY’S PARISH Start the new year with a resolution to attend “Into the Breach” beginning January 17th . “Into the Breach” is an Exhortation written by Bishop Olmstead. He encourages men to understand what their real mission and priorities should be and then to do what they should be doing at home, at work, and in the parish. There is no cost. You receive the Exhortation\plus a study guide. Each session reviews a portion of the Exhortation and then discusses its meaning in a group session for our own personal context. The discussion questions are penetrating and the group sessions should be lively. Steel sharpens steel! There are eight sessions. We meet each week at 7 PM in the Youth Room. This program is sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. For more information contact Jeff Kline at 410-399-1819. We hope to see you there.
VIRTUS TRAINING To get into the program type HTTPS://www.virtusonline.org. The location for the Archdiocese is under ―Baltimore‖ and the location for the parish is under ―Mary Pylesville‖. Just follow the instructions. If you have any problems please call the office or if you do not have a computer call the office to set up a time to come in and use our computers. Just a reminder: Anyone 18 and over volunteering to serve on a committee or volunteer in any way for the parish you must be Virtus Trained. Any one between the ages of 14 & 17 must complete Worthy of the Call. Please contact Ms. Rachel for instructions
SMALL FAITH SHARING GROUPS As discussed at Mass late in the Summer, St. Mary‘s is making plans to form Small Faith Sharing Groups that would at their option, meet in individual homes or somewhere else of your choosing. We are in need of individuals who would agree to serve as Facilitators, meaning that you would help keep the group organized as to when and where it is meeting and then facilitate the discussion. when you meet. Once we have a sufficient number of volunteer facilitators, we will have a session to provide training. The job of facilitating is not difficult, and your small group will help you along. After the Christmas Season and before Lent, once the facilitators are ready, we will have a Sunday event after Masses in the Hall for you to sign up for a small group. If you have questions or to sign up to become a facilitator, please contact Jim Edwards at jeedwards1974@gmail.com or 410-404-5323; Jeff Kline at jnlkline@zoominternet.net; or Joanne McConnell at j.mcconnell@comcast.net .
Remember the Holy Fun of Vacation Bible School! Now is your chance to get involved as an Adult. We are in need of a director for Vacation Bible School this coming summer. If you are an organizer, work well with children and are free 1 week in the summer, this may be for you. Contact Janet in the Parish Office at janet_stmarys@yahoo.com God Bless, Janet Young Director of Faith Formation St. Mary, Pylesville
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.