Rosary Group Invitation and Prayers Tending Our Gardens Stewardship In Everyday Life

September 28, 2008 ny 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings for Mass
September 28, 2008 October 5, 2008
1st Reading Ez 18:25-28 Is 5:1-7
2nd Reading Phil 2:1-11 Phil 4:6-9
Gospel Mt 21:28-32 Mt 21:33-43
World Wide Marriage Encounter
Making Good Marriages Great
Add the refreshing feeling of Fall to your Marriage. Join us at
a Marriage Encounter Weekend. The next one is November
14-16 at the Holiday Inn Doraville at I-285 & Buford High-
way. You can register or learn additional dates at www.
wwmeatlanta.org or call Bob & Joy Lambie at 770.587.1506.
We also offer Spanish speaking weekends. Call Esteban &
Gloria Nolasco at 770.425.1328 for the next dates.
Catholic Charities’ Pregnancy, Parenting & Adoption Program
extends an invitation to attend the bi-annual Open Adoption
Conference entitled “Open and Hospitable Adoption: Creating
Relationships That Work”, featuring keynote speaker Jim Grit-
ter; on November 7th at the Mansour Center in Marietta for
health-care and other professionals and on November 8th at St.
Peter Claver Regional School in Decatur for families living the
adoption experience. For information and registration pleases
visit: www.catholiccharitiesatlanta.org/programs/ppa.htm or call
(404)885-7275.
Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
Would you like to have your pets blessed? Join us at
9:00 am on Saturday, October 4th, at the church to
have a blessing for your family pets.
Girl Scouts – grades 7-10 (ages 12-15) A class is forming for
instruction and award of the Marian Medal. First class is sched-
uled for Saturday morning, October 25 at Holy Trinity in Peach-
tree City, and will be held once-per-month through February.
Girls will receive their medals from Archbishop Gregory at the
annual Archbishop’s Mass on April 4, 2009.
For more details and to register, contact Laura Weikle (678-817-
7864, lauraweikle@bellsouth.net) or Mike Challman (678-817-
0960, mike.challman@exel.com).
Mass Intentions
I would like to invite everyone to join the Rosary Group to
Ministry Highlight
Church Cleaning
Every Tuesday of the year this faithful group of pa-
rishioners meets after 9:00 am Mass to clean the
church, narthex, chapel and confessionals. They vac-
uum, dust, clean glass, polish, straighten and maintain
our beautiful facilities. Join this industrious group for
1-2 hours each week and enjoy the fellowship and
community. This group is vital to the success of our
parish. For information about this ministry call Rose
Herold 770-306-1214
We welcome the following
new parishioners to our Parish Family
Nell Schmitt
Adult Choir Rehearsals!
Thursday, Oct. 9th AND Tuesday, Oct. 14th
Youth Choir Rehearsals!
Sunday, Sept. 28th - Rehearsal
Sunday, Oct. 5th - NO Rehearsal
Sunday, Oct. 12th - Final Rehearsal
Calendar of Upcoming Events
September 30 9:30AM Church Cleaning
September YAM Calendar See Bulletin Board
Prison Ministry
A training weekend on Saturday/Sunday, October 11-12, 2008
from 8:30-3:00 each day, to be held at Marist School to certify
volunteer mentors for the “Thresholds” program. “Thresholds”
is a structured program to train prisoners prior to release in the
art of thoughtful decision making, through the use of mentors
working one-on-one with the mentees. For more information,
contact Jim Powers, Prison Ministry Coordinator, Catholic
Charities: 404-978-2781 or jpowers@archatl.com
Visit Fr. Vic’s blog at
http://padrevic.blogspot.com/
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.
SPORTS TICKER....Ruben Romero tossed in 14 points to led
our attack but our parish men's basketball team dropped a thrill-
ing 30-26 contest last weekend to Our Lady of Mercy in CML
action in what fans testified was the best game of the day. Our
squad kept the contest close from the tip-off but could not mus-
ter the baskets in the final minutes before falling to the unde-
feated Mercy squad. We are off this weekend and will re-coop
against Holy Trinity on Sunday, Oct. 5 at 2 p.m. Plan to come
over to the Mercy gym to cheer on our determined men's team.
Admission is free and you might get to see Fr. Vic hit a 3-
pointer!
Greeting Card Drive Coming Soon!!!!!
During weekends October 25/26 and November 1/2,
the Saint Matthew Prison Ministry volunteers will be
collecting unused Thanksgiving and Christmas Cards
for imprisoned persons. These cards are distributed
to prisoners to send to their family members. Also,
we are happy to take cards for other occasions, i.e.
Birthday, as they can be used by the prisoners too. If
you have any questions, please contact Barbara at 770-
486-8745. Thank you for your kindness.
Religious Education News
PSR and PRISM
Classes/meetings resume this weekend.
Women’s Faith Formation
Women’s Faith Formation is will be meeting on the second and
fourth Mondays of September due to the Labor Day holiday.
We will meet Monday night, October 6, 2008 at 7:00 pm in The
La Salette Day Chapel. We chose The Shack by William P.
Young as our first book for discussion. 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 Chris-
tian tradition, become members of the Church, a people on a
“What have you done with the garden entrusted to you?” — Machado
Many are familiar with the phrase “time, talent, and treasure” as a de-
scription of Christian stewardship, and these are indeed important as-
pects 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, emo-
tions, 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 Confer-
ence 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 open-
ness. Stewardship addresses what we do in our lives, but more impor-
tantly 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 ques-
tions 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 “Polis”
We take for granted that we live in a country in which we can speak our
minds and opinions. We have the opportunity to vote, and we have
people who represent us in our government. We have a tremendous
amount of influence when we work together as a city, state, or country.
We also can have a surprising level of impact as individuals when we sim-
ply pick up a telephone. These are all gifts that we must use wisely.
Do you vote in all elections? Do you consider how your faith could influ-
ence your political decisions? Have you ever contacted a company to in-
fluence their decisions for a better world?
Do you inform yourself about political issues? Local, city, state, country,
and worldwide?
What political issues are most important to you? Have you ever con-
tacted one of your representatives to influence them on any of these is-
sues?
Have you considered what small steps you can take to create a more just
world? Large steps?
Financial Giving in our Parish Family
September 21, 2008
Offertory $10,466.00

Tuesday 9AM No Mass Intention pilgrimage to our Heavenly Father. Please contact King Cooper Given in checks & envelopes (198) $9,789.00
Altar Server Training at (770) 774-1182 for more information.
Parish Debt Reduction $146.00
Wednesday 6PM No Mass Intention
Training for altar servers will take place on: Bible Study
Thursday 9AM No Mass Intention Daytime Bible study will begin Tuesday, October 7th from 10:15 Second Collection $70.00
Sunday - September 28th @ 9:45am to 11:30 am in room 3. All are invited. No previous experience is
Saturday 5PM Catharine Gallagher Saturday - October 4th @ 9:00am Upcoming Second Collections
necessary. Please join us as we explore God's word together!
Sunday 8:30AM St. Matthew Parish Family Just as a reminder, you must attend one training session to re- For more information contact Doris Cooper at 770.632.0426 or September 28—No second collection
Sunday 11:00AM Jim Steinbach main active in this ministry. Linda Spencer at 770.632.8880. October 5—Semi-Annual Flower Fund