Nativity's pastoral council met on January 17th, 2013. Here are some highlights:

The Finance Council hopes to start working on the 2013-2014 budget at its next meeting. A short form of the half year financial report (July-December 2012) will be published online in February.

The Liturgy Commission is ready for its first meeting on January 31. Three of those invited have not yet responded.

We evaluated the events of Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas. We hope to repeat many of the successful elements next year: extra help to the food pantry, the angel tree, the Advent Fair, carols before midnight Mass and the Epiphany pot luck.

Some figures from our Christmas crib need repair. We will announce this in the bulletin. Many of the pieces are well worth repairing and preserving, especially the statues from Fontanini. (link)

About donations for church events:
Parishioners are encouraged to celebrate life's big events in church, and non-parishioners are welcome to use the church as well. However, building maintenance, cleaning, heating, cooling, water etc. all cost money. It is therefore appropriate to ask people to contribute to the upkeep of the church. As a guide, we suggest the following donations. We emphasize that this is just a guideline. Individuals are welcome to give more, and we will never turn anyone away or deny them a ceremony because of money.

Blessing of the Fleet
Darien's blessing of the fleet festival is April 12-14. The Catholic Church wants to take active, visible part. We will participate in the three liturgies, and we will have a food booth at the festival. This will be a fund raiser toward our general parish operating fund. Doll Gale. Georg Trexler, Meg Ponce and Bryan Feeney will call in to a first general planning meeting on Saturday, January 26th after the 5:00 p.m. Mass.

Revision of our parish roster
Nativity of Our Lady parish in Darien and St. Francis Xavier parish in Brunswick are appointing a "joint task force" this spring to update and correct our parish registers.You'll be hearing a lot more about that in the coming months. Task force members from Nativity are: Gloria Whatley, Doll Gale, Jan Seavey and Fr. Bob Showers.

Special Easter Edition of the Bulletin
We will make a special, enlarged edition of our parish bulletin with lots of information about the parish, the faith and the community. This permanent information then does not need to be repeated in each weekly bulletin. The "Annual Easter Edition" will be available year round as a handy guidebook, an introduction for new members, a way to reach out to less active members and an informative booklet for guests. The work group is: Dr. Oscar Brinkmann, Jan Seavey, Fr. Bob Showers, Isabel Strafford, Georg Trexler, Gloria Whatley

Theology for Young Catholics
The pastoral council congratulates the youth group and the catechists for launching an exciting program for young people aged 15 to 29. The council reminds the group that there must be at least 2 adults besides the priest at any youth event, by church policy. No adult will be allowed in the room if he/she is not on the diocesan VIRTUS list.

Death announcements
We pray for our dead in public as well as in private. Here at Nativity, we mention the deceased in the bulletin announcements, in the petitions at Mass and on All Souls day. We establish the following policy guidelines:

• An appropriate time of public mourning is 40 days. The names of our beloved deceased will therefore be printed in the bulletin for six consecutive Sundays, roughly 40 days.
• The Prayers of the Faithful (petitions) at Mass should include communal prayers "for all the sick" and "for all our deceased" but should avoid long lists of names.
• A Book of the Dead shall be kept, with the names of all our departed, and they shall be remembered in an annual All Souls Mass.

Nine young Catholics from Nativity parish gathered in the parish hall Friday evening together with the catechetical team to discuss the Catholic Church's view on evolution and the book of Genesis. It was the first meeting in 2013 of our new initiative in youth ministry, called Theology for Young Catholics. We meet once a month on the last Friday of the month from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. We share a meal, get input (perhaps from a movie or video) on some moral or religious issue, then debate it.

The first meeting can be called a success. Theology for Young Catholics is open to all young people from confirmation age to 29. Non-members are welcome, but please be aware that we will be discussing "Catholic" topics. You can read more about the program here. -- You can also sign up for the group here.

The catechetical team for youth
Georg Trexler, Gloria Whatley & Fr. Bob Showers

Time to start religion class again!

Nativity parish has two groups for sacramental preparation at the moment:

• First Communion preparation will resume on Sunday, January 13 after Mass
• Confirmation Prep started again on Wednesday, January 9.

(Remember - Confirmation will be on March 13th, First Communion on May 5th.)

Our group for those young people who have made their first communion but are not yet ready to start confirmation preparation - we call it Nativity Tweens - is now being planned. We hope to get things rolling soon.

Theology for Young Adults - our program for young Catholics from 15 to 29 - will hold its first meeting of the new year on Friday, January 25 at 6:00 p.m. in the parish hall. We'll be sending out more info soon.

Parishes in the diocese of Savannah will take up a collection for Black and Indian Missions in the U.S. at all Masses on February 12-13. This is the oldest of the national special collections in the Catholic Church in the United States, mandated by the III Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884. The collection supports evangelization efforts among black, Indian and indigenous communities throughout the country.

Please make any checks payable to Nativity of Our Lady Church. 100% of the proceeds will be sent to the Black and Indian Mission Office (http://www.blackandindianmission.org/).

Nativity's Finance Council

A few weeks ago at our confirmation prep session, we watched a video of Beyoncé singing her own version of the Ave Maria. Not all our confirmation candidates were impressed! This led to a discussion among the catechists - who has the best version of Ave Maria? It seems that almost every singer has tried his or her voice on either Schubert's or Gounod's Ave Maria at one time or another, from Perry Como and Johnny Mathis to Barbara Streisand and Jewel, from Maria Callas and Nana Mouskouri to Andre Bocelli and Enrico Caruso.

Just for fun, we choose 6 adaptations of this beloved prayer. Some of these artists have added new texts to the familiar Catholic antiphon, some have adapted the rhythm. Which one do you like best?

Vote for your favorite! This is just a fun vote ... no official awards will be given! The results will be published in February. Whose version do you like the best?

Dear parishioners,

A number of people have asked about getting their house blessed at Christmas time. It is a venerable custom in many countries and cultures to have the priest bless one's house, or for the family to do it themselves. In different countries, there are different times of year for this tradition.

I have reserved time in my calendar between January 2nd and February 2nd - from New Year's to Candlemas. Then again from Easter to Pentecost, basically the month of April. Call (912) 437-4750 or write fr.bob.nativity@gmail.com if you want to arrange a house blessing.

The U.S. Bishops' Conference has also prepared a ceremony for families, that want to bless their own homes.
Blessing of the Home and Household on Epiphany
CLICK HERE

Fr. Bob