Memorial Donation for Our Church Renovation

Mary Walker gave me a copy of a beautiful letter that accompanied a large donation made to St. E's by the daughter of a former member. Here is an excerpt of the letter:

"In memory of my Mother, who was a member of St. Elizabeth's Church in the 1920's and was married in 1928, I believe at the parish house on Victor St. I have their wedding picture - my Father in his tuxedo and Mother in her pretty wedding dress - standing by the staircase.

My husband & I are charter members of St. Edward's, who hosted the 'Fat Tuesday' pancake supper for the benefit of St. Elizabeth's.

We wish you well in your rebuilding. God bless!"

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It is absolutely heartwarming to receive these letters from people with these connections to St. E's; and it is important for our parish members to know that people all over Richmond and the surrounding areas have roots in our parish.

When I heard about St. Edward's and their pancake supper for our benefit, I remembered many years ago when our two churches were twinning parishes. For several years we had many opportunities to gather together for picnics and other celebrations that brought our two parishes together in friendship. It appears that good memories of that twinning experiment with us continued at St. Edward's and has culminated in a pancake supper for our benefit. We are indeed grateful to our friends across the James.

St. E's Makes the News Again!

I hope most of you had the opportunity to see the Faith segment on News Channel 12 this evening. Gene Lepley did a fine job interviewing Fr. Andrew and several of our parish members, Mary Walker and Ethel Cooley in particular, with many familiar faces in the background. They did us proud in conveying to the viewers, just how much our church means to us; and the faith and trust in God found in our community that we will eventually have a completed sanctuary to celebrate in.

We got to see some of the scaffolding and draped pews inside the church as well; so we know that it won't be long before the work will be completed. I had to chuckle at the photograph showing our own Tim Kaine singing in the choir that Sunday recently. Someone had taken a picture during Mass and had brought it to the interview. Apparently, Gene Lepley had been suitably impressed and had the photo included in the interview segment.

The Black Church Week of Prayer For Healing of AIDS, March 4-10, 2007

Here is the schedule:

Sunday, March 4, 2007 ~ Worship Service ~ 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Guest Speaker: Rev. Makeba Dabreu
The Balm in Gilead

Friday, March 9, 2007 ~ 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Town Hall Meeting ~ "Out in the Open"
Panel Discussion on the Impact of HIV/AIDS on the African American Family, Church and Community
(Complimentary Spaghetti Supper 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Please contact Tammy Reynolds at 804-674-5185 if you plan to attend the supper)

Saturday, March 10, 2007 ~ "Touch the Promise" ~ 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Concert and Healing Service

The St. Elizabeth Gospel Choir will be one of the groups participating in the Saturday Concert.

All activities will be held at Fifth Street Baptist Church, located at 2800 Third Avenue, Richmond, VA 23222. 804-321-5115. F. Todd Gray, Pastor.

For more information, contact: Tammy Reynolds, Media Coordinator. 804-674-5185

Question... Question... Who's Got a Question?

Anonymous wrote:

Question, if you gave up certain things for lent is ok to have them on saturday or sunday.

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Well, my take is this: Sundays are not considered one of the 40 days of Lent; thus you can take a break from whatever you have given up. Saturday, of course, is a lenten day so you'll just have to tough it out until Sunday. Of course, it's the spirit of the sacrifice that matters. Even if you falter during the week, there is always a next day to try again.

St. E.'s Making News

Earlier this week Channel 12's Gene Lepley came to the parish house to interview Fr. Andrew and several parishioners about the state of the renovations at St. Elizabeth's.

Don't miss Gene Lepley's interview of Fr. Andrew which will be shown next Tuesday, February 27th at 5 p.m. on Channel 12 News.

AND, perhaps we will also see another article about St. E.'s in the next Catholic Virginian. Who knows...

Breaking Open The Word

Frances called me a couple of weeks ago and said that a few St. E's folks were finally going to get together at her house for scripture sharing like we used to do a few years ago and I was invited. These gatherings have been in the works for a couple of months now but for various reasons, the time was never right to begin. Well, the time had come!

So one night last week, we gathered in the Pope's living room with our "At Home With The Word" books and our bibles to pray, read and meditate on the next Sunday's readings. Frances had asked me to lead the group for that week and so we began.

So how do you go about starting up one of these bible study groups? It's easy. Get a half dozen (more or less) of your interested friends together. What Frances did was to ask people who lived closer to her. Another scripture group that started before Christmas draws St. E's folks from the Highland Park area.

The person who has been asked to lead the group that particular evening plans what they want to do for the hour or so that the gathering lasts. Here is what I did that evening. We started with an opening prayer, made up on the spot. Then I asked the participants to volunteer to read one of the Sunday readings. When the readings were done, we reflected on what the readings meant to us and how they could affect our lives; what the readings had in common with each other. Questions about Biblical history also found their way into our discussions.

These groups usually end with a closing prayer; but instead of that, I had brought my cd player along and a song that the choir may learn sometime. The song seemed very appropriate for these particular readings and I had thought of it as I was preparing for the gathering. "All of My Help" was the perfect ending for this evening.

Frances asked Vivian to lead the next gathering and she may decide on a different format. However, the main reason for meeting is to read and reflect on the Sunday readings to deepen our faith through our connection with each other and our God.

We set a date for the next gathering and afterwards, Frances had some light refreshments for us. Though refreshments aren't a necessary part of the evening, sitting around the table gives us an opportunity to catch up on our lives and to draw us closer together.

So how often do groups like ours meet? Some meet weekly; some monthly. Some meet during the day; most in the evening. We plan to meet every other week and for the time being, we will meet at Frances' house.

If you have any questions about setting up a scripture group yourself, that haven't been answered in this article, ask away!