Women's Day Slide Show on the St. Elizabeth Website!

Be sure to take a look at the Women's Day Slide Show that you can find on our St. Elizabeth's Website. Rita Hatchett's photographs are absolutely beautiful. The address is:

http://stelizabethcc.org

Click on the Parish Life link on the menu at the left of your screen. Click on Women's Day 2008 to view the 40 pictures.

My thanks to Rita for allowing me to place these photos online for all of us to enjoy.

Msgr. Mike Schmied's Father Dies

The word went around our parish today about the death of the father of our former long time pastor, Msgr. Michael Schmied. Our hearts go out to "Fr. Mike" and his family at this great loss. Many of our parishioners had kept in touch with Fr. Mike over the years and knew his family quite well.

William Charles "Bill" Schmied, who was 90 years old, died on Memorial Day, May 26, 2008. His children were with him as he passed over to a new life.

The family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 29th at St. Mary's Catholic Church, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 7 p.m. A reception will be held immediately afterwards. Interment will be held at Mt. Calvary Cemetery on Friday, May 30th at 11 a.m.

2008 Women's Day Photographs by Rita Hatchett

~ Our Celebration Begins! ~


~ St. E's Gospel Choir ~


~ We receive Food for the Journey ~


~ Members of the Red Hat Society join us today ~

~ Anne Holton ~ Our First Lady and Guest Speaker ~


~ Cassandra Bland ~

~ Katrinia Murray ~


~ Patrice Schwermer, Sharon Morton, Barbara White ~

~ Mary Threadgill ~


~ Barbara White, Barbara Vaughan ~

~ Carnations for the Ladies ~


~ Now don't forget... ~

~ Our Guests ~


~ Joyce Coy and Betty Alexis ~

~ Mary Hill ~

~ Sharon and Amy are ready to raffle off the baskets ~

Congratulations to St. Elizabeth's New Parish Council!

Yesterday, during the Mass of Corpus Christi Sunday, the new Parish Pastoral Council was blessed and presented to our people. The sanctuary was filled with our fourteen new members, as we were given the honor of receiving Communion there with our priest, Fr. Andrew.

The following are a list of our new council members:

• Barbara Vaughan, Chairperson
• Mary Ann Allen, Vice-Chairperson
• Amy Williford, 1st Secretary
• Jay Schwermer, 2nd Secretary
• Phyllis Booth
• Shelton Jones
• Lula Lamb
• Roscoe Moon
• Burton Robinson
• Ken Soistman
• Almetia Strother
• Vivian Sullivan
• Mieko Timmons
• Barbara White

These men and women will be your representatives for the next three critical years in the future of our parish. They welcome hearing of your concerns and will address them. The Parish Pastoral Council is a visionary and advisory body to the pastor; and as such, we look forward to giving our very best to our St. Elizabeth Parish Family.

Food for the Journey ~ by Mary Ann Allen

In the first reading from Deuteronomy, we find God's people in the desert with nothing to eat. However God has plans for them and He provides for them in an unusual way, by bringing forth water from the rock and manna from the heavens. But Moses reminds the people that they cannot live by bread alone but "by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God."

Viewing God's actions with His people, we recognize that God's intentions for us might not be the same as we would choose. We also recognize that God sees us differently than we see ourselves. God's judgement is based on what He sees in our hearts. This is easy enough to say, but if we think about it, we discover it is often very difficult for us to see into our own hearts and to recognize who lives there. But God can...

Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. We see that Jesus lived both by word and by deed. Every word that Jesus spoke to us, He lived out in His life.

We are called to believe in His Word. If we do this, we can't help but believe in His Real Presence in every Eucharist. He clearly tells us that This is My Body...; This is the cup of My Blood...

It is our responsibility to unite ourselves, through the Eucharist, with each other and to become one family, our parish family. Through our relationship with Jesus, we also received another gift, a relationship with God our Father, and with the Holy Spirit.

The Body and Blood of Christ, the Corpus Christi that we celebrate today, is given to us as food for our journey. This is a journey that will someday unite us in complete relationship not only with each other, but also with Father, Son and Holy Spirit for all eternity.


~ Feast of Corpus Christi ~

Women's Day 2008 ~ Awards and Certificates

Many awards and certificates were given out during the Women's Day Program. Among them were the following:

AWARDS

• Anne Holton-Kaine ~ Guest Speaker
• Sharon Morton ~ Women's Day Chairman
• Wendy Brown ~ Chairperson of Finance Council
• Laverne Braxton ~ Finance Council
• Cassandra Bland ~ Women's Group
• Peggy Beverly ~ Secretary of Gospel Choir
• Rosalie Robinson ~ Finance Council
• Mary Ann Allen ~ St. Elizabeth Website and Blog
• Patrice Schwermer ~ Diocesan Ministry for Haiti
• Barbara Williford
• Jacquelyn Hall
• Katrinia Murray
• Diane Neylan
• Rosemary Overton
• Vivian Sullivan
• Mieko Manual Timmons
• Mary Threadgill
• Jacquelyn McDonnough
• Nadine Jones
  

CERTIFICATES

• Stacy Wright
• Minnie Davis
• Betty Alexis
• Gwendolyn Woodruff
• Mary Baker
• Paulette Wright
• Amy Williford
• Mary Hill
• Perzelia Dandridge
• Mary Tucker
• Mary Walker
• Lucy Thompson
• Joyce Coy
• Maria Barrows
• Sr. Maureen
• Gloria Johnson
• Mildred Green
• Thelma Neal
• Meghan Barbato
  

Congratulations to all our St. Elizabeth's Women!

Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday Info from Rita Hatchett

For Your Information: The Virginia Department of Taxation has declared that from May 25 to May 31, 2008, anyone purchasing items that qualify for hurricane preparedness will be exempt from the Retail Sales and Use Tax provided that such items have a selling price of $60 or less per item.

The List of Qualifying Items can be found HERE.

St. Elizabeth's Women's Day 2008

Last Sunday, May 18th, we were graced by our very own Anne Holton, First Lady of Virginia, who was our speaker for St. Elizabeth's Annual Women's Day. Anne spoke about "A Woman's Role in the Family" which was also the theme for this year's festivities.

We were reminded that a woman is the ultimate multitasker. She can be nurse, budgeter, cook, wife, mother, caretaker, businesswoman and the anchor in a family. She has a largely unsung role with no paycheck at the end of the week. A role often devalued by society.

Anne used the story of The Marriage Feast at Cana to illustrate how a woman's influence shapes family life. Mary, the mother of Jesus, in her quiet gentle way, brought her Son to the threshold of his first public miracle. Mary realized the importance of the marriage feast in the life of the young couple. Hospitality played an important part in the events of that day and of course, the couple wanted their day to be perfect. Unfortunately, the wine ran out...

Mary recognized that situation could ruin a perfect day and so she decided to intervene. She drew her Son aside and let him know the wine had run out. Then she quietly spoke to the servants and told them to do whatever Jesus told them. She was confident her Son would take care of things.

This story exemplifies the influence a woman has within the family structure. Anne reminded us of the importance of a woman's stabilizing influence in today's culture and spoke from her own experience as a juvenile and domestic relations district court judge in the City of Richmond that showed what happened when children did not have this caring presence of a woman in the family to look after them.

Our First Lady received a standing ovation from all of us in appreciation for her words of wisdom.

Congratulations also go out to our Women's Day Committee under Chairperson Sharon Morton, all of whom put so much work and energy into this day to make this splendid event a success.


~ The print is "Circle of Joy" by Keith Mallett ~

Community Block Party 2008 Update

On behalf of Fr. Andrew and the Parishioners of St. Elizabeth Church, we are grateful for those parishioners who participated in the Block Party with Fifth Street Baptist and the other churches on April 26, 2008.

We are especially grateful to our Choir who, as usual, sang like "angels"! (Gloria Johnson, Kim Ford, Katrinia Murray, Peggy Beverly, Mary Ann Allen, Lucy and James Thompson, Mary and Sam Walker and Robert Fitzgerald)

Many thanks to our volunteers: Thelma Neal, Kiyoko Timmons, Mieko Timmons, Mary Threadgill, Shelton Jones, Clifton Wright, Ernest Johnson, Amanda Vaughan, Barbara Vaughan, Chelsey Mahone and Lauren Cotman.

God So Loved The World That He Gave His Only Son ~ by Ronnie Archer

The readings for the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity all emphasize relationships. In the Exodus reading, we hear of Moses going up to Mount Sinai with the two stone tablets as the Lord commanded him to do; the Lord standing with Moses and Moses bowing down in worship to the Lord. Then Moses asks Him, "...if I find favor with you, Lord" and invites Him to "come along in their company."

St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians says to "encourage one another, agree with one another, living in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you." Here St. Paul gives a clear picture of the meaning of the Trinity, which is all about relationships.

We try to approach God and figure Him out with our small brains. What we need to do is to experience God. Get to know Him through our experiences of love, caring and fellowship with each other. God is known to us by our relationship with Him, through His love for us!

We have to experience God within our communities and our families. Without community, we will never know God.

"The Grace of the LORD, JESUS CHRIST, and the love of GOD, and the fellowship of the HOLY SPIRIT be with all of you."


~ Trinity Sunday ~

The above image, Holy Trinity, fresco by Luca Rossetti da Orta, 1738-9 (St. Gaudenzio Church at Ivrea, is from Wikipedia

Phase 2: Clustering Recommendations To Be Sent to the Diocese

The last Planning Area 11 Meeting took place last week. The final recommendations that will be sent to the Planning Commission places St. Elizabeth in Cluster C which will also include St. Bridget, St. Paul and Church of the Redeemer. These four parishes will be served by 4 priests.

Cluster C recommends the following:

1. One pastor and one parochial vicar for St. Bridget
2. One pastor for Church of the Redeemer
3. One pastor for St. Paul and St. Elizabeth

Other information from this cluster includes:

~ Liturgy schedules are yet to be determined by each parish. St. Bridget and Church of the Redeemer will maintain their existing Mass schedules.

~ St. Paul and St. Elizabeth have unique Sunday activities surrounding religious education and visitation of the sick. Because of these existing ministries, each parish will need to determine an appropriate Mass schedule to facilitate Sunday liturgy and other important ministries. It is important that the Eucharist continue to be celebrated at least once on Sunday at St. Elizabeth.

~ In an effort to begin the process of resource needs and ministry collaboration, each parish in this cluster will be meeting in the month of June with religious education and music ministry staffs to see where synergies exist.


Next Steps

Following approval of this Local Planning Area plan, the next steps include:

~ Solidifying Mass schedules in each cluster arrangement;

~ Determining the resources (staffing, facilities) that should be shared across the cluster;

~ Determining resources and strengths that can be leveraged across the LPA for the benefit of all parishes;

~ Devising a transition plan for each parish and cluster group to make the change as relevant and easy as possible.

Congratulations to Christianna Moss!

Congratulations to Christianna Moss, who won the discus at the Southern Classic last week. Christianna is the granddaughter of Frances Pope, who is one proud grandma!

Christianna is a 17-year old junior at Patrick Henry High School and will be a contender in the discus and shot put events at the Central Region. We wish her "good luck" in these upcoming events.



~ Picture from the Richmond Times-Dispatch article ~

Come Holy Spirit, Come ~ by Mary Baker

The first reading of Acts reminds us how large crowds gathered together from all the nations under heaven on that day of Pentecost; all were witnesses to the mighty acts of God.

As the Spirit came to rest on each one of the Apostles, the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. They began asking God to continue sending down the Holy Spirit to renew the face of the Earth.

In the Gospel reading, we learn and recognize that through Baptism, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus' disciples were in fear; but Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."

We are also disciples of Jesus and we have fears also. The good news is that God is always in our midst, to forgive our sins and He wants us to forgive others.

Let us pray with a great desire for a better understanding of God's Word, so we can continue celebrating the event of Pentecost and to always acknowledge that the Holy Spirit has come, is coming and will come.

Today our church family was highly blest. We witnessed the baptising of two children; as well as Pentecost Sunday, the coming of the Holy Spirit. It was a beautiful celebration.


~ Pentecost Sunday ~

The Chita Baptisms ~ Pentecost 2008 at St. E's

Rita Hatchett and Ken Soistman contributed these beautiful photographs of the Baptism of the Chita children at our glorious Pentecost Celebration at St. Elizabeth Church yesterday.

~ The children are presented for Baptism ~

~ Raymond becomes a New Creation ~



~ Emmanuel is baptized into New Life ~



~ The Offertory Procession in the African Tradition ~



~ The Offertory Gifts are presented ~



~ Family Pictures after Mass ~

~ Fr. Andrew and the Chita Family ~



~ Photographs by Rita Hatchett and Ken Soistman ~

Congratulations to Traven Carter ~ TECHNOSPHERE

Congratulations to Traven Carter who attended the Technosphere Student Association (TSA) competition May 2-4 in Hampton, VA! Traven represented L. Douglas Wilder Middle School and won 2nd Place in the Graphic Design Challenge. Traven will now compete in the Nationals to be held in Orlando, FL.

You can see his name listed among the winners in the 2008 competition under the Graphic Design section.


Photograph from the TSA website.

May Birthdays at St. E's ~ by Ethel Cooley

Happy Birthday, Everyone!

05/01 ~ Minnie Davis
05/04 ~ Samuel Walker
05/07 ~ Shawn McCall
05/08 ~ Chansay Ford and Kenise Ford
05/09 ~ Betty Alexis and Yolanda Dandridge-James
05/11 ~ Robert Fitzgerald, Sr. and Annella Kaine
05/14 ~ Angela Stuart
05/17 ~ Ya-sin Miller and Gwendolyn Woodruff
05/18 ~ Sr. Maureen Carroll and Tyler Jones
05/19 ~ Vincent Cotman, Anitra Green and Jacqueline Hall
05/22 ~ Phil Barbato
05/23 ~ Danielle Smith
05/26 ~ Robert Fitzgerald, Jr.
05/29 ~ Timothy Lamb

"Make Disciples of All Nations" ~ by Ronnie Archer

Today, the church celebrates the entry of Christ into Heaven. The readings this Sunday emphasize receiving a Spirit of wisdom and revelation, resulting in knowledge and witnessing for Jesus.

During Jesus' time on earth, He went about His daily life, teaching and preaching about the love and the Kingdom of God. The time had come for Him to ascend into heaven in all of His human glory. This action represents hope for all of us who are still in this world.

When Jesus ascended, He opened the way to the Father for all who believe, love Him, and follow His teachings. Christ loves the Church, and He is with us in the Church, the Body of Christ, which is the visible sign of Jesus. He trusts us with the responsibility to carry out His mission on earth to love and care for each other.

To do what Christ commands us to do takes the strength of Jesus. Without His strength, nothing will happen. We have to experience Jesus to have the Light in our lives to be witnesses for Him and to help build up the Kingdom of God.

Help us Father, daily... to be open to the Holy Spirit so that we will experience the strength and love of Jesus; to be a reflection of Him, so that we will be able to "go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, beholding, that You are with us always, until the end of time."

~ Feast of the Ascension: Sunday, May 4, 2008 ~

~ Picture: Oil on canvas by John Singleton Copley ~

"God Pleaser" ~ Congratulations to Eric L. Thompson

Congratulations to Eric L. Thompson, son of our parishioners, James and Lucy Thompson. Eric has just had a book published by Kingdom Publishing Group, Inc.

"GOD PLEASER" gives "A Kingdom perspective on what pleases and displeases the Lord, and how to apply Biblical principles to advance the Kingdom."

You can reach Eric Thompson by email (Eric@GodPleaser.net) or by visiting his website at http://www.godpleaser.net/ where you can also find information for purchasing his book.



~ Photograph: God Pleaser website (www.godpleaser.net) ~