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December 1, 2003

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Advent & Christmas The following are some of the online resources available on Advent. Celebrate Advent / Christmas - Sharing Christmas with Others - A beautifully made web site from the for young children with stories, crafts, and an advent calendar. A great Pauline Christmas website... Check out the flash audio enhanced story book.... Advent & Christmas quotations - These 30+ quotations from various sources were collected by Fr. Brian Cavanaugh, TOR. Advent and Christmas Devotions - This page from the CatholicMom.com web site contains a listing of various web sites containing useful resources. (no longer available) Family Prayers for the Advent Season: The Advent Wreath - Offers a prayer of blessing for the Advent wreath, prayers for each week of Advent, and an excerpt from the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy on Advent. Advent and Christmas Crafts and Activities For Children - Various craft projects for Advent Church Library - Art Catalog - Official Website of The United Methodist Church - A very nice collection of public domain clipart under the following headings: * Nativity Images * Angels * Bells * Candles * Trees, Wreaths & Holly * Text Banners * Miscellaneous Images Advent to Epiphany: Celebrating the Christmas Season - From the Saint Anthony Messenger web site - " Prepare for Christmas with Advent wreath and Advent calendar activities, along with information about St. Nicholas, Advent prayers, and more." Catholic Catechist Online: Advent and Christmas - A good list of links to useful resources. (no longer available) Catholic Online - Catholic Life - The Season of Advent - Contains the collects for Advent, the readings for each day during Advent, and an article on Saint Nicholas. Catholic Traditions for Advent and Christmas - an article by Michaelann Martin - How can families better live the spirit of Advent and Christmas in their homes? Christmas Tree Blessing for the Family at Advent from Catholicmom.com (no longer available) Devotion - Prayers - Advent Wreath Prayers - From the web site of Saint Charles Borromeo Parish. The Liturgical Season of Advent - by Fr. William Saunders - How did the celebration of Advent come about? U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Publishing - The US Council of Catholic Bishops has made available a number of resources on its web sites: Blessing for the Advent Wreath (in pdf format), for the Christmas Tree (in pdf format);2003 Advent Resource Supplement (pdf) - "This extension of the resource, Advent 2003: Celebrate Christ’s Coming to Establish Peace on Earth, offers various ways to use the resource during and after the Advent season"; and Advent 2003: Celebrate Christ's Coming to Establish Peace on Earth - " This resource is offered as a seasonal aid for prayer and reflection about the social justice message of the Sunday gospels. It provides elements for individuals and groups to develop their own prayer, study, and reflection opportunities for use in parishes,schools, families, social justice committees, small faith-sharing circles, and other settings. Advent Wreath Prayers - Prayers for the weeks of Advent Mary Page Advent Calendar: - A Collection of Resources - Rev. Bertrand Buby, SM, Hebrew Testament Reflections, O'Antiphons, Masses for Advent from the Collection of Masses in Honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary . " Mary Page would like to journey through Advent with you! Join us as we explore the progressively unfolding wonder of the Incarnation day by day." Celebrating Christmas As if the Earth Were really the place where the Word became flesh - from an environmental justice perspective.

Various articles and resources on Advent and Christmas are available on the Domestic.Church.com web site: Celebrating Advent - by Posie McPhee Christmas Traditions - by Shonnie Scarola Origins of Christmas Traditions by Shonnie Scarola, Part One, Part Two, Part Three. Celebrating with Advent Hymns - by Kelly Beck Advent Wreath Prayers - Brief prayers for each week of Advent. _______________ My Friend Magazine - The Catholic Magazine for Kids - Click on : Daily 2003 Advent Calendar. Prayers and Readings for Advent - By Bass Mitchell Advent - Christmas Resources 2003 - Prayers for each week of Advent, other rituals and articles. Crafts - Various templates for Advent Wreaths and other Christmas related crafts from first-school.com. The Christmas Story Advent Coloring Book - 24 coloring pages with quotations from Luke (first 15 pages) and Matthew (last 9 pages) to reinforce the Christmas story. _________________ Cyberfaith, the web site of William H. Sadlier, Inc. offers a number of activities for Advent and Christmas; An Advent Adventure - an Advent adventure for nine to eleven-year-olds. The activity can be done very effectively outdoors. We Journey at Christmas - This prayer service encourages the youngsters to live in such a way that they will show others how to find Jesus. We Celebrate Christmas - Gather the children around a manger and tell them the Christmas story. Invite the children to sing "Silent Night" or another familiar Christmas carol Help the children to use the pieces on this site to make a Christmas card for someone special. A Celebration of Peace: Christmas - This exercise gives us a unique chance to connect the beauty of each sunrise with Christmas. The way that the prayer talks of the change from darkness into light can stretch the youngsters' spiritual awareness of Jesus in their lives. A Christmas Meditation - Invite your young people to participate in meditative prayer. Encourage them to use their imagination when responding to the gospel story. This activity might appeal to youngsters between the ages of eight and ten. A Christmas Thank You - Give the youngsters an opportunity to write a thank you to Jesus for all of the gifts he has given to us. A Dream Come True -- Christmas - Invite your ten to twelve-year-olds to focus on Saint Joseph during the following Christmas reflection. Then give them the experience of centering contemplatively on the name of Jesus. We Celebrate Advent - Explain to the children that Advent is a time to prepare the way for Jesus to come into our hearts in a special way at Christmas. Help them to complete each prayer with their own personal responses. __________________ Web site reviews and listings of online resources on Advent and Christmas resources are also available on the Resources for Catholic Educators web site at: Web site Reviews - Advent Web site - Christmas Listing of Resources - Advent Listing of Resources - Christmas Saint Nicholas From Ignatius Press: Christmas Videos Christmas Videos for Children Christmas Music Christmas Book

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Advent and Christmas Stories - by Rob Neves        Stories that help young children understand the Gospels. The four wonderful stories below can be useful during the Advent and Christmas Season.       He’s Coming Back - Luke 21:25-36        Prepare the Way of the Lord - Luke 3:1-6        What should We do to get Ready? - Luke 3:7-18        The Big Plan - Luke 21:25-36 Click here for information on recordings of these stories and more by Rob Neves.   The challenge of sharing the words of a different time, written in different place, left in different language and describing a different world can be intimidating. It helps to understand that the people in the Bible were real just like you and I, and we have many things in common. The approach I have developed for sharing the "Good News" allows children to hear the Word in context and make real meaning for their lives today.· In this approach we look at the teaching style of Christ (as described in the Gospels) and use it to wrap the concepts, scripture passages or lessons as part of the fabric of a story -- Rob Neves “How Would Jesus Tell the Story?” Effective Story Telling In Our Ministry to Children

Upcoming Conferences & Forums Marygrove to Host National Education Conference to Mark the 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education Detroit, MI--Marygrove College announced that it will kick off a year-long series of events, which will culminate in a three-day national conference to focus on the status of education since Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka. "Revitalizing the Purpose and Spirit of Education: The Imprint of Brown v. the Board of Education" will host educational leaders from throughout the country who will explore educational standards since Brown, and the needs of schools, teachers, and students in the next 50 years. "There is a great deal of debate about the strides students have made since the Brown decision," said Alfred Cooke, Ph.D., dean of education. "We hope to provide a thought-provoking forum to discuss these differing perspectives, and help develop a sense of what the future educational landscape can look like." The series marks the 50th anniversary of the May 17, 1954, U.S. Supreme Court decision, which ended federally sanctioned racial segregation in the public schools by ruling unanimously that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. A groundbreaking case, Brown not only overturned the precedent of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), which had declared "separate but equal facilities" constitutional, but also provided the legal foundation of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The conference will take place October 1 - 3, 2004 and is under the sponsorship of Marygrove College Graduate Studies, the Education Unit, the Master in the Art of Teaching Program, and Undergraduate Studies, Office of Alumni Relations, and Continuing Education. Marygrove College is a Catholic, liberal arts college located on 53 park-like acres in one of Detroit's oldest residential neighborhoods. Offering more than 35 programs, Marygrove is widely recognized for its teaching, social work, art, music and dance, undergraduate, and graduate programs. send us your special event news and we will post it here.

Announcement   The Resources for Catholic Educators has recently been awarded the maximum 5 star rating for educational usefulness by the Schoolzone evaluation team. ______________________________________

A bit of humor   Did You Forget Me? A pious man, who had reached the age of 105, suddenly stopped going to synagogue. Alarmed by the old fellow's absence after so many years of faithful attendance, the Rabbi went to see him. He found him in excellent health, so the Rabbi asked, "How come after all these years we don't see you at services anymore?" The old man lowered his voice. "I'll tell you, Rabbi," he whispered. "When I got to be 90, I expected God to take me any day. But then I got to be 95, then 100, then 105. So, I figured that God is very busy and must've forgotten about me, and I don't want to remind Him!" Wrong Department A woman was sitting next to a priest on a plane when a terrible storm broke out. "Can't you do something about that awful lightning?" she demanded. "I'm sorry," the priest answered, "I'm in sales, not management." -- from Catholic Parish Resources - Bulletin fillers, materials, Mass, Cards

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