St. Emily Religious Education Program
Partners with Parents in Children’s Faith Formation
Welcome to our Religious Education program where we are truly “Partners with Parents in Faith Formation.” We are excited to assist you in teaching your children about our Catholic faith. Successful partnerships rely on mutual support of all parties involved. A partnership thrives when expectations are clear and everyone is working toward the same goal. As parents, you are your child’s first and foremost catechists. Your role in passing on Christian values is irreplaceable. It is by observing a parents’ participation in the Mass and the Sacraments, their involvement in parish life, and their treatment of others by word and deed that children develop their Catholic identity and determine the value they will place on faith for the rest of their lives. Your actions will have the greatest impact on your child’s faith development.
Our role, as your children’s secondary catechists, in passing on the history, rituals, and traditions of our Catholic faith through class room learning, Scripture sharing, prayer, sacramental preparation, and sacramental celebration is designed to fully enhance and support all you do to raise your children in a faith-filled home. What you do gives meaning to what we teach. We will do our best to nurture the faith you chose to raise your children in when you brought them to be baptized in the Catholic Church. There are many opportunities for parent participation in our program, from volunteering to opportunities for your own faith formation. Your active involvement in the program is certainly the best example of service to the Church that your child will ever experience.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION LENT UN-FOOD DRIVE
During Lent, we have always done a monetary collection for a specific cause. The past couple of years, students were asked to bring in water bottles filled with their change in order to change the lives of children in Bolivia and Haiti by providing funds used to create systems to deliver healthy drinking water. This year we have chosen to focus on neighbors in need, right in our own back yard, by supporting Catholic Charities Des Plaines Food Pantry through a Sponsorship.
Economic changes and increased unemployment have brought food insecurity and hunger to an alarming crisis level. Also alarming is the rapidly growing number of the newly poor - individuals and families facing a financial crisis for the first time. Mary Insprucker, Catholic Charities Northwest Regional Director, said in an article published in the Daily Herald on November 22, 2011, “It really tears into your heartstrings. You see a man come in, hat in hand, near tears that due to a job loss he’s having to come for help for the first time in his life. A lot of the people to come to us for help are the people who used to support us. And now they find themselves standing in the lines.” Whether we know it or not, these are our friends and neighbors and we need to help each other now.
Around 500,000 people in Cook and Lake Counties rely on Catholic Charities each year for a large part of their daily nutritional needs. In 2010, Catholic Charities provided 29 million meals and distributed $45 million in food. The number of people using the Des Plaines Food Pantry has more than doubled in the last three years, from 3,000 families to over 7,000 which equates to 35,000 individuals, yet their funding has declined. If you saw the tiny room that is used for this pantry, you would absolutely not believe it. Illinois received 37% less food from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for distribution to those who need it. The Food Pantry has had to reduce the number of days it is opened each week and reduce the allotted number of items given to each family. Donations are desperately needed! We could start a Food Drive and ask everyone to send in non-perishable items, but better than donating food, is donating money. The reason is so simple.
Every $1 donated to Catholic Charities enables them to secure
$10 worth of food from the food banks!
You could buy a can of Cream of Potato soup for $1.89 and donate it and the Food Pantry would gain…one can of soup, or you could donate $2 and the Food Pantry would gain $20 worth of food! It just doesn’t make sense for you to go to the store to buy a $3 jar of peanut butter for a food drive when you can simply put $3 in an envelope and it can be turned into $30 worth of food! What could be simpler? The best way to do that is by becoming a Catholic Charities Food Pantry Sponsor. There are five levels of sponsorships.
Gold – $10,000 or more Silver - $5,000 Bronze - $2,500
Patron – $1,000 Friend of the Pantry – $500
If each student was able to donate $1, we would be very close to becoming a Friend of the Pantry. For some students, that may not be possible. For others, donating more than $1 might be possible. And that is fine, because those who can help should give; and those who need help should receive. That is, after all, what this is all about. Please ask your children to consider giving from their own money and please consider matching your child’s donation. Also, please consider asking your employer if they match donations to non-profit organizations or if they would like to consider becoming a Food Pantry Sponsor themselves. (Call the office to obtain the necessary paperwork.) We could be wildly successful and possibly even reach the level of Patron Sponsorship!
Please send donations with your child in an envelope or baggie on the weeks of MAR 13/14, 20/21, and April 3/4. (NO CLASSES on March 6/7 and 28/29.) It can be all at once or a little each week. Each class room will have a shopping cart on our bulletin board in the hallway different food containers/boxes/jars to collect their donations. Children will take turns bringing their class’s money to the office. We will have a supply of little food cards and for every $5 they donate, they will be able to shop for food items to put into their class shopping cart.
On TUES, MAR 20 and WED, MAR 21, RE students will present a very special version of the Stations of the Cross, in church, which ALL FAMILIES are asked to attend. Immediately following, on MAR 20, Mary Insprucker, Catholic Charities Regional Director, and MAR 21, Gregg Belgard, St. Emily Youth Minister, catechist, and member of Catholic Charities Midwest Regional Board of Directors, will present some incredibly surprising information about all of the work that Catholic Charities does and all of the services available to those who come to them for help. Please join us on this very important evening. I guarantee that everyone who comes will leave with valuable new knowledge, whether you or someone you know has questions about aging parents, financial, medical, food or housing assistance, suicide or substance abuse, public aid or legal services. Below is a list of some of the services available through the Des Plaines Office. This is something we can do together to support each other. As Mary Insprucker said, “Right now, given the situation we’re in, it’s a real step-up-and-help-your-neighbor crisis kind of level.”
STAFF
Joan Kobylski, Coordinator Pat Martin, Office Mgr. Linda Kestler, Assistant
jkobylski@stemily.org pmartin@stemily.org lkestler@stemily.org
OFFICE HOURS
Monday 9am-4pm Tuesday 12pm-7pm Wednesday 1pm-8pm Thursday 9am-4pm Friday 9am-4pm
PHONE 847-299-5865 FAX 847-544-5035
MISSION STATEMENT
The Religious Education program works in partnership with parents to provide Catholic faith formation and education for children, fostering a sense of community and belonging , and ensuring opportunities for intellectual and spiritual growth to strengthen their knowledge and love of Jesus.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
Our goal is to develop and deepen each child’s personal relationship with God and empower them to live their faith as Catholic Christians in today’s world, through witness and service.