Weekly News

Many thanks to everyone who is participating in the annual Adopt-A-Family program! Please have your wrapped and labelled gifts back to the cathedral no later than Sunday December 5 at 1pm. You can leave the gift with an ushers at the back of the cathedral. If you would still like to participate in Adopt-A-Family but missed out on being able to give a gift, you can still help! Monetary donations are needed to buy Stop & Shop gift cards for holiday meals. You can visit the secure AAF donation portal here: http://ehs.org/aaf . Thank again to everyone who helped make this Christmas season merry and bright for our sisters and brothers in the St. John's Hospital Adopt-A-Family program!

The altar guild is a group of women and men, organized in rotating committees, who are responsible for setting up the daily and Sunday communion services throughout the year. Set up for Sunday services usually occur on Saturday mornings for about an hour. On Sundays, most committees organize clean up/set up for the three services amongst themselves depending on which service they attend. It is a wonderful opportunity to be “up close and personal” with all aspects of Holy Communion and to be involved with this special part of the mass.

Other activities include decorating for major holidays and feasts such as Christmas and Easter as well as the seasons leading up to them. We welcome new members or, if you are just curious as to what we do, please feel free to contact Christine Le Sueur through Realm or introduce yourself to one of our dedicated altar guild members.

You are invited to join a new initiative of the Cathedral’s Ministry for Pets. Tending for Loss is an online support circle for those who have lost an animal companion.

This support circle will be meeting from 7 - 8 pm on the following dates.

December 9, 2021

January 13, 2022

February 10, 2022

March 10, 2022

April 14, 2022

The group will be facilitated by parishioner and Jungian analyst Lisa DeBenedittis PhD LP. Please email Lisa at psychepractice@gmail.com to register or with questions. Group size is limited, and registration is required. All meetings are confidential, free of charge, and open to the public. Tending for Loss

In remembrance In grief In gratitude In spiritual community In love. Tending for Loss In remembrance In grief In gratitude In spiritual community In love.

People often don’t want to talk about stewardship. OK, so let’s talk about Paris instead. Years ago, I went to Paris on short notice—traveling alone, speaking no French at the time. A colleague who’d lived in France gave me a tip: always say “Bonjour”—entering a cafe or shop, anytime you encounter anyone--and the courtesy will be well received. She was right. I got lost finding my hotel, but said “bonjour” to an elderly lady and pointed at the address, and when she realized I didn’t understand her reply, she hooked her arm in mine and walked me to my destination. I bonjoured my way around Paris, and it opened up a whole new world of warm, friendly, helpful Parisians. I came home and began studying French so I could actual converse beyond “bonjour” on future trips.

So…stewardship. I think it’s like that “bonjour”—it’s how you reach out and form a connection. My bonjour to the cathedral began with a financial offering and has come to include various ministries—acolytes, prayer shawl ministry, Cathedral for Pets, altar guild, social justice group. Every time I reach out to give my time and/or resources here at the cathedral, it becomes much more than a donation or a task, and as we all pitch in, we form connections and make things happen together, things that might never happen otherwise. With that first word, that first gift, we create and sustain something much greater. Bonjour, mes amis, bonjour!l

--Rebecca Maines