December 23, 2022
Dear Ladies and Friends of TASTE,
- CHRISTMAS WISHES — Christmas is only a couple days away and we wanted to take a moment to wish each and every one of you Christ's Peace and Love on this Joyous Day and throughout the New Year. May your celebrations be blessed with health, happiness, and joy.
- CHRISTMAS ARTICLES — As you prepare to celebrate the Lord Jesus this Christmas season, we invite you to read this article as it includes BLESSINGS for our Christmas Tree, our Manger, and our Home. Additionally, there is a great article from HALLOW related to "The Schedule of the Catholic Christmas Season, Octave of Christmas & 12 Days of Christmas." LINK
- DONATIONS — We know that some women like to donate to TASTE before the end of the year for tax purposes. There are 3 ways you can donate to TASTE to help defray our costs: 1) in-person, 2) electronically on our web site, or 3) by physical mail. Checks should be made out to "TASTE" and can be mailed to: Joy Parker, 12649 W Oak Drive, Mount Airy, MD 21771. As usual, thank you so much for your generosity!
- BREAK / NEXT MEETING — In celebration of Christmas and New Year's, we will be off until our Virtual Zoom on January 19, 2023 and will continue meeting that way until February 9 when we meet again in person. Each of you will be in our thoughts and prayers especially during the weeks we will not be together! Enjoy the time off and try to get some rest!
- PRAYER REQUESTS — Please continue to pray for our TASTE program, our speakers, and our ability to offer child care if needed. This week, please pray for: 1) either a miracle or for God's peace for two of our dear ladies: for Katylee McInerney who has very aggressive cancer and for Kathy Buckus who was just in the hospital, but was sent home for hospice care, 2) the repose of the soul of Eileen Harte (Debbie Schmidt's mother), 3) a complete recovery of Debbie Schmidt's health and God’s comfort and grace for her loss, 4) the repose of the soul of Robert "Bob" Berens, father to Mary Regan (former TASTE member) and grandfather to Fr. Kevin Regan, a TASTE speaker, 5) complete healing and swift recovery from Fr. Swink's recent back surgery, 6) Julie Reynold's new grandson Jameson Christopher for continued improvement after having complications following birth 7) Julie Reynold's daughter Megan, mother of this new baby, for continued healing from C-section incision reopening, 8) Mike Frentz who is suffering from partial loss of eyesight, that it will not worsen, 9) eradication of Kate Christianson's cancer, 10) God's complete physical and spiritual healing for Helen Griffith's brother-in-law Rod, 11) although improving, continued healing for Maryanna Rice, and 12) for peace and comfort to the families of each of the people mentioned above. New prayer requests can be sent to Joy Parker at joyparker73@gmail.com.
Blessings,
Joy, Michele, Karen, Teresa, and Helen
Jesus, I trust in You!
CARRY-OVERS - The below information is carried over from the last email.
- SPECIAL ACCESS — Exciting News! Bill Keimig has provided the TASTE Program with our very own membership to the Catechetical Institute's "Franciscan At Home" completely free of charge to you! With this membership, we have workshops available to us on our computer given by excellent instructors such as Dr. Scott Hahn, Dr. Bob Rice, and our very dear friend, Dr. Bill Keimig! You can go as deep as you like in your study or just explore various topics involving catechizing all age groups, parenting, holy families, the Eucharist, discipleship, and many more. The link to set up your account under TASTE's membership is HERE. Questions? Feel free to email Karen Giermek at karen.giermek@gmail.com.
- BONUS TALK — A unique opportunity just presented itself and we would love to share it with you. Our talk on "The Giftedness of Women" was regrettably canceled a few weeks ago. In addition to that, we were hoping to have Sr. Mary Madeline Todd, O.P. speak to us this year, but because of her teaching schedule at Mount de Sales Academy, she is not able to join us on a Thursday morning. Sr. Mary Madeline is in the same Dominican Sister order as our dear friend, Sr. Mary Michael Fox, O.P. In fact, Sr. Mary Michael refers to Sr. Mary Madeline affectionately as a "rock star" speaker! We are so excited to share this talk delivered by Sr. Mary Madeline at The Given Institute Forum just days ago, entitled "Entrusted With the Feminine Genius". Sr. Mary Madeline's talk beautifully addresses the topic of our giftedness as women, and we have the privilege of hearing her speak. We hope you will be deeply moved and inspired by it. Take a listen HERE and please share it with the other women in your lives. This is just for your edification. We will not be having small group discussion questions on this talk.
- FR. SWINK — Fr. Larry said he has turned the corner in a good way and he continues to get his strength back. The surgery went well. He is very hopeful of a good recovery. Thank you all for your prayers for Father! I truly believe they are very vital! Also, we have heard that a number of women wanted Fr. Swink's address to send Get Well cards. Here it is. Fr. Larry Swink, St. Cecelia Catholic Church, 47950 Mattapany Road, P.O. Box 429, St. Mary's City, Maryland 20686
- SUPPORT OUR PRIESTS — A few weeks ago, we had our Spiritually Adopt a Priest/Seminarian ceremony. Thanks to all who are participating in this program since one of our three missions is to encourage priests in their ministry. If you missed the opportunity to sign up and would like to participate, please email Jennifer.A.Dougherty@protonmail.com. Additionally, here is an ARTICLE about 7 ways to support your priest.
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BILL'S WEBSITE — Bill Keimig mentioned that content to their website is for free. If you are in the Arch of Baltimore, follow this LINK. There is a drop down menu of all the parishes and schools that are registered with them. You can use their membership to create an account. Unfortunately, the Arch of Washington only have the following 2 memberships through this LINK (Holy Cross Church and St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Rockville).
- PILGRIMAGE — Fr. Larry Swink and Fr. Tim Daniel will be the Spiritual Directors for a pilgrimage to France May 21-30, 2023. If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, see this LINK
- THE EUCHARIST - This year's TASTE theme "ABIDE IN ME" aligns with our Church's 3-year Eucharistic Revival (Additional LINK). As mentioned earlier, Blessed Carlo Acutis (Additional LINK) catalogued the Eucharistic Miracles of the World.
- CHILD CARE - If you are in need of child care to attend TASTE, please contact Joy Parker joyparker73@gmail.com directly. Likewise, if you know of any young mothers who you think would like to come to TASTE, but would need babysitting to do so, please contact Joy about this as well.
- REGISTRATION - We want to say thank you to all of the women who have already registered as it helps us significantly with our planning. If you haven't registered yet or if you know someone who is interested in attending, please sign up and/or encourage them to do the same. REGISTRATION LINK.
- INVITE A FRIEND - We encourage you to invite a friend regardless of where they are on their faith journey. If they are interested, please also encourage them to register. Attached is a POSTCARD that you can text, email, or print as an invitation to others.
ATTACHMENTS:
- Small Group TASTE Zoom Invitation
- E-Invitation: 1-Sided Front Back 2022/2023
