Dear Ladies and Friends of TASTE,

ESSENTIAL INFORMATION

• THIS WEEK — TASTE continues our 20th season as we welcome back(opens in t Dominique Seraphin as she gives a talk entitled "Burning for the Beloved - St. Francis and the Transforming Fire of Divine Love."
• BROWN BAG LUNCH — After Dominique's talk, we will gather together for fellowship and brown bag lunch.  You may either bring your lunch or purchase food in the cafeteria (cash only).  Come join your sisters in Christ and get to know each other better.
• INVITE OTHERS — Please invite a friend or two and encourage them to join us for what promises to be a wonderful year of talks and celebration.
• IN PREP — We will discuss Mary Lenaburg's talk entitled "Restored and Resilient." The audio, video, reflection questions and other related material can be found HERE.  Addiitonally, Fr. Mike Schmitz has an excellent homily on how to avoid getting pulled into gossip and here is a companion chart on how to avoid crossing over the threshold between legitimate requests for prayer/advice and gossip.  Finally, if you missed the opportunity to buy Mary's book, it is available on Amazon.
• ZOOM — The Zoom small group meets on the following Tuesday morning. Details on how to join can be found in a link at the bottom of this message.

OTHER INFORMATION

• ADOPT A PRIEST — One of our three TASTE missions is to encourage priests in their ministry.  Our "Pray for Priests Program" enables this by assigning a specific priest to each woman to spiritually adopt and pray for during the year.  We will have our ceremony on November 5th.  You may sign up at TASTE or online. LINK
• CONTINUAL PRAYER — At our last session, we handed out a sheet called "The Holiness of Busyness" which identified 5 1/2 minutes of spiritual activities to be done throughout the day that calls to mind God's presence in our lives and enables continual prayer.  LINK
• 20TH ANNIVERSARY VIDEO — During our 2nd session, we watched a 5-minute video in Celebration of our 20th Anniversary. It summarized much of what Fr. Swink discussed during his talk during our kick-off session where he explained our founder Marian's vision of TASTE.  LINK
• 2027 PILGRIMAGE TO SIENA & ROME — Did you love Joan's Watson's talk and perhaps her book about Lessons from St. Catherine? If so, consider joining Joan as she leads a retreat pilgrimage to Siena and Rome intentionally designed around the life and mission of St. Catherine. Walk in St. Catherine's footsteps, visit the places where she was born, prayed, served the poor and sick, encountered Christ, and discerned her particular call to love and serve the Church.  LINK

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Oct 14 — The annual Italian Mass will be held at St Mary of the Mills Church Wednesday, October 14 at 6:30. Dolce will follow in the Breen Room. All are welcome.
• Oct 15-17 — “The Woman” Project International Women’s Conference is scheduled for October 15th-17th, 2026. The theme is: “The Power to Birth Nations” (Gen 17:15-16). Registration has begun!  Three of our TASTE speakers will be presenting at this conference: 1) Fr. Virginus, 2) Dominique Seraphin, and 3) Julie Liotta.  LINK

PRAYER REQUESTS

Please continue to pray for our TASTE program and our speakers. This week, please pray for:

OUR SPEAKERS AND FRIENDS OF TASTE:

• For all of our speakers for our 20th year, and for all those speakers who have inspired us these past 19 years!
• For all priests — Stir up in them the grace of their vocation which is in them.
• For our current Pope Leo XIV who has a nodule on his lung that is in an early stage and needs to be removed.
• For Fr. Larry Swink (our spiritual director) as he recently had another back surgery and is dealing with back pain.

OUR TASTE MEMBERS AND FAMILIES:

• For Debbie Schmidt who is still recovering from her knee replacement surgery.
• For Maureen Filiault's grandchild Sophia, we pray to St. Joseph for his continued protection for her.
• For Karen Giermek's mother who is undergoing treatment for cancer.
• For Ego's husband, Chuka Ndubizu, who was recently diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing treatment.
• For Maryanna Rice who always faithfully came to TASTE since its beginning. Due to increased limitations, she’s unable to attend now. Please also pray for her son, Brook, who is her primary caregiver.
• For Charles “Chuck” Kinnane, who directed the recent film Solo Mio with Kevin James and Jonathan Roumie, lost his five-year-old daughter just over a week ago (10/4) following an accident.  Please pray for the repose of their precious daughter’s soul and for comfort, strength, and peace for Chuck, his wife Kary, and their family in this unimaginable sorrow.

BEYOND OUR TASTE COMMUNITY

• For peace around the world, especially in the Middle East and Ukraine. May God protect the innocent, comfort the grieving, and guide leaders toward justice and a lasting peaceful resolution.
• Specifically for the War in Iran, grant wisdom to our leaders, safety for our troops and our allies, liberation and safety for the people of Iran, and healing for those who mourn.
• For our brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering persecution for their faith around the world, especially in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Sudan.
• For St. Vincent Pallotti High School, for blessings for their faculty, teachers, students and families in gratitude for their generosity to TASTE.
• We also pray 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, Helen, and Lisa
Jesus, I trust in You!