Merry Christmas To All and To All a Good Year
All of us here at Holy Family wish you, your families and loved ones a Merry Christmas. May the wonder of our God giving himself to us in the form of the newborn Christ fill your hearts and souls with hope.
This is certainly something to say Amen to. Amen is the natural response and conclusion of prayer, and just as Christmas follows Advent, our AMEN Christmas theme follows our Advent theme of PRAY. The acronym for Prepare, Repent, Accept and Yes leads us to proclaim AMEN to the beauty and the depth of the Incarnation story.
Amen means many things, but it punctuates and helps to celebrate prayer. This Christmas, Amen helps us to celebrate the continuation of our Adventure in Grace initiative upon which we are building much of the very future of our faith community.
Exactly How Is This Adventure in Grace Continuing?
• If you haven’t already, please join or form a Small Christian Community Gathering in Grace (GIG for short) to deepen your appreciation of Grace that is abundant in our everyday lives. Small group discussion and safe sharing can facilitate this in perhaps the most powerful way. Simply being encouraged to look for and to share how and where you experienced Grace and who or what mediated it can make a profound difference in your faith life and spiritual growth. Please contact Deacon Dennis Brown at dbrown@holyfamilyparish.org for more details.
• Our ongoing Tenderness series continues on Tuesday, January 31 at 7:00pm in church for Tenderness Toward Creation led by Dan Huntsha, North and West Chicago Suburbs Outreach Director, Faith in Place.
• Bill and JoAnne McElroy will return to Holy Family on Saturday, January 21 from 9:00am-3:00pm for a Contemplative Day of Prayer.
• Look for continued Grace offerings through our annual parish Mission in March and other Tenderness presentations in the spring.
• Look for another Lenten Social Justice Project in collaboration with the Catholic Extension Society
Save the date for the 2023 Holy Family Gala
Come and celebrate everything 80’s at our 2023 Holy Family Parish Gala on Saturday, March 18, 2023 at Concorde Banquets in Kildeer.
We Want To Hear You
Through the efforts of members of our Pastoral Table (parishioners who gather regularly to discuss and offer advice), we have created a survey designed to get your feedback on a few important issues. We are particularly interested in feedback from younger adults ages 20-35. You will be sent an email with a Survey Monkey questionnaire that will take approximately five minutes to complete. We sincerely want your honest feedback. Our door is open to you and your experiences. Your responses will assist us in more effectively providing spiritual enrichment, service opportunities and more. If we do not have an updated or any email address for you, please contact Jean Swenson on our staff at jswenson@holyfamilyparish.org. The more feedback we receive, the more we can grow as a faith community.
AMEN to Generosity and Service from Our Youth
This season is one of receiving, but we encourage our younger parishioners to give and this year they have demonstrated unbelievable generosity.
• Family Faith teens bought and wrapped gifts for 12 Palatine Township families in need.
• 5th and 6th grade Family Faith students made 40 floral arrangements for seniors in the Palatine Catholic Charities Center.
• Family Faith kindergarten to 4th grade students made 200 bags of gifts and essentials for children at the Divine Mercy School in Kenya.
• As a part of the kNOw Hunger initiative, Holy Family Catholic Academy students not only learned about food insufficiency near and far, but collected 4,200 food items for the All Saints Food Pantry and the Partners in our Community Program.
These are a few of the acts of generosity this season from Holy Family.
AMEN To Our Knights of Columbus
Our Knights have provided extra support during this Advent Season, with their always tasty Cafés, helping facilitate our Tree Lighting service, and cooking such a nourishing surprise breakfast for our HFCA Faculty. AMEN to that!!