Pics of the Dawson's in Ireland

For those of you who may not know, the Dawson's have family in Ireland and are over there right now. I took some pictures off of their Facebook pages; I'm not sure what all of them are, but it sure looks like a fun place to be. We'll have to have them tell us about it when they get back. In the meantime, check out their Facebook pages for more pics.

We'll definitely need the story behind this last picture when they get back...

What's Alexis up to?

I thought it'd be interesting to contact our seniors from last year's Youth Group (who are now off at college) and find out what they are up to now and what advice they have for those about to go off to college this fall. Here's a little greeting from Alexis Cook:

What am I doing? Well, I have just completed my first semester at the University of Michigan, having declared my major in Political Science. I have been working at Cliff Keen Arena, where Michigan Volleyball events are held. The only advice I have for graduating seniors is to enjoy the rest of your senior year! You only get one chance at it, so have fun, but don't forget your studies. Enjoy getting those acceptance letters in the mail!

-Alexis

Hopefully we'll here from some more of our Youth Group alumni in the coming weeks! God bless you all!

No Youth Group this weekend!

Good news! I did figure out how to get back onto this blog after several frustrating days of being locked out of it.

At any rate, remember that Youth Group does not start again until the 11th of January, at which time we will be having a topic night on the New Age. I'll post some more on that later.

Remember I am looking for any designs / ideas for a Youth Group logo/flag/standard. Deadline is in March.

Did you all get hammered with snow over Christmas break? Here is a little pic from my neck of the woods. The first is a picture of my street from my driveway, the second is a field on the way to my parents' house in Howell:

Pax tibi!

Sledding Info

Just wanted to go over some info for Sunday in case you missed the email-

Please be at the Church at 3:30 PM. Bring your sled with you. I can take 10 kids or so in my van (and by the way, I only have 2 seats left), but otherwise you will have to find your own ride to Huron Hills.

After sledding for awhile, we'll go out to eat at Leo's Coney Island on University, then be back to the Church around 7:00. I repeat, unless you are coming with me (and you need to call ahead and let me know if you are), then you must find your own transportation.

I'm very sorry about that, but I was unable to recruit any more parent drivers for this event. But at least we'll have a ton of snow if that storm tonight drops a big enough load on us!

Next Two Weeks

Hello everybody! Thanks for the great turn out at Catholic Apologetics night! It was a lot of fun. I only regret that we did not have more time to go into these topics in a more in depth manner. Perhaps next time we will just focus on one topic for the entire evening so that we can look at it more exhaustively. It is so wonderful that you all are anxious to learn and mature in knowledge of the truth and love of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are way too many uneducated Catholics in the world, and we don't need anymore!

I want to take this opportunity to announce what we will be doing for the remainder of the month:

Sunday, December 14th

I have decided to not have a Youth Group event this evening so that you all can be free to attend the Eucharistic Procession at Planned Parenthood in Ann Arbor. I want to encourage all of you to try to make it out to this event. It is much more important that just coming to eat, mingle and talk at Youth Group, and you should especially make an effort to be there if you missed the Jericho Walk in October.

This Eucharistic Procession is being sponsored by Pinckney Pro-Life and (as far as I know) Fr. Gerald is supposed to be the priest officiating. But if it is not him, it will be Fr. Jeff or Fr. Chas from St. Thomas the Apostle. Here is the blurb about the event from Planned Parenthood:

Pinckney Pro-Life is hosting its sixth annual Eucharistic Procession to Planned Parenthood in Ann Arbor on Sunday, December 14th. We will begin with a short prayer service at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish at 2:00 pm and then travel by car for a procession at Planned Parenthood on Professional Dr. at 2:50 pm. All are welcome to join us at St. Thomas or just to meet at Planned Parenthood.

The event should be over by 3:00-3:15. You will have to arrange your own transportation to St. Thomas and then from there to Planned Parenthood. This is a very important cause, especially with the real possibility looming on the horizon that our President-Elect may sign into law the most radical pro-abortion legislation in history and knock down all of the legal progress made in the Pro-Life movement since 1973. Please pray!

Sunday, December 21st

SLEDDING AT HURON HILLS!

Pending snow, we will be sledding at Huron Hills Golf Course on the last Youth Group Sunday of the year. We will meet at Old St. Patrick at 3:30 and try to be at Huron Hills by 3:45 (transportation details will be announced later). We'll sled for about an hour and a half or so (or until we all get wet and miserable), and then I am going to take you all out to eat, courtesy of the Ehnis family who gave a generous contribution for Youth Group food last week. You will have to bring your own sled. Huron Hills is located at 3465 E. Huron River Dr at the intersection of Huron River Dr. and Huron Parkway.

More details next week!

Into the New Year...

There will be no Youth Group December 28th or January 4th. We will resume with a Topic Night on New Age beliefs and practices on January 11th (this includes Astrology, Wicca, Eckhart Tolle, Centering Prayer, etc). After the New Year we have some great stuff coming up: some great topic nights on (besides New Age) Islam & Christianity, Vocations, Spirituality & Conversion, Mariology. Also coming up are Catholic Jeopardy, a service project at Ronald McDonald House, a trip down to a Chaldean Rite Catholic Church for an experience of one of the Church's most ancient liturgies, and of course, the Spring Retreat, which we will begin planning right after the New Year. It is going to be a ton of fun, but it is going to go by fast!