CCM E-bulletin week of September 9th

A prayer for September 11^th.

To the Creator of nature and man, of truth and beauty, I pray:

Hear my voice, for it is the voice of the victims of all wars and violence among individuals and nation.

Hear my voice, for it is the voice of all children who suffer and will suffer when people put their faith in weapons and war.

Hear my voice when I beg you to instill into the hearts of all human beings the wisdom of peace, the strength of justice, and the joy of fellowship.

Hear my voice, for I speak for the multitudes in every country and in every period of history who do not want war and are ready to walk the road of peace.

Hear my voice and grant insight and strength so that we may always respond to hatred with love, to injustice with total dedication to justice to need with the sharing of self, to war with peace.

O God, hear my voice and grant unto the world Your everlasting peace.

                                    ~Blessed John Paul II

FAQ

Why do you ask us for money at church?

• Welcome to the world of stewardship!—an essential (if often grudging) part of Christian discipleship. No campus ministry program or parish can be sustained without the support of its members, including ours.
• Part of that support comes in the form of service: as Eucharistic Ministers, Lectors, Sacristans, Musicians, cross-bearers, collection-takers, gift-bearers, Renew cooks, Bible study leaders, Leadership Team members, retreat planners, envelope stuffers…I say thank you! I most certainly could not do all of that by myself.
• Part of your support comes from your prayers and moral support. To all of you who take your relationship with God seriously enough to engage in prayer and prayerful conversation and reflection on your faith…I say thank you! To all of you who express your support of CCM with a kind word, an idea for doing things differently, a pep talk to a prospective, positive PR back home, encouragement to a fellow student to attend CCM events…I say thank you!
• And of course, part of your support comes from your financial contributions. Unlike many programs on campus, CCM’s budget is NOT included in your tuition and fees. Just like your parents drop something in the collection basket each week at your home parish, I rely on you to support YOUR parish, CCM.
• CCM is generously supported by the Diocese of Charlotte and the College. However, we must still fundraise about $15,000 each year through appeal letters, fundraising, and raffle ticket sales. With the Sunday collection we try to raise about $1,000 each year. If every person who came to mass put $1 every Sunday, we’d have no problem…but alas, that doesn’t happen.
• I invite you to reflect on what you can give to maintain a Catholic institutional presence and programming on campus—giving not out of your ‘leftover change’ but out of your discretionary funds. Can you give $2 each week? Can you pull $10 out of the ATM the first Sunday of every month? Or maybe $30-50 as a lump sum for the whole semester? I don’t take credit cards or CatCards, but I do take checks, so feel free to write a check for what you’d like to give (make it out to Davidson College CCM).
• In addition, we always give a portion of our weekly collection to our neighbors in need, as we Christians have been doing since we started gathering together for worship 2000 years ago. We often give to places like Ada Jenkins and the Urban Ministry Center, where many of you volunteer, as well as Catholic Relief Services if there’s been a major disaster somewhere in the world.

Whatever you decide, thanks for your support in the many ways you give it!

___________________________

Karen Soos
Associate Chaplain and Catholic Campus Minister
Davidson College
Campus Box 7196
Davidson NC 28035
704. 894. 2423