Hey Parents,  There is an upcoming workshop on the 21st at which parents will learn how to have age appropriate conversations with their children about the role of white privilege and institutional racism in society.  
Racism is something that I am constantly hearing about from the youth at St. Charles.  I put this out to you because white privilege and institutional racism are daily realities that many of our children are witness too.  What is called for is conversation that empowers all involved and that clearly lays out the call of our faith to end these societal sins. My prayer is that this work-shop will be a step in the right direction.  More Info below.  

Objectives:

• Build community
• Increase awareness of white supremacy culture as it relates to young people
• Build skills to discuss racism with young children

Expectations:

• Be prepared to share your story and perspectives
• Stay curious
• Expect to be challenged, and also have fun!

We support adults in having age appropriate conversations with children about race and the role of white privilege and institutional racism in society. We believe the burden of ending racism should not fall on people of color.
Sunday, January 21st,  1-4 PM
$0-50 sliding scale donation requested - All proceeds donated to Mudbone Grown
Havurah Shalom - 825 NW 18th Ave, Portland OR 97209
Childcare and snacks for kids will be provided. Please bring a snack to share with adults.

Registration required: https://goo.gl/forms/amjbPo0NAFLARuOB3

Questions? Contact SURJ Family action group at [email protected]
Showing Up for Racial Justice - SURJ PDX is a Portland based group focused on educating, organizing and mobilizing white people to work for racial justice. SURJ PDX provides a space to build relationships, skills, and political analysis to work effectively within a multiracial movement for justice.

Parents will gather in the parish center for faith sharing and a good time.  Meanwhile High School and Junior High youth will meet for prayer and small groups in room 13.  To conclude Parents and Youth will come together for a shared meal.  Please join us!  

​Dear families,
                Summer is quickly coming to an end and I am excited to get our youth ministries back up and running.  Last year we began God Squad and that group has been amazing!!  Our high school youth group did some truly amazing things as well but also experienced a lot of transition that was difficult for all those involved.   We head in to this new year knowing that ministries to young people need to be fluid and innovative to stay relevant and effective. We aim to meet our young people where they are at, celebrate them for who they are and the gifts they have, and walk with them as they journey forward in their relationship with our God.  We also aim to be a source of support to parents.  Parents are the primary faith guides for their children.  As a youth ministry, we see our role as a support to your role.
                

'Mother’s day for me is a time to reflect on all the mother’s I have been blessed with and the ways in which their mothering, has shown me God.  Here are just three of so many strong, compassionate, fierce, loving women who have embodied the Spirit of truth in my Life.
My mom, showed me the God of Luke 15:8-10. The scripture tells us God is a women who searches carefully for her lost coin.  Leading me through homeless camps to share conversation and food, my mom never allowed any of us kids to think that anyone was beyond saving and more importantly than that, she taught us that each individual was worth the search.
My wife!  In so many ways I see God through Sylvia.  The Passage that stands out is Hosea 13:8.  God is like a mother “bear robbed of Her cubs, I will attack them and tear them asunder”.   I have learned the Godly virtue of “fierce love” from my wife.   Within the "special-needs" community this feminine virtue shines especially bright. I find myself continuously in aww of these mothers who seem to take on the world daily for their children. 
My God-mom Nick, showed me the God of Isaiah 49:15.  God the nursing mother who never forgets Her Children.  Nick never birthed any children and she never adopted any either but I would venture to say she has more children than anyone I know.  She is our families Matriarch (and we have a LARGE family) and she, like God, never forgets any of us.  To be around the loving presence of this women is to feel fed.  For so many, nick models so beautifully or mother God who cares for each of Her children and feeds them all.
On this Mother's Day, I offer a thank you to all the mother’s in the parish.   Also, these scriptures with the hopes that you will reflect on the femininity and Motherhood of God with your sons and daughters.
Genesis 1:27, Hosea 11:3-4, Hosea 13:8, Deuteronomy 32:11-12, Deuteronomy 32:18, Isaiah 66:13, Isaiah 49:15, Isaiah 42:14, Psalm 131:2, Psalm 123:2-3, Mathew 23:37 and Luke 13:34, Luke 15:8-10
Blessings and Solidarity
Gabe

​How do we respond to our children when they look at the world we are handing them and ask “If there is a God, why does he allow all this bad to happen?”   It is embarrassing to admit the amount of times I have failed to answer this question adequately.    Unfortunately I am not alone.  The fact is most of us have a hard time answering that question.  I have come to believe that the exodus from the American Church is due, in large part, to our collective failure as a church to effectively answer the question above.  A Pew Survey from 2014 showed that over a third of all millennials now identify as “unaffiliated” while only 16 percent identify as Catholic.  We have to do better!  
It is not long after a teenager, in a very serious way, asks the question “why are bad things allowed to happen” that they either are diving feet first into the Faith or they are saying “I don’t believe in God”.  At the moment that they insist on an “real” answer, the relevance of the Church is made clear to them or it is made clear that the Church has no relevance.  In last weeks readings, Habakkuk like so many of our young people wrestled with God over questions of oppression and justice.  Habakkuk heard God’s reply and our youth need to hear God’s reply too.    Habakkuk uses an imagery of wicked people gathering the righteous into fishing nets and hauling them away to be consumed and objectified.   In the Gospels we find Jesus using Habakkuk’s imagery to answer Habakkuk’s concerns.
Jesus calls us to be fishers of people!  We must weave our own nets, and gather our own people to respond to our mission.  So when our children ask “why does God allow injustice?”  Our answer should be “God does not allow it; that is why God created you!  This is your purpose, to put an end to injustice!”
Our children were baptized to be Priest, Prophets, Kings, and yes fishers of people.  Expecting anything less from them is insulting and will surely send them to find their baptized call outside of the Church.

by Gabe Triplett

​Most parents want their children to do good in school, be involved in sports or music or dance, go on to college, get a good job, get married etc. etc. etc.  These wants for our children are natural and come from a place of love, of wanting our children to be happy and successful.  But do we as parents push too hard?  What is it that will make our children truly happy?  What is it to be truly successful? 

In my time spent with youth the one thing that always comes up is how completely stressed out they are by the expectations put on them.  On top of school they have hours of homework and hours of practice.  Everything they do has a background noise telling them that if they don’t do “good” and do “more” then they are doomed to overall failure.  “If I don’t get an A on my 10th grade math midterm I will never get into a good college.”  If I don’t make it onto the varsity team this year the scouts will never look at me and my parents will be very disappointed.” 

​In 2008 the National Library of Medicine reported that:

• 1/3 to 1/2 of US adolescents have engaged in some type of self injury.
• Cutting and burning are the most common types of non-suicidal self-injury.
• 70% of teens engaging in self-injury behavior have made at least one suicide attempt.
• 55% had made multiple suicide attempts.

 
Experts say these statistics have only risen since then.  Numbers like these are staggering and frightening.  So how do we change things?
 
In last week’s gospel we saw Lazarus as the example of what we should strive for.  Our faith tells us not to strive for worldly “success” but to strive for a relationship with our Creator.  Jesus said “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28).  I am convinced that as parents we are the ones most responsible for teaching our children the faith, we are the ones responsible for making sure they are receiving Christ’s peace. 

So here is my plea, tell your children often that you will love them no matter how good they do in school or in extracurricular activities.  LIKE, EVERY SINGLE DAY TELL THEM!  On Sunday evening when they are weary from too much homework and burdened by the stress of the test the next day, send them to youth group for a little rest.  It’s important!