Archdiocese of St. Louis

Our Lady Catholic School Student Submits Winning Holiday Card Design

Ethan DeMunbrun's winning holiday card design

While many grade school students design their own Christmas cards to send to family and friends, it isn't every aspiring young artist whose card is sent to thousands of addresses across the country.

Ethan DeMunbrun, a third-grade student at Our Lady Catholic School in Festus, has earned that distinction this year. His design was chosen by the FACTS Tuition Management Company for its "So Thankful" holiday card that will be sent to approximately 7,000 clients and customers in the United States. The DeMunbrun family will also receive a supply of cards with Ethan's design for their personal Christmas list this year.

Getting Ready for a Season of Joy: Local Catholics Prepare With Advent Activities

By Jennifer Brinker, St. Louis Review Staff Writer

It is the most wonderful time of the year, and this Advent, Catholics across the archdiocese are preparing their hearts for the birth of Jesus Christ. Take a look at what's going on around the archdiocese during the season:

Local Catholic music minister Matthew Baute will be performing several prayer events throughout the archdiocese and beyond during Advent. Visit www.songsforprayer.com for more information. Dates and locations include:

Tuesday, December 2, at 7 p.m. at Saint Monica, 12136 Olive Boulevard in Creve Coeur; Wednesday, December 3, at 7 p.m. Holy Trinity, 3500 St. Luke Lane in St. Ann; Friday, December 5, at 7 p.m. at Ascension, 230 Santa Maria Drive in Chesterfield; and Sunday, December 7, at 2 p.m. at the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows, 442 S. DeMazenod Drive in Belleville, Illinois.

Holy Infant's Youth Ministry is holding its annual live Nativity from 5-8 p.m. Sunday, December 7, at the parish in Ballwin. Holy Infant teens will take spectators along the same journey that the Holy Family made some 2,000 years ago. The display also will feature live animals, including a camel, llama, sheep, goats, donkey, and a water buffalo. Entrance to the live Nativity is Old Ballwin Road at Nancy Place. For more information visit www.holyinfantyouth.org or call Mark Pilkenton at 636.527.2477.

Sacred Heart Parish in Elsberry is hosting an Advent parish mission this year. All are invited. Father Michel Corriveau of the Fathers of Mercy will give an introduction to the mission at the 5:30 p.m. Mass Saturday, December 6, and 8 and 10:30 a.m. Masses Sunday, December 7.

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Holy Father: By Entering History, God Gives Us His Time

VATICAN CITY (VIS)—At midday on November 30, the First Sunday of Advent, Pope Benedict XVI appeared at the window of his study overlooking Saint Peter's Square to pray the Angelus with the thousands of pilgrims gathered there.

Advent, which opens the new liturgical year, "invites us to reflect upon the dimension of time," said the pope. Many people in our own day, he noted, complain of "a lack of time, because the rhythm of daily life has become so frenetic for everyone. Yet even on this subject, the Church has 'good news' to bring. God gives us His time. We always have little time. For the Lord, especially, we do not know how, or sometimes do not want to, find it. And yet God has time for us....He gives us His time, because He entered history with His word and His works of salvation, opening it to eternity and making it a history of alliance."

"From this point of view," he added, "time is, in itself, already a fundamental sign of God's love: a gift which man...can either value or waste, understand its significance of superficially ignore."

Vatican Sends Message of Concern, Condolences to Mumbai Archbishop

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay (Mumbai)

VATICAN CITY (VIS)—Given below is the text of a telegram sent November 27 by Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., in the Holy Father's name, to Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay (Mumbai), India, regarding the recent terrorist attacks in the city which have left more than 100 people dead and 300 injured.

Deeply concerned about the outbreak of violence in Mumbai, the Holy Father asks you kindly to convey his heartfelt condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives in these brutal attacks, and to assure the public authorities, citizens, and all those affected of his spiritual closeness. His Holiness urgently appeals for an end to all acts of terrorism, which gravely offend the human family and severely destabilize the peace and solidarity needed to build a civilization worthy of mankind's noble vocation to love God and neighbor. The Holy Father prays for the repose of the souls of the victims and implores God's gift of strength and comfort for those who are injured and in mourning.

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