Upcoming Events
- Saturday, August 24, after 5:15 pm Mass Dine Out with Fellow Parishioners at Vito's on Lindell (see details in the bulletin)
- Sunday, August 25, 9:15-10:20 am, Widows and Widowers group will meet in room 113 on the first floor of the Parish Center (see details in the bulletin)
- Sunday, August 25, noon-1:10 pm, Circle of Creation committee's monthly meeting in the Adult Faith Room on the 1st floor of the Parish Center. All are welcome!
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Welcoming SLU Students
and Happy Feast of Saint Louis!
Today the University celebrated a beautiful Mass of the Holy Spirit, a beloved tradition in Jesuit academic intuitions (and now many other Catholic schools) dating back to 1548. We again wish a happy new school year to all of our parishioners, students, and friends at the University!
As a parish community, let us recommit ourselves to being an intentionally welcoming presence to each student we encounter this year.
This Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of Saint Louis of France (King Louis IX). He is the patron saint and namesake of the City of St. Louis, Saint Louis University, and the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Happy Feast of Saint Louis to all of us!
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Thank you, Daughters of Charity Province of St. Louise!
We are excited to announce a generous gift from the Daughters of Charity Province of St. Louise to the College Church ID and Birth Certificate Program. The support of the Daughters of Charity will help ensure the long-term sustainability of our ID and Birth Certificate Program, which provides support with essential identification documents so that community members may access the many critical resources and services requiring official identification.
As stated by the Daughters of Charity:
“The Daughters of Charity Province of St. Louise works to advance racial equity. The recent donation to the College Church Birth Certificate and Identification program furthers this work by helping Black families break the cycle of economic disparity often caused by systemic racism.”
We are deeply grateful for our ongoing relationship with the Daughters of Charity and their meaningful contribution, which will have a lasting impact on our ID and Birth Certificate Program and our broader St. Louis community.
Learn more about our ID and Birth Certificate Program and the lives that are changed through this vital work of our parish: sfxstl.org/outreach
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Space Still Available In Our Youth Faith Formation Programs
Do you know wonderful families who are looking for engaging faith formation for their children and might be interested in joining our community? Please invite them to join you here at College Church and let them know there is still time to register for our Youth Faith Formation classes that begin on September 8th.
See details in the bulletin and at sfxstl.org/youth-faith to learn more about our traditional Religious Education (RE) classes and our Montessori-based Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS).
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Speaking of Youth Faith Formation, we have an updated request...
If you are looking for an opportunity to get involved, learn more about your faith and serve by accompanying young people in their faith journey, we encourage you to the next step and reach out to us!
We are looking for new catechists (teachers) and assistants to help with our Youth Faith Formation Programs on Sunday mornings. This is a great opportunity for SLU students, high school students, young adults, parents, and interested parishioners.
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is seeking assistants to help in the atria (atria = plural of atrium, the lovely prepared environments for our Montessori-based CGS). The Religious Education program is seeking new catechists and assistants to help in the classrooms. For more information reach out to Jaime Gil at jaime@stxstl.org or Julie Kilian at julie@sfxstl.org.
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Missouri ID Access Summit: Register Today!
From Christine Dragonette, our Director of Social Ministry: The Missouri State ID Access Coalition (of which College Church is a co-convener) is thrilled to host our first annual MO ID Access Summit on Saturday, September 7th, 2024 at the Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being, just down the street from College Church.
We'll bring together advocates, neighbors, lawyers, service providers, students and more to explore the ID landscape in Missouri. Sessions will delve into the basics of ID access and current disparities, advocacy skills, and prepare participants to take action moving forward to ensure all Missourians have the identification documents they need to thrive. Everyone is welcome!
More info and registration here: bit.ly/idaccess24
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A Celebration of "The Legacy of Mill Creek Valley"
An expansive neighborhood known as Mill Creek Valley is significant in the racial history of College Church. Its northwest boundary was the corner of Lindell Blvd. and Grand Ave. In other words, right across the street from the front doors of College Church.
The area was home to twenty thousand people, most of whom were African American. Mill Creek Valley was an economic hub, sustaining over 800 Black-owned businesses. But in the mid-20th century city leaders decided that everyone living and working there had to be moved out. Demolition of the neighborhood began in 1959 – for many of us, that’s during our own lifetimes.
Imagine how different St. Francis Xavier parish might be today if those 20,000 Black Americans were still living in that vast area just across the street.
We invite all parishioners to participate in two upcoming events in honor of the former Mill Creek Valley, the first of which is described above. On Tuesday, September 10, there will be a celebration of a new artwork by the brilliant St. Louis artist, Cbabi Bayoc, installed around the fountain right across the street from College Church. Please mark your calendar!
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We are glad to share our bulletin for August 25. We look forward to welcoming you to Mass either in-person or online.
Our parish Masses are at 5:15 pm on Saturday and 8 am and 10:30 am on Sunday. SLU Campus Ministry coordinates the Masses at 4:30 pm and 8:00 PM on Sunday (with different music).
Our bulletin has the text of the songs that will be sung at our weekend parish liturgies. The livestream of the 10:30 am Sunday Mass will be available to access at any time on our YouTube channel.
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Many parishioner and friends of College Church have set up weekly or monthly recurring online giving - which is easy to do and a tremendous help to our parish. It requires no processing of checks or trips to the bank, while also allowing us to better predict our weekly and monthly cashflow.
We have a newly replenished supply of the blue and white offertory cards (pictured above) on the tables at the entrances to the church. If you give online, please pick up one of these cards before Mass and place it in a collection basket during the offertory, a symbol of your offering at the Presentation of Gifts. Update: We were delighted that many of our online donors placed the new offertory cards in the collection again last weekend! Thank you!! We put the cards back at the entrances, so they are ready to be used again this weekend.
If you have any questions about how to set up online giving or are interested in making your donations through a Donor Advised Fund or a retirement account, please contact Meg Beugg, Director of Parish Engagement, at meg@sfxstl.org or 314-977-7304 .
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