Ice-BEAUTY cream?

Time Tested Beauty Tips

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge you'll never walk alone.

People(kids and teens), even more than things, have to be

restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed;

Never throw out anybody.

Remember, If you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands,

one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

The beauty of a (catechist) is not in the clothes he/she wears,

the figure that he/she carries, or the way he/she combs his/her hair.

The beauty of a (catechist) must be seen from in his/her eyes,

because that is the doorway to his/her heart, the place where love resides.

The beauty of a (catechist) is not in a facial mole,

but true beauty in a (catechist) is reflected in his/her soul.

It is the caring that he/she lovingly gives, the passion that he/she shows,

and the beauty of a (catechist) with passing years only grows!


-Made popular by Audrey Hepburn after she read it on Christmas eve of 1992.

Originally written by Sam Levenson.

Specially adapted for the catechists in HFC and the world over!

I'm sure Levenson won't mind, sharing the goodness of his works!

A word of thanks and farewell from Fr. Aloysius

When I stepped foot into the parish of Holy Family, Katong, never were there any thoughts of my presence being there forever. As the days became weeks, weeks into months and months into years, the thoughts changed to other matters that were far removed from staying or even leaving.

Life then just was about making a life in the parish and serving to the best of my abilities whatever that came my way in the ministry given to me. A large part of that was the presence of the Catechetical ministry that promised much potential in reaching out, teaching, serving and being with all the persons, young or old, man, woman or child that constitute this call to share God's love and live with all.

It would be a ministry that would take hold of my four-year tenure in the parish that also saw various ecletic mix of persons, other ministries and experiences which would form and mould my outlook about what the priesthood is all about. The Catechetical ministry certainly pulled no punches about what it had to offer: complacent parents, unruly children, troubled teens, unprepared catechists, you name it! Of course, there were also caring and competent catechists, cooperative parents and helpful teens and children that go a long way to make the life of teaching and sharing faith a joy to do.

Nonetheless, it is by the grace of God, that the work carries on despite these limitations and difficulties. This is not to say that we just depended on God with nothing to show for ourselves It is therefore the credit of the catechists that we have today, who continue to stick to their commitment to do their best in re-echoing God's Kingdom in the midst of all the usual trials and obstacles that we face each day.

Yes, we still have a long way to go before some semblance of professionalism and dignity be found to push and direct this catechetical ministry towards a future ahead that sees a community that knows and appreciate their faith and who God is in all its true manifestation. It is a future I am sure this ministry and all catechists in it would want to work for. It is also a vision that all catechists, deep down, will appreciate and want to do their utmost to make it a reality.

I may not have been able to assist you fully for such a reality to take place and am no longer privileged to be there to see it happen. Nonetheless, I am sure with the help of my replacement and with your continued conviction in this dream, this vision may just be around the corner.
I bid you all farewell and a big thank you for a great time spend there. For all my shortcomings, I ask for your forgiveness and for all good that arise from my work with you, praise the Lord! In everything, may the very love of God continue to speak through all your actions and work done in this challenging and yet rewarding and meaningful ministry that taps into the very lifeblood of evangelisation!

Keep up the good work!

"... whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4: 8-9

Kids + Water + Games = Smiley faces!

Flavour of the Day

Conf 1 Games Day at the Beach

The first thing that comes to mind when organising a Games Day for the Confirmation 1 teens, more often than not, would be “What am I supposed to plan for a whole bunch of restless teens? Controlling them in class is already stressful enough! Imagine spending a whole day with them!”

However, the teens proved us to have misjudged them when they gamely took part in the Games Day on the 19th May 2007.

The day started off with the teens streaming into church at 9am. By 10.15am, the teens had already assembled at ECP after walking there from church. Surprisingly, they enjoyed their walk and few complained of fatigue.

We started off the event with ice-breakers to allow them to feel comfortable in their allocated groups. Ice-breakers, as always, are often the most boring games as many of the teens would refuse to budge or participate. However, our confirmation 1 teens were filled with enthusiasm as they played the ice-breakers. After the ice-breakers, the teens went off to the four different stations to participate in the games which consisted of “seated-soccer”, “captain-chicken-ball”, “spider web” and “dice-a-bomb”. Their screams of delight, surprise and shock filled the air as the water bombs were thrown at them and buckets of water emptied upon them, drenching them from head to toe.

Gradually, they started throwing water bombs and buckets of water on their catechists and youth facilitators. Benson emerged as the wettest catechist! Every teen was partially or fully wet.

Lunch was an enjoyable affair as everyone tucked into the delicious food provided by the parents of the teens. After lunch, we proceeded back to church for the “amazing race” which involved them running around the church in their groups to search for the answer. Many of them approached Uncle Benny in the office to ask for answers. How ingenious! We should have warned him before hand not to give out the answers!

After the “amazing race”, we ended the day with a prize-giving ceremony and a closing prayer by Andrew. The teens then departed with smiles on their faces even though they were clearly exhausted.

Although there were a few unruly teens, the event was a smashing success. Hence, who says taking care of teens is a stressful and unrewarding job? The joy of success is in seeing the teens enjoying themselves. That alone is our reward.

-Contributed by Valerie Tan (Conf 1, Youth Facilitator)

Toppings

How to enjoy games at the beach?

Rule 1) Have Faith in God for providing fine weather - carry an umbrella not for the rain but for SHADE from the Sun

Rule 2) The Catechists must get wet

Rule 3) Teens must not be drier than their Cats

Rule 4) Have lots of buckets of water bomb

-Contributed by Valerie Tan ( Con 1's Youth Facilitator)

Extra Goodies

A drunk stumbles along a baptismal service on Sunday afternoon down by the
river.

He proceeds to walk down into the water and stand next to the priest.

The priest turns and notices the old drunk and says, "Mister, Are you
ready to find Jesus?"

The drunk looks back and says, "Yes. I sure am."

The priest then dunks the fellow under the water and pulls him right
back up.

"Have you found Jesus?" the preacher asked.

"No, I didn't!" said the drunk.

The priest then dunks him under for quite a bit longer, brings him up
and says, "Now, brother, have you found Jesus?"

"No, I did not Reverend."

The priest disgust holds the man under for at least 30 seconds this
time brings him out of the water and says in a harsh tone, "My God, have
you found Jesus yet?"

The old drunk wipes his eyes and says to the priest ...

"Are you sure this is where he fell in?"

-Contributed by Mark Ortega, Con 4 Catechist

A Spiritually Nourishing Smoothie...

Why Go To Church?

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.

"I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them.So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.

"This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor.

It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals.

But I do know this ... They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today.
Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"

When you are DOWN to nothing....

God is UP to something!

Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible!

Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

-Contributed by Thushari Perera, 21 May' 07, fotos, Nana.