July 30th, 2010 - We will be blessing the Child Soldier cycle guys on Sunday after the 9:30am mass!
SEND IN YOUR HANDPRINTS! A fan made this video to help us out, you can do it too! On our website (childsoldiercycle.ca), there is an address of where you can send in your handprints. Remember to add your name and city on both of them. And don't worry, if you don't have paint, tracing is just as good!! Help us make a difference and put an end to child soldiering!
July 21, 2010 - check out this clarification. what the vatican meant to say about Womens Ordination as a crime NOT equal to Pedophilia http://www.blnz.com/news/2010/07/15/Women_priests_abuse_equal_crimes_6174.html but let us keep praying for our leadership and those who no longer find the church a place they can aall their spiritual home. If you are a person who is struggling and hurt by the church - please call and we can listen and maybe help or find healing ritual to help you on your spiritual journey. - Call Mary Murphy at 613-233-4095 ext 227 or mary@st-josephs.ca
July 18th, 2010 - Let us pray for that leaders in the church will value the gift of women, and let us pray for all those who feel rejected by the church and who are discerning whether to remain. Let us pray.
July 17th, 2010
Child Soldier Project - four young people from the parish have taken this mission on as part of their faith conviction- read on and find out more...
St. Joe’s Youth Will Cycle 1800km for Awareness of Child Soldiers
“The rebels told me to join them, but I said no. Then they killed my smaller brother. I changed my mind.”
- L., age seven.
Stolen Children
When a child goes missing or abducted in Canada, the police are informed and it is quickly referred to as an Amber Alert. Radio stations describe the incident, newspapers display articles while billboards have blow-up photos of the missing child and televisions interrupt shows for an emergency report. The police search in helicopters and sometimes even the army is engaged. Yet, when crossing over the ocean to the continent of Africa, in countries like Uganda it's a different story. The New York Times says that "The use of child soldiers is probably the world's most unrecognized form of child abuse."
Child Soldier Cycle
Teens from St. Joseph’s Parish have decided that the number of child soldiers in use today, 250,000 globally, is unacceptable. On August 1st they'll head out to do something about it, riding bicycles and unicycles 1,800 km in a tour they're calling the Child Soldier Cycle. Starting in Ottawa, the month-long trek winds across eastern Canada, stopping for events in 24 communities along the way to spread the message. The group is also actively fostering an online discussion around the issue by posting regular video updates, which will continue throughout the tour.
While their parents may worry, the teens show no signs of second thoughts. "Without ordinary people taking risks there would be no progress and no change," asserts Benjamin Gunn-Doerge, a recent graduate of Immaculata High School.
Child Soldiering Worldwide: Worldwide, there are a quarter million child soldiers, yet news and updates regarding this tragedy are disturbingly sparse in mainstream media. In the Central African Republic alone, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group has been carrying out almost weekly attacks, abducting children who now constitute about 90% of the army itself. Children are abducted as young as the age of five, barely bigger than their AK-47's. "When was the last time you heard about an LRA attack on TV?" asks Jamie Macdonald, a recent Canterbury graduate."Have you ever even heard of the LRA?"
Jamie Macdonald, Ben Gunn-Doerge, Sandy Macdonald, Phil Schleihauf, Matthieu Hallé (not present). |
More than 2,000,000 children have been killed globally in armed conflict in the last decade, an average rate of more than 500 per day - one every three minutes - for a full 10 years. As you read this article, the numbers are only growing.
Red Hand Campaign
The teens see this disconnect between regular Canadians and child soldiers as a major problem, something their campaign seeks to address. But they won't be asking for money. No, they want your handprint. "Being different on a tour like this is essential" states Philip Schleihauf, who rode across western Canada on his unicycle last year, "cycle touring is so common that you have to find a way to set yourself apart." When Phil completes this tour he will be the second unicyclist to travel Canada coast-to-coast. Red handprints - the international symbol of child soldiering - will be requested of everyone they come in contact with. The prints will form a sort of physical petition to the mainstream media, demanding more and better reporting of conflicts involving children.
Upcoming Events
The group will host a concert featuring local artists to fundraise and collect handprints on Friday, July 23 in the basement of St Joseph’s Parish. Check the website for more details - www.ChildSoldierCycle.ca. There will be a blessing at the 9:30 mass on August 1st for the cyclists, after which everyone is invited to bike with them to parliament where they will collect more red handprints and then head off.
Stay Connected
The group has set up a website where they have already started posting regular videos, www.ChildSoldierCycle.ca. Their facebook group and youtube channel may be found by searching for "Child Soldier Cycle".
Send Red Handprints To: Philip Schleihauf 2176 Hamelin Crescent, Ottawa, ON K1J 6L1. Use paint, ink, markers, or whatever you can find. Include your name, city, and a short message if you w
July 4th, 2010
St.Joe's Women' s Centre School Supply Project:
The Centre offers many services to both women and their children. Some of our services include, but are not limited to an; emergency food bank, access to laundry facilities, clothing boutique, daily breakfast program, daily hot lunch, children’s playroom, as well as various children’s outings. We cater our services towards women and children that are homeless, at risk of becoming homeless, disadvantaged, and/or who live in poverty.
September is always a strenuous time for low-income families, as school supplies are costly. As many parents know, school supplies can run from anywhere between 80$ to 200$, this also varies depending on how many children are in your household. In order to alleviate the financial burden, St. Joe’s Women’s Centre collects school supplies.
Elementary School Supply List with Back Pack
High School School Supply List with Back Pack
If you are interested in this project you can check up the lists posted above, you can also donate a partial list. Back packs and School supplies can be dropped off at the church when you come to mass, or brought directly to the Women“s Centre Monday thru Friday from 9am - 4pm or to the parish Office from 8am thry 7:30pm Monday Thru Friday or Saturday from 11am - 5pm.
You can also contact me directly at sjfamilysupport@hotmail.com or by phone 613-231-6722 x 233.
Thnak you very much for your interest.
Thank you very much for your generosity,
Melissa Gagnon
Family Resource Worker/
Child and Youth Worker
June 30th, 2010
Happy Canada Day!
We celebrate the wonder of this place and the many people who call it home from the first people's to the latest arrival.
We celebrate the life that erupts around us from all the creatures, the plants and the life not yet discovered.
We remember that in celebrating this day we are giving thanks to God - and entering into this July 1st day with grateful hearts and the hope of continuing to create a country that seeks right relationships with all life and most especially with those who live within these borders. We seek reconciltation and new friendships with the first people's of this land who suffered under the process of colonization, misunderstanding and genocide. We seek to find ways to live on this planet without hurting life, causing extinction, pollution and forcing animals from their habitat. We seek to curb our tendancy to pollute and discard refuse without care. We seek to be in right relations with our neighbours around the world and end create frienships and partnerships for a healthy planet and helthy communities.
Happy Canada Day!