This Week
Monday
Mass: 12:05pm
Tuesday
Mass: 12:05pm
Wednesday
Mass: 12:05pm
Praise, Worship and Fellowship 7:30pm
Thursday
Mass: 12:05pm
Sunday
Mass: 11:00am
RCIA/Confirmation: 5:15pm
Mass: 7:00pm
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RCIA / Confirmation Class
The RCIA / Confirmation class is held on Sundays at 5:30pm.
Praise, Worship and Fellowship - Tuesday, February 12th
Take a break and join others in Praise, Worship and Fellowship on Tuesday, Feb. 12th at 7:30pm. This semester, Praise and Worship is held every Tuesday. A prayer meeting will precede, starting at 7pm.
Bible Study Groups
Grant’s - Topic: Sex, Drugs, and Rock’n’Roll. This group will meet for twelve consecutive Tuesdays starting Feb. 12th. All Students Welcome.
Maggie’s - Topic: “The Proverbs: Teaching Wisdom.” This group will meet for five consecutive Wednesdays at 4pm, starting on Feb. 13th. Open to students.
Dominique’s - Topic: “The Gift of Giving.” This group will meet for five consecutive Thursdays at 6:30pm, starting on Feb. 14th. Students welcome.
Mary’s - Topic: “Our Father:” A line-by-line study of the Lord’s prayer. This group will meet for six consecutive Mondays from 2:45 to 3:45pm, starting March 24th. Open to all.
Vanessa’s - Topic: “The Book of Mark: Jesus’ Miracles, Parables, and Lessons.” This is the first of three different four-week sessions (this session will focus on Jesus’ miracles). This group will be held on Tuesdays from 5:45 to 6:45pm, starting Feb. 12th. Open to all.
Sign up sheets for all groups are available in the lobby of the Newman Center.
February Upcoming Events
Wednesday, Feb. 13th - Valentine Card Making - 8pm; Monday, Feb. 18th - Rosary Making - 7:30pm; Monday, Feb. 25th - Catholic Jeopardy - 8pm
Fridays in Lent
The following activities will be taking place throughout the Lenten season. Catholic Worker - those who would like to go to Catholic Worker to feed the homeless will meet at 5:30am on Fridays in Lent at the Newman Center. We will be back by 8am. Lenten Devotions - On Fridays of Lent, we will have the Recitation of the Rosary at 6:15pm followed by soup at 6:30pm and the Stations of the Cross at 7pm.
Table of Plenty—Lenten Food Drive
Our annual Table of Plenty food drive for St. Therese Center has started. Bring a can of food with you when you come to Mass. We would like to involve the whole campus – the various departments, the Greek Life and other organizations on campus. Boxes are now available. Get involved so that we will have a successful drive. St. Therese Center has expanded their ministry to three sites serving over 3,000 clients. Note: Donation box pick-ups will be on Fridays only.
The Lay Dominican Community Invites You to a Day of Discernment.
Are you seeking to enhance your spiritual life? Catholic men and women of every walk of life belong to our Lay Dominican community to pray, to study, and to be of service to others by following the Dominican charisma throughout the world. We are planning to establish a chapter in Las Vegas. A day of discernment will be held here at the Newman center on Saturday, February 23, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. If you desire to join in community, to pray, to study, and to be of service to others, then join our Lay Dominican community on this day of discernment. For information, please call Father Albert at 736-0887 or 274-3734 (cell).
Lenten Busy Person Retreat – Sunday, February 24 to Thursday, February 28
Many members of the community cannot take time to go for a week or a weekend retreat but they have a desire to take time for their growth in their spiritual life. In order to accomplish this, I have designed a BUSY PERSON RETREAT beginning on Sunday, February 24th – Thursday, February 28th. You do not have to go to any place – just do it at home or during the lunch break at your leisure. What happens during the Busy Person Retreat? 1) Meet with Fr. Albert before the beginning of the retreat. 2) Spend half hour each day reflecting on the scripture readings of the day. These readings are published in the Sunday Bulletin. 3) If possible meet with Fr. Albert for 10 to 15 minutes each day to discuss your reflections. 4) Attend the 12:05 p.m. Mass at the Center or in another parish. If you are interested, please sign up for the retreat, either by e-mail (afp@juno.com) or by the sign up sheet available in the lobby.
Lent: More Than Penance
To think of Lent only as a time of penance is to do it an injustice. While the traditional practice of "doing something" for Lent is praiseworthy, there is much more to this wonderful season than just additional practices of piety or acts of penance and mortification. In Lent the Church calls us to metanoia.
As a former Greek teacher, I take delight in pointing out that the word metanoia connotes a change of mind and heart, altering one's mind-set toward whole new ways of thinking and acting. This involves taking a look at where we are and trying to see where we ought to be. It involves testing our values and discerning how they stack up against the values that Jesus offers his followers.
Fortunately, metanoia is not something we have to do all by ourselves. God's word gives us a lot of help in the process, as does the example of our brothers and sisters in the Lord who are engaged, during these weeks, in the same exercise.
Lent is also the season of final preparation for those who will be baptized at the Easter Vigil. The Church invites its members to pray for these catechumens, but also to renew their own commitment to the life that began in them when they were baptized and so became members of God's people.
Finally, Lent prepares us for Holy Week, for those most sacred days in the Church's year when we celebrate the suffering and death of Jesus, the Lord's gift of himself in obedience to the mission he received from his heavenly Father. Of course, the suffering and death of Jesus—and his resurrection—present questions and challenges to each of us in the context of our own mission as followers of Christ and so in our process of metanoia.
During the weekdays of Lent, therefore, the Scripture readings for the Eucharist are concerned with three main themes. The selections for the first three weeks have to do almost exclusively with change of heart: what it means and what it involves. They present the classic motifs of Lent: prayer, care for our neighbor, repentance for our sinfulness.
The fourth and fifth weeks offer us a series of selections from the Gospel according to John. These deal at first with the basics of Jesus' mission and thus further outline the change of heart that is required of us while, at the same time, teaching us about what the catechumens—and we—are to seek from him in Baptism. As the season progresses, the readings lead us into the Passion of Jesus, showing us the tensions and controversies that finally led the leaders of his people to do away with him.
Sometimes the Church plays us only one of these themes. Sometimes two or even three of them are presented together in a sort of harmony so that we become aware that a change of heart and beginning a new life and participating in the sufferings of Jesus are all part of what it means to be his disciples.
Theology on Tap
Theology on Tap is held the first Tuesday of every month at 7 pm at Ellis Island Casino and Brewery, 4178 Koval Ln. (Koval & Flamingo) in the dining room of the restaurant.
Greece Trip
We are planning a trip to Greece next summer called, “The Footsteps of St. Paul.” The trip will take place August 12-22, 2008. The total cost is about $3500. This includes airfare to and from Las Vegas, most of your meals, a three day cruise around the Greece Isles. The company planning the trip for us will donate 10% of the proceeds to our Fr. Walter Nowak Memorial Scholarship fund benefiting a Catholic UNLV Student who attends the Newman Center. For more information, please see David, call him at 736-0887, or email him at zeamer@catholic.org.
Prayer Partners
At the Easter Vigil we will be baptizing four parishioners and receiving one in the Catholic Church. On April 6th, eight will be confirmed by Bishop Pepe at the 11am Mass. We would like to have prayer partners to pray for these people during Lent. If you are interested, please email Fr. Albert at afp@juno.com. Prayer partners will pray for the person who is assigned to them. You may also send a note of encouragement and support.
Book Discussion Group - Wednesday, February 13th
"Rambam's Ladder" - A Meditation on Generosity and Why it is Necessary to Give by Julie Salamon. Book Description: "Why are people good? Thus begins Julie Salamon’s meditation on giving, an aspect of goodness. Salamon uses as her organizing principles the prolific writings of twelfth century Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, known to his followers as Rambam. Her meditation provides the individual giver, nonprofit leaders, and fundraisers everywhere with a framework that opens the door to understanding generosity, donor motivations and the role nonprofits play in philanthropy." This group will meet every Wednesday night at 7pm at the Newman Center for eight weeks starting February 13th and ending April 9th. (Please note, we will not meet during Spring Break.) If you can't purchase the book, we have eight copies available to loan out on a first come first serve basis. For more information, please contact David Zeamer at 702-327-1635 or zeamer@catholic.org.
Stewardship Report
11am Mass: $100.50; 7pm Mass: $173; Parking: $85; Annual Appeal: $100; Ash Wednesday: 12:05 Mass: $185; 5:15: $127; 7:30: $112.25 Total: $882.75. Thanks again for your financial support. What shall I give to the Lord for everything that the Lord has given to me? As you ask this question pray that the Holy Spirit will help you to make the decision of how much you will contribute towards the support of your faith community. God has blessed you with many gifts. What are you going to give to God in return?
eScript
It is nice to see eScrip donations listed on the Newman Center bank statement. We are receiving these donations because of you. You can help us with no cost to you! Sign up for e-Scrip! All you need to do is register your grocery club cards and debit/credit cards with e-Scrip, shop at the local participating merchants and the merchants contribute a percentage of your purchases back to the Catholic Community! It’s that easy! You can register online at http://www.escrip.com. The Catholic Newman Center group ID is 500003569. Thank you for your support. If you have any questions, feel free to call David Zeamer, Development Director at 702-736-0887 or email him at zeamer@catholic.org.
Another way to help the Newman Center—Good Search Fundraiser
If you use www.goodsearch.com as your search engine and enter either “St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Newman Community” or “”Catholic Newman Community” where it says “enter your charity here,” they will donate half of their advertising revenue to the Newman Center.
Capital Campaign Update
This week we received $10,200. Please keep the Capital Campaign in your prayers. If you want to make a pledge towards the Capital Campaign, pledge forms and case statements are available in the lobby. If you have any questions, call David Zeamer, the Development Director, at 736-0887. Fr. Albert
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