Sun. November 28 First Sunday in Advent
8:00 All Service Men & Women
11:00 People in Need This Advent Season

Mon. November 29
8:00 Living & Deceased Members of the
Parish
Tues. November 30
8:00 Living & Deceased Members of the
Craig & Tamanek Families
By the Craig Family
Wed December 1
8:00 All the Sick & Care Givers in the Parish
Thur. December 2
8:00 All the Elderly in the Parish
Fri. December 3
8:00 Communion Service

Sat. December 4
8:00 Purgatorial Society
5:30 Elihu El
by Nora El

Sun. December 5 Second Sunday in Advent
8:00 All the Children in the World
11:00 People of St. Gerard Majella

THANK YOU
Thank you to all whom contributed to the collection on the weekend of November 20th and November 21st . The amount collected was $1,035.50.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE SICK

Linda Jones
Charlotte Ryan
Rita Schreiber
Lou Grimm
Corine Murphy
Ann Dytrych
Julie Laur
Adeline Deneen
Betty Nemecek
Helen Blaha
Betty Paschal
Ann Mysliwiec
Lottie Fik
Gloria Dompier
Eileen Desidero
Bernadine Smith
Lorraine Jarvis
Joseph Scofield
Eugene Orris
Margaret Lee
Roselee Gacke
Brittany Dubs
Lillian Coughlin
Dorothy Loeffler
Cameron
Campbell
Shaun Deneen
Eleanore
Thielmann
Marge Straub
Anyone who is ill in our parish and would like to receive Holy Communion; call (708) 331-8400. If you can be removed from the sick list at this time, please call the parish office.

DATES TO REMEMBER
November 29 SGM Players Meeting (7 PM)
December 1 Choir Rehearsal (7 PM)
December 6 Parish Council Meeting (7 PM) at Linda's
December 19 Pancake Breakfast
December 20 Women's Guild Christmas Party (6 PM)

THE GIVING TREE
Our parish is sponsoring a "Giving Tree". The tree is located in the back of church by the piano. Please take an ornament and buy a Christmas present for the child indicated. We ask that all presents be returned (placed under the tree) no later than December 13th.

HOLY NAME PANCAKE BREAKFAST
St. Gerard's Holy Name Society is hosting the annual Pancake Breakfast. Plan to be there Sunday, December 19th. Further information is available by calling either Norm Cole (708) 331-5188 or Bill O'Connor (708) 388-0210.

GUILD CHRISTMAS PARTY
The Women's Guild Christmas Party will be hosted at "Carlos'", Monday December 20th at 6:00 PM. Please contact Joan Sitniewski (708) 333-0755 or Rita Cole (708) 331-5188 for tickets or further information.

CHRISTMAS CHOIR
Rehearsals for St. Gerard Majella's annual Christmas choir will be held each Wednesday evening at 7:00 PM in church. We encourage and invite everyone to join us. We carol before the "midnight Mass" on Christmas Eve and sing during the Mass.
Here is an opportunity for you to participate and be an active part of the Mass. Music is an important form of prayer.

ENTERTAINMENT BOOKS
Hear yea! Hear yea! We are starting our 18th year selling the Entertainment coupon books for St. Gerard Majella. The books sell for $20.00 each with the church getting $4.00 for each book sold. We need your support! Buy a book and save big when you visit participating restaurants. See Norm Cole (333-5188), Lee Palys (331-7254) or DoDo Dove (331-6603) for more information or to purchase a book.

MASS AT HOLY NAME CATHEDRAL
We have two tickets available for the 150th anniversary of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception Mass at Holy Name Cathedral on December 8, 2004 at 5:15 PM. If you would like to attend this Mass, please call Linda in the parish office. The tickets are available on a first come, first served basis. Cardinal George will be celebrating this Mass.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY
Are you looking for a fun volunteer opportunity? Consider joining the volunteers at Neat Repeats Resale. All proceeds from our stores in Orland Park and Worth benefit the Crisis Center for South Suburbia. There are a variety of volunteer positions available. We are looking for donation transporters and sorters, as well as volunteers to work evening hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. To learn more about volunteer opportunities call (708) 361-6860 or (708) 364-7605.
The Crisis Center of South Suburbia is a non-profit organization that provides emergency shelter and comprehensive services to victims of domestic violence.

FOSTER CARE INFORMATION
If you'd consider opening your home and your heart to someone in need of a home, you might plan on attending one of the following foster parenting classes. Everyone is welcome, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity or economic circumstances.
For more information call (312) 655-7200.

SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK
Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness.
However, these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest.
A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again.
Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm.
This should give the heart attack victim time to get to the hospital.

CELEBRATION OF GIVING
Catholic Charities is sponsoring a month-long effort to collect Christmas gifts for thousands of children and families they serve called Celebration of Giving (Unwrap the Spirit).
Sponsor-a-family reaches out to families who are most in need, responding to their basic wishes for items such as clothing, household items, books, or school supplies. To sponsor a family, contact Shannon McClowry at (312) 948-7174.
This is a wonderful way for your entire family to understand the true meaning of Christmas and help a family struggling to make ends meet.

WHAT IS YOUR CATHOLIC IQ?
The answers for last week's questions are 1 (b); 2 (a); 3 (d); 4 (a); 5 (c).

THE BEST GIFTS ARE FREE
The best gift a mother and father can give their children is to love each other. Consider a Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend as a gift for your spouse this Christmas. The next weekend dates are February 18-20, April 8-10 or June 10-12. For reservations or information, please call Jim and Kris at (800) 442-3554 or contact our website at www.wwmechicago-gary.org.

FOCUS ON - BLESSED KATHARINE DREXEL
In 1889 newspaper headlines read, "Gives Up Seven Million." The article told of Katharine Drexel, an heiress from Philadelphia, who had decided to join the Sisters of Mercy.
Katharine's father was an international banker, and the family had a private railroad car. Her mother was a Baptist Quaker who died when Katharine was five months old. Her father then married a Catholic woman. The Drexels were good Catholics who even had a chapel in their house. Mr. Drexel prayed for a half hour each evening, and Mrs. Drexel open her home to the poor three days a week. Like any wealthy girl, Katherine enjoyed an excellent education, traveled, and made her debut into society.
When Katharine's stepmother became ill with cancer, Katharine nursed her for three years before she died. This experience made her think about values in life and about becoming a nun. Then, after visiting the western part of the United Sates, she became concerned about the situation of the Native Americans.
One day Katharine had a chance to meet Pope Leo XIII. She asked him to send more missionaries to Wyoming to help her friend Bishop James O'Connor. The pope asked, "Why don't you become a missionary?"
When she was over the shock of the suggestion, Katharine visited the chief of the Sioux and began helping the missions. She joined the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh to make a two-year novitiate. Then in 1891 she made her vows as the first Sister of the Blessed Sacrament. Her order was dedicated to sharing the Gospel and the Eucharist among Native Americans and blacks. The old Drexel summer home in Pennsylvania became the Sisters' first convent.
After three and a half years of training, Mother Drexel and other Sisters opened a boarding school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She spent her life and her inheritance of twelve million dollars on her work. In the end she had established fifty missions for Native Americans in sixteen states, a system of Catholic schools for blacks, forty mission centers, and twenty-three rural schools. She spoke out against racism and other injustices and made both the Church and the country more aware of the needs of the poor.
Mother Drexel's greatest education achievement was founding Xavier University in New Orleans, the first university for blacks in the United States.
A heart attack at the age of seventy-seven forced Katharine to retire. She spent the rest of her days praying in a small room overlooking the sanctuary until she died at ninety-six years of age.
Beatified in 1988, Katharine Drexel, pray for us!