About the Notre Dame Learning Center:
The Center, a free after school tutoring program for city students, was begun in 2004 by three retired School Sisters of Notre Dame. It depends on some 60 volunteers per year to provide one-on-one assistance in reading or math.

Students range from kindergarteners to eighth graders. They are referred by public, Catholic or charter schools in the city. Since its beginning the Center has served more than 300 children.

Anyone interested in volunteering for the July or August sessions, or to refer a student, may call Sr. Lorraine Burns at the Center at 254-5110 or visit www.ndlcenter.org.

The EMPIRE STATE STEM CELL BOARD has been created to guide the allocation process for stem cell research funding in New York State.  Bishop Clark and other Catholic leaders have voiced concern about the ethical standards being used in the proposed research initiatives.  There is a web site that can be used to access all this information and to register your opinion about the issues.  Your response must be registered before this Friday, June 20 to have any weight with the Board.

Procedure:

Go to www.stemcell.ny.gov;

Locate “Program Updates” on the right side of the screen;

Click on “ESSCB Strategic Plan”;

Scroll down;

Click on “Click here to submit brief comments electronically”;

Fill our the form, type in comments;

Click on “Submit” at the bottom of the page.

 Yours in Christ,

Fr. Tom

I enjoyed the wonderful opportunity to direct the women’s choir at the recent ecumenical concert, something I will treasure as part of my memories of working with Holy Ghost.  It was a bit of a stretch for me to work with such a large group, but it was a pleasure to hear all of those women singing so strongly together.

Thank you to all of you who helped support the Westside Coalition of Churches on Sunday May 18th.  The WCCC concert on Sunday will provide a donation of $2140 ($1605 concert donation plus $535 Thrivent matching funds) to St. Francis House Ministries.  The St. Francis House Ministries, a not-for-profit charitable organization was started by Deacon Angelo Coccia in 1988 to assist those in need.  The ministry is run totally by volunteers who give of their time and talent freely.  Every cent received by St. Francis House from donations to fundraisers is used to support those in need, those who “fall between the cracks.”  The needy are not just those who struggle in poverty but those who can be in need through emergency situations such as a tragedy, fire, loss of employment, etc.  Six times a year we buy, prepare, and serve dinners in a poverty level neighborhood.  A total of 100 food baskets are distributed at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.  Furniture/household items are given to those in need whether through poverty or an emergency.  Individuals who have heard of our ministry or have requested help through their church have received our assistance.  We also offer financial support in times of emergency.

Yours in Christ,

Colleen Vogt

Our next social gatherings will be May 31 – June 1 after all masses. If anyone is interested in being a part of the Welcome committee, please contact Michelle Peter at the parish office.

Yours in Christ,

Welcome Committee

At our recent meeting of the Web Team, we reported recent progress:

• New blog in its 5th week!

• Parish calendar, daily readings, current bulletin, and meditations on home page

• About 60 parishioners signed up for weekly e-newsletter, however some of those are not fully registered and are not receiving the e-newsletter.

We discussed ways to encourage more people to sign up for the e-newsletter.  We hope to have an index card in the pews in upcoming weeks.

We will continue the writing of the weekly e-newsletter/blog by asking groups within the parish to take responsibility for one short article every 6-8 weeks.

We are planning for the quarterly e-newsletter by soliciting articles from the staff and various groups within the parish.  Jay had made a mock up layout several months ago and we hope he can help with the layout of the real one.  Target date is May 11, Pentecost.

We are looking to do some more streamlining of the webpage, to make it as simple and interesting as we can, and hope to include pictures of recent events.

Please contact us with any suggestions at

newsletter@holyghostrochester.org

If you have input on the webpage or would like or would like to join us, please contact webteam@holyghostrochester.org

 Yours in Christ,

Holy Ghost Web Team

We honored another milestone anniversary this past weekend.  Dave and Jane

News from the Social Ministry Committee:

The Social Ministry Committee has a new name.  We will now be referred to as the Faith in Action Committee.  This name better reflects our goal to provide you, the parishioners, with opportunities to reach out and help the needy in our community.

Currently you could bring specific food and toiletry items to Mass on the first weekend of the month and participate in the upcoming Spirit Day.  (Spirit Day will be a chance to put your faith into action helping with spring cleaning for local people in need of a little assistance.) In the Fall you might also donate items for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Food baskets and Christmas gifts for our Giving Tree.  The Committee itself reaches out by bringing flowers to the homebound at Easter and Christmas and by sending monetary donations to needy families.

In the future we would also like to invite you to join us in educating ourselves regarding Social Justice issues.  Anyone interested in the above activities is welcomed to attend our monthly meetings on the second Tuesday of the month at 5:45 pm in the Parish Center.

Food Collection News: Last month we collect about 20 bags of items.  Our next monthly food collection will be the weekend of 5/3 and 5/4. St. Theodore’s Food Cupboard has requested CEREAL, RICE, PEANUT BUTTER AND SPAM.

How to contact us by email –

To make comments or suggest ideas for the blog or e-newsletter:
newsletter@holyghostrochester.org

For comments and suggestions about the web site in general:
webteam@holyghostrochester.org

For general email to the parish:
gholygho@dor.org

Yours in Christ,

Holy Ghost Web Team, with input from Social Ministry committee

We welcome back Michelle Peter after her trip to

Fr Tom Nellis is away on his vacation and will return April 18.

This past week at the 5pm Mass, we had the privilege of offering a blessing to the Rich and Kelly Publicover celebrating their 25 years of marriage.  They were married April 9, 1983, St. Mary’s Star of the Sea, Narragansett, RI.  Please let us know of other upcoming celebrations.

We had our “first Sunday of the month” food collection and collected many grocery items for St Theodore’s pantry.  Thank you very much for your generosity.

The weather has finally turned to the spring we so longed for.  It was a wonderful way to mark the 3^rd Sunday of Easter as Fr Tom remarked.  Some of you have adopted flowers from our sanctuary and I am including here a little info on how to replant lilies from Church.

Water and set in indirect light, even after flowers have fallen off.

Plant outside after last frost in a sunny place -in the fall deadhead the brown stalk.

Or you can let all the leaves brown and deadhead it before planting bulb.

http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?p=1338170

May the Spirit of the Easter Season remain with you as April showers nourish all of the new growth of spring.

Yours in Christ,

Holy Ghost Web Team

Our youth groups have been engaged in many activities over the past several months. During the Christmas season, both groups participated in bell ringing for the Salvation Army and offered their musical talents during several Masses. They also gathered together for community Christmas caroling to several of our homebound parishioners. Visits to Seabury Woods Nursing Home gave our Junior High group an opportunity to share their gifts with residents. The senior high group selected and cut down the Church’s Christmas tree while the junior high group decorated it. I think we all enjoyed this beautiful addition to the altar throughout the season.

Two of our students, Meghan Hodge and Andy Dreis, participated in a week long leadership workshop at Camp Stella Maris in February. The program focused on faith-based leadership skills and living the Catholic faith in today’s world. Meghan is a junior at Gates Chili High School and is very active in the Holy Ghost Youth Group. Andy is a junior at Spencerport High School and is also a member of the Diocesan Youth Committee or the DYC. As a representative of the DYC, he helps to plan events and lead programs for the Catholic youth in the Diocese. One upcoming event that the DYC helps with is the Junior High Youth Rally to be held on Sunday April 27th at Camp Stella Maris. If you know of a junior high student who would be interested in a day filled with faith based fun, please contact Rose Dunning at the Parish Center.

Our groups remained very active during the Lenten Season. Many students participated in our musical ministry throughout this most Holy time of the year. The living Stations of the Cross, performed each year by the Junior High group, provided a moving experience for the large group of parishioners who attended. This solemn event helped us focus on the importance of the upcoming Holy week. Other Lenten activities included another community service project.. Ten of our youth participate in serving others at the Loaf and Ladle Community Kitchen. This ecumenical soup kitchen serves many residents on a regular basis from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Holley. The students who participated came away with a much better understanding of service to the community.

Looking ahead to April, our Jr. High group is planning an activity once again with Seabury Woods. The eighth graders will also be invited to attend a Sr. High Youth group meeting to see what they have to look forward to as they move up next year. The Sr. High group is finalizing plans for an open house featuring the newly re-decorated youth room. Both groups have been working hard on cleaning, painting, and placing their own special mark on the place they gather for socialization, bible study and faith activities located in our church basement. They look forward to showing this off to the parish, so be alert for the time and date.

Many other activities will follow in the coming months. We will use this blog to keep our parish family aware of what our youth are doing to enhance their faith. Any students from grades six through twelve are encouraged to join our group and participate in the fellowship.

Yours in Christ,
David and Sheryl Dreis

We thought that our first blog entry should be about the blog itself.

The term “blog” is short for “web log”. Blogs have become very popular as a way to post opinions, commentaries, or just ramble about whatever is on your mind at the time. A popular feature of blogs is the ability of readers to leave comments, and start a discussion about the blog posting. We hope to add the ability for people to add comments to the blog postings soon - we’ll keep you updated on that.

The purpose of this blog is to provide a casual way to keep you informed about what our various group and ministries are doing, and other items of interest. Some of what we plan to “blog about” will include entries about youth group activities, Bible Study groups, Music, Social, and Liturgical Ministries, upcoming events, parish activities, and general interest items.

We welcome suggestions for blog topics, and you can also send us items to be considered for posting. It is hoped that we can have several bloggers - that will help keep this forum active and provide a number of different perspectives. Our plan is to post items here at least weekly, perhaps more often when there is something newsworthy, or whenever the “Spirit” moves us! We will send email notices to people who want to be notified about new blog postings. A more formal, newsletter-style publication will be published quarterly. This will be similar to “The Spirit” newsletter that used to be mailed out (in fact, we’re going call it “The Spirit”!)

How to contact us by email –

To make comments or suggest ideas for the blog or e-newsletter:
newsletter@holyghostrochester.org

For comments and suggestions about the web site in general:
webteam@holyghostrochester.org

For general email to the parish:
holyghostrochester@gmail.com

Our first “real” posting will talk about the various activities in our Youth Ministry - our junior and senior high youth groups. They’re busier than you may think! More about that next week …

Yours in Christ,

The Holy Ghost Web Team