March Newsletter

CENTER NEWS

Happy Saint Patrick's Day
March 17th

SHAMROCK

St. Patrick used the shamrock leaf to symbolize the Trinity, and today many people wear a shamrock to commemorate Saint Patrick's Day.

WEARING OF THE GREEN

School children started this tradition. If you don't wear green on St. Patrick's Day you will get pinched!
Green is also the color of spring, the shamrock and is connected with hope and nature.

TWO IRISH BLESSINGS

• May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow and trouble avoid you wherever you go!
• May the wind be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, the rain fall soft upon your fields, and, until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Some ST. PATRICK'S Day BOOKS TO SHARE

Ages 4-8

• Daniel O'Rourke: An IrishTale by Gerald McDermott
• Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato by Jamie dePaolo
• Jeremy Bean's St. Patrick's Day by Alice Shertle
• Leprechaun Gold by Teresa Baateman
• A Leprechaun's St. Patrick's Day by Sarah Kirwan Blazek
• O'Sullivan Stew : A Tale Cooked Up In Ireland by Hudson Talbott
• Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland by Tomie De Paola
• The Ring of Truth: An Original Irish Tale by Teresa Bateman
• Shamrocks, Harps and Shillelaghs: The Story of the St. Patrick's Day Symbols by Edna Barth
• Saint Patrick and the Peddler by Margaret Hodges
• St Patrick's Day in the Morning by Eve Bunting
• Tim O'Toole and the Wee Folk: an Irish Tale by Gerald McDermott

Ages 9-12

• The End of the Rainbow: A Story about the Meaning of St. Patrick's Day by Louise Mandrell
• Mary McLean and the St. Patrick's Day Parade by Steven Kroll
• The St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Mystery by Marion M.Markham

One Hour of Sharing

During the next few weeks, the season of Lent - a time of preparation leading up to Easter - Child Care Center families are invited to participate in Catonsville Presbyterian Church’s ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING ministry.

OGHS is a Presbyterian organization dedicated to helping people in the United States and throughout the world, providing for their most basic needs.
Some of the ministries OGHS sponsors are:

• helping refugees rebuild houses, hospitals, churches and schools establishing medical clinics for immunizations and health care
• providing disaster relief from flooding, wildfires, and drought
• sponsoring self-development programs in poor and underserved communities.

We believe that “God uses all gifts for big purposes,” and so the miracle of Jesus using five small loaves of bread and two fish to feed large crowds is reflected in our mission. Each family may wish to use the fish-shaped coin box to collect money for OGHS during the next few weeks, and then return the box by March 24th. We have included a calendar, which describe OGHS programs and suggest ways to be thankful and generous with the gifts God has given us.

If you have any questions about this offering, or would like more information about the OGHS program and its ministries, please feel welcome to contact Rev. Dorothy Boulton at the church office, 410-747-6180, ext. 1009.
You may also wish to visit the pcusa.org website, and search the alphabetical index for ONE GREAT HOUR OF SHARING.

Thank you for the care and concern you share in the CPCFCC family, and in this community. We wish you a peace-filled Lenten season, and as always, invite and welcome you to the mission and ministries of Catonsville Presbyterian Church.