THE AUGMENTER
Volume 4, Issue 3 — February / March 2012
Webster’s Definition:
augment (verb)–to
make or become greater
augmenter (noun)
Newsletter for Families of St. Augustine Religious Education in Larchmont, NY
Our entire task in this life consists in healing the eyes of the heart so that they may be able to see God. — St. Augustine
...I would like to beg you, as well as I can, to have patience with everything
unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if
they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't
search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you
would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the
questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually,
without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.
Rainer Maria Rilke, 1903 in Letters to a Young Poet
These words have walked with me
through the years, haunted and
comforted me.
As I write this
Augmenter in this New Year, 2012, I
offer them with hope to you, the
families of St. Augustine Parish. As I
watch our children and young people
grow before my eyes I marvel at the
faith that God gives us and the faith
still in need of growth. My passion for
children and youth to follow God’s call,
given at their Baptism, is a relentless
pursuit. Your vocation as parents is
probably the most life-giving and
challenging. By integrating our efforts,
we choose to live our faith each day.
This newsletter is primarily a response
to this need. In teaching children and
young people to be generous sharers
of their blessings we will give them a
gift for a lifetime. I remember growing
up with the words and actions of my
parents that said, “If you want to be
happy, help someone.”
when
☺ Be on time for class.
☺ Come ready with a
smile on your face
and in your heart.
☺ Remember that you
are in God’s presence.
☺ Open your heart to
God.
☺ Share the Good News
of Jesus with your
family and friends.
Peace Begins Where Hunger Ends
SNOW CLOSING INFORMATION
WEDNESDAY—We will close
Mamaroneck School District closes.
Helpful to the
success of our
religious ed
process of growth:
the
SUNDAY—There will be a telephone chain to the
catechists who will then contact their students.
The
Augmenter logo
expands our vision of God
through the seasons. It reminds
us of God’s presence in the here
and now of our community in
Larchmont, where most of the
streets are named after trees. It
takes us into a new realm of
naming God through the signs of
the seasons and makes greater
the marvel of who God is—life,
warmth, color and silence.
Sister Suzanne Duzen, SS.C.M., Director of Religious Education, Publisher and Editor of The Augmenter.
Send
suggestions for future articles to: [email protected]
When I was growing up, my Slovak grandmother would
always say to me, “If people throw stones at you, feed them
bread instead.” It wasn’t until I was an adult that those
words took root and the meaning still challenges me. For
the first half of my life they became the foundation for my
belief system in peace and nonviolence. Now they go
deeper.
Besides providing a behavioral response of
returning evil with love, I have come to realize that as a true
peacemaker eradicating hunger is one of the best ways to
work for peace.
Thanks to an idea that Ann Betkowski, a 6th grade
catechist offered and is coordinating, we as a whole middle
school and high school community have begun to respond
to Heifer International’s systemic way of moving families
to self-reliance by providing animals and training to people
in developing countries. Ultimately sustainable farming
techniques result and the gift is passed on. Our young
people are being encouraged to choose an animal as a
class project, to work at home and in their neighborhood to
Continued on page 2
Peace Begins Where Hunger Ends continued from page 1
earn money to support this
project.
Water buffaloes,
llamas, sheep, heifers and the
Earth with all its resources will
take on new meaning. Our
global education will offer our
young people a way to “be the
change they wish to see in the
world.” The Gospel of Jesus is
translated in visible and viable
ways so that faith and life meet
in our living for others.
This project will culminate at
the Empty Bowls Soup
Supper at 6 pm on Sunday,
March 18 in Kenny Hall where
our STAY Connected Youth
Leaders (high school teens) will
sponsor their special way of
helping to eradicate world
hunger and promoting peace.
A donation of $10 for adults, $7
for teens (13 to 18) and $5.00
for children (6 through 12) will
entitle a person to a supper of
homemade soup, bread, juice,
water and tea.
Younger
children are free! We hope to
present the results of the Heifer
International Project with
posters and visuals. Crafts for
children that provide a deeper
reverence for the developing
countries’ heritage will be
provided. Music by our young
people will highlight some of the
countries that we are
supporting. This is a parish
wide invitation to support
these efforts. Proceeds will
go to the Hope Food Pantry
of New Rochelle, the CAP
Center of Mamaroneck and
Heifer International.
During Lent, which begins
on February 22 through Easter
Sunday, April 8, we will be coin
collectors for Catholic Relief
Services Operation Rice
Bowl. Our 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and
5th graders will make this
project their own working for
peace and ending hunger. Please
help us to help others. Hopefully our
children will take a good look into
their coffers, banks, etc., and also
work to earn some money that will
provide food, especially for the
children in war torn and developing
countries. Children will receive a
bank for their collection of coins.
Coins will be counted in the religious
education office during Holy Week.
Whatever efforts can be made at
home for children and young people
to earn money for these projects will
be inherently more meaningful and
lasting.
To become personally
responsible as sisters and brothers in
a world family will make all the
difference to create the change we
hope will come.
Thank you in
advance for supporting our efforts.
Anyone wishing to help with any of
these projects should contact me. I
love volunteers! May God increase
your store to give those in need so
much more!!!
Progress and Possibility
To Tamata, an eight-year-old little girl from Georgia (which
borders Russia), a picture-perfect life looks like the drawing
above. Her family received a heifer. That day, she says, was the
happiest day of her life. You see, Tamata’s family had one
simple dream: to own a heifer. But selling pigs, their main
income was barely enough to cover Tamata’s 90-year old
grandmother’s medication and the family’s utility bills. However,
one Saturday, Tamata’s father called out to her. As she ran
toward him, what she saw changed everything. Next to her father
stood a healthy heifer. In her words, “When I came to my
senses, my father explained it was a gift of American people who
want me to be happy. He said those generous people gave a
heifer, especially to me, to have a lot of milk and be healthy.”
Emily Dickinson said, “I dwell in possibility.” I
keep her words in front, behind and on the side
of me at all times. They have become like St.
Patrick’s Breastplate, “Christ be before me,
Christ behind me, Christ on my left, Christ on my
right.”
When parents receive progress reports the
inclination is to look for progress, but I hope that
the belief in untold possibilities in children and
young people is primary. My hope is that
children who have been absent many times will
be more present from here on, those who
haven’t shown their best effort will become
involved in new and meaningful ways, and that
those who are consistently engaged, continue to
astound. Faith can’t be measured except by
God who gives the gift and sustains it. We help
nurture that gift, but choice also enters in.
Thank you for choosing to forward the call
your child received at Baptism when she/he
entered the Catholic Church.
The catechists
and I are so committed to helping the growth of
faith, but you are the primary educators. May we
walk together in possibility!!
Sister Suzanne Duzen, SS.C.M.