July 22, 2012

Announcements

MONDAY NIGHT MOVIES Our movie this week is Keeping the Faith. Ben Stiller and Edward Norton have been best friends at least from their teenage years. Stiller is now a rabbi and Norton a Catholic priest. A woman with whom both were in love as teenagers appears in their lives as a very successful businesswoman. Interesting! Join us here at Newman Monday the 23rd at 7:30 p.m.

AVAILABLE FOR YOUR USE We have a nice selection of DVD's and CD's that are available for your use. Many of them deal with various themes of spirituality with a number of presentations by Richard Rohr and the remarkable Trappist, Thomas Keating. There are also some conferences with the eminent Scripture scholar Raymond Brown on the themes of the Death of Jesus and The Resurrection. In addition there are some wonderful presentations from Michael Himes on the Mystery of Faith. The latter are on 3discs with each presentation running about 18 minutes. Himes, as the others, is a gifted teacher with many fruits to offer. Please stop by the front desk to borrow any two discs at a time. Three weeks to review/share and return.

CONVERSATIONS AMONG WOMEN will once again convene on Sat, July 28th, 9 a.m.—Noon in Newman’s upper lounge. We will have a riveting documentary film about the role of women in the Catholic Church. This award-winning film talks about the equality of women in the early Church in all functions. Bring your friends for the showing and discussion! Please also bring a potluck pastry, fruit, or savory snack item to share. For further information call Ellen Augustine at 510-428-1832 or email ellenaugustine@earthlink.net.

YAGGIES SUMMER EVENTS Hello Yaggies! We have a few events scheduled this summer and we hope that all of you who are in Berkeley for the summer can join us! Sat, July 28: Berkeley Kite Festival. Mark your calendars now, as we head down to the Berkeley Marina for the annual Kite Festival. The festival will include plenty of opportunities for “kite watching,” as well as hands on activities including free kite flying and kite making lessons, and a candy drop in the afternoon. Like any good festival, there will also be plenty of food and music, and some arts & crafts booths. Please email newman.yaggies@gmail.com if planning to attend. We’ll meet at Newman at 11:30 a,m. and head to the Marina from there. There will be at least one car going, and biking is a great alternative transportation option if you have one. Please also be sure to bring along something to eat, as well as sun protection, and we will picnic together while watching the kites.

MAGNIFICAT PRAYER BREAKFAST All Catholic Women of the Oakland Diocese are invited to the Magnificat Prayer Breakfast September 8th, 2012 at the Concord Crowne Plaza. $25/$35 after Sept. 1st. Join us for prayer, praise and inspiration! Our guest speaker is Dr. Carol Razza, a Psychotherapist who has worked in private practice for over twenty-five years and is on the faculty at St. Vincent de Paul Seminary. She is an author and a national and international speaker and workshop presenter. Dr. Razza is on the Advisory Board for the International Magnificat. For more information go to our website: www.magnificatsoti.org or call Erin at (925) 899-8087.

OPPORTUNITY FOR RETREAT San Damiano Retreat in Danville is offering a weekend retreat focusing on Eucharistic Adoration called “Celebrating the Presence of the Eucharist.” In the Spirit of Devotion and Contemplation, the retreat time will be devoted to praying before the Blessed Sacrament. The dates for the retreat are August 3-5th, 2012. To receive more information and/or to register, please contact Lorraine or Dorothy at 925-837-9141, ext. 306. You can also check our website at www.sandamiano.org.

THANKS AND APPRECITION A big thank you to Jim and Wanda Luisi and John Cortesi who have given countless hours to the improvement of our kitchen. We now have a washer and dryer for all those towels as well as an ice-maker. No more carting in bags of ice or carting out those heavy towels for cleaning at various homes!

MARRIAGE FOR LIFE This is a reminder that our next marriage preparation date is coming up on August 4th. Our next session, after August 4th, is October 20th and will be the last one for 2012. Space is available for all engaged couples needing preparation, even at the last minute! Classes are held at Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco. Format is one day, all day, and we are still holding the cost to $200.00. Registration is mail-in only using our form found at this link: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B_Ewq8eZEBKVWm9jMEVxYnZQbzg Marriage for Life is an approved marriage preparation program option in the San Francisco Archdiocese, San Jose Diocese, Oakland Diocese and Santa Rosa Diocese.

BOCA Save the date for our upcoming Citywide Meeting. After our successful action it is time to convene again, evaluate, grow stronger, and follow up on the commitments that were made to make "Berkeley for All" a reality. WHEN: Thur, July 26, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. (Potluck) 7:00 p.m. (Meeting starts). LOCATION: McGee Avenue Baptist Church, 1640 Stuart St. Berkeley, CA.

FOOD AFTER MASS On Sun July 29th after the 5 p.m. mass two enterprising young women at Cal will be serving a light dinner. They have a marvelous ides for a "niche restaurant" in the Berkeley area. You'll be helping them by coming. Students and non-students are invited. $2.00 donation is asked.

ADDITIONAL ANNOUNCEMENTS NOT IN THIS WEEK'S PRINT EDITION:
ELECTRONIC GIVING There are three options for contributing electronically:
1. Contributions can be made directly from a checking account by adding Newman Hall – Holy Spirit Parish as a payee (online bill paying).
2. One-time and recurring (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.) donations from checking accounts can be made from the calnewman.org website or by contacting Peg McGowan in the Finance Office.
3. One-time credit card donations can be made from the calnewman.org website or by contacting Peg McGowan in the Finance Office. Recurring (monthly) credit card donations can be made ONLY by contacting Peg McGowan in the Finance Office.
Additional information and donation forms are available on the Welcome Table in the lobby. Questions? Please contact Peg McGowan in the Finance Office.

ONLINE SURVEY PARTICIPATION NEEDED One of our student parishioners, Josephine Juanamarga, needs your help. She is participating in a research project and needs help from non-student participants (i.e. non college students, non high-school students) of any age (expected above 30 years old) who are currently working full time. The online survey takes about 40-45 minutes and can be done from anywhere. Although there is no benefit for participating in our survey, your participation would be very helpful toward helping one of our students here at Newman and is greatly appreciated. Your participation will definitely contribute to greater psychological research. The survey can be found at: http://ucbpsych.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_8ocnAlQFIXufSqU. If you would like to know more about the study, please do not hesitate to email us, arounducberkeley.psych.culture@gmail.com, for more information. Thank you for your participation and please spread the word!

WIDOWS/WIDOWERS GRIEF RECOVERY GROUPS Have you or someone you know experienced the death of a spouse recently or within the last few years? Sharing our experiences during this 10-week class is extremely helpful to our healing process. Find hope, support and successful ways to process this significant life event. Course is open to all Widows and Widowers and takes place Weds., 7 – 9 p.m. from June 27th to Sept. 5th. Enrollments are now being accepted – can start up to 3rd week. Pre-Registration required. The workbook is $15. Please contact Linda Husted at Valley Community Church in Pleasanton, 925-833-9013 or lilhusted@sbcglobal.net

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Wednesday our Finance Committee will review our financial statements for the first half of the fiscal year (January1—June 30, 2012) as well as a couple of other matters that I will touch upon in this note. As always I begin with a note of thanks for your continued generosity to Newman. Without your financial support we would be much more constrained in our continued efforts at ministry.

The report, prepared by the accounting firm of Armanino, compares our revenues and expenses both to the previous year and also to our budget. Within both comparisons our total revenues have exceeded the budgeted and last year figures. With regard to the total expenditures we have exceeded income by $22,564.71. The good news is that number is significantly less than our budgeted shortfall. Some of that shortfall is spread through various personnel expenses as we restored the 5%—7% deductions in pay to all employees, including the priests. Some of the additional shortfall will be offset by monies currently in our savings account. Those accounts were raised steadily over the last year through our continuing returns from the Paulist Capital Campaign and our own "Matching Sunday" collection of last fall, which realized in savings $70,000. These latter monies were intended for expenses in campus ministry, adult education, and building improvements.

We have received over the last five years about $140,000 in return for the pledges fulfilled from the Paulist Campaign. Those monies were very important for us during these difficult financial times. It should be noted that that source of funding will end in December of this year. We will be very much in the hole next year and will be in need of extra revenue.

The two additional items that the Finance Committee will discuss are proposals for an important upgrade in our communications system within the building with an approximate cost of $27,000 and for the consideration of launching a new ministry at Newman, namely Development. This latter matter is important for the future of Newman. Newman has been financed by the generosity of her parishioners. Over the last 45 years of Newman history, as best as I can make out, very little effort in any sustained way has been made to invite parents and alumni to help sustain and improve the campus ministry. We need to be doing much more in terms of additional lay campus ministry. Most large university campus ministries have development officers and staff personnel beyond our present capabilities. I have asked three members of the community, Kenneth Reid, Gina Gamble and Milt Werner to serve on a Development Advisory Committee. No doubt, we will be adding a couple more people—especially students.

Again I thank you for your continued generosity. A summary half-year financial statement should be available within the next week.

Bernard J. Campbell CSP