St. Anne's Mother's Group
Wednesday Mornings!
St. Bonaventure Parish, Calgary
Babysitting Opens: 8:45 am
Mass: 9:00am
MTG Time: 9:45am-11:15am
Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
-From: Life’s Little Instruction Book Volume II
St. Anne’s Mother’s Group has been an active Ministry at St. Bonaventure Parish since September 1992. We are a group for mothers with children of all ages who want to enliven our faith within ourselves, our marriages and our families.
We meet from mid-September to mid-May on Wednesday mornings. Each week, members are encouraged to attend 9:00 am Mass. After Mass, we meet for prayer, instruction and discussion of a variety of faith, marriage and parenting issues, all within the context of Catholic teaching. Babysitting is provided for our preschoolers for Mass and for our meeting each Wednesday.
Increased Parish Involvement:
Members of St. Anne’s Mother’s Group are active in the following Parish Initiatives:
-Hike for Life
-Novena of Rosaries for new vocations on Good Shepherd Sunday
-Sponsor a family at Christmas through St. Vincent de Paul
-Baking for funeral services
-Readers at Mass
-Coming Alive Camp
-Parish Baptismal Program
-Share the Word teachers and helpers
-Joined CWL and husbands have joined the Knights of Columbus
-Involved in Youth Ministry
-Weekly mother/father support message board updates
-SAMG Family Care Packages
Fruits of the program:
The members of the St. Anne’s Mother’s group are involved in the following works of faith enrichment:
-Rosary is promoted in our families and our schools.
-Prayer support for families who are facing a crisis in their lives.
-Increased attendance at weekday Mass.
-Participate more frequently in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Our Vision:
We support Christian Family Life at St. Bonaventure Parish. We live and practice our faith, beliefs and give authentic witness to the values of the Gospels. Our families will be witnesses to the faith, enliven the parish community, encourage vocations in their families and draw others to Christ by example.
St. Anne, the Mother of Mary
PATRONESS OF CHRISTIAN MOTHERS, GRANDPARENTS, HOMEMAKERS AND PARENTS
Feast Day: July 26 celebrates St. Joachim and St. Anne, parents of Mary St. Anne, the Mother of Mary Mary's parents,
St. Joachim and St. Anne, are both of the tribe of Judah of the royal house of David and are venerated by the church as the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary who was probably their only child. The other Mary mentioned in the Gospels, as the sister of the Mother of God was, it is believed, her cousin; for this was a customary way of designating relatives in the East.
St. Anne has been honoured from early Christian times. Churches were dedicated to her honour, and the Fathers, especially of the Eastern Churches, loved to speak of her sanctity and privileges. She is often represented as teaching her little daughter to read the Scriptures.
The feast honouring the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated on the day that the basilica in honour of St. Anne was dedicated in Constantinople in the year 550. Her feast has been observed in the West since the time of the Crusades in the thirteenth century, but it was not placed in the Roman Missal until 1505.
Details about Joachim and Anne are found only in apocryphal literature, such as the Protoevangelium of St. James, which dates back to approximately 165. It states that Mary's birth was miraculous because her parents were sterile, and an angel predicted her birth to Joachim after he had fasted for forty days in the desert.
Tradition, grounded on very old testimonies, informs us that St. Joachim and St. Anne in their old age came from Galilee to settle in Jerusalem, and there the Blessed Mother of God was born and reared: there also they died and were buried. A church was built during the 4th century, possibly by St. Helena, on the site of the home of St. Joachim and St. Anne in Jerusalem.
St. Anne is greatly venerated in Canada, where there is an imposing basilica in her honour at Beaupre in Quebec.*
The above information is found in the books:“Saints of the Roman Calendar" Enzo Lodi"Lives of the Saints" Rev. Hugo Hoever
.