Celebrating Our Students

The next few weeks we have a special focus on our Children and Youth. We’ve got a back to school blessing and gift at the 10am service this Sunday, a family friendly baseball game at the San Rafael Pacifics and an effort to assure St. Paul’s is as safe as possible for children.

1. Back to School Blessings. At the 10am service, Karin, our new Director of Children’s and Youth Ministries, will be at the door welcoming each child and youth, making sure she knows everyone’s name and what grade they are going into. Just before the peace, like when we celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, all will be invited to come up. Karin will introduce each to all of us, and then, together, we will say a special blessing to prepare them for the school year. At the end of the service, Karin will hand out a little gift.

2. Baseball. Our choir, for the third time this summer, will be singing the National Anthem at the Pacifics game in downtown San Rafael. The game begins at 1pm and includes games and contests for children between the innings. This is an outing for everyone at St. Paul’s. Join me in walking over from the church after coffee hour for a hot dog to cheer our home team.

3. Safe Church. The Diocese has implemented new, easy to take and effective training to make sure our churches are safe for children and the relationships among staff and parishioners is healthy. Staff, Vestry and volunteers who work with children are already in the process of completing this training, but the Diocese asks that all who have keys also do it. One thing I learned is that of the 5 things necessary for a safe church, the most important in Monitoring- so the more of us who know what to look for, the safe we will. Either come to the 2 Hour training on Saturday, September 7th from 9:30am to 11:30am, or email Lorrie at lbugatto@stpaulssanrafael.org to connect with the two 45 minute online training sessions.

Thank you, and we are so blessed to have a solid cadre of great children and youth at St. Paul’s!