Weekly Digest

Welcome everyone!
This week at the parish:

• Tuesday - Family Playgroup (10:30 am), Baptism Catechesis, Choir Practice and Fatima Apostolate (7 pm), Women's Bible Study (7:30 pm)
• Wednesday - Bereavement Meeting (7 pm)
• Thursday - First Friday Confessions (4 pm), Men's Bible Study (8 pm)
• Friday - First Friday Adoration (all day, Benediction at 5:00, Mass at 5:30), First Friday Playgroup (10:30 am)
• Saturday  - FEAST OF SAINT NICHOLAS, Confessions (3 pm)
• SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT - Children's Choir at 9:00 am Mass (rehearsal at 8:15 am), Coffee and Donuts (after 9:00 am Mass), Adult Choir (10:30 am Mass), Infant Baptisms (2 pm), Christmas Festival of Lights with Saint Camillus (2:30 pm)
• Monday - FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION - Holy Day of Obligation, Respect Life Meeting (7 pm)

Saint Agnes Family Playgroup - CHECK BEFORE YOU LEAVE!

Once a week, we hold Tuesday playgroups outdoors at nearby parks. To print a written schedule of our winter playgroup locations, please click here.  To see a map of our winter park schedule, please click here.

This Tuesday, December 2nd, we will meet at Hill's Hill Playground (422 Summer St., Arlington).  This park has a fun maze-like structure, a field for playing, swings, and is located right off the bike path! We will play together and enjoy each other's company.  Bring your own picnic lunch.  Come join us; we hope to see you there!

**NOTE THAT our outdoor schedule is highly dependent on good weather. IN THE WINTER MONTHS, WE WILL MEET IF THE WEATHER IS ABOVE 32 DEGREES.  If the weather seems questionable, please check your email or the blog page before you leave for playgroup. In case of freezing weather or rain, playgroup will be cancelled for the day. Thanks!**

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This Friday, December 5th, is the first Friday of the month.  On Thursday, December 4th, from 4:00-5:00 pm, there will be the opportunity for confession in the lower church.  On Friday, Saint Agnes will be offering all-day Adoration, concluding with Benediction and Mass at 5:00/5:30pm, in the lower church. Also at noon there will be a Holy Hour to pray for priests and victims of clergy sexual abuse. Adoration is a wonderful opportunity to spend some quiet time with the Lord and gain some focus in our lives - especially with all the busy distractions of daily life. For more background on the long tradition of keeping a First Friday devotion, look here or here.

Also, anyone who wishes to walk across the street to spend time alone with our Lord in Adoration may do so, while the other mothers watch your children in the playroom.  First Friday playgroup is from 10:30 am-12:30 pm at Fidelity House (25 Medford St., Arlington). Fidelity House is being very generous by letting us use this space. Please consider a donation to help with their costs. Suggested donation is $1 per each person attending. Please remember some behavior guidelines: No running out of the playroom, no kids in the toy closet, respect physical limits, use a time-out chair, please discipline your own children promptly Please no food.... drinks in spill proof containers are OK.

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Giving Tree and Family Liturgy Advent Collection
Please consider participating in either our parish Giving Tree or the Advent collections at the 9:00 am Family Liturgy.  These are projects of Christian love and generosity for those less fortunate, of caring for our neighbor and helping to alleviate the stressors that some experience at this time of year. Let us celebrate the birth of our Savior with thankfulness for our blessings and an outpouring of love for others!  If you can’t afford a gift, make an offering of prayers for families represented on the tree, and for our Parish community.

Gifts for the Giving Tree must be wrapped and returned to the Church before the 12:00 Noon Mass on December 14.

For the Family Liturgy Advent Collection, please bring the following items for children in need each week:
December 7: Winter mittens/gloves
December 14: Winter hats
December 21: Winter scarves