Dear MVCS members,

We are forming a small faith sharing group to gather for prayer, to open our hearts, minds and souls to a better understanding of the Sunday gospel and to share this experience with each other. We will seek to accomplish this in an atmosphere of friendship in much the same manner as the early Christians did in Jerusalem, Antioch and Rome. Getting together in small groups (often in secret) was the norm for the first Christians. This allowed them to get to know each other on a more personal basis; it facilitated personal growth; and it allowed them to share the moral and spiritual support they each needed to live as Christians. For the MVCS, our Faith Sharing ministry will accomplish the following objectives:

(1) To meet and get to know our fellow single Catholics in their 20s, 30s and 40s on a more personal basis (singles are often on their own when it comes to faith formation);

(2) To learn how to apply the gospels to our daily lives; and

(3) To give one another the moral and spiritual support we need to be living examples of our Catholic faith.

WHAT: Faith sharing group for members of MVCS and any other single Catholics
WHERE: Mike Cavera's office in the school building adjoined to St. Athanasius Church
ADDRESS: 160 North Rengstorff Avenue, Mountain View
WHEN: Thursday, February 28, from 7:30 - 9 p.m.

Our first gathering will be on Thursday, February 28. We will meet weekly during Lent and determine our schedule thereafter based on the interests of the group. For more information, please contact Laura Castaneda at (650) 988-1289 / [email protected] or Paula Mitsuda at (650) 962-8851 / [email protected]

Hope you will join us for faith sharing and fellowship!

Paula and Laura

From Mike Cavera:
This year our parish mission is during Lent. It begins on Monday night February 25th and continues for 2 nights through Wednesday February 27th. The evening sessions begin at 7:30pm, lasting until 9pm. The daytime sessions begin at 9am.

Our mission leader this year is Fr. Ben Innes, a young Franciscan from the Santa Barbara Area. He is a popular Young Adult Retreat leader. The theme of the mission is "Walk in Faith: we have been called." The first night (Feb 25) is on Prayer, the second (Feb 26) is on Reconciliation, and the final night (Feb 27) is on Growing in Faith through action for justice. Everyone is invited.

There is no registration required. There is no charge for this event, but we will pass the hat on the last day, Wednesday.

A PDF version of the flyer for this event can be found here!

If you have any questions regarding this event, please contact Mike Cavera

Dear MVCS members,

It's almost the last Saturday of the month, a regular event for brunch. We are inviting you to have a brunch.

WHAT: Welcoming brunch to meet other members of MVCS
WHERE: Country Gourmet - Mountain View.
ADDRESS:
2098 W El Camino Real
Mountain View, CA 94040
(650) 962-1700

Link to address and map

WHEN: Saturday, February 23, 2002.
Meet at Country Gourmet at 12:15pm
Brunch from 12:30-2pm (and maybe, catch a movie later)

DIRECTIONS: Take US-101 North. Take the Rengstorff exit towards Mountain View. Turn left at El Camino. You need to U-turn afterwards. The restaurant is at the right hand side corner at the intersection of El Camino and Rengstorff.

Dress is casual. Depending on interest and people's schedules, we might take in a matinee movie after brunch.

Please RSVP to Savio Fernandes by 5pm, Thursday, January 21th, if you can join us for brunch, so we can get a headcount.

Feel free to bring friends!

Hope to see you on the 23th!!

Elvina & Savio

MVCS is in the process of setting up a faith sharing group.

The goals of this group will be to understand how, why, where, what faith sharing is.

This Lenten season, forget about giving up candy for Lent. Just say, "I will join a faith sharing group/ministry this year for Lent and continue to grow in my faith."

Each Sunday the gospel readings are read. Sometimes the beautiful scripture if understood, and, well, sometimes it's confusing....

With getting together among others, not only do we meet new people, we try to understand the readings, talk about them, and try to relate them to our lives.

If you are interested, we are meeting at 11:30 am, Sunday, February 17th, in front of St. Athanasius to go to lunch (you can also meet us at 10:25 for mass) and discuss plans for the faith-sharing group to start the Lenten season off good.

For more information, contact Paula at 650-962-8851 or her email at [email protected].

MVCS plans to organize at least one hike per month, set on the 2nd Saturday of each month.

Our first hike of the year will be to Sweeney Ridge in San Bruno county, on Saturday, February 9, 2002. On a clear day it is said you can see about 30 miles in every direction. To the east lies San Francisco Bay with San Mateo and SFO in the foreground and the East Bay Hills and Mount Diablo in the background. To the south are grassy hills and Montara Mountain. To the north, one can see Daly City, the twin peaks of the Golden Gate, the Marin Headlands and Point Reyes. To the west is Pacifica with sweeping coastal views. The Farralons, islands, 25 miles away, can be seen if you're really lucky with the weather. So bring your camera!

HIKE: Sweeney Ridge (1.1m) & Mori Trails (2.4m)
MILEAGE: ~4 miles
TIME: 2-3 hours
DIFFICULTY: Easy/moderate
TERRAIN: Most of hike at elevation 655 feet. Max elevation gain ~550 feet. Sweeney Ridge Trail is nearly level. Other trails climb/descend steadily.

Note that this is a "no amenities" park, which means no public bathrooms. The closest bathrooms are near the junction of Hwy 280 and Sneath Lane.

A PDF map of the trails in the park can be found here.
Additional information about the area can be found at:
http://www.bahiker.com/southbayhikes/sweeney.html
http://www.ci.pacifica.ca.us/RECREATION/Sweeney_Ridge.html
http://www.juliafeld.com/HikingBayArea/portola.html
For drivers: Turn by Turn directions with gifs from St. Ath's (use your discretion) http://mapsonus.switchboard.com/bin/maps-route/usr=~3c56512f.3c0d9.4594.9/c=17/isredir=1/

MEET: 9am, Saturday, February 9, 2002, at the parking lot of St Athanasius (160 N Rengstorff Ave, Mountain View).

BRING: Comfortable clothes, sturdy shoes (hiking boots/leather shoes recommended since conditions might be muddy), bag lunch or trail food, own supply of water (1 liter at least), sunscreen/hat/sunglasses (since some parts of the trail is exposed), camera, layered clothing & hat/gloves (rapidly changing weather is expected). Suggestions of trail food include carrots, nuts, trailmix, granola/power bars, dried fruits/raisins, apples [oranges not recommended since they will be hard to eat with cold hands].

We will arrange carpools at 9am at St Athanasius parking lot and drive to Sweeney Ridge (~1 hr travel time). Hardcopy directions will be given to car drivers, and meeting point at the trail head will be indicated on these directions.

We expect the hike to take about 2-3 hours, from about ~10am-12noon/1pm, including a break for bag lunch. Expected return to Mountain View is around 2pm.

Feel free to bring a buddy!

Please ***RSVP*** to Elvina Hendrata by 5pm, Wednesday, February 6,2002, with the following information:
1. Number of people in your party.
2. Whether or not you would be willing to drive and,
3. If driving, how many people including yourself can you fit in your car.

RAIN ALTERNATIVE/BAD WEATHER PLAN
During this time of year, rain is sure to be a possibility. But don't despair! If inclement weather conditions are present, come meet at 9am at St Athanasius' parking lot and we'll go to brunch and warm ourselves with warm food and pleasant company at a place TBD.

LATECOMERS
On the day of the hike, if you are running late and have trouble meeting the 9am meeting time, Savio will have his cell phone programmed with information about the logistics of the hike. Please call Savio Fernandes on his cell phone (408-464-5446) and he can give you directions to the hiking meeting place or to the brunch's location [bad weather plan], so you can catch up to the group.

Hope to see you all on the 9th!

Elvina, Savio, & Kim

Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 17:10:11 -0800 (PST)
Subject: [mvcatholicsingles] going to mass together this Sunday at 10:20

Hi, everybody:

Thanks for coming to the brunch last Saturday. We had a great
gathering. There were a total of 13 members and many of us met each
other for the first time. 

We will be planning more group activities in the coming weeks.
Probably a short hiking trip in early February if weather permitting.

This sunday, we are inviting you to attend the 10:30 mass together at
St. Athanasius church, so that we get to remember each other's name
and also get a chance to meet members who were unable to attend last
Saturday's brunch. 

We will be meeting at the front door of the church at 10:20pm. 

Hope to see you there!

Elvina, Savio and Yining

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break. If you are looking for something to do on the long weekend this month and have not made plans yet, here's one idea for you:

WHAT: Welcoming brunch to meet other members of MVCS
WHERE: Hobee's Restaurant, Sunnyvale.
ADDRESS: 800 Ahwanee Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94085
Link to address and map
TEL: (408) 524-3580
WHEN: Saturday, January 19, 2002,
Meet at Hobee's at 11am
Brunch from 11am-1pm (and maybe, catch a movie later)
DIRECTIONS: Take US-101 S.Take the MATHILDA AVE exit towards SUNNYVALE. Merge onto N MATHILDA AVE Turn LEFT onto AHWANEE AVE.

Dress is casual. Depending on interest and people's schedules, we might take in a matinee movie after brunch.

The plan is to meet at Hobee's around 11am. Look for Kim wearing a red and black rugby shirt or Elvina wearing a grey Shirt. If you don't spot either of us, we'll put a reservation under the name of "Kim" for 11am. But I'm sure you'll spot one of us. Free free to bring a friend!

For those of you who might need rides, we are arranging lifts from St Athanasius parking lot (160 N Rengstorff Ave, Mountain View), meeting at 10:30am that morning.

Please RSVP to Savio Fernandes by 5pm, Thursday, January 17th, if you can join us for brunch, so we can get a headcount.

Also, please let Savio know if you will be needing a ride from St Athanasius or have a special pick-up request, so we make sure we have enough space for you!

Hope to see you on the 19th!!

Elvina, Kim and Savio