SEPTEMBER: The liturgical year has its seasons: Advent, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time. In 2019 Pope Francis joined the Orthodox community in recommending an addition to the calendar: a Season of Creation from September 1 through the feast of Saint Francis on October 4. It's a perfect time to reread Laudato Si’ and consider what more our parishes might do for the Earth.

We continue our acquaintance with Latin American celebrations of the Virgin Mary: Maria de la Caridad del Cobre (Cuba, 8), Santa Maria la Antigua (Panama, 9), and Maria de Coromoto (Venezuela, 11). These join the familiar Nativity of Mary (8) and Our Lady of Sorrows (15). The Exaltation of the Holy Cross (14), Catechetical Sunday (19), and Priesthood Sunday (26) complete our church observances for the month.

Meanwhile our nation's calendar notes Labor Day (6), Grandparents Day (12), and the Day of Remembrance (11). We might also consider International Days of Charity (5), Suicide Prevention (10), World Ozone (16), Peace (21), Elimination of Nuclear Weapons (26), and Migrants and Refugees (26). As climate change affects the stability of nations to a great degree, a Season of Creation encompasses these concerns and more.

You may download TAKE FIVE FOR FAITH in the following file formats:

PLEASE NOTE: To offer parish bulletin editors and web editors more flexibility, TAKE FIVE FOR FAITH weekly inserts do not include artwork. If you are looking for artwork, we encourage you to search under Google Images online. (Hint: Select the tools link in Google Images to search for art labeled for reuse.)

• PDF: Paste into word-processing program as art or print as one-page handout. See details below for placing PDFs in WORD or PUBLISHER or converting PDFs to black and white. 
• RTF: Open in word-processing program and adapt/reformat as you wish.

To VIEW a file: 

1. Click the desired PDF or RTF file link. 
2. The file will automatically download into and be visible in your web browser OR you will be prompted to download the file.

To DOWNLOAD a file:

1. Right-click the desired PDF or RTF link (or simply click the link, depending on the browser you are using). 
2. Select "Save Target As..." or "Save Link Target As..."
3. Indicate where to save the file on your computer and file will download.
4. Open PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Reader or RTF file in a word-processing program.

Note if you are working in a program that doesn't allow for PDF files to be inserted as images (such as WORD or PUBLISHER):

1. Open the PDF in Acrobat.
2. Choose "File" and then "Export to."
3. Select "Image" and then "jpeg."
4. Name and save.
5. Go into your layout program (Publisher/Word), choose Insert/Pictures, and insert the jpeg of the Take Five.
6. To convert to black-and-white, go to the image control: color section and select the drop down menu that says automatic and change it to grayscale. Then hit ok.

To CONVERT a color PDF to BLACK-and-WHITE in INDESIGN:

Save the final file as a grayscale pdf. To do so:

1. Open the document and select Print to pdf format.
2. When the print menu appears, select output and change the color to composite gray. The pdf file saved will be in black and white rather than color. 

* Many other desktop publishing programs have similar steps as those mentioned above to convert color graphics to grayscale.