Autumn/Fall is in the air and with it our Gourmet Soup Kitchen. We invite you to join us on Saturday, October 12, 2015 for an evening of delicious food and fellowship. The event will be held at Holy Cross Catholic Church Trinity Elementary School. A live and silent auction will be held with a variety of items from which to choose. We look forward to your friendly competition when bidding! You are still able to help sponsor this event. Please contact Babs Coler for additional information. bcoler@churches‑united.org or call (701) 526-6727. We appreciate your financial support and the support you give through volunteerism and in prayer. To purchase tickets, please click Tickets for Gourmet Soup Kitchen.

Mark your calendars for the start of the National 40 Days for Life campaign that will take place Sept. 23 - Nov. 1! You are called to be part of this important prayer effort to bring an end to the evil of abortion. It's time for this brutal inhumanity to end. Ask God to open the eyes of people across America and around the world about the reality of what happens every day inside the abortion facility. Pray that those who work inside Planned Parenthood and all abortion facilities will have a change of heart and leave the abortion industry. The North Dakota 40 Days for Life effort of continuous prayer will begin at 8 a.m. on Wed., Sept. 23, in front of the abortion facility, 512 1st Ave. No., Fargo. Persons can sign up for an hour of prayer at the state's only abortion facility in Fargo by contacting the Pregnancy Help Center at (701) 284-6601, or in Fargo (701) 356-7979. http://www.40daysforlifend.com/.

Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann asked Stephen D. Minnis, president of Benedictine College, Atchison, Kansas, to launch a national Memorare Army prayer campaign for religious liberty. Mother Teresa started the first Memorare Army in Calcutta, India, gathering pledges for 85,000 Memorares for her work, and we are proud to follow in her footsteps.

Members of the Memorare Army for Religious Liberty commit to saying 1,000 Memorare prayers. This can be accomplished by praying three Memorares a day for a year, for example, or by praying Memorares in groups of 10.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has asked Catholics to pray urgently for religious freedom in our country: "We are Catholics. We are Americans. We are proud to be both, grateful for the gift of faith which is ours as Christian disciples, and grateful for the gift of liberty which is ours as American citizens. To be Catholic and American should not mean having to choose one over the other."

Make your pledge to pray 1,000 Memorares in the next year at the Benedictine College website.