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It’s time to order Lent 4.5: Christian Simplicity for your Catholic or Christian (Interdenominational) church. The easy-to-administer 7-week Lenten program provides your parish or congregation with a new approach to the traditional Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

Each week of this program for Lent has a unique focus:

1. Week before Ash Wednesday – Christian Simplicity: Compassionate Living (two handouts)
2. First Week of Lent – Food: Buying and Eating are Moral Acts
3. Second Week of Lent – Consumption: Buying Less, Wasting Less
4. Third Week of Lent – Water: Conserving and Protecting
5. Fourth Week of Lent – Energy: Choosing Efficient and Clean
6. Fifth Week of Lent – Transportation: Getting Around
7. Holy Week – Gratitude & Generosity: Becoming Involved 

Churches: Order Early and Save 

Churches and large groups placing orders by December 15th will receive a FREE tool kit to administer the program with ease.  The kit will include

• A 100+ page Coordinator’s Manual, guiding you week by week, through everything you need to know and do; background resources, a Week-at-a-Glance feature; how to set up and manage discussion course groups; suggestions for large-group film and speaker events, ideas for making your church more sustainable, and much more.
• Posters to make your parish or congregation aware of the program
• Sustainable World Sourcebook, compiled by the Sustainable World Coalition

• A $39.95 value, free when your church orders of over 100 handouts by December 15, 2011

Plus, while they last, a DVD produced by St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, Minneapolis, MN: “Stewards of the Earth,” offering inspiration, support, and suggestions for actions to protect God’s creation for future generations.

Mary Mattingly explains Lent 4.5

The Program 

Lent 4.5 takes advantage of people’s desire to do something more for Lent, encouraging participants to pray and learn about ways to protect God’s creation, embrace Gospel justice, and nurture their own spirituality. The core component of the program is a series of nine full-color handouts covering the seven themes (two handouts are introductory).

Each insert contains the following:

• An essay explaining the theme
• What the churches are saying about the issue
• A weekly prayer
• Action steps
• Opportunities to blog and delve more deeply into the topic on our website

Handouts are available in three formats:

• Catholic
• Christian
• Catholic in Spanish

A second popular component is a non-denominational discussion course book, Christian Simplicity: A Gospel Value, which offers small groups within your church a chance to read and discuss articles about the topic. While the seven themes correspond exactly to the Lent 4.5 themes, Christian Simplicity does not use the language of Lent, so it can be used any time of the year!

Also available is a School Resource book available in a Catholic (K-8), and a Sunday School (K-8) version. Rights to reproduce as needed are included with this modestly priced book.

Protecting God’s Creation & Embracing Gospel Justice

Through a measuring tool called Global Footprint, we are able to assess the impact of various lifestyles upon the Earth. It is a complex process, but a simple formula. At present, there are more than 6.5 billion people on the planet. If we were to divide the Earth equally among all of us, 4.5 acres would be available to each person. 4.5 acres is what we are each entitled to use. 4.5 acres is a fair share.

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