Events

GAP, graduates and professionals in their 20s-30s from St. Austin, host social, service, and study events. We meet online Sunday nights, with other online events planned in between. If you would like to get involved, please e-mail Fr. Rich at randre@staustin.org.

• July 12: Doors in the Walls of the World
• July 19: Saints
• July 26: Mustard Seed Bible Study

Please join us for the monthly Blessing of Prayer Blankets. If you or a loved one would like a prayer blanket, or if you are interested in helping this ministry, please contact the parish office or Nancy Hrin at 512-837-3658 or tnejs@aol.com. Our prayer blankets are made from cotton fabric. The COVID-19 virus can live on cotton fabric and other surfaces for 2 weeks. To ensure that the prayer blankets are free from the virus before being released, finished prayer blankets will be isolated for two weeks before being available to fill requests. To reduce handling no monograming will be available at this time.
 

Since at this time all regular EIM Workshops are still postponed, the EIM Office has developed a Temporary Online EIM Training to fulfill the compliance requirement for volunteers or staff who are currently past due or are soon due for an EIM Workshop. Everyone who uses this online training must already have an EIM account.
 
If you have never attended a workshop, you may attend the online training, but you will still be required to attend an in-person workshop, probably within a year of the online training. and follow the instructions. You will need to log into your EIM record to get the date of your original application submission. Then return to the instruction page to continue.
 
For assistance, contact your EIM Site Administrator. For St. Austin Parish: Sharon Jones, for St. Austin School: Elizabeth Rogers.
 

This summer we will offer the JustMatters program, Faith and Racial Equity: Exploring Power and Privilege. This 8-week program awakens small groups to the economic systems, public policies, cultural norms, and hidden biases that empower some and oppress others.
 

"We can disagree and still love each other
unless your disagreement
is rooted in my oppression
 and denial of my humanity and right to exist."
- James Baldwin

The course will be held virtually on Wednesdays, beginning June 24th. You have the option to attend from 10-11:30 am or 7:30-9 pm. Space is limited to 6 participants per session. While this class is at capacity and registration is closed, to learn more about this or future programming contact Kristen Dempsy Pasyk.

In light of the ongoing debates about systemic racism in the United States, Fr. Rich will be praying through Layla F. Saad's Me and White Supremacy workbook this summer. It's an intense self-examination for anyone who is white or "white-passing" and wants to examine their own racial biases and the ways they have benefited from institutional racism. While you are welcome to read the book on your own, Fr. Rich will facilitate a 9-week online discussion group on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. from June 23rd through August 25th.

This conversation will require all of us to be quite vulnerable. Please go hereto find out what kind of commitment is required to participate. Want to learn more? Please watch Saad's two "Day 0" introductory videos (10 minutes each) to determine if you are willing to engage in this hard work.

By signing up for this group, you agree to the following:

1. I will purchase the book and do the assigned reading each week.
2. I can commit to attend at least 7 of the 9 weeks of the group.
3. I understand that the focus of this group is for each of us to share about our own perceptions and biases; not to discuss the actions or beliefs of others.
4. I promise to keep everything we discuss in confidence.

If you agree to all of these, please sign up. A Google Meet link will be emailed to you each week.