St. John the Evangelist Catholic Community

Update to the parish August 2020 on 15^th August 2020

Dear Friends,

Greetings from St. John’s!

The precarity of these difficult and challenging days of paralyzing isolation and social-distancing coupled with wrenching loneliness have redefined our everyday lives in ways we could only have imagined – from simply spending time with friends and loved ones to the ways in which we gather and worship as a faith community.  As Scripture tells us, there is but one who remains unchanged, Jesus Christ – yesterday, today, and forever.  While that should offer consolation during this time of uncertainty, our Church continues to recognize the need for gathering in prayer.  Beginning in mid-May, we reopened the doors of our church to worship together again as a parish family.  Though not all are able and/or comfortable with returning in-person to celebrate the Mass, know that each and every one of you remain in our prayers during celebration of the Eucharist.  May the good Lord comfort you during these challenging times, and may your faith in His Divine Plan never diminish!

Let me briefly discuss several upcoming activities through which you can see the spiritual growth pulsing through our parish life:

54 Day Rosary Novena:  On March 3, 1884, Our Lady, “Queen of the Rosary,” asked the young Fortuna Agrelli who, at the time, was suffering from three separate and incurable diseases and declared a hopeless case by the doctors, to make three novenas of the prayers of the Rosary and three novenas in thanksgiving.  The young Fortuna and her family did exactly that, and the girl was healed and restored to perfect health, hence the beginning of the tradition of the 54-day Rosary Novena.  One novena consists of nine days of consecutive prayers; thus, three novenas would be (3 x 9) 27 days of praying the Rosary and, in the case of this particular novena, 27 days of prayer in petition followed by 27 days of thanksgiving.  As a parish, we plan to pray for three petitions, namely:  1) for an end to the suffering caused by the Coronavirus, 2) for the protection of our parishioners and the Holy Catholic Church, and 3) for blessings and peace upon our nation, especially as we approach the presidential election.  When praying the Rosary, please remember to pray only three of the mysteries in the following sequence:  The Joyful Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries, and the Glorious Mysteries, then continue to repeat in that order.  We will begin on the Feast of the Assumption (August 15) and end on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (October 7).  We will pray this novena together in the church every Monday through Friday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., beginning with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the Divine Mercy Chaplet; we will do the same on Saturdays and Sundays from 3.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.  If you are not able to join us in person, please pray the Rosary with your family at home without missing a day.  You may also choose to pray it alone.

Outreach:  As a result of your unwavering generosity to help those in need, our Outreach Ministry was able to distribute nonperishable food items to nearly 400 families during two drive-through food distribution events, and we continue to supply food and other necessities to those who come to us for assistance on a daily basis.  Moving forward, we will now be collecting “clothes for the homeless brothers and sisters” as part of our Clothing Drive in support of Daily Bread.

The Celebration of the Sacraments:  Despite many challenges, we have continued to celebrate the Eucharist, baptisms, weddings, and funerals according to Diocesan and CDC safety guidelines. Thank you for your patience and cooperation!  On June 6, 2020, we were delighted to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation for 65 candidates during two Masses.  In addition, 73 of our SJE Kids received their First Communion during two Masses this month, one on the 8^th and another on the 15^th.  Our parents and dedicated team of catechists combined forces to prepare the children for receiving Jesus for the first time, despite the interruption to instruction posed by the Covid-19 situation.

Religious Education Program:  Dawn Hurley, DRE for the parish, and our team of dedicated catechists have devised a reasonable proposal for continuing faith formation under the current circumstances.  This year, we are excited to introduce a new curriculum for grades K – 6, Pflaum Gospel Weeklies, a faith formation program that flows from the words of Jesus Christ in the Sunday Gospels.  The 2020-2021 faith formation year at St. John the Evangelist will begin in stages, with plans to offer a combination of in-person and at-home/family-based instruction this fall.  We will begin elementary faith formation the week of Sunday, 13 September with a “Drive-Thru Faith and Fun at SJE” carpool distribution of resources to our families, followed by the sharing of easy to implement instructions which will allow families to engage children of multiple grade-levels simultaneously.  By so doing, we hope to have all of our children on the same page, curriculum-wise, when we are eventually able to invite them back to campus and reconvene classes.   Edge, our middle school program for grades 7 and 8, is scheduled to begin on 2 September in the parish hall, and Life Teen for our high school students will kick off on Sunday, 30 August in the parish hall.  We intend to follow guidelines from the CDC, the local government, and our Bishop John Noonan as the youth of our parish and their families return to parish life at St. John the Evangelist.

New Staff:  We have been blessed to welcome Gavin Keith (IT Coordinator) and Molly Smith (Coordinator of Youth Ministry) to our staff.  We pray that their gifts and talents will inspire our parishioners to fall deeper in love with Christ.

Ministries:  The Ministry Coordinators were invited for a meeting on Wednesday, August 12^th, to share some of the challenges posed by the pandemic.  I am thrilled to report that most of our ministries have continued to minister to our community in modified ways.  Barring a very few ministries who, by their nature function only if they can meet in person, most others found unique ways to stay connected.  Of course, all are passionate to gather again in person, and we will begin to do so in the hall and in the classrooms in stages, adhering to the Diocesan and CDC guidelines of proper sanitization, safe social-distancing, wearing of masks, etc.  Initially, we will begin with groups not to exceed 10-12.  We hope and pray that this will bring much-needed life back into our varied and faith-filled ministries as we continue to care for the people of God, from conception to end-of-life.

Your generosity is astounding!  You have been so faithful as a parish community in continuing to remember us each week with your donations. There are no words to adequately convey my gratitude for the blessing of your continued support; please know that I am extremely grateful to each of you.  For those who have been less faithful, please consider remembering us somewhere in-between your groceries and electric bills.  You can always mail in your envelopes or drop them off at the office; in addition, we offer an online-giving option on our website at stjohnviera.org.

In closing, on behalf of Fr. John Patrick and myself, we want to assure you that you remain in our prayers daily during the celebration of the Holy Mass.  May the Lord continue to watch over and protect us all!

St. John the Evangelist, Pray for us!

Be Blessed!

With love,

Fr. John