From the Pastor

A new cloth and a new wineskin,

A few years ago during Thanksgiving week, the students at a New England college took part in an unusual fundraising event.  They spent a cold, rainy night in a makeshift tent—a tarp draped over a few cardboard boxes set up on the campus quad. 

One of the students, Chris said: “It got pretty lonely out here and very cold.  Even in just a few hours, you find out it is no fun not having a warm place to live and regular meals.”  “Real fast you discover that people basically shun you,” said Pete, while trying to keep his hands warm in the tent.  “People look at you and wonder why we’re sitting outside in a lean-to.  Even when you try to explain it some don’t get it.” 

The students spent two to eight-hour stints in the tent, several staying overnight in sleeping bags, to raise money for the homeless.  Some students fasted for 30 hours, raising hundreds of dollars for a local soup kitchen and shelter; others gave up lunch in the cafeteria, with the college’s food service donating one dollar a head to a hunger relief program.  But the experience in the tent raised more than money—it raised a new awareness of the plight of the poor and homeless. 

“We know that in one week we can’t solve all of society’s ills that bring about hunger and homelessness,” explained the college chaplain, whose office sponsored the project.  “But what we can do is help our students recognize that hunger and homelessness are all around them, that it happens in the suburbs as often as in the cities.  “We’re hoping that this new awareness means that when they graduate and go out into the big world, they will be making decisions that do help solve the root causes of hunger and homelessness.”

What these students learned from their brief experience of homelessness and hunger can change their lives, making them more compassionate, more generous, more understanding human beings.  Their consciences have been cut from a new bolt of cloth that can no longer be sewn onto the “old cloth”; their awareness is new wine that can’t be poured back into the bottle or an “old wineskin.” 

Just as these students have a new understanding of the plight of the poor because of their encounter with poverty (however temporary), we have a new understanding of God and the things of God because of our encounter with the Gospel Jesus.  May we become new cloth in which the love of God enfolds those we love; may we become new wine in which the Spirit of God enlivens and animates our hearts and souls.

Please keep me in your prayers and be assured of my continued prayers for all of you.

Fr. Steve  

ASH WEDNESDAY LITURGIES
Mass will be celebrated on Ash Wednesday, March 1, at 8:30a and 7p in the nave. A Liturgy of the Word with the distribution of ashes will be held at noon in the nave.

RITE OF ENROLLMENT FOR CONFIRMATION
Today, we celebrate with young people in our parish who begin their formal period of preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation this spring.  Please pray for them as they prepare for this sacrament of initiation.

BREAKING NEWS
Sunday before Ash Wednesday (2006: February 26)
“LENTEN LITURGIES"
Part I: A Journey of Prayer.

Throughout the season of Lent, we’ll explore together the liturgies that ritualize this part of the liturgical year.

As we prepare for Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent, we embark on a 40-day journey of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  During this season, our liturgies will be quite different from those in Ordinary Time, and those to come during the Triduum and during the Easter Season.  Just as the Church goes “on retreat” during Lent, our liturgies, too, are marked by more time for silence, more calm, and more hunger for Easter joy.  On Sundays, we take time to pray well our Penitential Rite, and we fast from the Gloria.  Even though we are an Easter people, and “Alleluia” is our song, we fast from this joyous acclamation, so that as we celebrate Christ’s triumph over death, our joy will be complete and full!
On Ash Wednesday, we hear Jesus’ exhortation to his disciples to perform righteous deeds in secret, so as not to be like the hypocrites.  But on Ash Wednesday, we wear the sign of our faith, the cross of our salvation, in ashes on our forehead.  We acknowledge our sinfulness, and witness to the world that our Lenten journey has begun!                  

STATIONS OF THE CROSS
Are prayed this Friday at 6pm in the nave.  Come pray before or after dinner with your fellow parishioners in Daniel Hall.  

Friday Lenten Fish Fry
Every Friday During Lent
(excluding Good Friday)
5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in DH
Carry out available
(Fish,Vege Lasagne, Shrimp,
Cheese Pizza, and much more!)

The first fish fry will be on Friday, March 3                                 

FROM THE SCHOOLYARD
SCHOOL NEWS -  FINANCIAL AID FORMS are now available in the Parish Office for the 2006-2007 school year for parents of students going into grades 1-8.  PSAS (Private School Aid Services) has been contracted to provide a confidential evaluation for families to see if you are
eligible for tuition assistance.  PSAS applications require a $19 processing fee.  If you wish to apply for financial aid, please call the parish office, 742-0953 ext. 20 to arrange to pick up an application.  PSAS applications must be filled in and mailed with a copy of your 2005 tax return, and postmarked no later than April 19, 2006.  Only school families who apply to PSAS for financial aid will be awarded Parish Education Fund tuition grants.

The next Pastoral Council meeting is scheduled for this Tuesday, February 28, 2006.

Readings, Sunday, March 4 & 5
First Sunday of Lent
First Reading: 23 Gn 9:8-15
Psalm: 25:4-9
Second Reading: 1 Pt3:18-22
Gospel: Mark 1:12-15

LITURGICAL MINISTRY SCHEDULES
For Lent have been e-mailed.  Hard copies are available on the racks in the atrium.

Please Help with the Youth Ministry Fundraiser-  Our parish youth run the bake sales at each Lenten Fish Fry to raise money for mission work and other youth activities.  We REALLY need your help.  Please consider sending baked goods to one or several of our Fish Fry dinners.  Your assistance is appreciated!!  Please call to say you can help.

All Youth, grades 7-12 are invited to the LIFE meeting next  SUNDAY, March 5 from 6:30-8:00pm in the Youth Room.  This is a GREAT opportunity to spend some time exploring your faith and getting to know your peers.  Friends are always welcome, so bring one and join us for a good time. 

Lenten Retreat for Youth – Mark your calendars now for the weekend of March 18-19.  High School students from our Pastoral Region – Saint John Neumann and Corpus Christi will come together for a fun, enriching and life giving weekend retreat.  Give yourself a great gift this spring and make a retreat with your peers.

Back to Bulletins/NewsLetters

Teens Advocating Change through Knowledge and Leadership Experience – T.A.C.K.L.E. is a weeklong urban plunge retreat for high school teens which gets them fired up about the gospel message of peace and justice and gives them the skills to make a difference in the world.  This annual Archdiocesan project really makes a difference in the lives of all who participate please consider allowing it to change yours.  The dates for 2006 are June 25-30.  Watch the bulletin for more details.

Call Pam McLaughlin in the Parish office for more details or to RSVP for any of these events.

                           SACRAMENT PREPARATION
                           Confirmation Potluck – February 27 @ 6:30 p.m.– DH
                           Confirmation Prep – March 6-7:00 p.m.
                           First Eucharist Prep – March 6 -7:00 p.m.

MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
 Is your membership record in the St. John Neumann parish database correct?  Here is your chance to update YOUR record before our annual Guide Book & Directory is published.  Have any changes, additions or deletions occurred in YOUR household/family over the past year?

Have you changed your phone number?  Have you moved?  Are you preparing to move soon? If you have not already informed the parish office about changes to your record, please let us know now so that the information in the Guide Book & Directory is as correct as possible.  The parish office number is 742-0953.  You can leave a message anytime on extension 10. 

Grateful to God for many blessings. 
Anxious to build up our parish
        Aware of our responsibilities to needy neighbors everywhere.

BUDGET BITS:  OUR OUTREACH TO THOSE IN NEED
Each week SJN sets aside 5% of the Sunday collection to help the needy in our parish, our communities and around our world.  The Outreach Committee designated the following donations at its last meeting on February 16:  $250 to UD Department of Sociology to help sponsor a spring mission trip to the Mexican border in response to a request from parishioner, Tracy K;  $100 will be sent to the Philippines to help the children in the area of our parish-sponsored friend, Jo Jo Flores Rodriguez, celebrate Easter;  $200 will be sent to One Way Farm Children’s Shelter in Fairfield to help in their care of the children; and $500 will be sent to Catholic Relief Services to help with emergency relief and development work in 99 countries around the globe.

We are grateful to those who bring or send their Sunday offering envelopes to our parish when they have been away visiting or for the holidays.  Thank You!

WOULD YOU LIKE A STATEMENT OF YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS through the envelope system during 2005?  Please call the parish office and leave your name and address.  We will mail your statement as soon as possible.

Please remember St. John Neumann Catholic Church in your will.

Monday, February 27
6:30 p.m. Confirmation Pot-Luck Dinner - DH
7:00 p.m. RCIA - CC
Tuesday, February 28
10:30 a.m. Staff Mtg - YR
5:00 p.m. Tender Mercies
7:00 p.m. Parish Pastoral Council - YR
Wednesday, March 1
Ash Wednesday
Noon Liturgy of the Word with Ashes
6:15 p.m. Choir Rehearsal – Nave
Friday, March 3
10:00 a.m. Mom’s Playgroup – YR
10:00 a.m. Scripture Study – OLC
5:00 p.m. Lenten Fish Fry - DH
6:00 p.m. Stations - Nave
 Saturday, March 4
3:00 p.m. Music Ministry – Nave
4:00 p.m. Reconciliation - OLC
Sunday, March 5
First Sunday of Lent
9:00 a.m. Liturgy of the Word with Children- OLC
11:00 a.m. Rite of Sending
6:30 p.m. LIFE  Mtg.
Monday, March 6
7:00 p.m. First Eucharist Prep
7:00 p.m. Confirmation Prep
 
(Legend: CC=Corpus Christ, DH=Daniel Hall, Cnf Rm=Conference Room, YR=Youth Room, MR=Music Room, OLC=Our Lady’s Chapel)

The 2006 Golden Wedding Anniversary Mass for couples celebrating their 50, 60, 70, and 75th anniversary will be held at 2:00 p.m. on May 6, 2006 at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral. Couples celebrating their  Golden or Silver Wedding Anniversary during 2006 should notify the  parish office  by March 3 (742-0953 Rosie).

GUIDEBOOK & DIRECTORY ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITY
We are in the process of updating our annual Guide Book & Directory for our parish.  If you own or manage a business and would like to find out more about how to advertise in our book, please call the parish office at 742-0953.  Recent survey results by Guide Book Publishing show that 92.1% of families would rather patronize our Guide Book advertisers over a non-advertiser.  It “does pay” to advertise in our Guide Book & Directory. 

This book contains the who, what, when, where, and how of our parish.  The book is provided at no cost to our church, including the mailing to each family, and is again being subsidized by local businesses that advertise in it.  We are grateful for their continued support.

Calling all Seton alumnae!!
Join us for the Seton Alumnae Retreat Day!
Theme:  Nurturing Relationships with God, Self, Others, and Creation
Date:  Saturday, March 18, 2006 Time:  9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Place:  Cedars Auditorium -- Sisters of Charity Motherhouse, 5900 Delhi Rd. Presenters:  Carol Brenner, SC (Retreat Facilitator, spiritual director, Reiki Healing practitioner) Jan Harvey (wife, mother, grandmother, administrative assistant for Sisters of Charity executive offices) The day will include prayer, input, quiet reflection and sharing in small groups. For more information contact the Sisters of Charity Spirituality Center at 513-347-5449, email spirituality.center@srcharitycinti.org, or visit our website at  www.srcharitycinti.org/spirit.htm.

BADIN HIGH SCHOOL CELEBRATION AUCTION
Badin High School’s 2006 Celebration will take place on Saturday, Aptil 29.  Reserve and pay for a table of 8 by February 28 and receive a 20 percent discount.  For more information or to make your reservation, please contact Linda Keating at 868-6173 today!

MARRIED COUPLES-Prepare for Easter in a special way this year!
A Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend will help you enjoy life with a new closeness to each other and God. You don’t need it – you Deserve a Marriage Encounter Weekend!  The next Marriage Encounter weekend is this area is March 31`-April 2.  Weekends fill up quickly, so a prompt response is encouraged to avoid the waiting list. For more details  or reservations call: Chuck & Carolyn Destefani at 1-800-547-1251.

Introduction to the Enneagram – Joe Zaaarantonello, poet and creator of the Integral retreats, will return to Milford March 11 to present The Many Faces of the Ennengram; A Basic Introduction.  The Ennengram is a 1,100 year old system of knowledge used in spiritual direction.  It is also a tool for the bettering of relationships.  For more information, call 248-3500 ex 10.

Back to Bulletins/NewsLetters

Top of Page