2012-2013 Religious Education Calendar and Information Now Available

The 2012-2013 Religious Education Calendar and information about Opening Day Procedures, Volunteer Needs, and Important Dates are now available in the Downloads area on the Religious Education page. An informational mailing with more details about the upcoming year will be mailed to all registered families next week.  If you have not registered yet, registration packets are also available for download.  Please Note: Wednesday class registrations for grades 1, 3, 4 and 5 are closed.  Those classes are at capacity, so we will not be accepting any additional registrations unless you are willing to teach so that we can open up another section. As a reminder, all 10th grade Catholic school students planning to be Confirmed in 2013 must fully participate in the second year of the Parish Religious Education Program.  We are looking for teachers who are willing to teach grades 5, 7 and 9.  If you are interested, please contact the Religious Education Office at 781.235.5337 (grade 5) or 781.237.0141 (grades 7 & 9).

Sunday 9:00am Mass

Our Regular Mass Schedule resumes the weekend of September 8-9. However, the Sunday 9:00am Mass will not revert back to 8:45am, but will remain at 9:00am.  Our regular weekend Mass schedule will be:
Saturdays at 7am and 5pm
Sundays at 7:30am, 9am, 11am and 5pm

Adult Faith Formation Update – Book Discussion Group

The first two books on the schedule of the St. John’s Book Discussion Group are:

September 13: Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor
Ms. O’Connor once described herself as a “hillbilly Thomist”, pointing out that she read Aquinas for twenty minutes every night. This novel, 129 pages, is readily available in paperback. We will also discuss Father Gallagher’s chapter in Faith Maps, “Flannery O’Connor: Assaulting the Imagination”, a wonderful, brief analysis of the thought behind her writing.

October 11: Voting and Holiness: Catholic Perspectives on Political Participation, edited by Nicholas Cafardi
The Conference of Catholic Bishops has once again issued a “call to political responsibility”, urging Catholics to become informed citizens and to analyze issues and candidates before voting. Our October discussion will give people an opportunity to explore some of the specific connections (and non-connections?) between Catholic teaching and the political issues of 2012.

All meetings are from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m.  Although the books selected for each month are mostly under 200 pages and can generally be purchased for less than $20 (or borrowed from the library), we recognize how difficult it is for some to read each one. Thus, people often come to these gatherings with a broad understanding of the topic, author or focus of the book, rather than a grasp of the specific details. This is fine. For more information about the Book Discussion Group please contact the Adult Faith Formation Commission or call one of the leaders of the group – Peter Mongeau, Anita Martin , Julie and Frank McConville or John Stewart.

St. John’s Adult Faith Formation Commission
(Email: AFFC@stjohnwellesley.org)

Second Collection: Society of St. James

This weekend, Fr. Desmond Tynan, a visiting diocesan priest from the Society of St. James, will give us some insight into the state of the missions in South Africa. The Society, founded by Cardinal Cushing in 1958, has about forty members serving in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. Each year a few members come north to spread the word about their missionary work and to appeal for donations. Please be as generous as your means allow. For more information on the Society of St. James visit their website: www.socstjames.com

Not a Catholic? Thinking about becoming a Catholic? Baptized but not confirmed? Catholic but want to know more about the Catholic faith?

CONSIDER THIS: The Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults offers you the opportunity to come and see what it’s all about. The RCIA is a journey that begins with your questions. There is no obligation to join as you discover more about our Catholic faith: the decision is ultimately yours to discern if this is to be your spiritual home. We will convene in October from ten to eleven in the Church Rectory on Sunday mornings. The Catholic faith community at St. John’s Church looks forward to your response. Please contact the Church Office at (781) 235-0045 or Svea Fraser at sveafraser@comcast.net, (781) 237-7560.

Adult Faith Formation Update

AFFC LogoNext week we will resume our weekly notices of faith formation programs, events and activities. Our hope remains that through these notices we can provide members of the parish with helpful information about opportunities not only at St. John’s but at neighboring parishes and at Boston College and other colleges. Today we want to alert everyone that the St. John’s Book Discussion Group will gather in early September to discuss Flannery O’Connor and her first book, Wise Blood. Flannery O’Connor has become very popular since her premature death in 1964 at the age of thirty-nine. A Catholic writer of novels, short stories and essays and woman who carried on extensive correspondence with many leading literary and religious figures of the day, Ms. O’Connor has been seen as sometimes controversial, often inspirational and always extremely interesting. There is no formal “membership” in the book discussion group. To become involved simply send an email to the address below.

St. John’s Faith Formation Commission
(Email: AFFC@stjohnwellesley.org)

Food Pantry Collection This Weekend August 12

Please bring non-perishable items to assist our sister parish in Roxbury, Saint Katharine Drexel.  This weekend (and every second Sunday) we gratefully receive your donations at our Glen Road entrance.  Contact is Angela Spinale, 781-431-0008.

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Wednesday, August 15

A Holy Day of Obligation

Masses at 7am, 12pm, and 5:30pm

Second Collection for Catholic Relief Services August 5

This weekend’s second collection is for the Catholic Relief Services. This collection supports emergency relief, human development, and peace initiatives in 99 countries around the world, where nearly half the population lives on less than $2.00 a day. The collection funds the ministries of five Catholic Church organizations: Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC), Migration and Refugee Services (MRS), Social Development and World Peace (SDWP), and The Holy Father’s Relief Fund. For more information, please visit www.usccb.org/crscollection.

“So Others May Eat” – Sandwiches Needed This Sunday July 29

We need your help to provide hundreds of sandwiches this Sunday, July 29 for the Bristol Lodge in Waltham.  Since 1995, St. John’s  has helped serve the homeless by providing sandwiches on the 4th and 5th (when there is one) Sunday of each month.  The sandwiches provide a nourishing mid-day meal for the residents of shelters which are closed during the daytime hours. Please bring sandwiches (wrapped and without condiments) to the church kitchen refrigerator. For more information please contact Liz Phillips at (781) 237-4430 or email Liz.phillips@comcast.net