Again we encourage you to consider reading Michael Paul Gallagher’s wonderful book Faith Maps: Ten Religious Explorers from Newman to Ratzinger. The “explorers” included are: John Henry Newman, Maurice Blondel, Karl Rahner, Hans von Balthasar, Bernard Lonergan, Flannery O’Connor, Dorothee Soelle, Charles Taylor, Pierangelo Sequeri and Joseph Ratzinger. The book is readably available in paperback ($12 – $18) and the parish has a number of copies – contact John Stewart, 617 969-0950 and he will get it to you.
Faith Formation Calendar
May 8, 6:30 p.m. Evening for Woman – Social Hall
Final gathering for this year, when we will complete our journey into the heart of prayer in St. John’s Gospel! Come with your Spring/Summer recipe. All welcome! Moderator: Sr. Evelyn Ronan
May 10, 7:30 p.m. Book Discussion Group – Parish Center
This month’s selection is Demian, a short novel by Hermann Hesse, who received the Nobel Prize in literature in 1946.
May 10, 7:00 p.m. History of the Catholic Church in America by James O’Toole – Wellesley Public Library, Wakelin Room
Professor O’Toole is the Clough Millennium Chair in History at Boston College.
Professor O’Toole will discuss the history of the Catholic Church in America, with particular emphasis on the Boston Area. Presented by The Wellesley Historical Society, World of Wellesley, and Wellesley Free Library. For more information call (781) 235-1610, X1105
May 23, 7:30 p.m. Reflections on Vatican II: The Roles of Yves Congar and Marie-Dominique Chenu by Fr. Maury Scheppers – Social Hall
Fr. Scheppers, a Dominican priest from Kenya, is completing a year of study as a resident scholar at the Lonergan Institute of Boston College.
As Father Hehir pointed out in his recent lectures on Vatican II, Pope John invited several distinguished but controversial scholars to participate in the planning of the Council. Father Congar was a driving force in the ecumenical movement of the mid-twentieth century. He died in 1995, after being honored by Pope John Paul II who named him a cardinal. Father Chenu was a very progressive theologian who was influential in the drafting and ratification of the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.
June 5, 7:30 p.m. Lecture and Discussion on John Henry Newman by Father Robert Imbelli – Social Hall
Fr. Imbelli is an Associate Professor of Theology at Boston College.
Newman is considered one of the theological “giants” of the 19th century, an age when belief in God seemed in deep trouble in many countries. His extensive writings reflect his drive to make sense of the Christian vision, to appreciate in greater detail just how we arrive at faith. We too live in an age when many are struggling to understand the role that God plays in our lives. The thoughts and inspirations of Newman are as relevant today as they were when he died in 1890.
St. John’s Adult Faith Formation Commission
(Email: AFFC@stjohnwellesley.org)
This Certificate of Appreciation was presented to St. John the Evangelist Parish by St. Katharine Drexel Parish at a special liturgy and fellowship brunch on April 29, with gratitude for
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We need your help to provide hundreds of sandwiches on Sunday, April 29 for the Bristol Lodge in Waltham. Please bring sandwiches (wrapped and without condiments) to the church kitchen refrigerator. 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. For more information please contact Liz Phillips at (781) 237-4430 or email
One hundred-thirty Easter baskets were delivered to 


Thank you again to those of you who were able to attend the town meetings scheduled to respond to the proposed draft of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Plan on the last weekend in March.
Year of Faith – Last fall Pope Benedict XI summoned Catholics throughout the world to celebrate, in a “worthy and fruitful manner” a Year of Faith beginning October 11, 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. In a dramatic statement, parish communities were urged to focus their formation and devotional efforts on the magnificent gift of faith that is offered to each of us and “to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ.” In this spirit, St. John’s Adult Faith Formation Commission has created a special project to plan and present to members of our parish a series of discussions, readings, lectures and other programs focused on the often difficult task we all accept when we are baptized of renewing and expanding constantly our lives as faith-filled followers of Jesus Christ. This will be a major undertaking and we will be calling on people for help. We urge you now to go to the
To one and all who responded our Parish Lenten call to give, whose hearts traveled the distance to East Africa, entered the refugee camps and shared in easing the suffering. We thank you! Our parish gift of $14,450 holds a value not to be measured, as it becomes part of the CRS response to a famine and human suffering unspeakable proportions. Once again, as for so many years past, St. John’s Parish has given generously and thereby has once again Given Hope! Thank you!