Category Archives: Important Announcements

Posts that need to appear on the front page of the website go in this category.

Collaborative Question 6: How Will a Pastor Be Selected?

SJSP Collaborative Logo_SmallThe St. John and St. Paul Collaborative will be formally launched in the summer of 2015.  Following is a recently asked question and answer about the new Collaborative:

QUESTION 6.) Please discuss the process which will be used for selecting a Pastor for our Collaborative, and the role of the local Parish communities in that process.

Since we have now been selected as a Phase III Collaborative, Father Rafferty and Father Powers will send their letters of resignation in October 2014 to Cardinal Sean, to become effective in June 2015. St. John’s and St. Paul’s will be listed as “open” in the Officials section of The Pilot and any priest who wants to apply for the position of Pastor may do so. The Regional Bishop, the Vicar Forane, the Director of Clergy Personnel, and possibly a member of the Clergy Personnel Board, will come to a joint meeting of our Council and Staff members, to get their input regarding Pastor selection. The Clergy Personnel Board will then discuss the candidates and develop a list of names for Cardinal Sean’s consideration. Cardinal Sean will make his appointment, probably by mid-January of 2015.

More information can be found on the St. John’s web site  (St. John – St. Paul Collaborative News) and on the Archdiocese of Boston Pastoral Planning website (www.disciplesinmission.com)

The Inter Parish Collaborative Team welcomes your comments and feedback. Please email your questions or comments to: stjohn.stpaul@gmail.com  

It’s Appreciation Weekend!

All Masses this weekend, June 7-8, will be in Thanksgiving for you who make our parish all that it is and continues to become! Thank You All!

Please join us Sunday morning for refreshments after the 7:30am, 9:00am, and 11:00am Masses.

Collaborative Question 5: How will the Collaborative be Managed?

SJSP Collaborative Logo_SmallThe St. John and St. Paul parishes will, in the near future, be joined in a Collaborative under a plan developed by the Archdiocesan Office of Pastoral Planning. The St. John and St. Paul Parish Councils, along with Father Powers and Father Rafferty, have requested that our Collaborative be included in the upcoming Phase III of the Pastoral Plan for the Archdiocese of Boston. The Archdiocese is scheduled to announce the parishes that will be included in Phase III before the fall of 2014, and the Collaboratives for those parishes will be formally launched in mid-2015.

Following is a recently asked question and answer about the new Collaborative:

QUESTION5) Once the St. John and St. Paul Collaborative is underway, how will the Collaborative be managed?

The Office of Pastoral Planning for the Archdiocese of Boston has designed the following leadership model to implement the Pastoral Plan:

Pyramid

 

 

More Frequently Asked Questions can be found on the St. John’s web site:  ST. JOHN-ST. PAUL COLLABORATIVE NEWS  In addition, the Archdiocese regularly updates a detailed website: www.disciplesinmission.com.

We welcome your comments and feedback.  Please email your questions or comments about Parish Collaboratives to – stjohn.stpaul@gmail.com.

June 14-15: Men’s Clothing Drive for St. Francis House

stfrancishouseHappy Spring! Every year in June, St. John’s parish conducts a men’s clothing drive for St. Francis House, the largest day shelter in New England, serving over 800 men and women on a daily basis.  St. Francis House distributes clothing to the homeless in Greater Boston, clothing 30 to 40 persons per day on average.  To help meet this ongoing need, we are collecting men’s gently-used, everyday clothing such as jeansT-shirts, sweatshirts, hats  and footwear, as well as new socks for their Foot Clinic, which provides foot care and socks to homeless clients. We hope you will take the time for a quick spring cleaning, and remember to bring the items to our church garage on the weekend of June 14-15.  Right now, the highest needed items include:

  • Men’s pants (especially jeans – given out on a daily basis)
  • T-shirts (extremely important – given out on a daily basis)
  • Footwear (extremely important)
  • “New” Socks
  • Sweaters & Sweatshirts
  • Backpacks/duffel bags
  • Coats, hats, gloves, and scarves (larger sizes in extreme needed)

Please do not send in children’s clothing, used socks, or any discolored items.

If you need to drop items off sooner due to travel schedules, etc. or have any questions please contact Shilan Yeung, either email shilanhappy@gmail.com or call at 508-801-7072.

Collaborative Question 4: What About Our Schools?

SJSP Collaborative Logo_SmallThe St. John and St. Paul parishes will, in the near future, be joined in a Collaborative under a plan developed by the Archdiocesan Office of Pastoral Planning. The St. John and St. Paul Parish Councils, along with Father Powers and Father Rafferty, have requested that our Collaborative be included in the upcoming Phase III of the Pastoral Plan for the Archdiocese of Boston. The Archdiocese is scheduled to announce the parishes that will be included in Phase III before the fall of 2014, and the Collaboratives for those parishes will be formally launched in mid-2015.

Following is a recently asked question and answer about the new Collaborative:

QUESTION 4:  Both St. John’s and St. Paul’s have schools. How will our Parish schools be impacted by the Collaborative? 

Parish schools will remain Parish schools. St. John’s School will remain St. John’s School and St. Paul’s School will remain St. Paul’s School. The principals of both schools will be members of our Collaborative’s Leadership Team*. Both School Boards will take part in training programs and members of both school communities will be represented in our Local Pastoral Plan.

*The Collaborative’s Leadership Team will be comprised of the following individuals: the Pastor, Parochial Vicar(s), Deacon(s), Finance & Operations Manager, Pastoral Associate, Director of Ministries, and School Principals.

More Frequently Asked Questions can be found on the St. John’s web site:  ST. JOHN-ST. PAUL COLLABORATIVE NEWS  In addition, the Archdiocese regularly updates a detailed website: www.disciplesinmission.com.

We welcome your comments and feedback.  Please email your questions or comments about Parish Collaboratives to – stjohn.stpaul@gmail.com.

Memorial Day Prayer

memorial-day-500x666We remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy every day.

We pray that God will hold our servicemen and women in His strong arms, and cover them with His sheltering grace and presence.

St. John – St. Paul Expected to be in Phase 3

SJSP Collaborative Logo_SmallDear Parishioners,
From this bulletin, The Pilot and a number of other sources, you are aware that our Archdiocese is in the midst of implementing Disciples in Mission, a comprehensive plan developed over a two year period by the Archdiocesan Planning Office working with the Archdiocesan Pastoral Planning Commission (APPC). In an effort to advance its evangelical efforts, preserve and strengthen parishes and reasonably allocate clergy and lay personnel, it calls for the development of collaboratives. Simply put, collaboratives are parishes served by one pastoral staff (i.e. sharing clergy, religious and lay staff).

StJohn.StPaul_LogoWith only a handful of exceptions due to size or unique geography, it is expected that all of the parishes in our Archdiocese will be part of a collaborative by 2019. Each year a block of parishes will be announced and, with the assistance of the Planning Office, enter into collaboratives. The second grouping or phase is set to commence June 1 of this year. For the reasons stated in the letter (a copy of which ran in our parish bulletins in recent weeks) St. John the Evangelist and St. Paul parishes have volunteered to be a part of Phase III. We have been informed by the Planning Office that they concur with our suggestion. Hence we expect to be a part of Phase III, which will begin in summer 2015. In the near future the Archdiocese will make a formal announcement, including at least some of the other Phase III collaboratives.

The St. John/St. Paul Collaborative Committee has been meeting for some time now to prepare us for this eventuality. In the months to come all of us will have opportunities to learn more about the process and what we can do to ensure its successful implementation.

Respectfully yours,

Rev. Thomas F. Powers
Pastor

Rev. Thomas S. Rafferty
Administrator

The Ascension of the Lord – Thursday, May 29

Ascension ThursdayHoly Day of Obligation
Masses celebrated at:
7:00 am
12:00 noon
5:30 pm

Summer Mass Schedule

Yellow FlowerBeginning Sunday, June 1 the Mass schedule will be as follows:
Saturdays: 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
Sundays:  7:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.
(No Sunday 5:00 p.m. Mass in June, July & August)
Weekdays: 7:00 a.m.
Holy Days: as announced

Collaborative Question 3: Is One of the Churches in Wellesley Closing?

SJSP Collaborative Logo_SmallThe St. John and St. Paul parishes will, in the near future, be joined in a Collaborative under a plan developed by the Archdiocesan Office of Pastoral Planning. The St. John and St. Paul Parish Councils, along with Father Powers and Father Rafferty, have requested that our Collaborative be included in the upcoming Phase III of the Pastoral Plan for the Archdiocese of Boston. The Archdiocese is scheduled to announce the parishes that will be included in Phase III before the fall of 2014, and the Collaboratives for those parishes will be formally launched in mid-2015.

Following is a recently asked question and answer about the new Collaborative:

Question 3:  If St. John’s and St. Paul’s are forming a Collaborative, does this mean that one of the churches in Wellesley will be closing?

No! Both St. John’s and St. Paul’s will remain open, which is a key benefit of the new Pastoral Collaborative program. It is helpful to think of our two-parish Collaborative as an “affiliation of parishes” – not a new parish. St. John’s and St. Paul’s will each maintain its own identity – each with its own name, buildings,
canonical rights, bank accounts, books, financial assets, and financial obligations.

More Frequently Asked Questions can be found on the St. John’s web site:  ST. JOHN-ST. PAUL COLLABORATIVE NEWS  In addition, the Archdiocese regularly updates a detailed website: www.disciplesinmission.com.

We welcome your comments and feedback.  Please email your questions or comments about Parish Collaboratives to – stjohn.stpaul@gmail.com.