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We are working on ways we can engage in our faith, and with each other, during this difficult time. Please join our email list to receive important updates as well as information about faith opportunities and ways we can help those who are most vulnerable in our community.

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The announcement below, issued late this afternoon by the Cardinal, suspends all daily and Sunday Masses and religious services in the Archdiocese of Boston beginning tomorrow, Saturday, March 14 at 4:00pm, and continuing until further notice.

During the suspension, confession will continue to be available at the Collaborative by appointment. We are awaiting guidance from the Archdiocese as to whether we can offer regular confession times. We appreciate your patience, and as we continue to get updates we will share them with you.

For more detailed information on this and other directives as well as important information about activity at our parishes, please read these Updated Directives from the Archdiocese of Boston and the St. John-St. Paul Collaborative

CARDINAL O’MALLEY AUTHORIZES TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF DAILY AND SUNDAY MASS IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19 OUTBREAK

PROVIDES DISPENSATION TO THE FAITHFUL

ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION IN THE MASS THROUGH CATHOLIC TV

In response to growing public concern and following Governor Baker’s Emergency Order prohibiting most gatherings of 250 or more people, Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, OFM Cap, Archbishop of Boston, has made the decision effective immediately to temporarily suspend all daily and Sunday Masses and religious services in the Archdiocese of Boston until further notice.  This begins at 4:00pm on Saturday afternoon, March 14. In announcing this decision, the Cardinal has also issued a dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass during this time to the Catholics of the Archdiocese of Boston.

Cardinal Seán said “We live in times when many people are confused, hurt, and fearful, for many different reasons. In the midst of these challenges Jesus seeks to meet us in the same way He met the disciples on the road to Emmaus, accompanying us on the journey, calming our fears and anxieties and assuring us that He will be with us always in the gift of the Eucharist. This decision to temporarily suspend the daily and Sunday Mass is motivated by an abundance of caution and concern for those most vulnerable and the need to do our part to help limit and mitigate the spread of the illness.”

The directive to temporarily suspend the celebration of Mass applies to all Archdiocesan parishes, missions, and campus ministries until further notice. Baptism, Confirmations, weddings and funerals may proceed but attendance should be limited to only immediate family.

CATHOLIC TV DAILY AND SUNDAY MASS

Cardinal Seán encourages Catholics to participate in the daily and Sunday Masses broadcast from the CatholicTV chapel.

• Daily Mass airs live at 9:30am and is rebroadcast at 7pm and 11:30pm.
• Sunday Masses air throughout the day at 10am, 4pm, 7pm, and 11:30pm.
• The Sunday Spanish Mass airs live at 8am and is rebroadcast at 5:30pm and 10pm.

Viewers can watch these Masses on demand at any time at www.WatchtheMass.com. For more information about CatholicTV and where you can watch it, visit http://www.catholictv.org/.

Pope Francis’ far-reaching encyclical, Laudato Si: Care for Our Common Home, challenges us in 2020 more than ever before.  In our presentation, we will explore traditional Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and conversion of heart as we listen to and respond to the “cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.”  Learn how you and your parish can join a movement to protect Our Common Home and all who live there.

Presenter: Fran Ludwig, Chair of the Boston Catholic Climate Movement, Leader of Lexington Catholic Community Faith and Environment Group, and BC Alumni for Climate Justice.

News from the SJSP POWIR team! It is with great joy that we share with you that both our Honduran and Congolese refugee families are employed and financially self-sufficient. It was the families’ hard work along with the unbelievable efforts of Catholic Charities, our SJSP partnership and the abundant generosity of individual parishioners that this was achieved. The refugee families shared Thanksgiving and Christmas welcomed by warm members of our faith community. They were showered with Christmas gifts, including a brand new smart TV that is helping to expand their language acquisition.

The POWIR team wishes to extend a heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you who helped in every necessary and impactful way! Self-sufficiency is always the goal of POWIR and the speed with which this happened is a testament to the support of so many people.

Continuing our partnership with Catholic Charities we were also able to assist a newly arrived single mother with her first month’s rent in January.

We will continue to work with Catholic Charities in assessing our ongoing support options and look forward to sharing news as we continue this important work.

If you are interested in getting involved in the SJSP POWIR group, please contact: kelly.meraw@sjspwellesley.org

Are you concerned about the environment? Is there a helpful Catholic response to climate change? How are the poor affected by what is happening to the earth, our common home? If you think about these questions, or if you just want to read and discuss a hopeful and challenging little book, join our Pastoral Care intern, Leo Racine, and other members of the Collaborative in an enlightening three-week study of Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’: On the Care for Our Common Home”.

The group will meet on three Thursday evenings:  January 30, February 6 and February 13 from 7:00 to 8:00pm at St. John in the Parish Center Boardroom.

Contact Leo at racine@bc.edu for more information and to register.

Come for this special gift of Confession – there is no better way to prepare for Christmas!
Tuesday, December 24
10:00am – 12:00pm
St. John Church, Lower Chapel

Please join us on Tuesday evening at 7:00pm in St. John the Evangelist Church for an evening of reflection on The Gospel According to St. John with Fr. Bryan Hehir.

Trees & Trimmings, Saint John School’s annual Christmas Market, was held on Saturday, December 7 from 8am-4pm. Though the air was frigid, it was wonderful to see our Saint John School Community come together to pull off a successful Trees & Trimmings event! Local patrons came in by the droves to fill their homes with everything required for a magical Christmas – from the beautiful, freshly cut Wilson Farm trees, to the custom decorated wreaths, boxwoods and roping. Santa’s Bake Shop was a hit and the always popular Toy Raffle and Kids Corner were as busy as ever. Many thanks to all who of whom contributed to our annual Saint John School fundraiser that provides critical funds to the operating expenses and enrichment programs for our School.