Sunday, September 17th 2023
Dear Parishioners,
We had a blessed weekend celebrating the Sacraments of Baptism and Matrimony, and welcomed all guests and visitors that joined us last weekend. We welcomed students from the Faith Formation programs within our parish as they start their programs for the new year. We welcomed them back with great joy to their religious education and to all different programs within the Faith Formation that started after the Summer break. I welcomed all the catechists, volunteers, parents, students, and coordinators of each program for their time organizing their programs for their classes for this year. We had a blessed Summer with wonderful weather to enjoy our Summer break and vacation. Many parishioners had an opportunity to have a short vacation with their families, which is a blessed experience with good memories for them. We are now starting the new school year and engaging with the parish ministry. We cordially invite you to join us in our parish activities and ministries.
We thank our Parish Staff who attended the listening sessions on Partner in the Gospel, focusing on Evangelization. We also had the listening session with the Parish Leadership Team members, and we are planning to have the general listening session for all of us at each site/location of our parish. We cordially invite others who had not joined us at the Eucharistic celebration to join us for Weekday and Weekend Masses. Many people are losing their interest in the traditional devotion, such as First Friday Mass and First Saturday Mass as well as Daily and Weekend Masses. In general, many Catholics have not come back fully to regular Masses and to our parish activities. Our parishioners are engaging in the Partner in the Gospel, which is very powerful for each one of us to listen to and to allow the Word of God be a new life within us and among us! I encourage you to read the information that we have posted on our parishs website, and it is also on the Archdioceses website. There are many different materials such as videos, Q&A, and the Archbishops welcome letter to assist you to understand and to participate in the Partner in the Gospel. We joyfully share the Good News, and it is our obligation and duty to share this Good News by warmingly to invite those who have not yet come back to our parish to join us in various parish activities again.
We welcomed all the babies and children who received the Sacrament of Baptism at our parish. We thank their parents, godparents, relatives, and friends who joined us to celebrate this event with our Parish Family. We thank Deacon Theman for spending his time to assist in the Baptism Preparation Class, to assist parents and godparents prepare to be the best examples for their child/children. We also congratulate those couples who received the Sacrament of Matrimony during this time. We are very proud of them for taking the time to organize their event. Thus, invited their relatives and friends to join them to celebrate this special event of their lives, making their vows to be faithful to each other. We thank you for coming to celebrate with these couples and witnessing their vows and praying for them. We are very happy for those couples for receiving this sacrament, despite experiencing many challenges during their discernment process to marry in the Church (for those who were married before). The annulment process and other marriage preparation programs had to be completed before they could celebrate this joyful event with their families and friends. We thank you for your support and to pray for those couples. We thank our parish team members who assisted these couples to prepare for the Sacrament of Matrimony.
We congratulate the parish youth leadership for attending and completing their Summer training. They received their training certificate, which has inspired them to be good youth leaders in their group and organization. We have the ceremony to commission them on their leadership role within our parish. I congratulate them for their achievement, and we are providing them with the opportunity to serve in their role. The Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Group within our parish are called Saint Theresa of the Little Flower Chapter. They will celebrate their Patron Saints Feast Day, and members of this group have spent time practicing their performance during the week for this event. You are cordially invited to be our guest at this event. We are very blessed to have this youth leadership team who assist us with the youth program. We have more enrollment in our Faith Formation and Religious Education program for this year. I would like to share with you the Good News that we have more students in the program than last year. I thank those members on the Stewardship Committee who attended the stewardship workshop last week. It was a good training workshop at Pope Saint John XXIII Parish. We thank them for taking the time to prepare the annual report that will be sent to your home in October.
I am very happy to meet with a few students who joined their parents to meet with me after school, to be baptized so they can join their classmates to receive other sacraments during the school year. I am very pleased to know them and thank their parents for supporting them as well as their teachers and their godparents. When we are talking about evangelization, it begins within our family, at home and at our parish, as we are a witness for others in what we believe.
You are cordially invited to join our parish ministry and activities. Your time, talent and treasures are very important to our parishs mission. You are encouraged to visit our parish website and read the information that we have posted to share with you. We thank you for your continuing support for our parish.
Sincerely, Yours in Christ,
Fr. Tuan Nguyen, D. Min
Pastor