Sunday, August 23rd 2026

Dear Parishioners of Pope St. John XXIII Parish Faith Community,

Welcome you to the 21st Sunday in the Ordinary Time, today the Church gives us a question that Jesus still asks—not just about what people say of Him, but what you confess: “But who do you say that I am?” In the Gospel, many answers float around like opinions in the air: some think Jesus is this great prophet, others that great one. But Jesus does not ask for a clever guess. He draws His disciples to a personal profession of faith. Peter answers for the group: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus calls that confession a gift from the Father, not merely a human conclusion.

Jesus then promises that Peter will be the rock on which He builds His Church and that He will give “the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” With those keys comes a real authority for the life of the Church: what is bound and loosed on earth is bound and loosed in heaven. In other words, this is not an idea that stays inside our heads—it has visible consequences for the guidance, unity, and holiness of Christ’s people.

We are in the last weeks of summer; I wish to remind everyone about our ACA; we have not reached our goal. We are not very far from achịeving it, but at the same time it is not possible without everyone responding to it. Hence, I urge those who have not responded to prayerfully consider making a donation to reach our ACA goal. We will have to begin our Stewardship campaign as after the summer break; therefore, it’s time to wrap up the ACA. Thank you for your continued support and generosity.

Though we are in the summer break, the Parish Family Advisory Council (PFAC) has met several times to plan and execute the pilot program well, which would be helpful to make the decision to become One Parish in every possible way. Therefore, I wish to remind you of our pilot program for the weekend vigil services at the main campus and the John of the Woods campus. Please be aware of the mass time change and location and plan well to attend vigil service. Your co-operation is the key, as we will be watchịng eagerly and listening attentively to your inputs before we take the final decisions.

We had wonderful summer BBQ celebration at St. John of the Woods this Saturday, thanks to everyone who are committed in making this event possible. As we know, it is all done by faithful parish volunteer team, their selfless service and sacrifice is the reason for the various activities and events happening in our churches. Please feel free to join any of our ministries and be part of that volunteer team to bring out your talents and out them to use for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

All parish family programs will resume this week. STEM students begin the new school year. School Masses at Visitation will resume this Thursday, August 27, at 9:00 a.m. CCD classes still accept registration forms for couple of weeks, so please come and register for any classes you or your chịldren would like to attend. Many other activities at St. John of the Woods (SJOW) and Visitation will also resume in September. We look forward to welcoming everyone back and beginning another wonderful year together as a parish family!

Once again, I wish you all a wonderful summer break. Please go through the bulletin for further information of all the events of our parish. You can also receive the bulletin when you are away if you sign up with Sr. Linh. You can still browse the webpage of our parish at psj23.org for all the updates. Wish you all a blessed week ahead. Thank you

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Tuan Nguyen, D. Min

Pastor