Sunday, December 21st 2025
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means "God is with us." Mt 1:23
Dear brothers and sisters of Pope St. John XXIII parish family,
Merry Christmas to you and your family! We are in the Fourth Sunday of Advent; the Word of God invites us to reflect more personally how God fulfills His promise through the instrumentality of His chosen ones. While Mary says yes to Divine Will, we hear in the Gospel that, Joseph obediently takes Mary as his wife as instructed in his dream. This helps us to realize how and what we need to do, especially during this holy season; by being obedient to Gods Will in our lives, we can also become partakers in His plan of salvation.
Last week, STEM Academy School hosted a beautiful Christmas Program, SJOW Pre-School presented beautiful Live Nativity and Christmas Songs. Today our Faith Formation students of SJOW will celebrate at 12:30pm following the 11:30am Mass. The children did wonderful jobs sharing the spirit and joy of Christmas through their performances. We also had a blessed Mass and Christmas Party for our seniors. My heartfelt thanks to all for preparing these joyful celebrations.
Our CCD children have been practicing diligently these past weeks, and our Vietnamese Youth Group is also preparing their Christmas Program before the Christmas Eve Mass at the main campus. You are warmly invited to join us for this special celebration. This annual tradition brings together almost our entire parish community, with many parishioners contributing their talents and time. We joyfully welcome our guests, former parishioners returning home, and all relatives and friends who are visiting for Christmas. May the Newborn Christ bless you abundantly!
We wish you a blessed Christmas with Peace, Love, Joy, and Good Health. We thank you for the special gift to our parishs End of the Year Giving. We also thank you for supporting the parishs special project, the Giving Tree, giving monetary donations and Christmas gifts, so we can share with those who are in need. Your gifts have been distributed to the homebound and families who have contacted us for help. It is a joy for the homebound ministers to present Christmas gifts to members of our local community and family on behalf of our faith community. We thank you for bringing the light of Christ to those families, so they can experience the joy of Christmas.
We have dedicated families and individual members who have come to assist us to decorate at each of our parish sites and location. I was worried that we would not have anyone to assist to decorate at the liturgical celebration for Christmas. I am amazed to have so many people who are willing to help us at the time of need. We are very blessed by God who inspires and motivates these wonderful people and families to assist us with decoration and other liturgical celebration. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the Liturgical Ministers who have assisted us during the Advent Season in preparing for Christs coming; and many of you for giving to the parish your time and talent and getting involved in different parish ministries.
We are grateful as well for your support of this years Catholic Community Services Appeal. You heard from our witness speaker about the mission of CCS here in Tacoma, and your donations directly support the needs of our local community. Many of our own parishioners have benefited from this assistance. Every dollar you give stays in Tacoma to strengthen the agencies serving the vulnerable around us.
You have received a Christmas Card from our parish to invite you and your family to join us at Christmas celebrations throughout this season. You are very special to us and your support to serve the poor among us is a joy of being a Catholic. On behalf Father Hendry, Father Vaiula, and other priests, Deacons, Sisters and Brothers, Parish Leadership Teams, and Parish Staff, we thank you for your faithfulness and continual support of our parish through your time, talent and treasure. May you have a blessed Christmas Season!
It was a joy for me, Father Hendry and sister Anna to go with the Outreach Ministers to visit our homebound members, who are unable to attend Church regularly. We reach out to them by visiting and celebrating the sacraments with them, and they have expressed their joy and appreciation when we come to visit them. We thank our Outreach Ministry for this special ministry to assist our parishioners.
We are starting the Christmas Season after Christmas Day; you are cordially invited to join us to celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family next week. Family is the foundation of the Parish and country, please join us to pray for our Parish Family. Jesus is Emmanuel, God is with us!
Once again wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family!
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Tuan Nguyen, D. Min
Pastor