Greetings and Happy New Year! With 2017 upon us, our largest pro-life event is right around the corner. The annual diocesan-wide Roe Memorial Events  will be held next  Friday and Saturday, January 13 and 14, 2017 . I hope all of you are planning to attend with your families and many fellow parishioners.

 

The weekend of events will begin with the Roe Memorial Mass on Friday evening at 7 p.m. This year we will be having two Masses celebrated simultaneously by Bishop Greg Kelly at St. Monica (bilingual) and by Pastor Jesús Belmontes at San Juan Diego (in Spanish).  

The next day we will be the North Texas March for Life Event, including a Youth For Life Rally at St. Jude Chapel (pre-register your youth here), prayer vigils outside the Dallas abortion facilities, and the Procession of Roses and North Texas March for Life beginning at City Hall to the rally outside the federal courthouse, featuring our first rally address by Bishop Kelly and much more!

 

Please help us make sure that the word is out about these important events. Below are links to the promotional items:

If you have not seen the announcement in your bulletin yet, please contact your parish office immediately to ensure it runs by this weekend, January 7/8, and please confirm that the posters which should have been delivered to your parish are now being displayed.   Additional information about the 2017 Roe Memorial Events, including a complete schedule, parking information and rally speakers, may be found at  www.prolifedallas.org/roe .

  

In addition to the Roe Memorial, please mark your calendars for the following upcoming events:   

And be sure to save the date for the next  Parish Pro-Life Coordinators Meeting   on February 11 at 9 am to noon at St.Michael the Archangel in Garland , including details on the 24th annual Pro-Life Dinner on April 1.  Following the Coordinators Meeting will be lunch and Legislative Training for Catholic Advocacy Day on April 4. If you can't attend, please send a representative.

 

On January 29, we celebrate St. Juniper.  We don't know much about Juniper before he joined the friars in 1210. Francis sent him to establish "places" for the friars in Gualdo Tadino and Viterbo. When Saint Clare was dying, Juniper consoled her. He was devoted to the passion of Jesus and was known for his simplicity.

Several stories about Juniper in the Little Flowers of St. Francis illustrate his exasperating generosity. Once Juniper was taking care of a sick man who had a craving to eat pig's feet. 

This helpful friar went to a nearby field, captured a pig and cut off one foot, and then served this meal to the sick man. The owner of the pig was furious and immediately went to Juniper's superior. When Juniper saw his mistake, he apologized profusely. He also ended up talking this angry man into donating the rest of the pig to the friars!

Another time Juniper had been commanded to quit giving part of his clothing to the half-naked people he met on the road. Desiring to obey his superior, Juniper once told a man in need that he couldn't give the man his tunic, but he wouldn't prevent the man from taking it either. In time, the friars learned not to leave anything lying around, for Juniper would probably give it away.