Newsletter | March 1, 2022 |
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Why is showing up to Mass physically so important?
We experience the presence of Christ in community, through physical gathering in a church building, the "house of God," dedicated to worship. We come together to receive the sacraments, which are physical signs of God's grace. Assembled physically and in community, we experience the presence of Christ in a much more tangible way than virtually. Learn more at archseattle.org/Mass.
Pease join us at one of the following Masses:
Saturday at 5:00pm
Sunday at 9:00am
Sunday at 11:00am
Some changes you'll see at Mass to protect ourselves, to protect our neighbors, and to protect the ability FOR ALL to safely worship together - face masks required*, no singing, and no Blood of Christ. Clearly marked sections for worship are available for people seeking physical distancing. The back doors of the church will be open to ensure proper ventilation, remember to bring your coats!
Please self-screen and stay home if you are not feeling well. Sick, vulnerable, at-risk, and otherwise concerned persons are encouraged to celebrate Mass with us via live stream.
*Read Archbishop to Lift Mask Mandate below.
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WOMEN'S BOOK GROUP
Tonight, Tuesday, March 1 at 7:00pm
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The first Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM, our Women’s Book Group gathers with wine and chocolate to discuss a book that has been chosen by the group. You do not need to read the book to come to the book group. The March Book is The White Stone: The Art of Letting Go by Esther De Waal. The April Book is All Adults Here by Emma Straub. The May Book is Anam Cara by John O'Donohue. See you tonight!
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ASH WEDNESDAY MASSES
Tomorrow, Wednesday, March 2 at 9:00am and 7:00pm
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Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent – a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, almsgiving, and repentance for Christians before the celebration of Easter. Please join us for one of the Masses for Ash Wednesday. |
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LENTEN FASTING & ABSTINENCE |
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Every person in good health between the ages of 18 and 59 must fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal.
Every person 14 years or older must abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all the Fridays of Lent.
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FAMILY FAITH BY THE FIRESIDE
Tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, March 2 at 6:15pm
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Join us on the front lawn around our firepit (weather permitting). Bring your palm branches from last year’s Palm Sunday Liturgy and a lawn chair if you wish. Please cut the dried branches into smaller pieces before you come so they will burn more easily. We will have a short discussion about the season of Lent, and people will be invited to share their memories and stories of this holy season. Families can pick up Lenten packets and resources to help prepare for Easter. Ash Wednesday Mass will be immediately after at 7:00pm. If you have younger children and are unable to stay for Mass, we can give you ashes before you leave. |
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STATIONS OF THE CROSS & SOUP SUPPERS
Fridays During Lent at 6:00pm
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Things will look a little different this Lent, but we’ll still have time to reflect on the Lord’s Passion and have a simple soup supper in solidarity with those around the world challenged with hunger and poverty. Stations of the Cross will take place in the church. Instead of walking from station to station, we will sit in the pews as we do for Mass, and the stations will change on the Sanctuary.
Soup will be prepacked for you to eat in the social hall or take on your way out. Soup supper donations will go to Catholic Relief Services Rice Bowl to support programs that prevent hunger and poverty around the world.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS LEADERS & SOUP SUPPER HOSTS
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March 4: HS Mission Trek and Youth Group
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March 11: Pastoral Commission
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March 18: Preschool
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March 25: Catholic Kids' Catechism Club
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April 1: Filipino Community
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April 8: Knights of Columbus
On Good Friday, April 15, Stations of the Cross will be at 3:00pm and led by Fr. Vu. There will be no soup supper that evening.
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FIRST RECONCILIATION & FIRST EUCHARIST PREPARATION |
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We are excited to start our preparation for these two awesome Sacraments for children at or about the age of seven or older, who have been Baptized in the Catholic Church! Parents and children join us for our opening session on Friday, March 4 at 7:00pm OR on Saturday, March 5 at 10:00am. Choose whichever session works best for you. Visit sjvkirkland.org/sacraments/#first-reconciliation for more information or contact Laura, lstanger@sjvkirkland.org.
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Please pray for our HS Mission Trekkers on retreat this weekend. Thank You for calling them to serve, and grant them Your grace as they do Your apostolic work. |
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CATHOLIC HOME MISSIONS APPEAL
This Weekend, March 5-6
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This special collection supports the Catholic Home Missions Appeal. Four out of ten dioceses in our country and its territories are considered home mission territories. This appeal helps our brothers and sisters here in the United States who do not have access to basic pastoral services like Mass, the sacraments, and religious education. Through your support, the Catholic Home Missions Appeal helps these mission dioceses form vibrant faith communities and strengthens the Church at home. Please be generous. |
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LET'S JOURNEY TOGETHER
Answering Pope Francis’ Call for a Synod of the Entire Church
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Pope Francis has called us to participate in the largest consultation of the human family in history. We want you to participate in this journey through listening sessions at St. John Vianney. Each listening session will focus on two central questions:
- HOW is this “journeying together” happening today at St. John Vianney Church?
- WHAT steps does the Holy Spirit invite us to take to grow in our “journeying together”?
Insights from these listening sessions will inform local pastoral planning as well as inform discussions at the Vatican’s General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.
Please sign up to attend a listening session at the Welcome Table or contact the parish office, 425-823-0787.
Dates for the listening sessions:
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Please watch founding member, Sam Dibeh share about how St. John Vianney Parish started. Thanks Sam!
For more memories, be sure to purchase a 50th Anniversary History Book. Please contact Susan, sweaver@sjvkirkland.org, to purchase yours.
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DISPLACED AFGHAN FAMILY ON FINN HILL NEEDS OUR HELP |
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Your support in helping this recently arrived refugee family continue to become integrated into our community is sincerely appreciated. Positive progress towards their resettlement has been made, although financial needs are significant as they continue to face trauma counseling, legal fees, and the looming costs of more permanent housing. If you are able to volunteer your time or would like more information, please contact Susan, sweaver@sjvkirkland.org. If you are able to assist financially, please go to the following link on our website, sjvkirkland.org/donate. Donations may also be dropped off at the SJV office, with “Afghan Family Relief” written in the memo line. All donations will be going directly to this family.
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Please help our Afghan Refugee Neighbors by donating diapers for their young children and infants. Sizes 1-2, 5-6 and Pull-Ups size 3T needed. Donations may be dropped off in the donation box in the Narthex. Surplus donations will be given to the Tri Parish Food Bank. Your support is sincerely appreciated. |
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The Sonshine Ministry prepares meals on a short-term basis for parishioners who are ill, recovering from surgery, elderly, or with new babies. If you need help with meals, please consider a Sonshine “no contact” meal delivered with our love and prayers! Or if you would like to prepare an occasional meal for a fellow parishioner, Sonshine welcomes your help! Please call the parish office if interested. |
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REFLECTIONS FOR CARING FOR OUR COMMON HOME
From Laudato Si
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Modern American culture is distinguished by its sharp focus on the individual. One of the great myths of our time is that we are free agents; that is, that society is merely a collection of individuals who make rational choices as they pursue their individual self-interest. Sometimes, this spirit of individualism is even more prevalent in American Christianity, and particularly American evangelical fundamentalist Christianity, than it is in secular society. One expression of it is the evangelical belief that each individual can make a “decision” for Christ that will guarantee eternal salvation (and hence, infant baptism is anathema). But as Pope Francis argues in Laudato Si, this spirit of individualism is typically accompanied by a sharp separation from the world around us and a distinct selfishness.
This notion that we are free agents, and this excess of individualism, runs sharply counter to the traditional understanding of the Church. As Christians, we believe that “the earth is the Lord’s and thee fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1). In other words, we are part of God’s creation, not autonomous entities placed above God’s creation. Moreover, we believe that, in an unprecedented way, God directly and forcefully entered human history by sending His Son to proclaim the presence of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus’ response to the accusation that he was abrogating the Mosaic Law is revealing. In saying “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.” (Matthew 5:17), Jesus implies that his teaching, his mission, and his ministry is built on top of what has come before it. In other words, there is continuity in the midst of transformation. As followers of our Lord, we continue to live in history even as the coming of the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 21:1) approaches.
Living in history in turn means that, although it is true that we are individuals to whom God has given free will, it is also true that who we in many ways have been defined by our histories. For example, if we examine the apparent contradiction between everyone’s bearing responsibility for his or her own sin and the sins of the fathers being passed down to generations of their children, we come to the inevitable conclusion that these are not contradictory statements: just as blessings can be passed down from generations, so can sin, because we live in history, and we are formed by history and by the cultures in which we live.
If we examine our histories, we begin to realize how significant history and culture has been in forming us. First, we all are members of a family, and each family has its own distinctive culture and traditions. We are also members of a particular ethnic or racial group, and that too has profoundly shaped our identify. As residents of the United States, we live in a culture that also shapes who we are. And perhaps most importantly, as Catholics and pre-Reformation Christians, we have been shaped by a faith tradition that spans two millennia.
While we live in history and are defined by it, we also define history. Our lives, and the ways in which we imitate Christ in the world, leave a lasting imprint on history. Some of this comes from chance encounters, so that we never know what our impact is. But much of it comes through our passing on our cultural traditions, including our faith, to those generations that come after us. Just as we are united with the past, we are united with the future.
So the notion that we are free agents is profoundly misguided. Instead, let us pray for the grace to recognize and resist our own selfishness, to pray for the grace to see the ways in which we are connected not only to those who have preceded us but also to those who will follow us, and particularly to pray for a stronger connection to our Catholic faith tradition.
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CHILDREN'S LITURGY OF THE WORD
Sundays during the 11:00am Masses
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No need to register for Children’s Liturgy of the Word. If your children are at the 11:00am Mass on Sunday, Father Vu will invite them up for a blessing and dismissal. Parents or grandparents are always welcome to join their children. We go downstairs to Room 6 and hear the Gospel reading then discuss, read stories, or do activities that relate to the gospel. Then we come back upstairs to join everyone at Mass. Please let Laura know if you want more information or have any questions, Lstanger@sjvkirkland.org.
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CATHOLIC KIDS' CATECHISM CLUB |
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New members are welcome to join CKCC anytime. Preschool through kindergarteners meet on Sunday mornings during our 9:00am Mass. Our 1st-3rd graders meet on Sundays from 10:00-10:55am, and our 3rd-5th graders meet on Monday from 7:00-8:00pm. For more information about CKCC, please contact Laura, Lstanger@sjvkirkland.org or visit sjvkirkland.org/faith-formation/#catechism-club.
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YOUTH GROUP
Sundays from 5:00-6:30pm
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ARCHBISHOP TO LIFT MASK MANDATE |
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When the state’s indoor mask mandate is lifted March 21, masks will no longer be required in the Archdiocese of Seattle, Archbishop Paul D. Etienne said in a February 18 letter. But the archdiocese “will continue to uphold other COVID safety measures,” he said. Please click on the button below to read the Archbishop's full statement. |
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Spring is nearly here and we’re getting back on the trails! Join us for our upcoming hike, Sunday, April 3, 2:00pm at St. Edward State Park. We will meet by the playground area. A Discover Pass is required to park. Everyone is welcome! Please contact Susan, sweaver@sjvkirkland.org if you’ll be joining us or if you would like to carpool from St. John Vianney.
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ADULT ESPERANZA MISSION TREK TO MEXICO
May 21-28, 2022
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All adults are welcome to join us as we journey to Tijuana to build houses with our brothers and sisters across the border. Please contact Susan, sweaver@sjvkirkland.org, for more information.
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MEXICO CITY & OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE PILGRIMAGE
Spiritual Director: Fr. Vu Tran
Group Leader: Grace Magbaleta
November 7-12, 2022
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Inside the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, you will see every national flag of the Americas, depicting Mary's love for all of the Western World. Her physical appearance foreshadows the growing exploration and explosion of Catholicism in the New World. Gazing at the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Juan Diego's tilma will bring tears to your eyes. Join us on this pilgrimage to see what is considered the holiest place in the Western Hemisphere. |
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Thursday, March 3 at St. James Cathedral, the Archbishop will welcome our catechumens, those preparing for the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist at Easter Vigil. May God bless all of them on their journey into our faith. |
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