St. John Neumann Catholic Community
Staffed by Oblates of St. Francis de Sales
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Current Mass Times
Saturday: 5:00 p.m.
Sunday: 7:30am, 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 2:00 p.m. (español), 5:00pm
Monday-Friday: 9:00 a.m.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 12:10pm (Most Weeks - Check Bulletin)
Confession
Saturday: 10:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m. (English)
Wednesdays (During Lent) 6:30pm-8:00pm
Sunday: 3:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m. (español)
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Pastor's Perspective
Deacon Craig Irwin, OSFS
March
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Dear Friends,
I am happy to write to you as part of this month’s newsletter, especially now at the beginning of the Lenten season. This season is one filled with opportunities to reflect upon our Lord’s Passion in prayer and to experience it in small ways within our own lives through fasting and almsgiving. It is also a nice reminder to us of one of the key tenets of St. Francis de Sales’ spirituality, which is that through continually doing small things well and with devotion, we grow in holiness and prepare ourselves for when the big things come.
Reflecting on this made me think of my own time here at SJN as a transitional deacon. From the time I was ordained on September 4 until Christmas, I was only able to help out with baptisms on Saturdays and assist as a deacon at Masses on weekends because I was still a student at Catholic University in Washington DC. However, after Christmas, I moved into the rectory and began helping with many other things to prepare me for ministry as a priest when I am ordained in late June. While all of this has been a great blessing to me, one thing I have noticed is that, while the sacraments performed and the homilies given are very important, it is actually in the small things around here that are preparing me for my future priestly ministry. Whether it is the friendly conversations after Mass, consoling words to a grieving family, or having coffee with parishioners after an early Sunday morning Mass, I can see more clearly that it all matters every day. It is in treating people with small kindnesses and caring about them in small ways that we open hearts to the bigger realities of our faith or even to having faith at all.
So, this Lenten season, my prayer is that we may all keep these same realities in mind: that the small things we do, the everyday encounters we have, they all matter. St. Francis de Sales tells us, “Great opportunities for serving God come seldom, but small ones surround us daily.” And it is in the small, everyday opportunities to serve God where our true growth in holiness comes and where the preparation for the big opportunities that may come later takes place.
May God bless you this Lent! And thank you to all who have been a part of my formation journey here at SJN, both in big and in small ways; you may have been an important and memorable part without even realizing it!
Be God’s!
Deacon Craig Irwin, OSFS
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Catechetical Corner
The Feast of the Annunciation
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By Mickie Abatemarco
On March 25, we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation, one of the great feast days of our Church. Why? Because Mary said “yes!” It was not until I became a mother did I begin to understand that “yes.” What a brave young woman Mary was. She had so many unknowns, yet she trusted that God would carry her through and give her the strength to face whatever life brought her. We know the big stories, Jesus’ birth, the flight into Egypt, the teen lost in the temple, and her support as he began and carried out his public life. I often think about the everyday; she fed and cared for her crying infant; she offered him comfort at times when he fell and got hurt. As he grew, she encouraged him and supported him, and one day, at the Wedding of Cana, she told him it was time even though he said he was not ready. So, as we celebrate this great Feast, let us remember all the mothers that have said “yes” throughout the ages and have relied on God’s strength to carry them through the joys and difficulties of life. In the moments I need it the most, I remember Mary’s prayer of “yes.”
The Magnificat
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.
(Lk 1: 46-55)
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Catholic Mass Explained
The Concluding Rights
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By Fr. Don Heet, OSFS
Father Heet continues his monthly series with a discussion of "The Concluding Rites."
In February, I wrote about the Communion Rite. It ends with the Prayer after Communion in which the community prays that the Eucharist we have received will change us as it is designed to do.
Then, there is time for brief announcements before what are aptly called “The Concluding Rites”, which consist of the final blessing and the dismissal. The dismissal is a brief part of the Mass, but incredibly important. A number of years ago, I heard a powerful talk entitled, “If We Get the Dismissal Right, Perhaps We Will Get the Liturgy Right.” The speaker, a Catholic layman, reminded us that as the name Mass (from the Latin missa – think “missile”) suggests, we gather at Mass to be sent back into the world to proclaim the Kingdom of God by our words and actions. That is why it is simply wrong to regularly leave Mass early. Not only is it rude, but it reflects a serious misunderstanding of what the liturgy and, for that matter, what our Christian life is all about. If we leave Mass before we are sent, it suggests that we come to Mass a) only because we have to (and we want to get it over as soon as possible!) or b) we are focused simply on what we get out of Mass. Neither reflects why Jesus gave us this sacrament. The Mass exists to empower us to leave church as the renewed body of Christ. We are fed with the word of God and the Eucharist to have the strength to be Christ’s body, and we are sent out into the world to make a difference. That’s why we need to wait to be sent, and then we can go out singing a powerful recessional hymn.
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Ministry Spotlight
Craig Irwin, Transitional Deacon
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Craig Irwin, a Transitional Deacon, joined our community here in SJN last fall. Ministering to our community and learning from our Oblate Priests marks the last step that he is taking before his ordination in May when he becomes an Oblate Priest. We were able to spotlight him for this month's feature.
Can you tell us a bit about your path to the Priesthood? When did you feel the call? And how has it gone thus far?
I initially felt a call to the Priesthood when I was 17 years old, so in 2001. I was a junior at St. Francis de Sales High School in Toledo, OH, and very involved in the youth ministry program at my home parish, St. Clement. I didn’t come to this realization on my own, but rather through various youth ministers and adult volunteers telling me that I had skills and talents that would lend themselves well to being a priest. I mostly brushed these off as mere compliments until a priest who was involved told me the same. It was at that moment that I thought, “Huh… if he’s saying this, maybe there is something to it.” Soon I was thinking about entering seminary right out of high school, but my parents were not open to that idea, and, looking back, I am grateful that they weren’t. It took me eleven years to finally enter the Oblates and begin my formation at age 28, but the experiences I had in that time, as a college student, a lay missionary in Minnesota, and as a parish youth minister, were all vital in shaping me into the man and the minister that I am today.
What are your favorite hobbies?
I enjoy cycling, though I am by no means good at it. However, it is my primary means of exercise in the warmer months, and I love the feeling of freedom that it can bring. I also enjoy baking, a hobby that I have returned to during the pandemic. I used to bake in college, a fun distraction that my roommate and I got into instead of doing homework, but I moved on from it and didn’t look back until spring of 2020. Now I have created my sourdough starter and love the experience of making my bread instead of buying it from the store.
What advice do you have for a young person in our parish who is considering a vocation?
I would tell them not to rush it! I have often encountered young people who think they may be called and who then want to jump into the process right away. While this is not bad, and many vocations come about this way, I think there is also something to be said for a longer discernment. Go to college. Get a job. Date people. Don’t be afraid to live life. If the Lord is calling you to the priesthood, or religious life, then the call won’t go away. It took me eleven years between my initial feeling of being called and my actual entry into formation and all along I still felt the pull, and many of my seminary classmates have similar stories. So don’t try to rush it because you are afraid the call will go away if you don’t… because of the feeling goes away then it was probably never your call in the first place, and it is better to learn this before you take perpetual vows or are ordained than after.
Who is your favorite Saint and why?
Other than the Salesian saints, whom I feel like I would be cheating if I picked here, my favorite saint is probably St. Thomas the Apostle, whom I chose as my confirmation saint. In the Gospels, and especially in the Gospel of John, St. Thomas is regularly the human voice speaking the things that other people are probably afraid to say. When, in John 14, Jesus says, “Where I am going, you know the way,” Thomas replies with, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” This leads to Jesus saying one of his most meaningful phrases, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” So Thomas, by not being afraid to speak up and ask questions, brings about greater clarity and beauty. Finally, there is the scene at the end of John’s Gospel where Jesus appears to everyone and Thomas isn’t there, so when he hears about it he insists that he will not believe until he touches Jesus’ wounds. Thomas regularly gets the name “Doubting Thomas” because of this, but I also feel certain that I would have been right there next to Thomas saying the same thing. And Thomas’ action leads to another beautiful statement when Jesus says to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” And that is us, the followers of Jesus 2000 years later! So, even though he sometimes gets a bad rap, St. Thomas the Apostle is probably my favorite Saint.
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“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.”
John 15:1-2
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