Newsletter | January 4, 2021 |
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Thank you to all of you who supported our 2021 Year End Giving campaign. We are grateful for the number of ways all of our amazing parishioners and community members help make our church's mission to minister to the needs of others possible. Whether you've volunteered your time, given a gift, or attended an event, we are grateful for your part in our community. Thank you for your ongoing support and we wish you a joyous new year! |
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Join your fellow parishioners in coming back to mass, to worship at the Lord’s table, to receive Him in the Eucharist to fuel your faith. Catholic Churches have successfully developed effective safety protocols. THANK YOU to all the ministers and volunteers who make this possible for SJV!
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. Doors will be open to ensure proper ventilation, so we encourage you to come with 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.
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Thank you to all who helped decorate our church so beautifully for Christmas! Thank you to all who assisted with our Christmas Masses to help them run smoothly! It all contributed in creating a welcoming and loving atmosphere for worship. Thank you also for the Christmas greetings, treats, and gifts - not necessary, but appreciated. God bless you!
We'd love help with taking decorations down after the liturgical season of Christmas, this Sunday after the 11:00am Mass. Many hands make light work, so if you're available, please join us!
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WELCOME OUR NEWLY BAPTIZED |
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Gabriel Campos, child of Glauber and Cecilia
Thomas Prates and Olivia Prates, children of Ricardo and Iziz
Anastacia Mari, child of Mark and Marie
May the love, peace, and joy of your baptism bring everlasting happiness to your family!
Infant Baptism is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month. If you would like to have your child baptized, please contact Laura, Lstanger@sjvkirkland.org, to get the online class materials and register for the Baptism session.
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WOMEN'S BOOK GROUP
Tonight, January 4 at 7:00pm
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Join us tonight in the social hall for wine, chocolate, and good conversation. Our January Book is Being Home: A Book of Mediations by Gunilla Norris. Our February Book is Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner.
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RESULTS AND COMMITMENTS TO ACTION |
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St John Vianney parishioners, together with our brothers and sisters throughout the Eastside Deanery, came together this fall to participate in a Seven-Session Process on the USCCB Pastoral Letter on Racism: Open Wide Our Hearts: - the enduring call to love.
The series began with a session on Empathy and Perspective Taking, led by SJV parishioner and CWU lecturer, Andy Parks, followed by 4 weekly study and discussion sessions on the Pastoral Letter.
Participants worked together in a day of service with Catholic Community Services assisting senior residents at a mobile home park in Redmond.
Finally, the series concluded with a deanery-wide retreat where participants pledged individual commitments to make change to undo racism in our communities. The following commitments to action were shared:
Personal - Rebuilding our relationships:
- Attend Mass at Immaculate Conception to pray, celebrate, connect and be with others;
- Expose and educate my children on diversity, respect, and human dignity;
- When I see an act of injustice, speak up and act;
- Continue to educate myself on racism and social justice;
- Speak to someone I would normally walk by.
Communal - Healing our communities:
- Encourage our priests and bishops to speak out more on this topic;
- Form a Social Justice Initiative at our parish to focus on racial equity*;
- Hold a class on the history of racism in the American Christian Church**;
- Take time to be there for our low-income brothers and sisters;
- Support marginalized persons to gain positions of leadership in our churches, schools and workplaces.
Systemic - Working to shape our policies and institutions toward the good of all, as missionary disciples:
- Advocate for justice in voting rights, curriculum, and fair housing laws;
- Provide greater resources for schools in underserved neighborhoods;
- Speak, advocate and use my voice for those that are marginalized;
- Call attention to relationships between environmental degradation and communities of lower income;
- Practice informed voting and actively contact my representatives.
* St John Vianney is forming a Social Justice Initiative Commission to raise awareness of and advocate for racial equity. Please contact Susan, sweaver@sjvkirkland.org, for more information or to join our group.
** A class on the History of Racism in the American Church is being offered virtually at St John Vianney beginning January 6, led by Ron Petrusha. Contact the SJV office, 425-823-0787, to sign up.
“This is what Yahweh asks of you: Only this, to Act Justly, to Love Tenderly,
and to Walk Humbly with your God.” - Micah 6:8
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HISTORY OF RACISM IN AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY
Adult Faith Formation Class
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Each Thursday evening starting at 7:00 P.M. on January 6, 2022, we will study of the history of racism in American Christianity. This is an online class using Zoom. The class will provide some context by exploring the apparent contradiction between an individual’s sole responsibility for sins and the transmission of sins from generation to generation, as well as examining the evangelization of the Patristic period. It will then explore the history of racism in American Christianity starting with the colonization of the Americas and continuing to the present day. The class textbook is The Color of Compromise, by Jemar Tisby. To register, please call the parish office or sign up at the welcome table in the narthex. Please indicate whether you intend to supply your own copy of the text or whether you would like one to be ordered for you.
Unfortunately, the American Christian church throughout its history has often betrayed the central tenet that all humankind equally bears the divine image. That this is an ongoing issue, and not a purely historical one, is evident from the sharp separation between the white and black churches in America. As both individual Catholics and as the Christian church in America, we can disassociate ourselves from this heritage and fulfill our mission of imitating Christ in the world only if we make ourselves aware of the racism that has pervaded church history, reject racism, and approach our Lord in a spirit of penance and repentance.
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The preschool staff would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year. Registration for the 2022/23 school year for current families and alumni begins January 10. Brochures and registration forms are available on the parish website. We will start scheduling tours for new families January 10. Please contact Annette Schwientek, aschwientek@sjvkirkland.org or 425-305-9662, if you are interested. For more information visit sjvkirkland.org/preschool.
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THE MYSTAGOGY OF THE FATHERS
Adult Faith Formation Class
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Mystagogy – or the study of Christ as He’s revealed in the sacraments – was a particular concern of bishops in the Patristic period as they initiated neophytes into the mysteries of the Christian faith. This is an online class using Zoom. Each Monday evening starting at 7:00 P.M. on January 10, 2022, we will study the work of the four major mystagogical writers of the Patristic age: St. Cyril of Jerusalem; St. John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople; St. Ambrose of Milan; and Theodore of Mopsuestia. All readings are available as free downloads. To register for the class, please call the parish office at 425-823-0787 or sign up at the welcome table in the narthex. |
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Please watch founding family, Ron and Kay Smith share their favorite memories from SJV's history. Thanks Ron and Kay!
For more memories, be sure to purchase a 50th Anniversary History Book. A small quantity are available. Pre-ordered books can be picked up after the weekend Masses and in the parish office during open hours. Please contact Susan, sweaver@sjvkirkland.org, for more information.
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REFLECTIONS ON CARING FOR OUR COMMON HOME
From Laudato Si
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With the return of some semblance of “normal” life amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, almost all animal rescue organizations have noted a troubling trend: animals adopted during the pandemic are now being returned, with the result that shelters are overwhelmed and often have more animals than they can realistically hope to adopt. This is a tragedy for all the animals who find themselves abandoned through no fault of their own, some of whom will end up being euthanized. But more than that, it reflects the anthropocentrism that permeates both American culture and Christian culture.
What is anthropocentrism? It is the view that humankind is the central element of existence, and that the remainder of creation is subservient to humankind. For many Christians, the Biblical justification of anthropocentrism is found in the assertion in Genesis that God created humankind in his own image (Genesis 1:26-27). The tacit assumption is that while humankind bears the divine image, the remainder of creation does not.
Although this is perhaps the prevailing interpretation of our time, it contrasts starkly with the understanding of the Patristic Fathers. For example, in discussing how we can come to a knowledge of God, St. Gregory of Nyssa stresses that all creation gives glory to God. Among his examples is a spider. Spiders are creatures that we want to stomp out, spray with pesticides, or otherwise destroy. Seeing a spider makes many of us fearful. In contrast, Gregory sees in them the imprint of God. A small, seemingly insignificant creature instinctively spins a web that is a masterpiece of engineering and architecture. For Gregory, as for very many of the Fathers, God’s image is reflected throughout his creation, and not only in humanity. If we take the time to observe and reflect, we can recognize the love with which God endowed his entire creation, a love that points to the self-sacrifice of the Son. For Gregory as for many other Fathers, all of God’s creation to varying degrees bears the divine image.
In contrast to this, anthropocentrism sees everything around us as objects provided for the use of humanity. The entire material world, and all its living things, are evaluated from the viewpoint of our utility, our convenience, and our sense of value. As he German bishops have expressed it, this anthropocentrism stresses the priority of being useful over the priority of being. Not surprisingly, it’s unfortunately the case that this transactional view of reality is extended not only to inanimate things, but to other living things, to other human beings, and even to God Himself. As we see most starkly in the prosperity gospel, God’s role is to serve us, to bless us, and to prosper us. Rather than serving God, anthropocentrism demands that God serve us.
Pope Francis writes that each species has been created to give glory to God by its existence. His statement applies as well not only to each species, but to each member of a species. Each has been created by God, each has had life breathed into it by the Holy Spirit, each has a message for us that we would do well to heed. Instead, when we stomp out God’s creatures or when we abandon God’s creatures based on our own sense of convenience, we silence a voice. And as both the Fathers and Pope Francis tell us, the voice that we are silencing is the voice of God.
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PARISH NURSERY IS OPEN
Sundays during the 9:00am and 11:00am Masses
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You can find the nursery at the bottom of the stairs. The sound system from the church is pumped into the nursery, so if you would like to stay with your child, you may, and you can still hear what is going on in the liturgy. The nursery is recommended for children 1 to 4 years old. |
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CATHOLIC KIDS' CATECHISM CLUB |
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We will wait to resume our CKCC sessions AFTER Martin Luther King Weekend. Hopefully by then the surge in COVID cases will begin to drop. Our next clubhouse meetings will be Sunday, January 23 and Monday, January 24. Enjoy a peaceful couple of weeks getting back into the groove of being back to school!
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Due to the current COVID-19 surge, in-person youth events are cancelled or postponed for this week. MLK weekend is already off on the schedule. We hope to meet again January 23.
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SJV GAME NIGHT
Hosted by HS Esperanza Mission Trek
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This fundraising event has been postponed; stay tuned for the new date! |
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CHRISTMAS ISN'T OVER AFTER CHRISTMAS DAY |
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Go to the Archdiocese's Christmas Season web page at archseattle.org/Christmas to find ideas to celebrate the joy and hope of the Christmas season all the way through January 9, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
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