The Parish Festival -
Begging Letter
This would have been our festival weekend. Due to the Covid-19 Virus, the festival was canceled. Just think about the festival committee setting up for the festival last week in the heat and humidity. Hopefully, by now, you have received your “Festival Begging Letters.” We are asking for a special donation to help defray the loss of $70,000 because of having to cancel the festival.
We will continue to take all donations for this special request until the beginning of September. We realize that not all parish members have extra money to donate. However, if you have been blessed and are able to make a sacrificial donation to our parish, please prayerfully consider doing so. An envelope was included with the begging letter. This envelope with your gift enclosed may be dropped off in the church collection basket, church office, or mailed to the parish.
New Ministry Opportunity
The “Stream Team” is looking for volunteers to help stream daily and weekend Masses. We had talked about live streaming Adoration and Mass for a number of years. With the Pandemic, we decided to do it ASAP. We have received many positive comments from parishioners and from people all over the country expressing their appreciation for the ability to view Mass and Adoration from their homes while being “shut in,” especially people from St. John’s who have said it helps them feel connected to their parish.
We need to train a few people to help Live Stream Mass. If you are relatively comfortable around computers and especially if you attend daily Mass or on the weekends, please consider calling Denise Kasulke at the parish office (414-321-1965) or email her at
dkasulke@stjohns-grfd.org
if you would like to find out more information or be trained in this ministry.
Overcoming Pornography Addiction
Recently, I have talked about the plague and burden of pornography. One parishioner wrote to say Sexaholic Anonymous (SA) has been a great resource and it is free. SA has a national website which provides great information (
www.sa.org
). Here is the link to the daily calls page:
www.sa.org/meetings
. I was also told about another resource that has been helpful, RECLAIM. While there is some free information on their web page, there is a fee for more in-depth help. If you have found help in overcoming pornography addiction, please pass that information along to the office so we can pass it on to others, particularly if you know of a therapist(s) in the Milwaukee area who works with people with pornography addictions.
Scam Alert
Please be aware of telephone calls, texts, and emails that appear to be from myself, or other Parish staff or Parish leaders. There has again been a recent increase in this kind of activity. The sender’s email address is
mmerkt.stjohnsgrfd@gmail.com
. Do not reply to this email address. It is not my legitimate email address.
I will
not
ask you for a favor, or ask you to buy gift cards for myself, for staff or for other Parish leaders.
Please be on alert for these and similar scams. Ignore, and/or delete, any such messages.
24-Hour Perpetual Adoration
“So much to do and so little time to do it!” Father Kenneth Grabner knows how busy we all are yet he encourages us all to emulate Christ and make time to pray to Jesus. “Scripture tells us that Jesus often went off to deserted places for quiet prayer. He even invited his disciples to do the same. Quiet prayer was an essential part of Jesus’ life. God invites all of us into a personal friendship, and quiet prayer is one of the ways we respond to God’s invitation. There were times in my life when I didn’t respond very well. But then, as my sense of God’s presence diminished, so did the success of what I tried to do for God. God’s guiding inspirations and my awareness of God’s companionship began to lose strength.”
St. John’s is fortunate to have 24-hour Perpetual Adoration. Please take advantage of this beautiful opportunity to stay close to God in these difficult times. Hand sanitizer is available in the Adoration entrance (south side of Church), and we ask that you practice social distancing and stay at least six feet from others while in Church.
There is currently one open hour for Adoration
on Monday from 4:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.
Please call Kay Shomperlen to volunteer (414) 763-1250. Come join us!
