What's Happening During Our Catholic Comeback
As we navigate our Catholic Comeback, this newsletter will continue to bring you
updated information.
Parish News
Hello from Quarantine
 
By the time most of you read the bulletin, I will be in day 9 of my two-week quarantine. The good news is I have experienced no symptoms and have tested negative for the COVID-19. My quarantine has been lifted so I will be taking a few vacation days. Then, I expect to be back in the office on Tuesday, August 25.
 
The first week at home has allowed me to catch up on many needed chores both inside and outside. Inside the house, my task was dusting and washing the windows. Outside required doing some of the late summer, early fall garden clean up. Years ago, an experienced gardener once told me, “don’t plant violets as they are very aggressive.” While I never planted violets, I have to say they are ferocious in their ability to multiply and take over.
 
Also I have taken time for some spiritual reading. I decided to again read a great spiritual classic by St. Francis de Sales called, An Introduction to the Devout Life. It is an important book for anyone who wants to grow closer to God, become a saint and live forever in Heaven. I would encourage everyone to find a copy and read it slowly. The book is set up with many small chapters. After each chapter, just pause and ask yourself, “in what I just read, what is there to help me grow closer to Jesus Christ and my spiritual life?” As I often say to people who do spiritual reading, the goal isn’t to get through the book as quickly as possible, but rather, to absorb helpful points that are being made. St. Francis de Sales ends his book by saying, “I say to you, look up to Heaven, and do not forfeit it for Earth. Look down into Hell, and do not cast yourself into it for the sake of fleeting things. Look upon Jesus Christ, and do not renounce Him for all the world. And when the labors of a devout life seem hard to you, sing with St. Francis of Assisi:
 
“Such are the joys that lure my sight, all pains grow sweet, all labors light. Live, Jesus! To whom, with the Father and Holy Spirit, be all honor and glory, now and throughout the endless ages of eternity. Amen.”
 
United States Grace Force

We are now finishing the first week of the 54-day Novena for praying for the United States. If you have not yet begun, you can start now, simply by picking a time and place to pray, particularly the Rosary for the conversion of the United States. I like what a priest said to me years ago regarding Lenten practice: “What we do for Lent, we ought to do for the rest of our lives.” I hope this is true with this Novena for the United States. Once we begin, may we continue to pray for elections, for Thanksgiving, through Advent, right into the New Year. God knows our country needs our prayers.
 
Festival Begging Letter
 
I am pleased to say that with just three weeks to go, we have reached $60,000 of our $70,000 goal. Thank you once again for all who are helping with this special collection. If you haven’t made a contribution, please prayerfully consider doing so.
 
August Holy Hour

The Respect Life Committee invites you to their Holy Hour for the Unborn on Wednesday, August 26 at 7:00 p.m. With so many outside distractions in our world, let’s not forget the unborn. They are still in dire need of our prayers. Please join us!

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 or revfr840@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

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.
Confessions will be held on Friday and Saturday at 8:30 a.m. at the northwest entrance (opposite the Adoration entrance) of the church.
Live-streaming: Mass and Adoration
 
We are live-streaming daily and Sunday Masses as well as Adoration for those who are unable to attend:

  • Monday at 8:00 a.m.
  • Tuesday at 7:30 a.m.
  • Wednesday at 8:00 a.m.
  • Thursday at 7:30 a.m.
  • Friday at 8:00 a.m.
  • Saturday at 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
  • Sunday at 8:00 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.

Our YouTube channel is SJE-Greenfield.

If you miss the livestream, you can watch the upload of each daily Mass on our YouTube channel.
Your donations are needed and will help us
continue to operate during these unsettling times.
Twenty-first Sunday in
Ordinary Time
August 22/23, 2020

In our Gospel passage, from Matthew, Jesus poses a question to the disciples: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they offer varying responses. Then, Jesus gets personal with them. “But who do you say that I am?” Peter gets the answer right: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus is getting personal with us today. He poses the same question to each of us who call ourselves His stewards and modern-day disciples. But do our lives genuinely reflect this? If we really believe that Christ is the Son of God, sent to save us from our sins and lead us to Heaven, we must say so, not just with words but with our actions. Do my ambitions and priorities in life say that Christ is my Savior, and I am His disciple? Does my budget, my family life, my entertainment say so?

The gifts and blessings God has given us, our time, our talents, our material possessions, are meant to be used in a manner that says, “Christ is my Savior, and I am His disciple.” The most eloquent praise we can offer Him is a life lived in grateful response to His unfathomable love. This is the beauty and power of a stewardship way of life.
Greetings from your Director of Religious Education,
 
I want to take this time to inform all St. John the Evangelist parishioners that we have been given Archdiocesan approval to meet in person, including those who have not received their sacraments this year. Last weekend, St. John’s welcomed four new members into our church through the RCIA program. On September 10 at 7:00 p.m., 12 Confirmation candidates will receive the sacrament of Confirmation and be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. On September 12 at 10:30 a.m., several children from the school and parish will receive their First Holy Communion and be enrolled in the Brown Scapular. Please keep these brothers and sisters in Christ in your prayers.
 
We will be pretty busy over the next month catching up with Sacraments from last year, so we have decided to start our kickoff on October 4 for all Religious Education programs. On Sunday morning from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m., we will have Religious Education for those in Grades 1 through 8. From 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., we will have class for Grades 9 through 11.

 
We hope to begin Adult Religious Education Programs in November.

God Bless!
Austin Rahill, DRE
CDs from Augustine Institute

Did you know we have CDs (and other items) located in the narthex? Each week we will highlight one of the available CDs.

Cost is $4 each.
There’s a little bit about Mary in Scripture. We can glean a bit more from the Tradition of the Church. But where can we go to get the complete picture, to find out about the whole Mary? In an engaging style, Chris Padgett does just that as he walks us through what the Bible has to say about the Mother of God. What has she meant to the Church throughout the centuries, what have the saints told us about her, and most importantly, what we can learn from her ourselves?
Start earning the easy way with the new mobile app: RaiseRight by ShopWithScrip
RaiseRight is simply the right way to fundraise for our organization. Shop gift cards from more than 750 top brands to earn on your daily purchases—right from your phone.

Turn your shopping list into fundraising
·      Discover new earning opportunities every day 
·      Narrow your search with categories that fit your everyday shopping needs
·      Easily browse brands offering bonus earnings
·      Add brands you love to your Favorites for faster shopping
·      Manage your gift cards in one place: your Wallet

Pick up right where you left off. Sign in with your same ShopWithScrip username and password. Access your gift cards right away. And check out with payment information already saved to your account.


SCRIP will now be sold before and after all weekend Masses. We will be outside under the tent in front of the church. As always, SCRIP is available at the parish office during regular business hours. We have materials available below if you would like to set up an online account.






Our enrollment code is 18DE7D4F11822. Once you have an online account you can pay by direct debit from your checking account (Presto Pay), by credit card, or by check here in the parish office. If we do not have the item in stock, we will order on Monday and have the cards by Thursday. Once you have the physical card you can enroll it in your "wallet" and reload it as needed.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call the parish office at 414-321-1965.
This program allows .5% of your shopping on Amazon to be donated to St. John the Evangelist.

If you purchase Scrip, St. John's receives an additional 2.25%. That's 2.75% of your purchases to St. John's if you are already shopping Amazon.
School News
The newsletter is published on Wednesdays. Articles for each week's publication are due on Mondays at noon.

To submit articles e-mail to: newsletter@stjohns-grfd.org
"Remember God's Will in Yours!"

Please keep the needs of St. John the Evangelist in mind as you do your estate planning. For information on how to include the parish as a beneficiary, contact the Parish Office at 414-321-1965.
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