Newsletter | January 18, 2021 |
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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.
The Archdiocese COVID Guidelines ask that even during these colder Winter months, we continue to keep our doors and windows open to ensure proper ventilation. We encourage you to come to Mass with coats on!
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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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 on Thursday evenings, 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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AUCTION BRAINSTORMING
Thursday, January 20 at 4:00pm
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Come one, come all! Calling all parishioners interested in this year’s auction, in any capacity, to come to a brainstorming session this Thursday, January 20 at 4:00pm. If you previously helped at an auction and don’t want to help again, come give us your wisdom. If you have never worked at or attended an auction, come and give us your new eyes. If you are interested in being part of this and aren’t sure where or how, please come and join us. We will be discussing ideas and themes and are not asking for commitments at this time.
We will be meeting in the church to be able to stay socially distanced. I hope to see you there! Please call me at the parish office: (425) 823-0787 or email me at avandewark@sjvkirkland.org. Thanks! -Ann V.
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KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS
Thursday, January 20 at 7:00pm via Zoom
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Membership in the Knights of Columbus is open to males 18 years of age or older who are practicing Catholics. Meetings are every third Thursday of the month at 7:00pm via Zoom. For more information contact the Grand Knight, Mike Myette • 206-510-6536.
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LITURGICAL MINISTERS TRAINING
Saturday, January 22 at 10:00am
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If you are confirmed please consider supporting the gathered faithful during Mass as an altar server, eucharistic minister, lector, sacristan, or usher. Trainings are given by Fr. Vu every fourth Saturday of the month at 10:00am. If you are interested, please sign up at the Welcome Table or call the parish office. |
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FEAST OF THE SANTO NIÑO PROCESSION
Sunday, January 23 at 10:00am
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We will be celebrating the Feast of the Santo Niño on Sunday, January 23 with a Rosary procession between this Sunday's Masses. If you have an image/statue of the Santo Niño please bring it to be blessed by Fr. Vu at the end of the 9:00am Mass. After the blessing everybody is invited to process around the church and pray the Rosary. Those with images/statues can process with them.
Children, can pick up a picture of the Santo Niño from the Welcome Table to decorate and bring on Sunday to carry during the procession.
What is the Feast of Santo Niño and why do we celebrate it?
On the Feast of the Santo Niño we honor the Child Jesus. Devotion to the Holy Child Jesus is widespread and popular among Filipino Catholics. It is celebrated in the Philippines on the third Sunday of January. Each year people come from all around to celebrate the feast with special Masses, dances, and processions in which the participants carry a statue of the Holy Child Jesus as a reminder of the 16th Century arrival of Christianity in the Philippines. The image of the Santo Niño is found on the altars in almost every Filipino home. The Holy Child Jesus is revered as the protector and guardian of children, and parents invoke the intercession of the Santo Niño to keep watch over their children.
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PARISH NURSERY
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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YOUTH GROUP: ISSUES NIGHT/SAFE ENVIRONMENT
Sunday, January 23
Middle School 4:30-5:30pm
High School 5:45-6:45pm
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Parents welcome! Sunday, January 23, we will offer a sexual abuse prevention course to your youth. In our efforts to protect our vulnerable population, the Archdiocese of Seattle has integrated abuse prevention material into our faith formation and youth ministry curriculum in the context of teaching our youth about our Catholic faith. In creating a safe space for our youth, we can teach and show them the ways of Christ in a safe environment conducive to learning. Keeping our minors and vulnerable adults safe starts with you. We ask that you take part in this effort in extending the Archbishop’s effort to help evangelize our youth in a safe space.
To help you understand what your youth will be offered, we ask you to visit: archseattle.org/for-parishes/safe-environment/safe-environment-parish-faith-formation-and-youth-ministry-educators. This will provide you with “Parent/ Guardian Resources,” to inform you about the curriculum being used while also making available the actual lessons. As the guardian, you have the right to attend the Youth Group evening with your youth if you would like. You may also choose to skip this session. This announcement is to notify you of our initiative to provide abuse prevention curriculum to our youth in Faith Formation/Youth Ministry.
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NORTHWEST CATHOLIC COLLECTION
January 29-30
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Through Northwest Catholic magazine, NWCatholic.org, and social media, the Church is able to enter every home with a message of hope that the world so desperately needs, especially in this time of social separation. For this reason, Northwest Catholic is sent free of charge to every registered Catholic household in Western Washington. Your donation is a great way to share the gift of faith with others. Thank you for your past and continued support of this annual
collection.
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Registration for the 2022/23 school year for current families and alumni has begun. Brochures and registration forms are available on the parish website. We have also started scheduling tours for new families. 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 funeral for former parishioner George Ploudre will be at Mary Queen of Peace Parish in Sammamish on February 24 at 11:00am. |
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RECONCILIATION
Saturdays from 3:30-4:30pm
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The Reconciliation Room is next to the Adoration Chapel. |
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REFLECTIONS ON CARING FOR OUR COMMON HOME
From Laudato Si
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In 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the grey wolf from the Endangered Species List. The self-accolades accompanying the delisting noted that the recovery of grey wolf populations in the continental United States was a remarkable achievement that spanned half a century. Confined to northern Minnesota and nearby Isle Royale, Michigan, in the mid-twentieth century (a total of about 1,050 animals), wolf populations at the time of the delisting had spread to Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and north-central Utah (a total of about 6,100 animals).
Although this achievement is indeed remarkable, it is also incomplete. The territorial range of the grey wolf once spanned the entire continental United States and Canada; yet today, its range is restricted to portions of 9 states. Moreover, as soon as the delisting was approved, both Idaho and Montana launched aggressive programs aimed at significantly reducing their wolf populations. Given humankind’s at best ambivalent relationship with wolves, it would not be surprising to see a half-century of progress reversed in less than half a century.
Underlying the attempt to (drastically) reduce wolf populations is the profoundly erroneous belief that we can rely on human management to manage complex ecosystems. Given our inability to fully understand the way in which the individual elements of complex ecosystems interact, and how human intervention upsets this interaction, even management based on the best science is likely to run afoul of unanticipated interactions. But the best science is rarely used. Instead, wolf management is often based on a one-sided concern for the economic interest of ranchers, an erroneous belief (as we shall see) that prey populations (such as deer) are negatively impacted by the presence of wolves, and by simple fear that wolves will behave aggressively toward people (something that is extremely rare, since wolves look with suspicion upon and prefer to avoid the activities of man). There is also an element of irrationality; in Of Wolves and Men, Barry Lopez writes that, “Throughout the centuries, we have projected on to the wolf the qualities that we most fear and despise in ourselves.”
Instead, research has shown that wolves are an essential ingredient to healthy ecosystems in numerous ways. To mention just a few:
- The presence of wolves maintains healthy populations of their prey. Wolves tend to kill the weaker members of a herd and avoid conflict with its stronger and healthier members. This improves the overall vitality of the herd. (In contrast, hunting has the opposite effect, since hunters target the strongest, largest, and healthiest animals.)
- The presence of wolves changes the grazing behavior of their prey. Without wolves, prey populations become fearless, graze in far more widely dispersed patterns, and particularly damage vegetation along rivers and streams, causing soil erosion and endangering aquatic plants and animals.
- Wolves and coyotes are unable to coexist in the same territory. That wolves prey on large hoofed mammals, eating smaller mammals only when large game is unavailable, assures a more abundant food supply to other animals who prey on smaller mammals. fosters a greater diversity of species, and, in cases where the particular species of small mammals are endangered, helps to preserve the endangered species. Although coyote attacks on humans are also rare, coyotes nevertheless pose a greater threat to humans.
While we cannot individually help to reintroduce or strengthen wolf populations, we can support educational organizations, wolf sanctuaries, and wolf preservation organizations that work to ensure wolves will be or become a critical component of healthy ecosystems. Some of these organizations include:
The following are a few of the environmental and wildlife preservation groups that also focus on wolves:
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50TH ANNIVERSARY HISTORY BOOK |
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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 or to order.
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MASS FOR LIFE
January 22 at 8:00am - St. James Cathedral, Seattle
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Archbishop Paul D. Etienne invites you to the Mass for Life, a Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. Watch livestream on Vimeo or Facebook.
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