It is such an exciting time to be a Catholic! Pope Francis is energizing our faithfulness and creating action to serve the faithful and all those around us in a positive and joyous way. As part of his efforts, he has chosen the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, for the World Meeting of Family this coming September. Those of you that have been reading my ramblings for a while will remember that Saint John has committed fully to this meeting, seeing the responsibility to communicate our thoughts on the future of the Catholic Church in an effective way, even before Our Holy Father committed to his attendance. Now that the event has been planned out, I wanted to provide some additional details to our Parish Family, in case anyone else would like to join in our adventure.
We will be leaving Saint John and traveling to a chartered flight in Fort Meyers on September 21st (or for those that are only traveling for the weekend, September 25th). We have 50 rooms reserved for the week at an Embassy Suites in the city (both standard size rooms and suites for groups of 5 or more), which is quite a feat given the VIP level required to secure those rooms. We have group rates for the meetings and events (which include food and public transportation). We will have a parish Mass said on the Saturday at a local church, along with trips to the Franklin Institute, the Children’s Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. We are working with the group close to the Pope to secure a very special program for Saint John (if you ask me about it in person, I can show you the app on my phone) in which we may be the first parish in the world to engage service to others in such a direct way. We will end the trip with Mass presided by the Pope on Sunday and returning on Monday. Seats have not been confirmed for the location where we will witness the Mass, so more to come on that.
If you have already contacted Jean-Paul Boucher at [email protected], I have reserved your room for you and I will be contacting you again soon to give you the specifics based on the size and timing of your party. If you are still interested in joining in, we would love to have you. Just email JP to reserve your location.