Did you know that Monday, November 4 will be the 5th Anniversary of Fr. John’s arrival as our pastor? On behalf of our entire parish family, I would like to say “Happy Anniversary.” Fr. John has brought a renewed sense of spirituality to our parish. Under his brilliant leadership, St. John the Evangelist has flourished and will continue to grow and develop into the future. If you see Fr. John over the next week, be sure to wish him a very happy 5th anniversary.
Thank you so much to everyone that gave so very generously to the second collection last weekend for World Missions. The collection totaled $10,623.00. This is a 74% increase over last year’s collection of $6,079.00. Offerings from Catholics in the United States, on World Mission Sunday and throughout the year, are combined with offerings to the Propagation of the Faith from Catholics worldwide. Mission dioceses – about 1,000 at this time – receive regular annual assistance from the funds collected. In addition, these mission dioceses submit requests to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples for assistance, among other needs, for catechetical programs, seminaries, the work of Religious Communities, for communication and transportation needs, and for the building of chapels and churches. These needs are matched with the funds gathered each year. The world’s national directors of the Propagation of the Faith vote on these requests, matching the funds available with the greatest needs. These funds are then distributed to Mission (Arch) Dioceses throughout the world. This General Fund of support is then distributed in its entirety each year.
As many of you know, we now have a Cub Scout Pack here at St. John the Evangelist. Pack 226 is incredibly active with over 20 boys participating in many different activities. Last weekend, our pack attended the Cub Scout Extravaganza in Punta Gorda with over 2,000 scouts and their families. They camped out and participated in countless activities from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon. On Sunday morning, Fr. Casey Jones from the diocese of Venice arrived to celebrate Mass for the Catholic c
ampers in attendance. Attached is a picture of the Mass and one of the Webelos scouts (Christopher Baier) who just so happens to be a parishioner at St. John the Evangelist. As you can see, in the absence of a missal, he is using an Ipad for the readings.
Last month, the Cub Scouts participated in a 10 Commandment Hike in Venice. It was a great experience for the young campers as they rotated through a description and tutorial of each of the commandments. Pictured are some of the boys with their Ten Commandment badges earned through the hike. Believe it or not, there are literally hundreds of Catholic badges that Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts are able to earn through different projects. If you would like your child to participate in this very active Cub Scout pack, please contact Nicole Zumaeta at 595.3360.
In the very near future we will be starting a new Boy Scout troop which will be “fed” by the graduating members of our current Cub Scout Pack. Please see upcoming bulletins for further details on this new Troop.
Crews were out this past week completing the wiring for our surveillance system in the church and installing wire in the PLC for an upcoming installation. The new system is working wonderfully and we have already had an opportunity to review footage which was extremely helpful in ensuring that our church was secured.
Make sure to check out the advertisement on page 5 in this bulletin for Fr. Rourke’s Jubilee Mass and reception to be held on November 22. There is no cost to attend the reception, however, we must have an accurate head count for food and beverage purposes. There is a cutout at the bottom of this advertisement which must be filled out if you are planning on attending the reception. Simply place it in the offertory basket or drop it off at the parish office. Please come out and support Fr. Rourke as he celebrates 50 years in the Priesthood.
In His work together,
Scott Schlossberg, MBA
General Manager